The Breaking Time

War shifts: Rebels defeat UN army

United Nations armored personnel carriers roll past refugees escaping the fighting in East Congo, late 2008

A 25,000 soldier United Nations force attempting to smash Hutu rebels in the Congo has suffered a major defeat:

The massive UN peacekeeping effort in eastern Congo has failed to deliver a knockout blow to Rwandan rebels while local insurgents have seized new territory under its nose, United Nations experts said today.

Far from resolving the root causes of the violence, the presence of the world's biggest peacekeeping mission has aggravated the conflict in North and South Kivu provinces, the report seen by Reuters today.

 

"Military operations have not succeeded in neutralising the FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda), have exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in the Kivus and have resulted in an expansion of CNDP military influence in the region," the group said, referring to Congolese Tutsi CNDP insurgents.

 

Congo's army, backed by the 25 000-strong UN force, launched an offensive against the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda earlier this year as part of a deal to improve ties with neighbouring Rwanda, its enemy during a 1998-2003 war.

 

In return for Congo's pledges to stamp out the Hutu rebels, some of whom helped orchestrate Rwanda's 1994 genocide, Kigali arrested General Laurent Nkunda, whose CNDP insurgents were then integrated into the army.

 

While the UN Security Council has twice voted to continue peacekeeper support for the operations, rights groups and aid agencies have decried the displacement of more than a million villagers, thousands of rapes, and hundreds of killings.

 

Despite the surrender of more than 1200 of its estimated 6000-to-8000 fighters, the FDLR continues to replenish its ranks through the active recruitment of both Congolese and Rwandan Hutus, the group said.

 

The rebels benefit from support networks in Africa, Europe and North America, as well as financing from its control of the east's lucrative tin deposits despite the army's efforts to push them out of mining areas.

 

"The Group calculates that the FDLR could earn at least several hundred thousand dollars and up to a few million dollars a year from this trade," said the report, which is due to be discussed by the Security Council today.

Well that's not good news, to say the least. It's not exactly unsurprising when a local rebellion defeats a third world army, but a 25,000-strong UN force is something else. The most interesting aspect of this is that while the FDLR is based upon a very local ethnic grievance, it still manages to have a global support network. 

Something big has changed in warfare when a group doesn't even have to sign on with a worldwide ideology or superpower to get enough support to defeat a UN offensive. The peacekeeping mission would seem to be on the wrong side of the Guerrilla Problem; they're fighting a grievance, not a military force. As long as there are aggrieved Hutus (or Tutsis, for that matter), the guerrilla groups will be able to replenish their manpower. When raising an army is that cheap, it becomes far easier for a small rebel force with an economic racket to stand toe to toe with a much larger power. UN Peacekeepers are, after all, quite expensive.

Rwanda has somewhat successfully dealt with similar groups through a combination of generous amnesty and quick military strikes at the refugee camps where the FDLR and their allies are based. While that strategy is far from perfect, it has played a role in Rwanda's impressive recovery. The amnesty — and the subsequent push to get ex-fighters into civilian life — does grasp that to stop the guerrillas you have to end the grievance.

Dubai reaps the whirlwind

Pay no attention to the slaves behind the curtain

Oh, Dubai. Money was supposed to be enough, wasn't it? If you have infinite petro-dollars to throw around, a perfect city-state will emerge, right? In this sunny land, aristocrats both Gulf and global would be free to indulge their whims in a fantasyland without a care in the world, especially about such trifling things as slave labor, massive debt or all those travelers thrown into black holes on "drug charges."

But the wheel turns:

Just a few weeks ago, at the beginning of November, the emirate's ruler, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, insisted at an investor conference that Dubai and its government-run businesses were in good shape. Those who were claiming otherwise should "shut up," he said in an unusually blunt outburst.

And now the emirate is unable to come up with a sum which was, at least by Dubai's standards, not that large. What is happening in Dubai is "unbelievable," says Eckart Woertz, chief economist at the Gulf Research Center.

The request to delay debt payments shocked the entire Arabian Peninsula and triggered deep concern throughout the global financial world. Stock prices on Asian and European exchanges plunged. The Dubai stock market fell by more than 7 percent on Monday, the first day of trading since the Eid al-Adha holiday, while Abu Dhabi markets slid more than 8 percent.

