Hooked Nose

Public domain image courtesy of Wikipedia

Hooked Nose

(Scene at a baseball diamond)

Her hooked nose stared prominently down

to her - grandchildren?

She was a young 80 or an old 40.

Hard to say.

She wore a vagabond hat like in the “I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For”

U2 video.

Two little boys ran round in the grass.

They didn't see her mortal shell, the total rejection of classic beauty.

They were not frightened.

They were not appalled.

They just played and ran and made steps in the grass.

The witch's man (warlock?)

Sat on the bleachers smoking and staring off into some distant calamity.

One could almost read his thoughts.

He was much younger: Face obscured under baseball cap.

The smell of booze is also like smoke.

Somewhere on that field an invisible game was being played.

Probably not baseball; there were not enough players.

Nor was it frisbee or any sport involving a ball or a passable object.

As far as one could tell there were no points to be scored.

Just time to pass between two adults with different hats

And two little boys without.

Copyright 2011 by Craig Boehman   All rights reserved

Thoughts on Libya

Public domain image courtesy CIA Factbook

The media has been big on giving us the blow-by-blow on every “rebel” victory and defeat in the battle for Libya. In his presidential address, Barack Obama got into the action and informed us of the up-to-date actions; he also made it clear that there were to be no troops on the ground in the efforts to thwart Quadafi loyalists from slaughtering innocent civilians. This is only part of the story. The unrest in the Middle East has provided energy companies and other corporate entities the opportunity to renegotiate their standings with new leaderships just brought to power by popular revolts. Trade regulations are to be relaxed, taxes cut further if they existed at all -- just as in the United States. Tithes to the new leadership may even be far less than what they were previously.

Once again, this is about oil but with a twist: It's about US companies like Exxon and Chevron operating inside Libya supplying oil to our European neighbors. There should be no surprise about it. With Western Europe largely dependent on Russian oil, any secondary sources become a cherished commodity in the light of bi-polar relations with Russian leadership. Libya supplies nearly two percent of the world's oil, not something to snub during harsh European winter conditions. The smokescreen for the operations is under the pretense of protecting civilians, an excuse that should raise eyebrows in light of two major genocides that received zero military support from the United States to end the atrocities in Rwanda and Darfur. The UN only got involved after the slaughter of over a million Africans in both these bouts of ethnic cleansing. The only peep from the US had was through Bill Clinton's public remorse for not lifting a finger to bring the slaughter to a halt in Rwanda, while George W. Bush brought himself to declare the bloodshed in Darfur “genocide” but decided his obligations ended with this axiomatic declaration. It gives the slogans “Forgive but never forget” and “Never again” both black eyes. But how different the outcomes had there been ample oil reserves in either of those nations?

Behind -the-scenes negotiations are now underway to guarantee US energy giants and their European counterparts sweetheart deals when the “rebel” leadership comes into power once Quadafi is defeated. Already, a deal has been struck with Qatar to distribute oil in rebel-controlled territories. This was made possible only by the establishment of a no-fly zone to protect oil refineries and infrastructure. Needless to say, a no-fly zone isn't necessary when evacuating civilians -- that's called “air support” when there is an actual plan in place with support ships offshore or aircraft to perform the evacuations. A no-fly zone is a region controlled to prevent any sort of military operation in the air by the targeted leadership, whether it be for offensives or defensive operations. Arguably, a no-fly zone could be in effect while civilian evacuations are taking place, but how often does a no-fly zone materialize in an oil-rich nation in conflict with the US or NATO forces to protect civilians? An argument could be made that a no-fly zone protected the Kurds in northern Iraq. It did, no doubt about it. But that region is also oil-rich. The bone of contention here is that the US has never established a no-fly zone in a region for the sole sake of a defenseless civilian population.

As long as US policymakers make the subject of oil taboo, a real dialog will never exist and be discussed openly and honestly in the political arena with the American people. Lackluster excuses for war and violence will continue to propagate wherever there's an oil well spitting out its promise of revenue.