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Say it ain't so, Joe.

I knew this day would come, but still...

Bargain-Bin Shopping

Talk about a good deal:

Payton and Malone say they want to come, so the first question is, do the Lakers want a mammoth, if aging, power forward to fill their traditional hole, or a guard who at 35 is still close to being in his prime?

Malone in LA? Hell no. While the Lakers have always needed a PF, there's no way, I mean, absolutely no way, that I could ever accept the Mailman on the team. It's just wrong. It makes me shudder even to think of him pulling up at the Staples Center in his 16-Wheeler. Please, please, no.

Now, the Glove. I always liked the Glove. The Lakers need a little more agression -- some trash talk, you know -- instead of all that "swagger". That's got its place, don't get me wrong, but every once in the while, you gotta really get in their face instead of waiting for them to choke.

Let it go already

They've been dead. His family is a former shadow of what it once was. Only ghouls write things like this, Mr. Klein.

Happy 160th Birthday to The Economist!

Founded in 1842, this publication remians remarkably relevant, lucid, and insightful. Where else can you read commentary praising America as embodied in Texan brashness? And the photo captions -- they're worth the cover price alone! Lifting a quote from founder James Wilson's prospectus:

It is one of the most melancholy reflections of the present day, that while wealth and capital have been rapidly increasing, while science and art have been working the most surprising miracles in aid of the human family, and while morality, intelligence, and civilisation have been rapidly extending on all hands;�that at this time, the great material interests of the higher and middle classes, and the physical condition of the labouring and industrial classes, are more and more marked by characters of uncertainty and insecurity.

As Editor Bill Emmott that sounds like an article that could easily have been written today. So, it would seem that in spite of the many "sharp reductions in both poverty and international inequality" that economic and political liberty have brought to many peoples of the world, much more must be done to cement the achievements of liberty.

Or, as a wise friend once told me, "Andrew if you want to know why things really happen in the world, you've got to read The Economist."

"Judean People's Front? We're the People's Front of Judea!"

That's the problem with revolutionary movements. They're just so damn political. Can you imagine any worse way to attempt to design and implement a cease-fire than through a revolutionary central committee?

And how about the particularly petty and sullen moves by Fatah to deny the credibility of the truce because of the back channel communications hat engineered it, and then try to sabotagea cease-fire by introducing language considered unacceptable by Hamas and Islamic Jihad?

But what I find particularly fascinating about this three-month cease-fire is that it coincides with an Israeli pullback (agreed in principle) from the Gaza Strip will begin tonight, Sunday 06/29/03. Israelis will begin handing over security concerns to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, as part of the "Road Map." Notice: they will not be withdrawing from the West Bank.

Prior to this understanding between the parties, I had expressed my frustration around the dinner table with Hamas and Islamic Jihad ("Just when there is a glimmer of hope for their cause, the Palestinians shoot themselves in the foot, yet again!"), and Israeli pigheadedness, ("Do they really believe that 'targeted killings' is anything other than murder?"). Now it seems that the "cycle of violence" really is a finely-nuanced process of negotiation.

No, no, please bear with my devil's advocacy here. I know, and you know, and you know that I know that one should not negotiate with terrorists, etc., ad nauseum, and that the murder of even one human being is unconscionable. But let me run with this idea for a second here, I think that there's a reasoning that is uncomfortable, but worth exploring.

After Palestinian PM Mahmoud Abbas signed the "Road Map", sidelined groups refused to honor it, mostly because they were not give a seat at the big kid's table. So they launch a fresh wave of attacks. After the militants get their point across, the Israelis gladly responded with an equal amount of ferocity and disregard for civilian life. Hamas and IJ respond in kind, and so on. Fatah meanwhile, continued to battle over its soul. Worth noting, however, is that Israeli assassinations and strikes (Jun 21st & Jun 25th) did occur during cease-fire talks without provocation, that is, they were not a retaliatory move in the "cycle of violence". Instead, it appears they were negotiating in language that both sides understand: Violence, and the ruthlessness to apply it.

The use of violence to advance a bargaining position does negate any charge of "irrelevancy". When you're killing the other parties' civilians, you'e very relevant. More so, if you have a centralized command structure that can turn off violence like a spigot, and implement order and security. Here's the truth, warts and all: If you have the power to command bloodshed, you have the power to stop it.

It's not civilized, it's not pretty, but it does have all of the real-world substance that staged photo-ops, with handshakes for everyone, lack.

From this perspective, and since peace follows defeat or accomodation, I think the "Road Map" is doing very well, indeed.

