For (un)Official Use Only: notorious B.I.G.

Sunday, January 4, 2015

'Mo' Money, Mo' Problems' or 'Trop d'argent Trop des problemes' or #tanksforafrica #jetsforafrica

The longer I live, the more I realize that Biggie Smalls was a visionary ahead of his time, n'est-ce pas?

The economist article this past November, Arms and the African: The Continent's armies are going on a spending spree highlights some startling spending figures going on across the African continent. It also highlights a pet peeve of mine--it is so annoying when an article doesn't just hyperlink it's source...I mean what does the economist think--it's 2005 or something?

Just hyperlink the SIPRI research ECONOMIST, don't make me google it for five ~~minutes~~ seconds!

Anyway, it is astounding the amount of tanks and jets that countries are buying--and wholly unnecessary in 95% of the cases. Nearly every one of these countries would be better off creating a coast guard and spending the air budget on transport planes. Unfortunately, the majority of the blame should be placed on the countries selling them equipment that they don't need and that they can't operate properly and maintain long-term. Reading through the meagre SIPRI research, though, they don't (or didn't have access to) break out the spending by donor country. So ultimately, the ECONOMIST article is nothing more than a teaser for which there isn't the desired research hasn't been done yet.

For grad students, HOWEVER, a great research topic (wish I had thought about this). Although, fat chance getting the various countries to cough up the numbers on all the equipment they received...so maybe not the best topic.

Finally, I would just note that perhaps some of the green countries should perhaps devote a little more of their defense budget (wisely).

LINKS:

http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21633901-continents-armies-are-going-spending-spree-arms-and-african

http://www.sipri.org/research/armaments/milex

http://www.sipri.org/research/armaments/milex/milex_database/milexdata1988-2012v2.xsls

Information from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), http://www.sipri.org/research/armaments/milex/milex_database/milexdata1988-2012v2.xsls"

I came across the WaPo article today through my RSS feed to the great "Essential Reading for Marines". The article is entitled, At VA, a blogger criticizes from the inside, and reading it will give veterans hope that their criticisms of the VA are not falling upon deaf ears. The blogger is Alex Horton (of Army of Dude notoriety, or fame depending on who you ask) and he is a gifted and talented writer. He writes with the 4 C's: clarity, conviction, color and coherency; tenets with which most writers struggle.

The Department of Veterans Affairs took a gamble (but also showed considerable gumption and insight) in hiring one of their most pointed critics--obviously Assistant Secretary Duckworth is a fan of Sun Tzu or perhaps The Godfather, but most likely 2PAC ~~(inside scoop from last summer's interns was she kept the~~ ~~Makaveli- The Don Killuminati 7 Day Theory~~ ~~album on heavy rotation in her office)~~, taking to heart his admonition 35 seconds into his video of his single Blasphemy. (DISCLAIMER: While FUUO does enjoy the occassional Tupac jam, it is decidely on team Biggie Smalls)