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Real estate prices have collapsed and are now only half of what they were a year ago. And yet new villas and luxury condominiums are still being completed every day - and are standing empty. Entire floors are deserted in the skyscrapers along sheikh Zayed Road, and giant banners with the words "To Let" are displayed across the fronts of buildings. Real estate experts estimate that only 41 percent of office space is occupied, and the vacancy rate is only expected to increase. In 2011, Dubai, a city of about 1.5 million, will have more office space available than Shanghai, which is 10 times as large as Dubai.

Couldn't have happened to a nicer bunch of tyrants. Johann Hari, rightly not pulling any punches, has Dubai pegged as a morally bankrupt dictatorship built by slave labor. The slaves, in this case, are imported workers shoved into horrendous tent cities, often in fatal conditions. When they try to fight back, they're beaten by Dubai's police thugs. The squalor is so bad that, according to Hari, "embassies were told to stop counting how many workers die in these conditions every year after they figured it topped more than 1,000 among the Indians alone."

On top of all that, Dubai is the most intense polluter on the face of the planet: it has the highest per capita carbon emissions, a full 250 times that of the United States.

Of course, Dubai grew as it did not just from oil revenues, but because corporations and governments from around the world poured billions into its delusions. Those same companies made billions back too, enjoying a tax free haven with cheap labor. It is depressing, but not surprising, that they did not ask too many questions, about the slavery or the debt. Dubai has acquired the reputation as an ideal city-state because, for the rich and famous, it often is. The rest of its populace don't get off so easily.

Dubai's impending bankruptcy should end the delusion that a better society can be created, whole cloth, out of wealth and technology. Those two forces dominate our discussion of globalization, to our detriment. Economic forces dictate this, we will hear, and spreading technology will bring about that. You'd think the world runs on nothing but coins and machinery.

Without anything else, those two will give you a glittering but oppressively hollow husk; exactly what Dubai has become. Missing in all this is an understanding of the power of culture. Dubai's culture was that of decadent aristocrats indoctrinated to believe in capricious power (notice how Maktoum prissily snapped when questioned) and limitless wealth. They behaved accordingly.

Not all the investors in the world can fix that. What we decide to create, every day, is shaped massively by our culture. We can change those cultures, we can create new ones, but where we choose to focus our collective energy plays a major role in what we end up with. 

The sheiks chose to focus on shiny buildings and endless luxury; the globe's aristocrats went right along with them. For a time, they got both. But, as with any culture, there is always a cost.

That is why Dubai is not the future. Dubai is Versailles, and it will suffer the same fate.

Poems for Friday: Like Coins, November

I was utterly clueless about a good poem for today. Something about greed, I figured, would be about right for Black Friday. A nice, scathing hit at our annual orgiastic devotion to Mammon. No? Then perhaps something about Autumn instead. Nothing immediately came to mind, and jumping around the internet mostly reminded me of how much terrifically bad poetry is out there.

Then I found this gem by Elizabeth Klise von Zerneck, of whom I know very little, except that she plays in Peoria and has won some poetry awards. I'll definitely keep my eye out for her work now. This is an excellent that piece combines both hard currency and the slow drift of the season perfectly. Here's a contrast to the march of the trampling crowds.

We drove past late fall fields as flat and cold

as sheets of tin and, in the distance, trees

were tossed like coins against the sky. Stunned gold

and bronze, oaks, maples stood in twos and threes:

some copper bright, a few dull brown and, now

and then, the shock of one so steeled with frost

it glittered like a dime. The autumn boughs

and blackened branches wore a somber gloss

that whispered tails to me, not heads. I read

memorial columns in their trunks; their leaves

spelled UNUM, cent; and yours, the only head . . .

in penny profile, Lincoln-like (one sleeve,

one eye) but even it was turning tails

as russet leaves lay spent across the trails.

Science fiction's world (we're living in it)

Via io9 comes this interesting 1971 video of Isaac Asimov remembering science fiction's "Golden Age," and how John Campbell's vision did create "a world of computers, of trips to outer space, of missiles, of a science-important world."

Asimov had a definite point. However, it's interesting to note that by the time he said this, Dangerous Visions (with its Asimov-penned intro) had already been published, and science fiction itself was changing into something sexier, less rational, but perhaps wiser.

