Sunday, May 24, 2015

Ashton Carter's Stupid Comments About the "Will to Fight"

So the reason ISIS/ISIL has taken Ramadi, according to Ash Carter, our Secretary of Defense, is that the Iraqi Army lacks "the will to fight."  Here's what he said, according to CNN:

"We can give them training, we can give them equipment -- we obviously can't give them the will to fight," Carter said. "But if we give them training, we give them equipment, and give them support, and give them some time, I hope they will develop the will to fight, because only if they fight can ISIL remain defeated."
Carter said it was "very concerning" the local forces showed little willingness to fight, as they are the ones who will be charged with fighting, winning and holding the territory against ISIS.
He's obviously not been reading this blog.  The whole problem is that what we have been doing all this time is giving training, equipment, and support to a bunch of Muslims for the purpose of getting them to kill another bunch of Muslims, all on behalf of the great U.S. of A., which is responsible for making such a mess of the Middle East to begin with.  Just like we gave the mujahideen training, equipment, and support to fight our proxy war against the Russians.  They actually had the will to fight, but look where that got us.

Thought experiment:  let's suppose that the United States was conquered by some foreign country, which killed a lot of civilians, installed a puppet government (or at least tried to), and then left.  Then let's say a large number of Americans -- at least one in every family -- caught some kind of religious fervor and tried to establish their own Christian state here in the United States.  And in doing created a lot of chaos and violence.  The puppet government responds by sending its puppet army out against the zealots.  But the puppet state soldiers have a common religion, a common nationality, and to some extent a common ethnicity and family ties with the zealots they are supposed to be fighting.  The people who come to train and who foot the bills for the fighting (but don't risk their lives) are the recent conquerors.  

Will the soldiers ever develop the "will to fight"?

Why should they?

They will always be resentful at essentially being told by an alien power to go out there and kill people who could be their own brothers.

Did any of the Iraqi soldiers join the Iraqi army as part of a path toward self-actualization?  I kind of doubt it.

So the whole half-hearted and half-assed hope that the Iraqi soldiers might just develop the "will to fight" if we arm them enough and train them enough is just stupid.  They won't.  They are basically mercenaries, trying to eke out a living while not getting killed, at the expense of the West.

The focus should instead be on recruiting people who DO have the will to fight.  The exact same disaffected youth that are so easily recruited to the ISIS side would be even more easily recruited to the anti-ISIS side.  All we need to do is adopt ISIS's recruiting tactics by appealing to and satisfying the basic human needs of the recruits, and offer the opportunity for self-actualization.

It should not be hard to sell Muslim youth on the idea of wiping out a cancer on the Muslim religion.
I've explained at great length here exactly how to go about it, and who should pay (in my view, the ones who should pay are the very rich Sunni Muslims whose religion is being corrupted).  I've explained that it will only cost about $2 billion.  This will not only defeat ISIS's recruiting efforts, but it will also lead to the creation of a fighting force with the "will to fight" against ISIS.  Hard as it is to believe, we need to given them something OTHER than the stars and stripes to fight and die for.

We need a real "counter-ISIS" now.

PriceFixer: Fighting ISIS with Maslow's Hierarchy

Update May 26, 2015:  CNN now has a good report from an Iraqi soldier who was there, and who definitely had the "will to fight."   http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/26/middleeast/iraq-ramadi-inside-the-fight/index.html.  Here's how that story ends:

He bristles at the notion that Iraqi soldiers like him don't have the will to fight. He faults the military leadership and logistical failures that left them without adequate resupply and support.
He believes that the order to withdraw was a betrayal. The Iraqi government has said it launched an investigation to find out what went wrong and how the order was issued, but so far, no one has given a viable explanation.
"I want to quit the army, I would, if I thought I wouldn't get into trouble," Al-Yassiri says. "I want to join the militias and go back to the fight."
I'm not sure exactly what this say about my major thesis -- that the Iraqi soldiers are mostly mercenaries who will never have the will to fight.  I guess I should issue a retraction.  But it also further highlights the prematurity and stupidity of Ashton Carter's remark.  Making a remark like that before all the evidence is in risks alienating the Iraqi soldiers who do indeed have the "will to fight."

And the soldier's last remark about joining  a militia (plus an earlier remark about how the Iraqi soldiers who gave their lives at Ramadi are "martyrs") is what I am talking about -- we need to help create a militia whose only unifying purpose is to wipe ISIS out, for the sake of Islam.

