May 24, 2003
Thomas Friedman says Saudis have too much democracy.
Yes, that's right. In the latest of his
NY Times editorials he analyzes the current status of Saudi Arabia, and especially that of the ruling house of Saud, and concludes that the problem is that they're not tyrannical enough. I've long since come to the conclusion that he's basically an absolutist, but I don't recall him stating it so bluntly.
Frankly, I have a soft spot for the de facto Saudi ruler, Crown Prince Abdullah, who is a man of decency and moderation. But he's too nice for his own good. He needs to break heads at home, force some sustained reforms on his religious establishment, revive his own peace initiative and begin to empower his women Ð because women's empowerment is the best antidote to extremism.
The problem with Saudi Arabia is not that it has too little democracy. It's that it has too much. The ruling family is so insecure, it feels it has to consult every faction, tribe and senior cleric before making any decision. This makes Saudi Arabia a very strange autocracy: it's a country where one man makes no decisions.
Yea, that's really the answer. Go around "breaking heads." Prince Abdullah, the man behind the Bin Ladens, the main instigator and the primary support of Islamic fanaticism, the lifelong enemy of Israel, the steady supporter of state-supported terrorism, the man who doesn't object to people getting their hands cut off and women flogged for adultery, is "too nice."
"It's a country where one man makes no decisions." Gee, I thought that was one of the definitions of democracy. Does he also think that the US would be better off if just one man made all of the decisions? Apparently so.
So no, Mr. Friedman. The problem isn't that the Saudis are too busy consulting with others, but just the opposite. It's that they are incredibly selfish, corrupt and greedy, and care only about retaining their wealth and power. They couldn't care less about the terrorists. If they could stay in power by embracing terrorism, they wouldn't hesitate a minute. They might just demonstrate that too. And if he thinks there's even the most remote possibility that they could be the ones to lead the empowerment of women, he's really living in a fantasy world. Unbelievable.
More on Dylan: he's got a new movie coming out.
Wandering around Bob's site (bobdylan.com), I found this link to a new movie he's made, called
"Masked and Anonymous". Sounds very, shall I say, dylanesque.
Set somewhere, sometime, in an America wracked by an endless and senseless civil war, MASKED AND ANONYMOUS is the story of a benefit concert and a musician named Jack Fate (Bob Dylan).
It is the story of Jack Fate's former manager, Uncle Sweetheart (John Goodman), a skimming, scamming, scheming cross between P.T. Barnum and Colonel Tom Parker in debt to mysterious creditors to a tune he can't pay; of Nina Veronica (Jessica Lange) a TV producer who has seen it all and risks everything either because she believes in Fate or because she doesn't believe in anything at all, and of Bobby Cupid (Luke Wilson), the devoted acolyte and ex-roadie, whose entire life has been defined by Jack Fate's music.
Bailed out of jail by Sweetheart to play one last concert, Fate journeys to the network soundstage where the performance will be broadcast. Along the way, he crosses paths with a woman from his past (Laura Elena Harring), a fellow wanderer (Cheech Marin) and a solitary soldier (Giovanni Ribisi), whose lives paint a picture for Jack of the world he is entering. His travels trigger reveries as well--of the dying President (Richard Sarafian), and his Mistress (Angela Bassett)--key players in Jack's personal history. He is drawn back to his own beginnings when he faces Edmund (Mickey Rourke), the next in line to assume the presidency, with the sycophantic Edgar (Steven Bauer) at his side.
"Skimming, scamming, scheming." Ooh, I like that. Check out this cast:
Starring (in alphabetical order) Jeff Bridges, Penélope Cruz, Bob Dylan, John Goodman, Jessica Lange and Luke Wilson and featuring Angela Bassett, with Steven Bauer, Michael Paul Chan, Bruce Dern, Laura Elena Harring, Ed Harris, Val Kilmer, Cheech Marin, Chris Penn, Giovanni Ribisi, Mickey Rourke, Richard Sarafian, Christian Slater, Susan Tyrrell, Fred Ward and Robert Wisdom.