Asimov was a man of reason, and to the end of his days I don't think he ever quite grasped the potency of sci-fi's future, or admitted that its new tomorrows might prove just as prophetic as the Golden Age's. If the Campbell-directed tales presaged the post-war era of science faith and moon shots, it's not hard to see the Deviant Age that followed as a harbinger of our own beautifully fractured time. Apocalypses replaced rocket ships.

Of course, it's possible that either view is artistic hubris; and both waves of science fiction were responding to the fears and hopes of their time as much as creating them. Dreams of the future are funny things like that. I have a feeling those visions are far from over.

My apologies in advance, but between holidays and a hectic journalism schedule, posting will be light this week. I'll try to stick to putting something up each day, but no promises. 

The Bubbles of Imperium

This interesting little video traces four maritime empires — France, Britain, Portugal and Spain — as they lose, bit by bit, their overseas dominions. It could use some music, but it's still worth a few minutes of your time.

The depiction is perfect: the imperial powers drift as massive blobs. Occasionally one will ripple, burp and out comes a territory! Venezuela! Canada! India! Angola! Ka-bam!

Maybe I'm too easily entertained by anything historical, but the representation of empires as bloated, creaking creatures prone to occasional tumultuous vomiting is fascinating stuff. Most remarkable of all is how quickly it occurs.

The Empire Never Ended? Maybe. But try this: The Empire is Always Ending.

Former Asheville firefighter gets 4 months for shooting cyclist

Diez, at the time of his arrest

I have a feeling the controversy over this case won't be dying down anytime soon. From my post for the Mountain Xpress:

Former Asheville firefighter Charles Alexander Diez will spend four months in prison for shooting cyclist Alan Simons in July. Diez plead guilty to assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill yesterday.

On July 26, Simons was riding with his family on Tunnel Road. According to Asheville police, Diez had stopped to argue with Simons, saying that the child seat the cyclist’s 3-year-old son was riding in was unsafe. As Simons began walking away, Diez fired his handgun, the .38-caliber bullet tearing through the back of Simons’ bike helmet, less than an inch from his head. Diez has no prior criminal record and was sober at the time. While he was originally suspended with pay at the time of the incident, on Aug. 10 he ended employment with the Asheville Fire Department.

While Diez was originally charged with attempted first-degree murder, a grand jury refused to press those charges, instead indicting him on the felony assault charge.

Convictions on such a charge result in an average 20-39 months in prison for the defendant. But in the sentencing, Superior Court Judge James Downs found that Diez’s military service, along with testimony from former colleagues about his good character, were mitigating factors, and chose to sentence him to 15-27 months instead. Downs suspended all but four months of that sentence unless Diez breaks the law again in the next 30 months. As part of his sentence, Diez is required to attend anger-management training and pay $1,200 to cover Simons’ medical costs for damage to his eardrum.

Poems for Friday: Snakes and ladders

Alan Moore turned 56 this week. Among the finest writers comics has ever produced, Moore has also flexed his creative talents in a number of other areas. While every piece of Moore's work has poetry bleeding through it, I didn't know about his more directly poetic spoken word work until recently.

Above is an excerpt from his 2003 work Snakes and ladders. This is one of those pieces that works best with minimal commentary from me. Sit back and listen. A good Friday to you all.

Nick Xenophon vs. The Church of Scientology

Australian Senator Nick Xenophon, no doubt readying for combat. Photographer unknown.

That's not the title of Warren Ellis' next project. It's the fucking news:

The Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, has said he will consider calls for a parliamentary inquiry into the Church of Scientology.

But he said the evidence must be looked at carefully before proceeding.

Senator Nick Xenophon launched a scathing attack on Scientology, citing letters from former followers alleging extensive criminal activity.

Scientology spokesman Cyrus Brooks said the senator's attack had been an abuse of parliamentary proceedings.

Senator Xenophon tabled seven letters from former Scientologists who he said were willing to co-operate with New South Wales and Australian federal police.

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Senator Xenophon said their correspondence implicated the organisation in a range of crimes, including forced imprisonment, coerced abortions, physical violence and blackmail.

"In my view, this is a two-faced organisation," he told the Senate.

"There is the public face of an organisation... that claims to offer guidance and support to its followers and there is the private face of an organisation that abuses its followers and viciously targets its critics, and seems largely driven by paranoia."

Things haven't been so hot lately for the Church of Scientology. It's had prominent members leave over its rampant homophobia and a French court convict it of fraud. Now, of course, there's Nick Xenophon, backed in his quest by parliamentary clout, the accounts of former members and an unbelievably awesome name.

