re: "Senators Propose U.S. Visas for Alien Home Buyers with $500K in Cash Investment, Dictators and Drug Lords Lining Up Over There"

Domani Spero at Diplopundit (" one of the best niche blogs for Foreign Service folks ") examined some proposed legislation.

Money quote(s):

"WSJ reports that Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.) and Mike Lee (R., Utah) are preparing to introduce a bipartisan bill that would give residence visas to foreigners who spend at least $500,000 to buy houses in the U.S.

According to WSJ, the proposed measure would offer visas to any foreigner making a cash investment of at least $500,000 on residential real-estate—a single-family house, condo or townhouse. Applicants can spend the entire amount on one house or spend as little as $250,000 on a residence and invest the rest in other residential real estate, which can be rented out."

The catch is that this sort of visa won't carry with it any authorization for work or employment.

"(T)he deep pockets foreigners with $500K can buy houses in the United States, and will be granted resident visas, but they’re not allowed to work. Of course, with 500K, it’s not like they’re the kind you see who shows up to pick apples in Washington State or oranges in Florida.

We are obviously looking for independently wealthy foreigners who do not need to work while they enjoy their new houses in a real American neighborhood."

As a relatively recent homeowner myself, I'm persuadable that homeowners pump a lot of money into local economies, what with what it takes to keep the inside indoors and the outside outdoors.

"It used to be that people who want to come here and can’t get visas pay smugglers to sneak them in. I hear that the price go from $2,000 to name that price. Now, under this proposed bill, people with $500K can come here with a resident visa, and we’ll even roll out the red carpet.

Wanna guess who has that much cash floating around? Well, for starters, dictators, drug lords, drug traffickers and their girlfriends/boyfriends always have that much cash around, in case.

But, but … that’s not going to happen because they will be screened scrupulously, and they won’t be able to take American jobs because working here without a separate permit would be illegal under this bill. Besides DHS/ICE will go after them. You know, like they’ve gone after other illegal aliens and overstays in this country. The same agency who has no idea when foreign visitors exit the country. Or not."

I only wish I didn't share DS's skepticism regarding DHS's interest (which is not the same as its ability) in immigration enforcement.

On the other hand, the bureaucratic imperative to go after low-hanging fruit, i.e., the easy way to improve your arrest and deportation statistics, is to go after otherwise law-abiding and non-dangerous violaters who can be detained and processed without fuss or muss.

"I have yet to read the text of the bill but I already feel for our consular officers working at over 250 consular posts. Videoconferencing, also coming soon to the a virtual interview booth near you.

Might this be a good time to suggest that the State Department invite Senators Schumer and Lee to go through ConGen training and deploy both under temporary consular commissions for at least 180 days at a visa issuing post? Preferably to Guangzhou, Manila, Lagos and Mexico City conducting visa interviews?

It’s a fun gig, you guys! This would help you both understand the process, as well as teach you that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service process nonimmigrant visa petitions; but nonimmigrant visas are issued by the Department of State. I know it’s confusing. You will also learn that the State Department already charges $60 for expedited processing of U.S. passports (*** so no need to add that in the new bill unless you’re upping the tab). They’ll teach you how to read faces and how to administer a smell test to determine who is telling a fib; a great trick by the way to bring back to Congress. During training you’ll pretend like you’re in a different country, and then you will actually be shipped to a different country where all your new acquaintances become your best friends as you see them in front of your visa interview window. You won’t regret it ever or forget the experience for that matter! And it will help make you become better legislators especially on this interesting and exciting field of immigration."

10/21

re: "Casing the Colors"

George Smiley at In From the Cold (" MUSINGS ON LIFE, LOVE, POLITICS, MILITARY AFFAIRS, THE MEDIA, THE INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY AND JUST ABOUT ANYTHING ELSE THAT CAPTURES OUR INTEREST ") marked the ceremony on December 15, 2011.