The many pleasures of the NBA Draft

"Ballplayers that fit the style of basketball we want to play"

There is no doubt in my mind that the Lakers will land the free agent(s) that they need in order to return to their rightful place next year.

Still, I couldn't help but be happy with the Lakes' choices of Brian Cook and Walton pere.

As far as two rookies go, having the Big Ten Player of the Year and one of only three players in Pac-10 history to tally 1,000 career points, 500 rebounds and 500 assists is not too shabby. Two forwards that are smart guys with four years of college play are just what the Lakes needed from this draft.

Speaking of the NBA Draft, is it just me, or is the Sports Guy the only truly funny sportswriter out there?

The time has come for all good nations to come to the aid...

When I first heard of the concept of humanitarian intervention, I must admit that I was ambivalent. The now archaic arguments enumerating the exorbitant financial, political, and societal costs of America assuming the mantle of "The World's Policeman" resonated with someone who had lived in the Developing World as an expatriate for two-thirds of my life. Yet after living overseas for years, I knew that the responsibility for alleviating crises of all shapes and sizes was not a burden, but a duty to all free nations.

I came to the conclusion that the only attractive plan of action for the West was to pursue a course of no-action. After all, we had arrived at our post-historical Happy Place. With the perpetual motion of economic progress fueling political liberalization and democratization leading to freer markets, it was only a matter of time before we were all free. There was no need to aggressively promote economic and political liberty around the world, there was a process.

And although it was ironic -- a dehumanized process leading to the liberation of humanity from itself -- it seemed not only reasonable, but desirable. Benign apathy would result in no colonial hangovers from new occupations, increased dignity and pride from the spread of self-determination around the world, and all in a new spirit of multilateral cooperation, ah, how very beautiful. And ultimately wrong.

Individuals make history, not impersonal processes.

Now, after the past two years' tumult, I find that I have arrived at a firm conclusion after all. The only conscionable course is to actively promote economic and political liberalization, by force if necessary. Inaction breeds atrocity.

So it came as a welcome news when I read the latest news from Australia:

Australia's decision to support the U.S.-lead war in Iraq without U.N. sanction "has signaled that we are prepared to take the hard decisions to enhance our security," [Foreign Minister Alexander] Downer said in a nationally televised address to the National Press Club.

"Some multilateral institutions will remain important to our interests," he said. "But increasingly multilateralism is a synonym for an ineffective and unfocused policy involving internationalism of the lowest common denominator."

...

"We are prepared to join coalitions of the willing that can bring focus and purpose to addressing the urgent security and other challenges we face," Downer said. "Sovereignty in our view is not absolute. Acting for the benefit of humanity is more important."

[Prime Minister John] Howard and Downer announced Wednesday that Australia stood ready to send troops and police to the Solomon Islands if New Zealand and other Pacific nations joined the peacekeeping force. The proposed force follows a request for help from Solomons Prime Minister Alan Kemakeza.

The new-found resolution by the Anglosphere to proceed on various fronts in the form of "coalitions of the willing" brings a window of opportunity for us all. I've seen commentators all over the blogosphere and in the traditional media bemoan the lack of experience that the United States and other nations have at nation-building. After reading about the bang-up job that the internationalistas are doing in Kosovo, how can anyone continue to labor under the misconception that multilateral agencies are any better at building nations than we are? After all, the Anglosphere has hundreds of years practice in implementing constituional liberalism and producing economic dynamos. But what do we know about organizing well-run societies, anyway?

Does it strike anyone else that it is patently absurd that any institution that would produce a privatization authority, the Kosovo Trust Agency, dedicated to "preserve or enhance the value, viability, and corporate governance of socially owned and public enterprises in Kosovo" is capable of improving the lots of millions? Privatisation means just that: turning over the keys to the private sector. I suppose its unavoidable institutionthink: bureaucrats from the inefficient public sector would beget more public sector inefficiences.

But here is the silver lining: Now is the chance for us to deliver nations around the world them from the inequities of autocracy, humanitarian agencies, transnational bureaucracies, and other various and sundry riff-raff, into the bright future of capitalism and democracy.

(Hat Tip: Samizdata)

Empowered by this new medium

I find that I can no longer remain outside of the public dialogue. For those of you who do not know me personally, what you'll find here is a collection of commentary, speculation, inquiry, and diatribe from my own, unique sensibilty, which happens to be chock full of flava.

DISCLAIMER: From time to time I will argue as a Devil's Advocate. This does not mean that I am gripped with the poisonous ravenous vanity of a "gadfly", but that intellectual threads within the public dialogue often lapse into polemics, sound bites, and partisan positions, leaving much to be desired.

My name is Andrew Schouten. Please, make yourself welcome.