Wow. Hard to see this cast making a bad movie, especially with Cheech around to keep them laughing. Lots of interesting connections here. Bridges and Goodman were both in the Coen brothers "The Big Liebowitz." Jessica Lange is married to Sam Shepherd, with whom Bob Dylan once wrote an incredible song named
Brownsville Girl. OK, cross a Coen brothers movie with a Sam Shepherd play and a Bob Dylan concert and set it "in an America wracked by a endless and senseless civil war." Sounds good to me. Hey, at least it's not a sequel or a remake.
Bob made a movie before,
Renaldo and Clara, way back in the seventies. There are two versions, an awesome four hour one, and a two hour abridged one. I remember seeing the four hour version when it came out. It was roundly panned by the critics but I thought it was great. Tons of great music, Allen Ginsberg reading poetry, visit to an Indian reservation, all sorts of interesting stuff.
In fact this all reminds me of the lyrics to
Brownsville Girl, which is a classic slice of Americana, and, curiously, about a movie, among other things.
Well, there was this movie I seen one time,
About a man riding 'cross the desert and it starred Gregory Peck.
He was shot down by a hungry kid trying to make a name for himself.
The townspeople wanted to crush that kid down and string him up by the neck.
Well, the marshal, now he beat that kid to a bloody pulp
as the dying gunfighter lay in the sun and gasped for his last breath.
Turn him loose, let him go, let him say he outdrew me fair and square,
I want him to feel what it's like to every moment face his death.
Well, I keep seeing this stuff and it just comes a-rolling in
And you know it blows right through me like a ball and chain.
You know I can't believe we've lived so long and are still so far apart.
The memory of you keeps callin' after me like a rollin' train.
[It goes on and on from there. It's a really weird song.]
...
Well, I'm standin' in line in the rain to see a movie starring Gregory Peck,
Yeah, but you know it's not the one that I had in mind.
He's got a new one out now, I don't even know what it's about
But I'll see him in anything so I'll stand in line.
Brownsville girl with your Brownsville curls, teeth like pearls shining like the moon above
Brownsville girl, show me all around the world, Brownsville girl, you're my honey love.
Columbia Records offering custom-made Dylan CDs.
This was announced in February but I just found out about it. What a great idea.
For the first time, Columbia Records is offering Bob Dylan fans the opportunity to create a custom CD with their favorite Bob Dylan songs! Visit
http://www.custommixcd.com/dylan/ to order yours today, with up to 12 songs or 78 minutes of music and your choice of full-color CD art. Among the available tracks are some hard-to-find rarities, with more rarities to be added in the future.
With a custom mix Bob Dylan CD, there's nothing to download; for $15 plus shipping and handling you will receive in the mail a CD produced at your request, with your choice of songs. You'll have a chance to sample each track on the Custom Mix CD web site before you make your selections.
For those who don't want to buy, there's a great
page of live performances in Real Audio format on the
official Bob Dylan site.
Updates on the Texan Democrat-Republican wars.
Joshua Marshall of
Talking Points Memo has a number of interesting things to say about the conflicts in Texas between the Democrats and Republicans. I find it all too ridiculous and absurd to even think about, but he's doing a good job of keeping up on it. Lots of useful links.
Most of world off limits to Australians now.
The
Sydney Morning Herald reports that two-thirds of the world is now off limits to Australians, due to their support for illegal invasion of Iraq.
Two-thirds of the world has now been declared dangerous for Australian travellers as international terrorism and the threat of disease grips the globe.
As heightened fears of attacks force Britain to give its police "shoot to kill" powers and the US to increase its security level to high, Australians are being warned about the dangers of travelling to 129 countries.
That leaves just 62 countries in the world that the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs considers safe for Australian travellers.
Many of the travel advisories refer to the high possibility of terrorist attacks against Westerners and/or Australians.
I've never been able to define what these "Westerners" are. I think maybe they're talking about white people. In any case, what goes around comes around. If these people stopped attacking and interfering with other countries, maybe other people would stop attacking them.
Who will pay for software?
In one of his
"DaveNets", Dave Winer expresses doubt about whether people will pay for software, music or anything else on the net, and concludes that they won't.
For the last few weeks I've been asking anyone who will listen if it isn't weird that our economy is based on software, more and more, yet users don't want to pay for software.
