Podcast 438

Post Paris Reset. In an odd way there isn’t much to add to the observations in Podcast 437. Almost everything predicted regarding coverage of and reaction to the Paris Attacks has come true. In the aftermath of ‘Paris’, an hour or two spent with cable news yields little new information, but provokes an emotional response with viewers. This emotional response is intensified hour after hour as the same footage is replayed, the crawl at the bottom of the screen details the statements of politicians, while ‘experts’ argue on screen. Conversely, in ten minutes spent on line, one gets an idea of the contours of new developments with the story. Yet, people sit staring at Cable TV News for hours expecting some new development, getting more and more frustrated and angry, or afraid and concerned. This doesn’t advance the story, and doesn’t make it any easier to understand what has happened and what can be done about it. The media is complicit in creating an all-or-nothing, right-left, up or down orientation to every story, especially big stories that get covered and discussed hour after hour. The results are predictable; Politicians are already urging we send hundreds of thousands of troops into Iraq, or to ‘declare war on ISIS’. The only reasonable conclusion that has been drawn is that the Syrian refugee program in the US should be suspended until Congress can determine whether the vetting process is effective or not and even that has become a contentious issue to be argued ad infinitum. Meanwhile we’re no closer to developing a foreign policy that addresses Russia, the Rise of China and Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and terrorism. Politically, we don’t seem to have any idea where we want to be as a country in fifteen or twenty years. Given this philosophical vacuum, the same voices that got us into Iraq twice in the last 20 years are already advocating a continuation of the same failed policies, with predictably negative results. Is this what you want? Best be sure, because you’re about to vote for it. Again. Sponsored by Hydrus, Pride of Homes and Luke Team Real Estate. 

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Podcast 437

STFU Media. Most of the time the blog I write to describe each podcast, as long term subscribers to the Bob Davis Podcasts know, is written in the third person. Not this one. In the wake of the Paris Terror attacks I am grateful I’m not getting paid to go on the air, flap my jaws, and spread utter nonsense about a breaking news story no one knows anything about as it breaks. This was the case for the weekend of November 13th, as terrorists attacked a theater in Paris, France. What is the total effect of this cavalcade of nonsense? Nothing will happen. There will be counterstrikes which will be pin pricks. Speeches will be given. Statements of ‘solidarity’ will be issued. There will be pledges to bring the ‘attackers to justice’, but that’s all a bunch of bull. These kinds of attacks benefit the media, the state and the terrorists. No matter what our so called leaders tell you, they’re not going to do anything about anything. Instant experts appear on television to pimp their blogs, books and radio shows. Politicians appear to make strong statements of condemnation or to suggest carefully that we ‘avoid the rush to judgement’, and the terrorists claim credit. Everyone wins, right? Given the stellar examples of US Government competence like the VA, the Obama Care Website, Amtrak, and the Department of Education, do we really believe they are going to be able to protect citizens from a bunch of determined terrorists with Ak-47’s, grenades and suicide belts? I wouldn’t hold my breath. As a presidential election cycle approaches candidates are throwing out one liners as ‘solutions’. It’s always someone else who has to ‘do something’. It’s as easy as pushing a button on your car radio, or switching to another cable news channel for the same nonsense under a different label. Except it isn’t. I’ve done several foreign policy podcasts and I have said again and again the United States needs a new foreign policy, and that it isn’t going to come out of a can or box. No one seems to have thought much about that, least of all the voters. The truth? We’re at the beginning of at least a multi decade struggle for our survival and something tells me, we’re still completely unprepared. Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul and Pride of Homes. 

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Podcast 371

The Islamic State. Now What? Just recently the perfumed princes in Washington were thrilled about a Delta Force Operation that killed one of the Islamic State’s top leaders and included the arrest of his wife. It was the kind of adventure story the American Media loves, and they gleefully turned the raid into a cartoon complete with reports of casualty free hand-to-hand combat and lurid reports of the freeing of a slave held by the couple. It was a good story and served as a narrative the White House used to prove the President’s strategy was indeed ‘degrading’ the ISIS military capabilities. I decided to wait to talk about this story, because I knew another shoe would drop. Sure enough, within a few days we were greeted with grim reports of the rout of the Iraqi Army defending Ramadi, in the Anbar province, less than 70 miles from Baghdad. Even worse, as the Iraqis ran, they left lots of shiny new military equipment from the United States, which will now be employed against Iraqis and ultimately Americans. Within a few days it has become clear President Obama’s strategy isn’t working. Now what? The problem is, this country’s media, its politicians, and its leaders have no idea what to do about this problem. We need to have a conversation that starts with what the Foreign Policy of the United States is, and what it should be, rather than fifty reporters chasing a 68 year old woman around Iowa, while she has breakfast with ten or eleven people at a time, or demanding a former governor and head of a super pac tell the country what he would have done in 2003. Don’t hold your breath. Given the fast food nature of America’s media and political environment, I am surprised anyone even knows where Anbar province is, unless they had the honor of serving there. Yet the question remains. Do you want to invade Iraq again to stop ISIS? Should we stop ISIS, since they’re fighting Iran? What are we doing, when our allies don’t understand or trust our President, and 38 people are running for President? Are we in favor of early interventions in problem areas? Does it work? A new world is being birthed, and whole sections of the planet are slipping back in time, rather than progressing. When economies in the West, and in Asia start growing in earnest again we’re going to move very quickly forward. Some places are going to be left behind. When that happens, we’re going to see some bad things happening. Are we prepared? Are you prepared? Do you know what to advocate? Do you have an opinion about what’s best for the United States? Is there a politician that can articulate and execute that idea, after 2017. Because chances are, the next black swan event that changes the world will either be economic, or foreign related, or both. As ISIS beheads, burns, cages, kills children and adds to the chaos that is the Middle East these days, the US political clown show, including the one in the White House, doesn’t give me much faith. What about you? Sponsored by X Government Cars. (Photo from the New York Post) 

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