Wednesday 5 February 2003

Pic of the day: Personally I find it hard to trust mad despots. (Screenshot from the Japanese anime All Purpose Cultural Catgirl Nuku Nuku.)
In today's entry: A Republican, a mad despot, Japanese cartoons ...

... and rumors of war

I listened to Colin Powell's speech in the UN Security Council today. Well, of course I wasn't in the UN Security Council, I listened on the radio. It made little difference to me, and I would hope to most people.

The proofs he presented were believable only if you already believe. Thousands of small groups of teens could have made grainy satellite photos or distorted voices over a bad phone line. OK, you'd need someone knowing the language to make the voices. But it is obvious that the CIA could cook this up in less than 12 hours if they felt like it, just out of their own imagination. I'm not saying they did so, only that it is totally useless as proof.

At the end, it comes down to whom you trust: A Republican or a mad despot. It's a tough choice, yes, but some time it has to be made. We can't wait for one of them to die from old age. And personally I have a deep distrust in mad despots. This could be from reading too many comics, though.

***

I wonder if Powell and the American government in general really believe that this will change any minds. It would be useful if people really wanted to go to war but felt that they lacked a good excuse. So I suppose it will shore up the morale at home. But most countries don't want to get involved. They like things as they are. It's not like they have any trouble with either side, and they don't want to stand anywhere near when the boy bangs at the hornets' nest.

It doesn't seem like anyone is backing down, so I suppose the war is coming. As I've said before, the USA can pull through such a war, but they cannot pay for it. Each such grand action will add to their mountain of debt, and bring the nation closer to its coming humiliation. That's kinda sad. Hopefully it will just kinda wither away very very slowly, like Japan, not disintegrate messily like the USSR. Japan is still kinda cool, what with all the good cartoons they make there. Much better than in the 40es. Make cartoons, not war! But it's a bit early to say that to the USA yet. Later, perhaps. I'm sure this will all look different when we look back on it. If we live long enough to do that.