From the Wall Street Journal:

"For the U.S. military, the war in Iraq formally ended today, with a ceremony in Baghdad. From The Wall Street Journal:

After nearly nine years of war, tens of thousands of casualties--including 4,500 Americans dead--and more than $800 billion spent, the U.S. military on Thursday formally ended its mission in Iraq and prepared to leave the country.
.
For years, U.S. commanders in Iraq have handed off to their successors the top call sign, Lion 6, along with the American battle flag adorned with a Mesopotamian sphinx. But on Thursday, in a tradition-drenched ceremony with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta looking on, the current Lion 6—Army Gen. Lloyd Austin—pulled down the colors and cased them for a return to the U.S."

Money quote(s):

"As with most modern wars, there was no surrender ceremony, and there won't be any ticker-tape parades through New York City for our returning heroes. And no one used the word "victory" to describe the outcome of our nine-year stay in Iraq.

Sadly, that is also a reflection of our times. After almost a decade (and thousands of war dead), no one appears willing to call Iraq a victory, given that country's uncertain future. Iran is already moving to fill the power vacuum created by the departure of our troops, and it's easy to envision an Iraq that (at some point) will be closely aligned with Tehran.

And, perhaps future historians will note that we had the opportunity to extend our stay in Iraq, providing more training for the domestic forces now charged with keeping the peace. But we took a pass on that option, in the name of election-year politics."

Note that the current nominee to be U.S. ambassador to Iraq was the lead negotiator on that missed "opportunity."

"(I)it is well worth remembering the sacrifice, heroism and valor of the men and women who served there. All were volunteers, and many pulled multiple tours in Iraq, enduring months and years of separation from family, friends and loved ones.

They deserve credit for not only performing their duty, but transforming Iraq in the process."

This is also true for those who served out-of-uniform, as diplomats, as trainers, as advisors, as logistics, support, and security specialists; all volunteers.

(Well, some were "volun-told.")

"The efforts of U.S. and Iraqi troops, along with the coalition partners also allowed Iraq to form a fledgling democracy. Iraqis defied terrorist threats and violence to go the polls for free and fair elections, dipping their fingers in purple ink wells that signified they had voted. It was a powerful rebuke to the terrorists and one of the earliest indicators that Iraqis were willing to do their part--if the U.S. stayed the course.

While some Iraqis are cheering the departure of our last troops, others are worried about what comes next. The U.S. spent billions of dollars training and equipping Iraq's security forces, and many of them are extremely competent. But they will face a real test in the months and years ahead, as Iran tries to exert its influence, and sectarian groups push their own agendas.

In the end, it might be written, the U.S. gave Iraq a fighting chance for a democratic future. It is now up to the sons and daughters of that country to preserve what was established in blood and treasure. In today's world, it may be the best outcome we could hope for. But on the other hand, we should also hope that historians and war college students in 2020 aren't debating about "who lost Iraq," due to a hasty pull-out." (Bold typeface added for emphasis. - CAA.)

The U.S. is pretty much done in Iraq, at least militarily. The only thing likely that would get us back in Iraq in any significant military sense, and then only temporarily, would be a fighting evacuation of our still substantial civilian (diplomatic, development, and training) presence.

"ADDENDUM: If you know someone who served in Iraq, thank them for their service."

You're welcome.

(Now don't waste it.)

12/15

re: "Some Americans are beginning to get it"

Dr. Helen Szamuely at Your Freedom and Ours ("A blog about politics and other things... ...but always from the right perspective.") welcomes Americans to their dawning realization.

Money quote(s):

"By and large, American attitude to the European project has varied from "not all that interested" through "you guys need to get your act together" whenever some American interest was hit to "great idea this unification if only it could be done the right way". I exaggerate but only a little though I do have a number of friends on the other side of the Pond who long ago grasped that the European Union was a very bad idea, ought never to have happened but now that it has, ought to be got rid of and Britain ought to take her rightful place within the Anglosphere"

The Anglosphere is an interesting topic and I think the notion sheds some light on why the "European project" hasn't (or isn't) resulting in the United States of Europe so desired by many of the Brussels persuasion.

