by CKR
I've been offline for a few days, so today I'm catching up.
When I came to the Washington Post's lead story on President Bush's plans to send the National Guard to the Mexican border, I immediately thought of a conversation here with some of my friends.
We were driving back to their home on the Viimsi peninsula, east of Tallinn. The road is newly improved, with a separate bicycle and pedestrian path.
"This is the place we had to show our documents," my host said, gesturing toward a small Soviet-style building that had survived the roadbuilding. "And this is the office where I had to come many times when I did not have my documents as a teenager." The office was a larger building, same style, on the other side of the road.
The Viimsi peninsula is the fastest-growing suburb of Tallinn. Homes and apartments are springing up. The narrow roads in older residential areas are hopelessly clogged. Up until the past few years, it was mostly countryside and summer homes. It was relatively inaccessible until people were able to buy cars, and Estonians have been buying cars the past few years.
"Guests had to have special visas. They had to apply ten days ahead of time. What a mess when we had our wedding!"
There is a Soviet border guard tower on the coast, not far from my friends' home. It is decaying, and the sea is doing its duty, carving the low cliff away. In twenty more years, the tower will fall.
"When someone escaped, the guards would come to the house and we would have to show our documents. If we were working in the garden, we would have to go inside, wash up, and get our documents out."
Why is Bush calling out the National Guard? What experience do they have as border guards? What will be their instructions?
The analyses I've read see it as all politics: Bush's base is unhappy, the House wants draconian measures on immigration, and Bush's popularity numbers are breaking 30% on the way down. The Christian Right is unhappy that more progress has not been made toward a theocracy. So send the troops to the border.
Wasn't there an uproar a few months back that Mexican troops were at the border? Would it be possible for President Bush to consider any action primarily for its value to the country?
Oh well, I guess I can be grateful that Iran hasn't been bombed yet.