Saturday, June 18, 2011

The Shark and The Suckerfish














H/T to the History News Network for running an article by William J. Astore about How the Military and the Civilian Are Blurring in Washington.

The article is well worth reading in its entirety, but it also has this arresting image of the relationship between the U.S. military and the State Department.

In the process [of post-9/11 military enlargement and expansion into foreign policy], the military has gained a kind of unspoken and distinctly un-American primacy. Put another way, after a decade-long budgetary feeding frenzy, the Pentagon has soared, while an eclipsed Department of State, all those civilian diplomats, has been left to eke out a living on budgetary scraps or, as in Iraq today, arm and militarize itself. State, in other words, has become a remora clinging to the predatory shark that is the Department of Defense.


A Remora, also called a Suckerfish, is a parasite that attaches to a host species, commonly to a shark, using the host as transport and protection whjle also feeding on scraps dropped by the host.

The comparison is disturbingly apt.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

TSB: Great post! As a skeptical lawyer (like my dad was) I'd like to know how you line up with this concept. If the law no longer means anything then what is left but war disguised as diplomacy? gwb

Dumb Question of the Twenty-first Century: Is It Legal?
Post-Legal America and the National Security Complex
By Tom Engelhardt
http://www.tomdispatch.com/archive/175398/

Anonymous said...

$$KACHING!$$: Wikileaks strikes again. (Your taxpayer dollars and "perfumed prince generals" at work!)
Ansel Herz and Kim Ives
WikiLeaks Haiti: The Post-Quake 'Gold Rush' for Reconstruction Contracts

http://www.thenation.com/article/161469/wikileaks-haiti-post-quake-gold-rush-reconstruction-contracts

gwb

Anonymous said...

Jon Stewart LIVE On Fox News, Tells Host 'You're Insane' (VIDEO)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/19/jon-stewart-fox-news-sunday-video_n_879964.html?icid=main%7Chtmlws-sb-n%7Cdl1%7Csec1_lnk1%7C216417
TSB: My hero, John Stewart hands Chris Wallace his head regarding Fox News' distinction of having the most misinformed viewers.. and also citing MSNBC for coming in 2nd. gwb

Anonymous said...

TSB! The Mariners only scored 7 runs in 3 games but it was good for 2 wins
against the Phillies (3-2,2-0). Watch out, they will be invading Washington
on Tuesday! Should be fun! gwb

Anonymous said...

TSB: After listening to a bit of Senate hearings on Panetta where NONE of the facts below were mentioned it struck me how out of touch the political class (and US media) is with reality. gwb Thanks again for your "fact based" reporting.

Why Karzai lashed out at the US
By M K Bhadrakumar Atimes June 21
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/MF21Df02.html

TSB said...

I didn't catch any of that hearing, but I saw the vote was 100-0, so they were clearly just going through the motions. Actually, I can't recall any good dramatic hearings since Jesse Helms chaired the SFAC; now, that was always good for drama.

Anonymous said...

TSB: Here's today's drama. Nationals win 9th game of last 10 with 5 runs in bottom of the ninth. (6-5 over Mariners) Great Day for Nats Fans!
I need a drink!and a shrink! gwb

Anonymous said...

TSB: Somebody finally decoded KMA! Orwell would be proud. It took the government 32 pages to say but it's really simple (misinformation). gwb

Attacking Libya -- and the Dictionary
If Americans Don’t Get Hurt, War Is No Longer War
By Jonathan Schell
http://www.tomdispatch.com/

Anonymous said...

Dakota has 2 great posts about how things work in rural Afghanistan. (They are designed not too!) All Americans would share his dispare if they just understood the things he is only now learning over there. gwb

Anonymous said...

TSB: I don't think the Prez mentioned the "secret talks" with the Taliban last nite. I was busy watching the Nats run their streak to 10-1! Kerry
this morning did explain that having the House limit the Prez' war powers in any way just wouldn't work because there are crazy people in the House who are against it! Are you sure we don't live in a "post-legal" world?? gwb

TSB said...

Post-legal, or anyway post-Constitutional. It used to be that most Democrats opposed the Imperial Presidency, now most politicians in both parties are all in favor of it. I'm a Whig, so I completely oppose it, but that leaves me without a political party to support.

Anonymous said...

LOL TSB! Now I have to go back and find out if I'm a Whig! Would they be for or against the R.Paul/B.Frank end prohibition on marijuana bill?? California says that would lower prices by 80%. My therapist advised me to just become Nats fan til the Mariners get hot again. gwb

Anonymous said...

Riggleman resigns after Nationals top Mariners 1-0
Manager Jim Riggleman abruptly resigned after the surprising Washington Nationals beat the Seattle Mariners 1-0 Thursday for their 11th win in 12 games.
Evidently Riggleman figured beating the Mariners 3 games in a row (by a total of 3 runs) was good enough to earn him a new contract and a trip to the hall of fame! Amazing! gwb

TSB said...

On weed, the Whigs would have seen it as a matter for the States to regulate. They weren't Libertarians, but they might have voted to legalize it just because they would have opposed The War on Drugs (and on most anything else).

Regarding post-legalization prices, I would expect to see a permanent demand increase (that was the Dutch experience), and that should cause prices to increase, in least in the near term.

Anonymous said...

I saw the old law enforcement (prohibition) war wagons being rolled out today to tell us how expensive it will be to fight "black market pot" and being shot down
by a Kalifornia NRML professor pointing out that 40% of all non-violent prisoners are in for pot.

Looks like post-governator CA will lead again.. WA state may be right behind with (already) 2 initiatives to legalize.. which could leave it up to Clarence Thomas! Everyone knows what he's been tokin! The opposition will include the banks who will claim they will lose too much laundry business. gwb