(For those unfamiliar with the term, the "European project" refers to the ever-closer union-ing that's taken a coal & steel market to today's European Union.)

The Thirteen Colonies, for all their squabbling problems, had one thing that Europe has never had: a common language.

"(W)hat will come after "Europe" will be Europe without quotation marks. You know, the one that has been around for some time and has produced quite a few good ideas as well as a large number of bad ones."

Europe isn't going anywhere this side of a supernova or major asteroid impact.

How united it will be, or even how European it will remain, are different sets of questions.

"The outright fraud was there from the very beginning. Indeed, the fictions he lists, which some of us have been writing about for more years that we care to admit to, are inherently impossible without fraud.Nevertheless, this is quite a big step forward in our fight to make the truth known in the United States. Now, all we need is an understanding of it in Britain."

Blessedly, Great Britain never fully succumbed, at least to the point of joining the common currency, to the continental madness.

9/20

re: "Understanding Germany"

Joerg Wolf at Atlantic Review ("strives to be the center for news analysis and thoughtful online discussions on contemporary transatlantic relations issues ranging from defense to economics and culture") examined a Wall Street Journal piece on Germany.

Money quote(s):

"(M)ost Germans are not convinced that America's current wars are advancing our security significantly. We are war-weary rather than pacifist. To understand why most Germans do not want to send troops, I would add to the above reading recommendations the movie Das Boot, which is based on the book by Lothar-Günther Buchheim. The battle of Stalingrad is still very strong in the collective memory and informs many Germans' positions on contemporary wars IMHO, but I don't know if any movie or book is responsible for it."

If the U.S. was only sixty years (two generations) past the last time the U.S. had been on the losing side of a major land war, we might have a similar stance. That we didn't, historically, is probably due to our being both sides of the American Civil War.

6/27

re: "The Road to Serfdom View 20110707-1"

Dr. Jerry Pournelle at Chaos Manor ("This is my personal journal and day book. Subjects include civilization and technology, strategy, climate, energy policy, space access, and other issues that interest me.") is always worth reading.

Money quote(s):

"Today’s Wall Street Journal has an op ed essay called “The Road to Serfdom and the Arab Revolt” that ought to be required reading for everyone in the State Department, although I suspect that few in State read WSJ. Fouad Ajami of the Hoover Institution has a good analysis of what is going wrong in the Arab world. He also calls attention to F. A. Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom. Hayek’s 1944 masterpiece is such an essential part of any intelligent citizen’s education that I tend to forget that there are many who have not read it. If you know anyone who hasn’t, rag them until they do. It’s not a long book, and it’s not difficult reading. One key discussion in the book is “Why the worst get on top.” "

Time to buy Hayek's book; I've put it off long enough.

"FALLEN ANGELS is a science fiction adventure novel by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Michael Flynn. Much of it is satirical but it has its serious moments. The premise is a world in which The Ice returns: a good part of Canada is under glacial sheet ice, which is moving south. There is Climate Change all right, and human actions affect it."

'Fallen Angels" is an excellent and entertaining read, although it owes just a smidgen too much to inside jokes within the science fiction fan and convention community.

WSJ - While My Son Serves

Dave Shiflett at the Walls Street Journal's "The Saturday Essay" is the father of a deployed soldier. He describes what that's like.

Money quote(s):

"What's it like seeing a family member off to Iraq, and perhaps beyond?

The question comes up regularly these days as our 26-year-old son prepares to ship out. Kids in our middle-class world tend to head for college or for the sort of job that eventually convinces them that college isn't such a bad idea after all. Some friends wonder how our son ended up a sergeant in the Army National Guard.