He has some good points to make, but I think he's projecting the fact that people may not be willing to pay for his software into a conclusion that people won't pay for software at all. No, they won't pay for software that's very buggy, and for which the company does not offer professional level support. No, they're not going to do business with a company that doesn't respond to customers' inquiries or complaints, and that makes it difficult, if not impossible, for people to pay.
For instance, on
Userland's order page for Radio it states: "We also accept checks, purchase orders, and wire transfers at an additional charge." Why is there a different price for people who don't wish to pay by credit card? It doesn't cost any more for them to process. (Actually it's less; there's no percentage taken out by the credit card company.)
But that's not the real point, which is that when I (twice) emailed them to find out what the cost was if I paid by check I never even received a response. No wonder people aren't buying it. I have since purchased both Radio Userland as well as a Manila site from
Weblogger, a separate company that offers Manila hosting, mostly because I'm interested in the technology and wanted to check it out. I've since found that the software is so buggy and the customer support so poor that I simply can't rely on it. The HTML in the templates is the sloppiest I've ever seen.
So I'm writing this blog using Blogger. Not as many features, and it has its own problems, but it works. It's so much easier to use than Radio there's just no comparison. That's probably why Google bought Pyra, not Radio Userland. I'll probably soon move to Movable Type, since it seems that it's a good product, and that the people behind it are focused on making it work.
I see no problem with people paying for software or music or anything else. If the quality is good, and the company offers good service. I don't want to be critical of Dave, who's done a lot for blogging and the computer industry. But these claims that people don't pay make it more difficult for others who do good products.
I also have to question the claim that "our economy is based on software." I don't think so, and I'm surprised that since the dot-com crash people continue to make this claim. Software is just a tool used by other industries. It's not an end in itself, and it really isn't all that important to the economy.
Actually, the arts (film, music, writing, etc.) are much more important to the economy now. He also says that our culture is based on software. I don't think so. It's the stars of the art world that lead the culture now. Amazon is making money by selling the products of writers. Apple's major recent success is in selling music. It's the movies AOL Time Warner makes that now subsidize AOL, not the other way around. Without the artists who create these products these people are out of business.
Addendum: Dave adds
more thoughts on the subject. He says there's been some discussion on his piece, but I notice he doesn't link to any of it. Curious.
I still don't think his arguments hold much water. He claims that software costs money to produce, and that people aren't paying. But if that is true, then how is that the web continues to exist? How is it that I'm able to post this very comment. Obviously, the system is working somehow. The folks behind Blogger _must_ be making some money, or why would a big company like Google buy it???
US aiming for "regime change" in Iran.
The Guardian reports in
this article that the US is already planning its next invasion, the target this time being Iran.
The Pentagon has proposed a policy of regime change in Iran, after reports that al-Qaida leaders are coordinating terrorist attacks from Iran.
But the plan is opposed by the US state department and the British government, officials in Washington said yesterday.
The Pentagon plan would involve overt means, such as anti-government broadcasts transmitted to Iran, and covert means, possibly including support for the Iraq-based armed opposition movement Mojahedin Khalq (MEK), even though it is designated a terrorist group by the state department.
The US is claiming that Iran is sheltering Al Qaeda soldiers (time to stop calling them terrorists), stating that it is so with the same certainty with which it claimed Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. Even more frightening is the suggestion that the Pentagon is making alliances with groups it itself has proclaimed to be "terrorists."
And in an
opinion piece they suggest that the threats against Iran are "a self fulfilling prophecy."
Growing US pressure on Iran takes many forms, much of it questionable and some of it deeply hypocritical. A campaign of public accusation is now in full flood; in the past few days alone, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice has reiterated her view that Iran harbours al-Qaida terrorists, while another official claimed it is stockpiling chemical weapons. Pressure is applied through burgeoning US collaboration with the Iraq-based, Iranian opposition Mujahedeen; and by intimidation of Iranian allies like Syria and Lebanon. The US is pushing Russia to curtail its nuclear technology sales to Tehran; and it is barely less hostile to an EU (and British) policy of critical engagement that contradicts unilateral US trade and investment sanctions.