I wish Xenophon the best in going after this noxious cult of power. At the same time, Scientology has proved surprisingly resilient in the face of lawsuits, crackdowns and exposes. It's a sign of our globalized era that good ideas aren't the only ones becoming ever harder to squash. 

The case of Scientology is a little unusual because it lacks the popular appeal that normally allows religions or subcultures to cross borders. The Church has a surprisingly old-fashioned, highly centralized structure. In theory that should make it easier to disrupt. 

In practice, nations like Australia, Germany and France bringing harsh sanctions against Scientology or its administrators haven't really done serious damage. That may change — everything has a breaking point — but it does reveal the difficulty of taking down a worldwide organization in these fractured times.

"With liberty and justice for all"

Will Phillips, 10, of Westport, Arkansas, has refused to say the Pledge of Allegiance, until there's actually liberty and justice for all. Specifically, he refuses to swear until gays and lesbians have the same rights as every other citizen, including marriage (he also mentions the problems of racism and sexism).

Phillips' reasons are refreshingly simple: "I think they should have the rights all people should and I'm not going to swear that they do." 

The Pledge of Allegiance originated in 1892 from the pen of minister/socialist Francis Bellamy as an oath that would weld together a nation still rent by the Civil War and teeming with new immigrant populations. Hence the emphasis on "one nation, indivisible." These words were to help turn us into a proper nation-state.

The first break came in 1954, when Congress shoehorned in the words "Under God" in an attempt to separate the indivisible republic from its godless opponents. Naturally, that cuts out any number of citizens who believed in no deity at all. 

Over the years it has become a further source of division. Befitting a country that has never lacked for rebels, plenty of Americans asserted that their basic rights included not having to swear at all. Others see a nation that has deemed them lesser or denied them opportunity and refuse to speak a lie.

Still others, ironically enough, rail at phantom socialists (Bellamy turns in his grave) and swear it by rote. Apparently, like the Lord's Prayer at witch trials, the pledge can only pass the lips of the righteously patriotic.

A number of years ago I remember my mother, who taught second grade at the time, getting an earful from angry parents who wondered why she wasn't making her class recite the pledge every morning. When she explained that her pupils swore it once, after the yearly civics lesson on its meaning, they were aghast. Whether or not their children understood the words was of no concern. Few do.

So it has become more incantation than anything else. The nation-state, here or elsewhere, isn't looking so hot. There are loyalties to factions, tribes, ideals, communities and illusions of a perfect country that never was. But one nation, indivisible, above all else? Not anymore.

Will Phillips is a gutsy kid to take the national promise at its word. His dad's a good guy; no doubt his life would be easier if he'd told his son to shut up and mouth the words along with everyone else. He didn't, because that wasn't right.

I dare you to watch the above video and not feel your heart twinge. Phillips is going to catch hell for this, and his classmates only get more cruel from here on. But if people twice, three and four times his age had half his courage, we'd be in a better world already.

As it is, I fear he's going to be waiting for a long time. Yet maybe not as long as we think. There's hope yet when a boy of 10 can see the writing on the wall.

Smuggling sheep into Gaza

Palestinians smuggle sheep into the Gaza Strip through a tunnel under the Egypt-Gaza border in Rafah on November 15, 2009. Residents of the poverty-stricken Gaza Strip fear a shortage of sacrificial cattle ahead of a major Muslim holiday due to Israel's blockade. Eid al-Adha or Feast of Sacrifice marks the end of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca and is celebrated in remembrance of Abraham's readiness to sacrifice his son to God. By Said Khatib/AFP/Getty.

The Gaza strip is one of the most densely populated slums on the planet, with over 10,000 people per square mile. Conditions are horrific. The average age is 17.4. If you're looking for an example of how monumentally warped and broken a culture can become through constant scarcity and violence, this is it.

That's why this photo struck a chord with me. There's something tragically absurd about smugglers herding contraband sheep through narrow tunnels. At the same time, it's a reminder of human tenacity: despite living in hell, people are determined to celebrate a holiday in the old style, costs be damned, while their kids hide heavy metal CDs from Hamas. 

The story of Gaza is still unfinished. I have no clue if, in the end, tenacity or tragedy will win.

(via Andrew Sullivan)