"Sarge" (as we call him now) didn't volunteer because of family influence. We are Virginians and have served, but only when called. The Vietnam War ended before I got called up, but my father was a World War II navigator in the Naval Air Corps, transporting troops from Hawaii to Guam, and Sarge's grandfather on the other side was in a front-line artillery unit in Korea. A century before, the man I was named after did some surveillance work for Robert E. Lee, and in something of that spirit, our son became an Army Scout.

He is, to be sure, a good demographic fit: Over two-thirds of our armed forces are white, most are male, and Southerners continue to be well-represented in the ranks."

Just to be clear for the statistically-challenged: that means nearly a third of our armed forces are not white, many are female, and yankees could step up to the plate a bit more.

"New acquaintances sometimes seem shocked to meet someone with a deployed family member. "I'm so sorry," is their typical response. You'd almost think the lad was heading into rehab or entering the slave trade. Others simply have no experience with the phenomenon of military service. At a Christmas party a few years ago, a colleague told me, very earnestly, that I was the only person he knew with someone in the military and that my son (whom he had never met) was his only link to that world.

Sheldon Kelly, an old family friend who served with the 82nd Airborne and whose own son has done multiple tours, recalls a lunch in Washington, D.C., with professional friends when the Iraq war was at a high point. "They were all war hawks," he recalled, "but when I told them my son was in Iraq, they were stunned. It was like I was in a different class." None, he added, had children in the military."

My own parents reported something similar. While Dad's a Vietnam veteran (not Vietnam era, Vietnam War) and Mom's an Army brat herself (Grandpa fought in the Philippines and survived a brutal POW experience), in suburban retirement they found that, for many of their peers, I was their only connection with service in Iraq.

(Upon my return from Iraq, I found myself considerably annoyed at all the removeable magnetic "Support The Troops" yellow ribbons. Removeable?)

In fairness, that particular country-club set rallied themselves into more substantive support of wounded patients (and their families) recovering at Walter Reed Army and Bethesda Naval hospitals. And I myself was the beneficiary of considerble care package support from folks I barely knew, and prayers from congretations in towns and cities I've never visited. So there's that.

"Deployment also cured me of a lingering cable-TV habit. Whatever patience I once had for the chattering class—make that the braying class—disappeared. I don't know what is worse: raving about how our soldiers are "mercenaries" or hearing a parlor patriot (go get 'em, boys!) suggest that because recent conflicts are "low-casualty" (compared with Vietnam, Korea and the world wars), they are nothing to get worked up about. As my friend Sheldon pointed out, it does seem that the people with the biggest heart for war never seem to have any blood on the line."

If you don't have skin in the game, then it's not commitment, just a sort-of involvement. As for cable TV, I stopped watching news television (other than Fox) during the redeployment homeward from Iraq. MSNBC and CNN didn't seem to be reporting on the same war I'd just left, at least not even as honestly as Al-Jazeera; only Fox seemed to be actually supporting the troops.

(And troops notice these things. As Dr. Pournelle likes to repeat: Beware the anger of the legions.)

"Deployment can also be a positive experience for soldiers. After returning home, our son said that "when I'm out in the desert, I feel like I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing." Sometimes you have to travel 7,000 miles to find a sense of purpose, and many men, I suspect, may come to wish they had made a similar journey.

It's my impression that men like me, who never served, often feel that we've missed out on an important part of life. We don't know what it's like to be young and far away from home, vulnerable to instant personal extinction but also part of the comradeship that such danger creates. In this sense my son's service is a far greater thing than I have ever done.

Back home from deployments, soldiers can experience a vast array of problems, from nervousness while driving under an overpass (ambush?) or in traffic (since cars in today's war zones can carry bombs)"

Madam-at-Arms still doesn't like how I drive after coming home from Iraq most of a decade ago. But having lived (as diplomats) in the Third World, I believe she's come to appreciate why I kept things like first-aid kits, various tools, &tc. in the Arms-mobile, as well as why I always kept the tank at least half full.

_____

Hat tip to Kathryn Jean Lopez at National Review Online.