May 27, 2015

On more thought on this:  I'm now a bit disturbed by the soldier's reference to "martyrs," and joining a militia.  The soldier was almost certainly a Shia, and yes, it should be possible to harness Shiite homicidal instincts against the Sunnis of ISIS -- that's what the Shiite militias are doing.  But that's just a perpetuation of the sectarian problem.  As I've said before ISIS/ISIL is a Sunni problem, and the Sunnis should fix it themselves, by creating a Sunni counter-ISIS.

And I'll end by quoting Ivy Ziedrich, the 19-year-old University of Nevada student who recently explained the problem quite eloquently to Jeb Bush:
“You stated that Isis was created because we don’t have enough presence and we’ve been pulling out of the Middle East . . . .  The threat of Isis was created by the Iraqi coalition authority, which ousted the entire government of Iraq.
“It was when 30,000 individuals who are part of the Iraqi military – they were forced out. They had no employment, they had no income, yet they were left with access to all the same arms and weapons. Your brother created Isis!”
Throwing more and more Shia against ISIS will only exacerbate the sectarian nature of the dispute, and will help ISIS's recruiting efforts all the more.

I also find it rather interesting and troubling that the CNN article didn't mention that the guy was a Shia.  If that's the only place we can go to find people with the "will to fight" against ISIS, we have a really big and really permanent problem on our hands.

Saturday, May 16, 2015

“I gotta pay our bills”

That's the reason Bill Clinton recently gave for why he is not going to quit giving paid speeches while his wife runs for President.  Apparently he said it sometime before May 4, but it was reported again in today's Washington Post, in an article currently titled "Clintons have made more than $25 million for speaking since January 2014."  I could have sworn that when I started writing this post (just a few minutes ago), the title of the article used the word "earned."  And sure enough, the url still says "earn":  http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/clintons-earn-more-than-25-million-in-speaking-fees-since-january-2014/2015/05/15/52605fbe-fb4d-11e4-9ef4-1bb7ce3b3fb7_story.html, at least as of this moment.

It's interesting to note how various other news outlets characterize the Clintons' take:


I'd tend to go with the Japan Times -- they raked it in.

My point is that it's very hard for me to understand how in any sense of the word Bill or Hillary "earned" the money they were paid as speaking fees.

To be fair, the word "earn" has multiple definitions:

earnərn/
verb(of a person) obtain (money) in return for labor or services.
"they earn $35 per hour"
synonyms:be paid, take home, grossnetMore
(of an activity or action) cause (someone) to obtain (money).
"this latest win earned them $50,000 in prize money"
(of capital invested) gain (money) as interest or profit.
(of the Clintons) gain money in exchange for prospect of future influence.

Ok, I added that last one.

But that's my point -- we are really stretching the definition of "earn" when somebody is routinely given $250,000 for giving a one-hour speech.  Nobody is that good a speaker.  Nobody.

So who is giving them this kind of money?

Here is the full list of speeches:

Hillary Clinton’s speeches:
SpeechDateLocationFee
GE1/6/2014Boca Raton, Fl.$225,500
National Automobile Dealers Association1/27/2014New Orleans, La.$325,500
Premier Health Alliance1/27/2014Miami, Fl.$225,500
Salesforce.com2/6/2014Las Vegas, Nv.$225,500
Novo Nordisk A/S2/17/2014Mexico City, Mexico125,000
Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society2/26/2014Orlando, Fl.$225,500
A&E Television Networks2/27/2014New York, N.Y.280,000
Association of Corporate Counsel - Southern California3/4/2014Los Angeles, Ca.$225,500
The Vancouver Board of Trade3/5/2014Vancouver, Canada$275,500
tinePublic Inc.3/6/2014Calgary, Canada$225,500
Pharmaceutical Care Management Association3/13/2014Orlando, Fl.$225,500
Drug Chemical and Associated Technologies3/13/2014New York, N.Y.$250,000
Xerox Corporation3/18/2014New York, N.Y.$225,000
Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal3/18/2014Montreal, Canada$275,000
Academic Partnerships3/24/2014Dallas, Tx.$225,500
Marketo Inc.4/8/2014San Francisco, Ca.$225,500
World Affairs Council4/8/2014Portland, Or.$250,500
Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc.4/10/2014Las Vegas, Nv.$225,500
4/10/2014San Jose, Ca.$265,000
California Medical Association (via satellite)4/11/2014San Diego, Ca.$100,000
National Council for Behavioral Healthcare5/6/2014Washington D.C.$225,500
International Deli-Dairy-Bakery Association6/2/2014Denver, Co.$225,500
6/2/2014Denver, Co.$265,000
United Fresh Produce Association6/10/2014Chicago, Il.$225,000
tinePublic Inc.6/16/2014Toronto, Canada$150,000
tinePublic Inc.6/18/2014Edmonton, Canada$100,000
Innovation Arts and Entertainment6/20/2014Austin, Tx.$150,000
Biotechnology Industry Organization6/25/2014San Diego, Ca.$335,000
Innovation Arts and Entertainment6/25/2014San Francisco, Ca.$150,000
GTCR6/26/2014Chicago, Il.$280,000
Knewton, Inc.7/22/2014San Francisco, Ca.$225,500
Ameriprise7/26/2014Boston, Ma.$225,500
Corning, Inc.7/29/2014Corning, N.Y.$225,500
Nexenta Systems, Inc.8/28/2014San Francisco, Ca.$300,000
Cisco8/28/2014Las Vegas, Nv.$325,000
Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP9/4/2014San Diego, Ca.$225,500
Caridovascular Research Foundation9/15/2014Washington D.C.$275,000
Commercial Real Estate Women Network10/2/2014Miami Beach, Fl.$225,500
Canada 202010/6/2014Ottawa, Canada$215,500
Deutsche Bank AG10/7/2014New York, N.Y.$280,000
Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed)10/8/2014Chicago, Il.$265,000
Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers10/13/2014Colorado Springs, Co.$225,500
Salesforce.com10/14/2014San Francisco, Ca.$225,500
Qualcomm Incorporated10/14/2014San Diego, Ca.$335,000
Massachusetts Conference for Women12/4/2014Boston, Ma.$205,500
tinePublic Inc.1/21/2015Winnipeg, Canada$262,000
tinePublic Inc.1/21/2015Saskatoon, Canada$262,500
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce1/22/2015Whistler, Canada$150,000
2/24/2015Santa Clara, Ca.$225,500
eBay Inc.3/11/2015San Jose, Ca.$315,000
American Camping Association3/19/2015Atlantic City, N.J.$260,000
TOTAL$11,987,000