US pressure has sharp edges, too. Its military encirclement of Iran is all but complete via Afghanistan, the Gulf, Iraq, and Nato's Turkey. George Bush, deeming Iran a part of his infamous "axis of evil", called last summer for what sounded very much like a popular uprising. Turning the screw again last week, Washington demanded that the UN's nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, declare Iran in "material breach" (sound familiar?) of its obligations under the non-proliferation treaty (NPT). With Israel, it is convinced that Iran is secretly building nuclear bombs and may attain that goal as early as 2005. In these many ways, the Bush administration seeks to convince the world that Iran, like Saddam's Iraq, constitutes a threat that may one day have to be extinguished by force.
The payoffs of space exploration.
The Guardian offers a useful summary of
what space exploration has done for us, from fuel cells to the myriad uses of satellites. It's an interesting summary.
May 22, 2003
UN makes Iraq colony of the Americans and British.
The utterly undemocratic UN succumbed to American and British pressure and gave them virtually free reign to do whatever they want in Iraq for the foreseeable future. If I understand the terms of the resolution, they have the right to occupy it until the Security Council votes otherwise. So, given that the US and the UK have vetoes on the Security Council, that means effectively forever, or until they've made enough money, whichever comes first.
I'm a strong internationalist, consider myself a world citizen and have always supported the UN. But it's time it became a democratic institution. As long as the US, the UK, France, Russia and China have vetoes, it is nothing more than a tool of these powers. And that is unacceptable, as well as dangerous.
In fact it's time that all of these international organizations, the WTO, World Bank, IMF, WHO and so on, all become democratic. And by "democratic" I mean that the entire world gets to vote, on a one-person, one-vote basis. Until that happens they have to be considered nothing more than agencies representing private and national interests, not public and global ones.
"Passive smoking: who cares about the facts?"
The Age summarizes recent research which proves, rather conclusively, that second-hand smoke does not significantly harm others, and further, that these studies have been ignored simply because they don't fit the agenda of the anti-smoking crowd.
It was a rare good news story in an otherwise grim week. A landmark study into the effects of inhaling other people's smoke revealed that fears that passive smoking kills are unfounded.
After studying the health of tens of thousands of people married to smokers, US researchers found they face no significant extra risk of lung cancer or heart disease. It may sting your eyes, take your breath away and make your clothes smell, but other people's cigarette smoke will not kill you.
Interesting article, which supports the belief that the campaign against smokers (not smoking) is more about controlling people's behavior, and some sort of misguided political correctness, than it is about health. It probably won't change people's minds though. People need a scapegoat and smokers are a convenient one.
"The Truth Will Emerge".
Senator Robert Byrd, apparently one of the few in Congress willing to challenge the Bush administration, offers
an eloquent post-mortem of the invasion of Iraq. He doesn't mince words.
Truth has a way of asserting itself despite all attempts to obscure it. Distortion only serves to derail it for a time. No matter to what lengths we humans may go to obfuscate facts or delude our fellows, truth has a way of squeezing out through the cracks, eventually.
But the danger is that at some point it may no longer matter. The danger is that damage is done before the truth is widely realized. The reality is that, sometimes, it is easier to ignore uncomfortable facts and go along with whatever distortion is currently in vogue. We see a lot of this today in politics. I see a lot of it -- more than I would ever have believed -- right on this Senate Floor.
...
As so many warned this Administration before it launched its misguided war on Iraq, there is evidence that our crack down in Iraq is likely to convince 1,000 new Bin Ladens to plan other horrors of the type we have seen in the past several days. Instead of damaging the terrorists, we have given them new fuel for their fury. We did not complete our mission in Afghanistan because we were so eager to attack Iraq. Now it appears that Al Queda is back with a vengeance. We have returned to orange alert in the U.S., and we may well have destabilized the Mideast region, a region we have never fully understood. We have alienated friends around the globe with our dissembling and our haughty insistence on punishing former friends who may not see things quite our way.
...
