Asawin Suebsaeng

Interactive Writing Fellow

Asawin Suebsaeng is the interactive writing fellow at the Washington, DC, bureau of Mother Jones. He has also written for The American Prospect, the Bangkok Post, and Shoecomics.com.

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A graduate of Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Penn., Asawin came back to DC with hopes of putting his flimsy Creative Writing major, student newspaper tenure, and interest in human rights and political chicanery to some use. He started cutting his teeth at F&M's student-run weekly, The College Reporter, serving as editor in chief. He has interned at The American Prospect, been a reporter for the Bangkok Post, and scribbled for ShoeComics.com. His favorite movie is either Apocalypse Now or Pirahna 3D, depending on the day or mood.

Iran War Watch: Syria Proxy War?

—By Asawin Suebsaeng

| Mon Mar. 12, 2012 1:45 PM PDT

A billboard with a portrait of President Bashar al-Assad, reading "Allah protects Syria," in Damascus.

Are the United States and Iran on a collision course over the Middle Eastern country's controversial nuclear program? We'll be posting the latest news on Iran-war fever—the intel, the media frenzy, the rhetoric.

The Obama administration and key allies are further mapping out potential military options for intervention in Syria, in the event that diplomatic efforts fail to stem the carnage. In the past month, the United States has also been flying surveillance drones over the Middle Eastern nation, and has extensively reviewed the viability of different military alternatives—even as any large-scale US military operation seems increasingly unlikely.

The Washington Post reports:

[Options] include directly arming opposition forces, sending troops to guard a humanitarian corridor or "safe zone" for the rebels, or an air assault on Syrian air defenses, according to officials from the United States and other nations opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

But the governments remain deeply divided over the scope of any intervention, how and when it would happen, and who would participate...There is [however] widespread agreement that the threat to regional and international stability increases with each day that passes, as more civilians are killed in ever-more brutal ways, with no progress toward a peaceful transition.

(For the record, regional players Turkey, Qatar, and Tunisia have all recently called for some form of military intervention in Syria.)

[Read more in the MoJo blog]

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Mitt Romney's Birthday Playlist

—By Asawin Suebsaeng

| Mon Mar. 12, 2012 3:00 AM PDT

Rosebud

If you refuse to apologize for America, have trouble staying on message, and you share a birthday with Jack Kerouac, Liza Minnelli, Jake Tapper, and Serbian war criminal Ratko Mladić...then your name is probably Willard Mitt Romney.

Today—Monday, March 12, 2012—Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will be celebrating his 65th birthday. For his big, special day, we threw together a playlist of songs that any man of his stature and taste would surely enjoy bro-ing out to on his birthday. (Despite the temptation, "Who Let the Dogs Out?" will not be included.) Joyeux anniversaire, Monsieur Romney:

1. The Ramones, "Happy Birthday to You": Mad magazine beat us to the punch of making the Romney/Mr. Burns connection. Thus, we present to you the Ramones, singing at Mr. Burns' birthday bash on a classic 1993 episode of The Simpsons. After speeding through their ragged cover of "Happy Birthday to You," bassist C. J. Ramone tells Burns to "go to hell, you old bastard," to which Burns responds by telling Waylon Smithers to "have the Rolling Stones killed"—a degree of out-of-touchedness that Mitt Romney should easily recognize.

Ironically, if guitarist Johnny Ramone were alive today, he would undoubtedly be an avowed Romneyite. (The rest of the band, not so much.)

[Read more in the Mixed Media blog]

"Silent House": Home Invasion + Screaming White Girl = Surprisingly Tolerable

—By Asawin Suebsaeng

| Fri Mar. 9, 2012 11:20 AM PST

Elizabeth Olsen getting scared senseless in "Silent House" (2012).

Silent House
Open Road Films
88 minutes

There are three things in life of which we will—unfortunately—always have too much: AM talk radio, vampire lit, and horror movies about pretty young white girls who get chased around their houses by deranged, one-dimensional killers. Silent House fits snugly into that third category.

The no-frills horror movie is the American remake of La Casa Muda, a badass 2010 Uruguayan film noted for its unrelenting intensity and stylistic novelty. The new version kicks off with an unmistakable been-there-done-that vibe: Sarah and her father John travel to their lakeside vacation home to take care of some much-needed renovation before the house is put back on the market. The creaky, borderline-dilapidated property is located in the middle of nowhere—no cell phone reception, phone lines, internet, or contact with the outside world. Almost all the home's circuits are kaput. Nightfall is fast approaching.

Before you even begin mouthing the words "Hey, I've seen this one befo...." a man shrouded in shadows busts into the house, incapacitates John, and starts lumbering menacingly after Sarah.

