It seems increasingly to me to be a starkly political age we live in. I wasn't all that interested in politics growing up, or even so much in my twenties. But looking around lately, it appears the world is facing an awful lot of dramatic political choices – and we're not having an enormous amount of success reaching any kind of consensus about them.
In some cases, these disagreements are due to differences in irreducible fundamental values. For an obvious example, Americans tend to believe in personal liberty, secularism, consensual government, separation of church and state, free speech, freedom of confession, and universal civil liberties for all – including those of every race, gender, sexuality, and religion. By contrast, radical Islamists believe in the word and rule of God as revealed by his prophet in his holy book – and that the rules therein should be binding on everyone. Fair enough. We'll just have to agree to disagree there.
What I find much thornier, and more troubling, is the differences amongst people – for instance the left and the right in the West – who claim to share many or most of the same values. The classic example for me is the intervention in Iraq. This seemed to me to be just about the great moral question of the age (I've explained why I think that here.) And you had millions on each side of the issue, who seemed or claimed to have seriously considered moral positions on the issue – but who had absolutely no common ground on what should be done. What's to be done, in that case?
I don't know. I suppose send around some summaries of, and links to, articles that I've read recently that make extremely eloquent arguments on these issues. (And on several others, as well – there are a lot of starkly moral and political issues going on, as you'll see below, though I'm less competent to commment on some of them, like China and Darfur). Anyway, I've read a number of pieces in just the last couple of days that seem far too fantastic not to share. I hope you find them (or their brief summaries, anyway) entertaining and edifying. (And the evolution of this organ into a proper weblog continues apace . . .)
Why Iraq Matters
"Considering, finally, that the one place American soldiers are actually fighting al-Qaeda every day and decisively winning is Iraq, how, exactly, is Iraq a distraction from the war on terror? This is the war, and we’re winning it. Let’s not decide that we’d rather lose."Memo to Bush on Darfur
"President Bush seems genuinely troubled by the slaughter in Darfur and has periodically suggested to Condoleezza Rice: Why can’t we just send troops in and take care of it? Each time, Ms. Rice patiently explains: You can’t invade a third Muslim country, especially one with oil. And so Mr. Bush backs off and does nothing."The Holocaust Declaration
"On Tuesday Iran announced it was installing 6,000 more centrifuges – they produce enriched uranium, the key ingredient of a nuclear weapon – in addition to the 3,000 already operating. The world yawned. President Bush's greatest contribution to nuclear peace would be to issue the following declaration, adopting Kennedy's language: 'It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear attack upon Israel by Iran, or originating in Iran, as an attack by Iran on the United States, requiring a full retaliatory response upon Iran.' This should be followed with a simple explanation: 'The United States will not permit a second Holocaust to be perpetrated upon the Jewish people.'"The Torch and Freedom
"Here’s what you do: Stop arresting dissidents. Stop spreading lies about the Dalai Lama, and start talking to him about greater religious and cultural freedoms for Tibet. Stop being an enabler to Sudan in its genocide in Darfur. Start delivering on the pledge you made to the International Olympic Committee to respect human rights – which, by the way, include the freedom of expression and the freedom of assembly . . . China has only itself to blame for messing up its coming-out party."Free Cities
"It's time to apply the same kind of analysis that empowered Federal welfare reform to a re-thinking of our foreign aid system . . . We need a way to harness market forces to jump-start non-corrupt, globalized private sectors inside impoverished countries. Free Cities is a new development paradigm that would allow the United States to offer millions of people in the third world the same kind of hope, freedom, and prosperity that the people of Hong Kong enjoy today."Iraq's Real Gains
"Liberation offered us the opportunity to construct a new state, based on the rule of law and democratic principles . . . against all odds, Iraq has closed its fifth year of freedom with tangible improvements – thanks to interlocking steps on security, the economy and national reconciliation . . . The transition to freedom has been exceptionally painful for Iraqis and Americans alike . . . While Iraqis have been frustrated, the threats pale in comparison with the horrors that they, and the region, endured under Hussein's tyranny . . .- When we assumed sovereignty in June 2004, the Iraqi security forces were almost nonexistent. Today our security forces are nearly 600,000 strong, and Iraqis are primarily responsible for half of Iraq's 18 provinces.
- Al-Qaeda, the great spoiler in Iraq and the region, is on the run.
- Core inflation has gone from 36 percent at the end of 2006 to 14 percent this month.
- Iraq now funds almost all of its reconstruction and the lion's share of the costs for its security forces.
- Economic growth rate is expected to top 7 percent this year.
Let's 'Surge' Some More
"I may well have spent more time embedded with combat units in Iraq than any other journalist alive. I have seen this war – and our part in it – at its brutal worst. And I say the transformation over the last 14 months is little short of miraculous."Small Dead Animals
Kate is Queen of the Right-leaning blogosphere in Canada. She's especially good on the frightening free speech issues in Canada (as menaced by their so-called Human Rights Courts), and questioning the Global Warm-mongers.The Jawa Report
Sounds goofy, but they do a great line on tracking creeping sharia, noting and supporting the heroism of the western troops – and also organising homegrown efforts to counter cyber-jihad. Crazy, but true. Oh, also great, highly amusing, embedded videos – only some of them of insurgents being blown to smithereens by Predator-launched Hellfire missiles.Mike the Marine
There are a ton of fantastic military blogs out there – most of which illustrate what thoughtful, committed, reasoned observers our men and women in uniform are – and give the lie to this Democratic party line that the troops are poor dupes of Bush and Cheney's Oil War. Here's a great one I've discovered recently. Mike is about to go back for another tour in Iraq, so we can expect a great view of the new realities on the ground.Mark Steyn
Not new at all – Mark Steyn remains my very favourite right-wing nutjob columnist, and a daily read, so I should mention him explicitly. Also, his book America Alone is out in paperback this month. Strongly recommended.
As always, the comments section is completely open to anyone in the world who wants to explain why some or all of the above is complete bullshit. (I prefer it if you can argue a case for why it's bullshit, but if you just want to call it bullshit and me a – what was it? a "chicken hawk neo-con gasbag" – well, knock yourself out. 
![ARISEN : Fickisms ][ – This Time, It's Personal](graphics/arisen-fickisms-2.png "ARISEN : Fickisms ][ – This Time, It's Personal")