Indeed, we may have sparked a new international arms race as countries move ahead to develop WMD as a last ditch attempt to ward off a possible preemptive strike from a newly belligerent U.S. which claims the right to hit where it wants. In fact, there is little to constrain this President. Congress, in what will go down in history as its most unfortunate act, handed away its power to declare war for the foreseeable future and empowered this President to wage war at will.
As if that were not bad enough, members of Congress are reluctant to ask questions which are begging to be asked. How long will we occupy Iraq. We have already heard disputes on the numbers of troops which will be needed to retain order. What is the truth. How costly will the occupation and rebuilding be. No one has given a straight answer. How will we afford this long-term massive commitment, fight terrorism at home, address a serious crisis in domestic healthcare, afford behemoth military spending and give away billions in tax cuts amidst a deficit which has climbed to over $340 billion for this year alone. If the President's tax cut passes it will be $400 billion. We cower in the shadows while false statements proliferate. We accept soft answers and shaky explanations because to demand the truth is hard, or unpopular, or may be politically costly.
May 21, 2003
History of British foreign policy.
Nice
article in the Guardian by Mark Curtis discussing the history of British foreign policy, and questioning current claims that it is any more benevolent than the US. Apparently he's written an entire book on the subject.
The reality is that overthrowing governments and backing repressive regimes is as British as afternoon tea.
...
Fifty years ago, MI6 and the CIA overthrew the popular, nationalist government in Iran, which had threatened British interests by nationalising oil operations. Churchill's government continued covert operations begun by Attlee, to install what foreign secretary Anthony Eden called "a more reliable government". Formerly secret files reveal that our ambassador in Tehran preferred "a dictator" who would "settle the oil question on reasonable terms". The Shah took control and ruled Iran with an iron fist for 25 years, while Britain and the US helped train his secret police.
Britain's invasion of British Guiana in the same year is long forgotten. Democratic elections had resulted in victory for a popular, leftist government committed to reducing poverty. Its plans also threatened the British sugar multinational, Bookers, who pleaded with London to intervene. Britain dispatched warships and 700 troops to overthrow the government, and ruled out elections since "the same party would have been elected again", the colonial secretary stated.
Nice to see this part of history get some attention. There are very few, if any, countries in the Middle East that have not seen substantial British interference in their affairs. And it started a long time before the US showed up. And, as we speak, they are continuing to sell arms to Syria, Saudi Arabia and most other nations in the area.
Wikipedia.
Speaking of writing online,
Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia which anyone can contribute to, either by contributing a new article or editing an old one. An absolutely fascinating idea. Have some expertise to offer? There's an
entire page of requested articles to stimulate your imagination. (There are also plenty of articles that could use some correction and/or additions. But that's what's great: someone says something you think is wrong you can just dive in and change it on the spot.)
Eurozone members seek greater autonomy.
BBC news article. I had a feeling this was coming. The British look like they don't want the Euro, but want to stay in the EU. I've been wondering how the other Euro nations felt about that. I'll keep following this story, I find it fascinating how it all plays out.
The eurozone governments, led by France and Germany, have asked the European Convention - a body set up to draft a new constitution for the EU - to consider giving them exclusive voting rights on key economic issues.
The move would diminish the influence on European economic policy of the UK, Sweden and Denmark, the three EU nations which remain outside the eurozone.
Although the 12 eurozone finance ministers hold regular informal meetings, economic policy issues are currently decided jointly by all 15 EU finance chiefs.
The proposals, which reinforce claims from British pro-euro campaigners that remaining outside the eurozone would reduce the UK's clout in Brussels, are likely to run into strong resistance from the three non-eurozone countries.
I also find the writing of a constitution fascinating. Why don't they put it online and let everybody create it together?
Warren Buffet on Bush's tax cuts.
In the
Washington Post, Warren Buffet writes on
Dividend Voodoo. Short story, he thinks it's quite ridiculous.
The Senate's plan invites corporations -- indeed, virtually commands them -- to contort their behavior in a major way. Were the plan to be enacted, shareholders would logically respond by asking the corporations they own to pay no more dividends in 2003, when they would be partially taxed, but instead to pay the skipped amounts in 2004, when they'd be tax-free. Similarly, in 2006, the last year of the plan, companies should pay double their normal dividend and then avoid dividends altogether in 2007.
