Stratfor posts this informative article about the place New Orleans holds in the national infrastructure.

For that reason, the Battle of New Orleans in January 1815 was a key moment in American history. Even though the battle occurred after the War of 1812 was over, had the British taken New Orleans, we suspect they wouldn’t have given it back. Without New Orleans, the entire Louisiana Purchase would have been valueless to the United States. Or, to state it more precisely, the British would control the region because, at the end of the day, the value of the Purchase was the land and the rivers – which all converged on the Mississippi and the ultimate port of New Orleans. The hero of the battle was Andrew Jackson, and when he became president, his obsession with Texas had much to do with keeping the Mexicans away from New Orleans.

During the Cold War, a macabre topic of discussion among bored graduate students who studied such things was this: If the Soviets could destroy one city with a large nuclear device, which would it be? The usual answers were Washington or New York. For me, the answer was simple: New Orleans. If the Mississippi River was shut to traffic, then the foundations of the economy would be shattered. The industrial minerals needed in the factories wouldn’t come in, and the agricultural wealth wouldn’t flow out. Alternative routes really weren’t available. The Germans knew it too: A U-boat campaign occurred near the mouth of the Mississippi during World War II. Both the Germans and Stratfor have stood with Andy Jackson: New Orleans was the prize.

Last Sunday, nature took out New Orleans almost as surely as a nuclear strike. Hurricane Katrina’s geopolitical effect was not, in many ways, distinguishable from a mushroom cloud. The key exit from North America was closed. The petrochemical industry, which has become an added value to the region since Jackson’s days, was at risk. The navigability of the Mississippi south of New Orleans was a question mark. New Orleans as a city and as a port complex had ceased to exist, and it was not clear that it could recover.

The ports of South Louisiana and New Orleans, which run north and south of the city, are as important today as at any point during the history of the republic. On its own merit, the Port of South Louisiana is the largest port in the United States by tonnage and the fifth-largest in the world. It exports more than 52 million tons a year, of which more than half are agricultural products — corn, soybeans and so on. A larger proportion of U.S. agriculture flows out of the port. Almost as much cargo, nearly 57 million tons, comes in through the port — including not only crude oil, but chemicals and fertilizers, coal, concrete and so on.

Like I said, great article. Doesn’t mean that the city was well run, though. New Orleans has sloughed off industry after industry over the years, for example, giving up the oil industry to Houston, Texas. The only thing left is tourism and the stuff tied to the river. The river stuff will have to be fixed for the good of the nation. Some other city can fill in the country’s taste for trashy entertainment.

(Thanks for this lead goes to WW2Bill, a frequent contributor to CSP Gun Talk)

We’re smarter than they are. “They” being anyone who leans back dependantly on the government for protection and wellbeing past a certain huge umbrella point.

Katrina is a spotlight on what the government either cannot or will not do: Tell people that past a certain level, they’re just not in a position to help.

Anybody familiar with both a map and an idea of the function of a kid’s wading pool could see the vulnerability of New Orleans to scenarios exactly like the one which took place this week. Articles have appeared in dozens of widely read publications like National Georgraphic and national newpapers. Folks, this shit ain’t a surprise. People have been saying it was an inevitability for decades.

That fact being known, one has to then start pointing out a few other facts: I am NOT the guy running up and down the streets asking for the Great White Fathers in Washington or Baton Rouge or New Orleans city hall to save me. However, they could have, at some point said, “Hey, ya’ll, we ain’t got the money to do this one right, and if we did get the money, you wouldn’t like what we’re gonna have to do.”

The “Plan” for the evacuation of New Orleans is a fine example. Fact is, there just aren’t that many good ways out of the place in a hurry. Another fact: in any city with a large “underclass”, there are a lot of people who do not have their own transportation. ‘Nother fact: any large city is three days from starvation. Big cities depend on a network of roads and rails to bring in a continuous flow of sustenance including food, water and medical supplies. Yet another fact: Technology has given us full-featured services that depend on invisible (to most people) infrastructure. These services include the communications used by public safety agencies. The infrastructure is NOT hardened against disasters of this magnitude. Yes, there are battery backups and emergency generators, but battery backups quit after a few hours. Generators run out of fuel after a couple of days.

New Orleans found this out. I already knew it. So did a thundering herd of other “geeks” who manage to keep the lights on and the data flowing in this country. However, the mayor of New Orleans and his hordes of boards don’t listen to geeks like me. They listen to voters who know no more about power and communications than where to plug the power cord into the wall. These people write policy and make rules on things that are either prohibitively expensive or physically impossible, or they make up a “feel-good” front, hoping that nothing will come along and they’ll be found out.

The mayor of New Orleans and the governess of Louisiana are in this position now. They’ve been found out.

I’m NOT, definitely NOT saying that this disaster would have been averted had a better plan been in place. That may be the case, but probably isn’t. What I am instead saying is that they should have had the gonads to stand up at the beginning of every hurricane season and said, “Folks, here comes another season. Prepare for it. We’re gonna do everything you’ve told us we can afford to do to prepare, but we can’t save you from the Big Kahuna of hurricanes. If that one hits, you’re gonna be on your own until we get things going. That’s the best we can do. If you don’t like it, move!”

In the meantime, I think I’ll sit over here in my own house in my little small town and do without the lovely sophistication I could have had by living in the anthills of New Orleans or Houston.

And on my street, I think there’s not one home without one or more firearms. Wanna loot? This might not be the best choice. Law and order doesn’t come from a car with flashing lights. Law and order comes from a population where the majority WANTS it that way…