WSJ - Mrs. Madoff Gets Passport

From my archive of press clippings:

Wall Street Journal


Mrs. Madoff Gets Passport


JULY 8, 2009

NEW YORK -- Ruth Madoff, the wife of convicted Ponzi-scheme operator Bernard Madoff, is getting her passport back.

Read the whole article here.

S&S - Obama considering holding some detainees indefinitely

From my archive of press clippings:

Stars and Stripes

Obama considering holding some detainees indefinitely


Stars and Stripes


Mideast edition, Friday, May 15, 2009


The Obama administration is considering the possibility of detaining some terror suspects in the United States — indefinitely and without trial, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

Read the whole article here.

WSJ - All in the Family. Adoption Comes Home to China.

Wall Street Journal

All in the Family. Adoption Comes Home to China.


LIFE & STYLE

MARCH 13, 2009


By JANE LANHEE LEE NAVILLE

In a small coastal town in Guangdong province, a baby was found at a hospital identified only by a birth date -- April 22, 2005 -- written in ballpoint pen on her stomach. She was 3 months old.

Read the whole article here.

WJS - Have a Foreign Parent? Cash In.

From my archive of press clippings:

Wall Street Journal

Have a Foreign Parent? Cash In.

By EMILY GREEN

June 15, 2008

Do you have an Irish grandparent? Is your mother or father Mexican, or was your paternal great-grandfather born in Italy?

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"American citizens who answer yes to such questions may qualify for dual citizenship based on their ancestry.

And "the benefits of another citizenship can be significant," says Peter Spiro, a professor of international law at Temple University's law school.

Among them: expanded opportunities to work or retire overseas.

A number of countries, including Mexico, Australia, India and the Dominican Republic, have legalized some form of multiple citizenship over the last decade."

WSJ - Beijing Woman Dies of Avian Flu

Wall Street Journal

JANUARY 7, 2009

Beijing Woman Dies of Avian Flu

By GORDON FAIRCLOUGH

SHANGHAI -- A 19-year-old Beijing woman has died of bird flu, the first human case of the virus in China since February last year, the government said Tuesday, putting public-health officials on higher alert for a possible resurgence of the disease this winter.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"The woman, who lived on the outskirts of China's capital, succumbed Monday morning to the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, according to a statement by the Beijing health bureau. It didn't say how she became infected.

A World Health Organization statement said the woman appears to have been infected during the slaughter and preparation of poultry."

&

"Human infections with H5N1 peaked in 2006, when 115 cases -- 79 of them fatal -- were reported to the WHO. In 2008, there were 40 cases of human infection with H5N1, leading to 30 deaths -- a tiny number compared with the death toll from ordinary flu.

Since fall, outbreaks of avian influenza in birds have been reported in countries including Vietnam, Thailand, India, Togo and Germany. One person died of bird flu in Indonesia in November, and a teenager in Egypt died of the disease in December."

WSJ - India Security Faulted as Survivors Tell of Terror. At Tourist Haunts and Train Station, Swiftly Launched Assault Overwhelmed Police

From my archive of press clippings:

Wall Street Journal

India Security Faulted as Survivors Tell of Terror. At Tourist Haunts and Train Station, Swiftly Launched Assault Overwhelmed Police; Home Affairs Minister Steps Down.

By YAROSLAV TROFIMOV, GEETA ANAND, PETER WONACOTT and MATTHEW ROSENBERG

DECEMBER 1, 2008, 4:42 P.M. ET

MUMBAI -- As waiters started setting dinner buffets in Mumbai's luxurious hotels, the killings that would ravage this Indian metropolis began out of sight, in the muddy waters of the Arabian Sea.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"Hotline Numbers

The U.S. State Department has established a Consular Call Center for Americans concerned about family or friends who may be visiting or living in Mumbai, India. The number is (888) 407-4747. The U.K. government has set up hotlines for people worried about the safety of friends and family. The U.K. number is 44 (0)20 7008 0000. The number in India is (0091) 1124192288."