Overall, it's hard to conceive of anything sillier than the schedule the Senate has laid out. Indeed, the first President Bush had a name for such activities: "voodoo economics." The manipulation of enactment and sunset dates of tax changes is Enron-style accounting, and a Congress that has recently demanded honest corporate numbers should now look hard at its own practices.
He closes by saying something we all know, but never seem to hear.
When you listen to tax-cut rhetoric, remember that giving one class of taxpayer a "break" requires -- now or down the line -- that an equivalent burden be imposed on other parties. In other words, if I get a break, someone else pays. Government can't deliver a free lunch to the country as a whole. It can, however, determine who pays for lunch. And last week the Senate handed the bill to the wrong party.
Strikes in India.
The BBC reports that
millions of Indians have gone on strike to protest privatisation and changes in labor laws.
Millions of workers in India have held a nationwide strike in protest at government plans to privatise state-owned businesses.
The one-day stoppage severely affected the banking, transport, insurance and mining sectors, and brought Calcutta to a virtual standstill as protesters marched through the streets.
Public transport, including the Calcutta underground ground to halt, while attendance at government offices was very poor.
The strike was called by trade unions including the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU) and the Hind Mazdoor Sabha, who claimed about 40 million workers were participating in the walk-out.
... The strike almost crippled the financial sector, with four out of the nine major banking unions taking part and the Calcutta stock exchange was shut.
Movement and handling of goods in most of the country's ports also came to a standstill.
Rail and air transport were disrupted and Calcutta's normally crowded roads were empty except for children playing and some police vehicles.
Train services in both Eastern and South Eastern railway were hit as protesters blocked railway tracks in various places, leaving many tourists, amongst others, stranded.
May 20, 2003
Story of Private Lynch's rescue all lies.
In the LA Times,
Robert Scheer reports on a BBC news programme that claims, after a thorough invetigation, that the entire so-called rescue was fabricated.
"Her story is one of the most stunning pieces of news management ever conceived," the BBC concluded.
Responding to the accusations, the
BBC reports that the US military has called the BBC report "void of all facts and absolutely ridiculous".
European depopulation.
Another
Guardian article tells about how the low birth rate in Europe is leading to cities becoming depopulated, and other problems.
Across Europe, people fear their cities will become like Cottbus. So scholars from all the continent are coming here to study its depopulation. In three weeks, Cottbus will play host to a conference of architects and planners titled Public Space in the Time of Shrinkage. Two weeks ago, a similar conference of civic administrators was held in a nearby town, attracting people from a half-dozen countries.
Gee, why do they have to study this problem? Why don't they just open their borders to immigration? Put up a sign: people wanted. All problems solved: plenty of young people to provide for the pensioners, lots of energy, etc. There are plenty of people in the world who'd be delighted to live there. It's so stupid that they're "studying" the problem. Trying to avoid confronting the real problem, racism, is more like it.
Case of mad cow disease found in Alberta.
The
Globe and Mail reports that a single case of Bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or "mad cow disease" has been found in a cow in Alberta, which has been destroyed and removed from the food chain. This is the second case in Canadian history, one being found in a cow in 1993. There have been no cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, the fatal brain disease one can catch from infected meat.
In response, the US has blocked the import of all Canadian beef products, hopefully a temporary move.
"USDA is placing Canada under its BSE restriction guidelines and will not accept any ruminants or ruminant products from Canada pending further investigation," the statement said. "We are dispatching a technical team to Canada to assist in the investigation and will provide more detailed information as it becomes available."
The inclusion of ruminants means that all shipments of sheep and goats are also banned.
Palestinians in Gaza protest against terrorists -- finally!.
The
Globe and Mail reports that residents of in the Gaza strip seem to have had enough of extremists causing trouble.
Beit Hanoun, Gaza Strip Ð Hundreds of residents of Beit Hanoun burned tires and blocked the main road Tuesday in a rare burst of anger at extremists who have prompted Israeli incursions by firing rockets from the town at Israeli targets.
Israeli troops withdrew from Beit Hanoun earlier Tuesday, after a five-day takeover during which they flattened orchards, demolished 15 homes, knocked over garden walls, tore up streets and damaged the sewage, water and electricity systems.
