Crimes and War Crimes

Conditions: Ominous

Doing Something


Drone Strikes have been back in the news lately. Mostly because White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan made some public statements about the secretive U.S use of Drones in it's everlasting war on terror.

“So let me say it as simply as I can,” Brennan said in a speech at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington. “Yes, in full accordance with the law — and in order to prevent terrorist attacks on the United States and to save American lives — the United States government conducts targeted strikes against specific al-Qaeda terrorists, sometimes using remotely piloted aircraft, often referred to publicly as drones.”

Brennan’s speech was also noteworthy, however, for what he withheld. He did not disclose how many people have been killed, list all the locations where armed drones are being flown or mention the administration’s increasing reliance on “signature” strikes, which allow the CIA to fire missiles even when it doesn’t know the identities of those who could be killed.
[...]

Obama has been accused in recent days of seeking to exploit for political gain the killing of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in a U.S. Special Operations raid a year ago. The president responded to the criticism during a White House news conference Monday, saying, “I hardly think that you’ve seen any excessive celebration taking place here.”

- washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/

I find it interesting that the law can be used when discussing drone strikes where most of the time the people being killed or maimed aren't known. The Bin Laden raid is another issue, where a man wanted by the world for his crimes was essentially shot in the back by a SEAL team, and dumped in the ocean. How can any of this be legal? How can any of it be justice? Do we even care about justice any more? Or is it simply that something is needed to be seen to be done, in order for the American People to be able to sleep at night? And if so, what happens when this ongoing state-sanctioned drone-based assasination op is no longer enough?

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Film Review: The Raid

The Raid is about a police swat team attacking a high-rise building that is under control by a drug kingpin. Naturally, everything goes to hell and it turns into a total bloodbath. Once the bullets have run out it becomes an astonishingly fast and brutal series of fights for the remaining cops to try and get out alive. Now that sounds like a recipe for a fairly routine chop-socky kind of fight movie, maybe starring Jackie Chan or something. But actually, and remarkably, The Raid really does focus on itt's characters and provides drama and tension to all the mayhem.

The Leutenant is actually a bad guy who's set this raid up off the books. The Rookie cop actually knows one of the right hand men of the drug lord. And the drug lord was essentailly expecting them. Paff, Bang, Pow, Crunch! As the movie progresses the fight sequences get even more elaborate and, frankly, incredible. At some points it becomes difficult to believe humans can actually do these things, or that every stuntman on this film wasn't killed at some point. It really is furiously amazing, and a credit to the filmakers, the coordinators and the stunt guys.

As wierd as it sounds, I also felt the acting in between the fights was really good as well, with the Swat characters deperatly trying to survive, and the henchmen positioning themselves in the boss's eyes. I guess you don't go to a fight movie for the acting, but this one has it all the same. Consider it the icing on a particularly hard core cake. It won't be to everyone's taste, but what it does it does very well. Three punches out of five.


Film Review: Battleship

Yes, I know. A particularly stupid film very much in the vein of the Transformers franchise, Battleship puts forward a plot whereby a project in Hawaii to send messages out to an Earth-like planet somewhat backfires when an Alien invasion force subsequently arrives with a fleet of four massive attack ships and, as one of the President's men adorably describes it, a "telephone ship" that happens to collide with one of our sattelites, carreers out of control and crashes into Hong King. Typical. You fly hundreds of light years across the galaxy, only to get wiped out when pulling into the driveway. With their telephone ship busted, the Aliens then decide to take over our space signalling project in order to ...order some space-pizza? ...update their facebook status to 'pissed'? ...call for backup? Who knows, certainly not the film that seems to have exhausted it's plot by the time it gets to that point.

Anyway, the point is that Taylor Kitsch is playing a screwup younger brother serving as a lowly officer on a Navy destroyer that is taking part in some wargames in, you guessed it, Hawaii when the shit hits the fan. With the rest of the fleet blocked from being able to do anything due to a giant force field (and with apparently no submarines anywhere in the Pacific ocean to call upon for help), it's up to Kitsch to save the day. Now, going up against three giant space battleships with one normal sea-based destroyer seems stupid. And it is stupid. But it is helped by the somewhat unpredictable battle tactics of the aliens who can easily destroy anything they want, unless that thing decides to turn and sail away. Also, apparently the aliens don't like sunlight. Yeah.

I'll say this for the film, as aggressivly stupid and loud as it is, it's all about empowering and respecting down and out humans. One of the main heroes doesn't have any legs. Kitch's character has some major personality defects for an officer. And the finale features an old battleship pulled out of mothballs, complete with it's original octogenarian crew, steaming out (with, I believe, actual steam) to take on the mothership. It's loud, it's stupid, it's patriotic, it's a giant navy recruitment video, there's even some good bits in it, mostly including cannon broadsides. I think in the end you just shake your head and stagger out of the cinema for a well-earned drink. Two spiky beards out of five.


- Peace out