Bill Clinton’s speeches:
SpeechDateLocationFee
Patient Safety Movement Foundation1/12/2014Laguna Niguel, Ca.$315,000.00
National Multi Housing Council1/23/2014Boca Raton, Fl.$285,000
Thomas Lloyd Global Asset Management1/24/2014Frankfurt, Germany$200,000
The Fragrance Foundation1/29/2014New York, N.Y.$250,000
2/4/2014Las Vegas, Nv.$290,000
Centurion Jewelry By Invitation Only, LLC2/4/2014Scottsdale, Az.$225,000
2/27/2014Los Angeles, Ca.$100,000
Bright Futures International2/27/2014Beverly Hills, Ca.$225,000
Microsoft Corporation3/3/2014Las Vegas, Nv.$225,000
Bank of America3/6/2014London, United Kingdom$500,000
Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check LLP3/7/2014The Netherlands$500,000
Telefonica (via satellite)4/1/2014Miami, Fl.$175,000
CSP LLC4/1/2014Scottsdale, Az.$225,000
Oracle Americas, Inc.4/2/2014Rancho Mirage, Ca.$300,000
Experian5/5/2014Dallas, Tx.$225,000
Jefferies LLC5/6/2014Miami, Fl.$225,000
Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies5/12/2014Toronto, Canada$275,000
Target Markets Program Administrators5/13/2014Baltimore, Md.$275,000
UBS Wealth Management Americas5/19/2014Washington D.C.$225,000
SCIP Capital Management, LLC5/20/2014New York, N.Y.$250,000
EAT The Stockholm Food Forum AB5/26/2014Stockholm, Sweeden$500,000
Entergy Corporation6/5/2014New York, N.Y.$250,000
Insurance Accounting and Systems Association6/10/2014Indianapolis, In.$225,000
Castlight Health6/10/2014New York, N.Y.$250,000
Hogan Lovelis US LLP6/20/2014Toronto, Canada$225,000
Skechers USA, Inc.6/26/2014Redondo Beach, Ca.$350,000
Deutsche Bank AG8/27/2014Boston, Ma.$270,000
9/9/2014New York, N.Y.$150,000
Association of Energy Engineers10/1/2014Washington D.C.$275,000
Affiliated Managers Group, Inc.10/9/2014Napa Valley, Ca.$225,000
Veritas Capital Fund Management LLC10/14/2014New York, N.Y.$250,000
UBS Wealth Management Americas10/14/2014Boston, Ma.$225,000
Citadel LLC10/15/2014New York, N.Y.$250,000
SAP America10/23/2014New York, N.Y.$250,000
Press Ganey Associates, Inc.11/3/2014Orlando, Fl.$225,000
World Affairs Council - Los Angeles11/10/2014Los Angeles, Ca.$150,000
Centerview Partners LLC11/13/2014Carefree, Az.$225,000
AT&T Services, Inc.11/20/2014Tuscon, Az.$225,000
Williams Morris Endeavor1/9/2015Carlsbad, Ca.$225,000
MPSF, Inc.2/2/2015Marin, Ca.$181,250
MPSF, Inc.2/3/2015Oakland, Ca.$181,250
MPSF, Inc.2/4/2015San Mateo, Ca.$181,250
MPSF, Inc.2/5/2015Marin, Ca.$181,250
UBS Wealth Management Americas2/19/2015Nashville, Tn.$225,000
National Association of Manufacturers3/2/2015Scottsdale, Az.$325,000
HR.com Limited3/31/2015Irving, Tx.$275,000
Texas China Business Council, LLC3/31/2015Austin, Tx.$265,000
Wyndham Hotel Group4/1/2015Las Vegas, Nv.$225,000
ISN Software Inc.4/9/2015Grapevine, Tx.$275,000
Oracle Corporation4/16/2015Rancho Mirage, Ca.$360,000
Univision Management Company5/12/2015New York, N.Y.$250,000
Apollo Management Holdings, LP5/12/2015New York, N.Y.$250,000
American Institute of Architects5/14/2015Atlanta, Ga.$250,000
TOTAL$13,460,000.00



Basically and unsurprisingly, it's almost all corporations  Drug companies, insurance companies, tech companies, and, of course, banks.  And as everybody knows, corporations have an obligation to try to make money for their shareholders, not give it away.  I wonder what the defense would be if someone  were to bring a shareholder's derivative suit against, say, Qualcomm, for wasting $335,000 on a Bill Clinton speech.  Would the defense be that the company needed to have him in there to motivate the employees?  Or that he had some information that could help the employees become more proficient at their jobs?  Not likely -- the answer would almost certainly be that the money was "invested" in the possibility that Bill or Hillary would one day be in a position to help Qualcomm out.

But maybe the speeches are really really good, as one might infer from Deutsche Bank, which apparently can't get enough of the Clintons.  Bill got $270,000 for a speech in Boston on August 27, and $150,000 for a speech in New York on September 9.  But that left them hungering for Hillary, who scooped up another $280,000 on October 7.

I initially found those four $181,250 MPSF events over Feb. 2-5 by Bill a bit suspicious, but those may well be the most "innocent" speeches of the lot.  MPSF is some kind of a speaker series, and year after year, they have reasonably famous people out there speaking.  Bill spoke there before in 2002, at $100,000 each for three speeches.

Clearly, his overall fee for this 2015 "work" was $725,000, and he divided it over 4 events.  I haven't quite figured it out, but it looks like he really did give four speeches in a row, including one on a Monday in Marin, and another on a Thursday in the same place (subscribers can choose the Monday or Thursday option).  Here's their website (https://order.speakerseries.net/); you can click around to get some information about past events (http://speakerseries.net/speakers/previous-series/).

These recent disclosures also reminded me about Chelsea Clinton's $75,000 speeches, which the Daily Show tells me are mostly about diarrhea http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/sx65zl/hillary-s-democratic-opponent---dirty-donating).  To her credit, her fees are apparently going to the Clinton Foundation. Of course, she doesn't really need the money -- up until recently, she's been "earning" $600,000 a year at NBC.

Anyway, back to the beginning -- "I gotta pay our bills"??  What kind of bills are they getting?  Each of these people "earns" more in one hour than 99 percent of the rest of us earn in an entire year.  They only had one kid, and that kid is long through college, and is making a pretty good living herself (see above).