The Israeli military said much of the destruction, especially of homes and orchards, was aimed at depriving extremists firing rockets of cover.
In an unusual protest, about 600 Beit Hanoun residents blocked a main thoroughfare with trash cans, rocks and burning tires to show their anger at the extremists and Palestinian Authority officials.
©¯They (the militants) claim they are heroes,©— Mohammed Zaaneen, 30, a farmer, said as he carried rocks into the street. "They brought us only destruction and made us homeless. They used our farms, our houses and our children ... to hide.©—
This is very encouraging. The only people who can stop the war between the Palestinians and the Israelis are themselves. All the road maps and proposals from outside the country just make things worse by leading folks to think someone from outside will fix it. The fighting will stop when people have had enough of it, when the Palestinians care more about ending the violence than they do about eliminating Israel, and vice versa. This is a big step forward from lynching those who suggest making peace.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez says legalisation of drugs the only way to end war in Columbia.
The
Scotsman reports on a speech the famed author gave in Medellin marking the 200th anniversary of its university.
"It is not possible to imagine an end to the violence in Colombia without the elimination of drugs trafficking." said Colombia©–s most famous writer. ... "And it is not possible to imagine an end to drugs trafficking without the legalisation of narcotics."
Garcia Marquez, the author of 100 Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera, is a close friend of Fidel Castro, the Cuban leader, and is well known for his left-wing views.
What do left wing ideas have to do with this? Why do they have to mention that? Legalisation of drugs is just common sense. Is there anyone left who still thinks that making them illegal will stop people from using them? As the article points out it's usually criminals or terrorists who end up profiting from it, and the poor who suffer.
The Nobel laureate's message mentioned the millions of Colombians displaced by the fighting.
It said they can never escape the circle of violence that engulfs the country: "They continue being the victims of a sustained violence, thanks to the two most lucrative, heartless businesses in the world - drugs trafficking and arms dealing."
While the Colombian government has boasted of success in reducing drug cultivation, there has been a rise in neighbouring Peru and Bolivia.
A percentage of every pound spent on Colombian cocaine or heroin ends up in the hands of the country's Marxist rebels or right-wing paramilitaries, further fuelling the 39-year civil conflict.
Nobody wants to talk about it, but the US has got itself in a nasty little way down there. Maybe not so little, though, and getting bigger.
Corporate manslaughter bill proposed in the UK.
The Guardian reports that Home Secretary David Blunkett has proposed legislation that would make companies accountable for deaths caused through gross management negligence.
Mr Blunkett said in a statement released at Westminster: "There is great public concern at the criminal law's lack of success in convicting companies of manslaughter where a death has occurred due to gross negligence by the organisation as a whole.
"The law needs to be clear and effective in order to secure public confidence and must bite properly on large corporations whose failure to set or maintain standards causes a death.
"It is not targeted at conscientious companies that take their health and safety responsibilities seriously."
May 19, 2003
Instant-Mix Imperial Democracy.
Via
Common Dreams, Arundhati Roy, noted Indian writer and activist,
speaks in New York on empire and its discontents. This is a
must read, about as eloquent an overview of the situation from the perspective of a "third world" woman as you can get. This is from her introduction.
In these times, when we have to race to keep abreast of the speed at which our freedoms are being snatched from us, and when few can afford the luxury of retreating from the streets for a while in order to return with an exquisite, fully formed political thesis replete with footnotes and references, what profound gift can I offer you tonight?
As we lurch from crisis to crisis, beamed directly into our brains by satellite TV, we have to think on our feet. On the move. We enter histories through the rubble of war. Ruined cities, parched fields, shrinking forests, and dying rivers are our archives. Craters left by daisy cutters, our libraries.
So what can I offer you tonight? Some uncomfortable thoughts about money, war, empire, racism, and democracy. Some worries that flit around my brain like a family of persistent moths that keep me awake at night.
