Some weekend reading...
The Bush administration's push to privatize war is swiftly turning the military-industrial complex of old into something even more far-reaching: a complex of military industries that do everything but fire weapons. For-profit military companies now enjoy an estimated $100 billion in business worldwide each year, with much of the money going to Fortune 500 firms like Halliburton, DynCorp, Lockheed Martin, and Raytheon.
These companies, known as "Privatized Military Firms" (PMFs), sell everything from small teams of commandos to massive military supply operations. PMFs have operated in places as diverse as Sierra Leone and Iraq, including on behalf of the U.S., and signal an important new development in the way that war is now carried out. Unfortunately, the legal side has not yet caught up to events.
This article by Peter W. Singer examines the applicability of present international laws and definitions to PMFs and finds a gap in effectiveness. It next looks at national attempts at legal regulation and the challenges that they face. Finally, it surveys some of the possible solutions that have been offered to this legal quandary, seeking to offer workable proposals for how the PMF industry might be brought under some standard of regulation.
War, Profits, and the Vacuum of Law: Privatized Military Firms and International Law (PDF—129kb)
Columbia Journal of Transnational Law, Spring 2004
by Peter W. Singer, National Security Fellow, Foreign Policy Studies
And, here's a transcript of the P. W. Singer interview by Terry Gross on Fresh Air, 9 July 2003
Thursday, May 06, 2004
Signs of spring...
Fish Creek's Skyway Drive-in Movie Theater, one of eight remaining drive-ins in Wisconsin, opens this Friday evening May 7, with "50 First Dates" and "Secret Window" - Gates open at 7:45 with the first movie rolling at 8:20 PM and the second feature at approximately 10 PM.
And a hot summer ahead... in film politics anyway.
AP reporter Christy Lemire says:
Mel Gibson, director of "The Passion of the Christ," had difficulty finding someone willing to release his graphic telling of the last hours of Christ's life. Major studios were wary because some religious leaders feared it would foster anti-Semitism. But whether filmgoers showed up at theaters to be inspired or appalled, they showed up - and "The Passion," under independent distributor Newmarket Films, has made more than $366 million in the past 10 weeks.
Meanwhile, Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., has asked the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation for a hearing on what he called a "disturbing pattern of politically based corporate censorship of the news media and the entertainment industry."
Lautenberg argued Wednesday in a letter to his committee chairman, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., that Disney (through Miramax) has the violent "Kill Bill - Vol. 2" in theaters now, but is blocking Michael Moore's film, "Fahrenheit 9/11." based on its political viewpoint.
In the movie, Moore interviewed author Craig Unger about his book "House of Bush, House of Saud," which details the Bush-Saudi relationship going back to the 1970s.
"I found about $1.4 billion in investments and contracts going from the House of Saud to companies in which the Bushes and their allies - I'm including Dick Cheney, for example - have had prominent positions," Unger said.
The book and the film also say the government helped 140 Saudis leave the United States on Sept. 13, 2001 - two dozen of whom were bin Laden's relatives.
Unger said that while he hadn't seen the film, "There's clearly a big audience for this and I think the intent to kill it will fail." He pointed to several recent books besides his own that critically examine the Bush administration, including Ron Suskind's "The Price of Loyalty," Richard Clarke's "Against All Enemies" and Bob Woodward's "Plan of Attack."
Fish Creek's Skyway Drive-in Movie Theater, one of eight remaining drive-ins in Wisconsin, opens this Friday evening May 7, with "50 First Dates" and "Secret Window" - Gates open at 7:45 with the first movie rolling at 8:20 PM and the second feature at approximately 10 PM.
And a hot summer ahead... in film politics anyway.
AP reporter Christy Lemire says:
Mel Gibson, director of "The Passion of the Christ," had difficulty finding someone willing to release his graphic telling of the last hours of Christ's life. Major studios were wary because some religious leaders feared it would foster anti-Semitism. But whether filmgoers showed up at theaters to be inspired or appalled, they showed up - and "The Passion," under independent distributor Newmarket Films, has made more than $366 million in the past 10 weeks.
Meanwhile, Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., has asked the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation for a hearing on what he called a "disturbing pattern of politically based corporate censorship of the news media and the entertainment industry."
Lautenberg argued Wednesday in a letter to his committee chairman, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., that Disney (through Miramax) has the violent "Kill Bill - Vol. 2" in theaters now, but is blocking Michael Moore's film, "Fahrenheit 9/11." based on its political viewpoint.
In the movie, Moore interviewed author Craig Unger about his book "House of Bush, House of Saud," which details the Bush-Saudi relationship going back to the 1970s.
"I found about $1.4 billion in investments and contracts going from the House of Saud to companies in which the Bushes and their allies - I'm including Dick Cheney, for example - have had prominent positions," Unger said.
The book and the film also say the government helped 140 Saudis leave the United States on Sept. 13, 2001 - two dozen of whom were bin Laden's relatives.
Unger said that while he hadn't seen the film, "There's clearly a big audience for this and I think the intent to kill it will fail." He pointed to several recent books besides his own that critically examine the Bush administration, including Ron Suskind's "The Price of Loyalty," Richard Clarke's "Against All Enemies" and Bob Woodward's "Plan of Attack."
Monday, May 03, 2004
At the start of weekly staff meetings, Wal-Martians must do the Wal-Mart chant. For those of you sitting on the edge of your seat, here's how it goes. "Gimme a 'W'!" - "W!" "Gimme an 'A'!" - "A!" "Gimme an 'L'!" - "L!" "Gimme a squiggly!" (A 'squiggly' represents the dash between the "Wal" and the "Mart"). Here, instead of yelling "squiggly" the Wal-Mart associates wiggle their asses. I'm not kidding. Then the cheerleader proceeds to yell the M, A, R, and T to the appropriate responses. Then the lead yells "What's that spell?" - "Wal-Mart!" "Who's NUMBER ONE!?" - "Customers, ALWAYS!".
A further probe inside Wal-Mart corporate culture reveals another official Wal-Mart chant:
Stack it deep.
Sell it cheap.
Stack it high and watch it fly.
Hear those downtown merchants cry
Sprawl-Busters response - "Your quality of life is worth more than a cheap pair of underwear."
A further probe inside Wal-Mart corporate culture reveals another official Wal-Mart chant:
Stack it deep.
Sell it cheap.
Stack it high and watch it fly.
Hear those downtown merchants cry
Sprawl-Busters response - "Your quality of life is worth more than a cheap pair of underwear."
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