Matt Yglesias

Kristol’s Next War

In addition to being a booster of the two actual wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Bill Kristol and/or his publication has, at one time or another, also called for the United States to go to war with North Korea, Syria, Iran, and Sudan. And now he’s got another war he’s like to start:

And while [Bush is] at it, perhaps he could tell various admirals to stop moaning about how difficult it would be to deal with the pirates off the coast of Somalia (isn’t keeping the shipping lanes open a core mission of the Navy?) and order the Navy to clobber them. If need be, the Marines would no doubt be glad to recapitulate their origins and join in by going ashore in Africa to destroy the pirates’ safe havens.

I’m not one to say that we should blindly defer to the preferences of the military brass, but surely they’re due some deference. Is the Navy really “moaning” about how difficult it would be to stop the pirates, or are they perhaps accurately describing difficulties? Where does Kristol get off adopting a condescending tone on this subject? The Marines “would no doubt be glad” to spearhead an amphibious assault on land-based Somali targets? Has he asked anyone about that? I think a lot of Marines feel that the Corps has a lot on its plate in Iraq and Afghanistan. And certainly I’ve never heard someone with legitimate knowledge of the regional situation indicate that a simple “destroy the pirates’ safe havens” operation would work. You’d need to address the fact that the whole country is in a persistent state of anarchy.

One might further note that the whole situation is a big unintended consequence of the Christmas 2006 Ethiopian invasion of Somalia. Something that was done with full US support and loudly cheered by The Weekly Standard. But thought he consequence was unintended, it was widely predicted by people who knew what they were talking about. I harp on this because it’s a subject I was prescient on, but I wasn’t prescient due to any incredible leaps of genius — I just listened to the International Crisis Group rather than, you know, The Weekly Standard. But now Kristol wants to go off on yet another half-baked invasion scheme. Or, rather, he wants to posture as favoring such. Because the best wars to monger for are the ones that don’t actually happen.

Kristol: McCain Likes Wild Bets!

I definitely agree with Bill Kristol that the Palin pick is best described through gambling metaphors and reflects John McCain’s gambler persona. I guess, though, that if I were going to say that McCain “went all in with Sarah Palin” I would add that he seems to have decided to go all in without really looking at his hole cards which is pretty odd.

Meanwhile, I wish Kristol would have said more about Joe Lieberman. I could understand passing up Lieberman in favor of a safe pick. But as far as risky gambles go, Lieberman seems like the smarter play. For one thing, he’s been vetted in a VP race before. And for another thing, I understand clearly what the potential Lieberman constituency would be — hawkish Democrats who disagree with Barack Obama on key foreign policy issues and are looking for permission to vote Republican. Lots of conservative elites, of course, were horrified by the idea of a Lieberman VP pick for understandable reasons. But Kristol seems like exact the sort of conservative elite — primarily in it for the bloodshed and vicarious thrills of empire — who would look favorably on a McCain-Lieberman ticket so I’d like to hear his thoughts on the matter.

Bill Kristol, Feminist

Bill Kristol, well-known feminist, criticizes what he terms “the Democrats’ glass ceiling.” His implication is that sexism is the only possible motive for picking Joe Biden over Hillary Clinton and he wants to make mischief along these lines.

I’m glad to see Kristol’s newfound passion for these issues. I notice that, for example, The Weekly Standard doesn’t seem to have seen fit to comment at all on Lilly Ledbetter’s court case or the subsequent legislative effort it inspired. But maybe now that Clinton’s plight has tugged at his heartstrings Kristol will make sure that these kind of oversights don’t happen again. Right? I mean, it’s not possible that Kristol is anything other than sincere in raising this issue.