Thus begins the white-girl-being-chased-through-the-house-athon: Sarah spends the next hour-plus making quick getaways into decrepit and dusty rooms, with the faceless stalker in hot pursuit. For practically the entire film, we watch Sarah—scared out of her skin—panting and scampering away from the invader, suspicious noises, forbidding darkness, loud footsteps, unexplained bloodstains, and even the apparitional figure of a little kid. You name it, this pretty young white girl is screaming and running away from it.

[Read more in the Mixed Media blog]

Iran War Watch: "Bunker-Buster" Edition

—By Asawin Suebsaeng

| Fri Mar. 9, 2012 8:41 AM PST

A GBU-28 "Bunker Buster" laser-guided bomb weighs roughly 5,000 pounds.

During to a recent visit to Washington, DC, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly placed an order for a pair of hot items: GBU-28 "bunker-buster" bombs and some advanced refueling aircraft—weapons that would significantly improve the Israeli air force's ability to take out Iran's underground nuclear facilities. President Obama has since ordered Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta to work closely with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak to hash out details of a potential sale, a senior US official told Haaretz. The report continues:

During the administration of former U.S. President George Bush, the U.S. refused to sell bunker-penetrating bombs and refueling aircrafts to Israel, as a result of American estimates that Israel would then use them to strike Iran's nuclear facilities. Following Obama's entrance into the White House, however, the United States approves a string of Israeli requests to purchase advance armament.

Just a few months after Obama took office, the president quietly approved the transfer of over four dozen GBU-28 Hard Target Penetrators. (At the time, some raised concerns that the sale might be perceived as "a green light for Israel to attack Iran's secret nuclear sites one day.") The Israeli government also currently maintains a limited stock of older, smaller bunker-busters, as well as a small number of refueling jets, all of which were bought from the United States.

American intelligence officials do, however, often acknowledge their uncertainty over how effective the Pentagon's latest bunker-busting technology would actually be at penetrating the scattered subterranean chambers where the Iranian government is enriching uranium.

Also, there was a report this week in the Israeli Hebrew-language newspaper Ma'ariv—citing anonymous intelligence sources—that the Obama administration had proposed a deal to allow the weapons sale, in exchange for Netanyahu's promise to hold off on an attack until 2013, after the messy election season winds down in November. But considering, for instance, that Israeli officials have openly floated the idea of not warning the Americans in the event of a preemptive airstrike on Iran's nuclear installations, it's likely that this alleged covenant is just one more bad rumor regarding regional tensions. (Naturally, at least one Israeli official has already dismissed it as such.)

Now, enjoy some classic footage of GBU-28 bunker-busters doing their thing:

"Game Change": A Remake of Frankenstein, Featuring Sarah Palin

For political junkies, HBO's new drama will amount to little more than a deeply unsatisfying guilty pleasure.

—By Asawin Suebsaeng

| Thu Mar. 8, 2012 4:00 AM PST

Ed Harris and Julianne Moore in "Game Change" (2012)

Game Change
HBO Films
115 minutes

At its core, Game Change is a Gothic fable in the most classic and traditional sense: A well-intentioned (political) scientist sets out to perform a feat of tremendous galvanism. In his pursuit of this big dream, he inadvertently creates a monster—one he comes to disown. In a flash, the beauty of the dream vanishes, and breathless horror and disgust fills the creator's heart. But too late! The monster is unleashed on the world, leaving a trail of chaos, defeat, and bewilderment in its wake. The scientist later confesses at length his confounding regret.

In this version, campaign strategist Steve Schmidt is Dr. Victor Frankenstein, John McCain is the corporation that he works for, all of America is the unsuspecting village people, and Sarah Palin is [cue the music....] the Adam of Schmidt's labors.

Game Change, which premieres on HBO on Saturday, March 10, at 9 p.m. EST to a flurry of Beltway anticipation, zeros in on the more depressing chapters of the 2008 presidential campaign, namely the former governor of Alaska and mayor of Wasilla. In adapting the bestseller by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, the filmmakers jettison much of the 2010 book's inside scoopage—on the Obama camp, Rudy Giuliani, the Clintons, John Edwards messin' 'round—to focus exclusively on the fumbling, dysfunctional McCain campaign.

Senior adviser Steve Schmidt (played by a feisty, riveting Woody Harrelson) is the story's reluctant protagonist. He's brought aboard the McCain Train to tighten up messaging and restore a sense of discipline. His signature master stroke comes just days before the nominating convention, in which he leads the push to scrap McCain's original post-partisan plan to tap Joe Lieberman as his running mate. McCain's one-sentence directive for locking down an emergency replacement?

"Find me a woman."

And thus enters "game-changer" Palin—in top hockey-momming form—with her poise and social-conservative street cred. McCain gets a bump in the polls, the Republican base gets a much-needed shot of energy.

[Read the full article]