Some of you will think it bad manners for a person like me, officially entered in the Big Book of Modern Nations as an "Indian citizen," to come here and criticize the U.S. government. Speaking for myself, I'm no flag-waver, no patriot, and am fully aware that venality, brutality, and hypocrisy are imprinted on the leaden soul of every state. But when a country ceases to be merely a country and becomes an empire, then the scale of operations changes dramatically. So may I clarify that tonight I speak as a subject of the American Empire? I speak as a slave who presumes to criticize her king.
Since lectures must be called something, mine tonight is called: Instant-Mix Imperial Democracy (Buy One, Get One Free).
It's a long speech. She doesn't seem to be very happy about being a citizen of the American empire. ;)
The restructuring of Al-Qaeda.
Also from the Asia Times is an
article on the restructuring and reemergence of Al-Qaeda since the war in Iraq.
With local funds, local teams and local agendas, a limited war on a worldwide scale is being waged against the United States and its allies by groups that have distanced themselves from Osama bin Laden's International Islamic Front (IIF) so as to act independently.
... This restructuring took final shape as soon as the US war on Iraq was over. The first country where this took effect was Afghanistan, where effectively al-Qaeda no longer exists. The Taliban, al-Qaeda, the Hezb-i-Islami led by Gulbuddin Hikmatyar and other anti-US mujahideen commanders have now restructured into a new outfit called Saiful Muslameen (Sword of Muslims). The command structure is entirely local, and all foreigners are now fighting along with their Afghan commanders.
They go on to report that attacks in Europe and America appear very likely. But I guess that's not news now.
Indian government reluctant to send troops to Iraq.
The
Asia Times presents a
comprehensive look at the reaction in India to the war in Iraq, the bombings in Riyadh and the war on terrorism in general, and especially on the question of whether or not India will send troops to relieve the Americans and British.
India has been under tremendous pressure for the past fortnight to accede to the US request over troops, as the latter is interested in sending as many of its soldiers as possible back home from Iraq as early as possible. The US and British proposal for India to send a division-level force is believed to have been made at the highest levels in government, both in New Delhi and in Washington, two weeks ago. It is also said to have come up in the talks between Mishra and US officials in Washington last week.
Before the Riyadh blasts, India was almost ready to participate in a US-led stabilization force for Iraq, according to news emanating from Poland, the one country other than Albania that has so far shown readiness to send its troops to Iraq. India has participated in humanitarian campaigns before, and given the chaotic law-and-order situation in Iraq, the contemplated force could be considered a humanitarian gesture for the people of Iraq.
India's participation in the United Nations-led relief effort in Iraq was already under way, with the government organizing a field hospital to be sent there.
... The Indian government is split down the middle on the issue for these reasons. One, the request was being made not by a legitimate Iraqi government, but by an "occupying power". Two, India had opposed the invasion of Iraq, and now sending troops to work under US command without a UN resolution could be construed as supporting the invasion itself.
In general, there doesn't seem to be a very high opinion of the US.
Indians have, of course, not suddenly become supportive of anti-American terrorism. And there has been pro forma condemnation of terrorism in some circles as well. But what should perhaps worry Washington is that more and more people are beginning to see bin Laden as a legitimate opponent of the United States. Indeed, Indians are not alone in thinking that if there were free and fair elections in Saudi Arabia today, bin Laden would win hands down. [Emphasis mine.]
Even more worrisome, perhaps, are reports in the Indian media, including the government-controlled TV channel Doordarshan, that despite the discovery of mass graves in Iraq, at least some people are beginning to miss Saddam Hussein, and even wanting him to come back, merely weeks after his fall. As one American observer remarked, if there is real democracy in Iraq, the government that gets elected is bound to be anti-American.
There is disenchantment with the United States at every level in India. ... In the wake of September 11, India had offered its full-fledged support in fighting Islamic terrorism, whose hub, it was thought, lay in Pakistan. After Riyadh, it may start dealing with the United States in the same way other countries, Pakistan, for instance, or now Syria and Iran, do - appearing to cooperate but in reality merely trying to avoid the rain of daisy-cutters.
Exactly what did happen on 9/11?
Via
The Memory Hole,
Documents From Congress' Joint Inquiry into 9/11.
Throughout June, July, and the first half of September, 2002, the Joint Inquiry held closed sessions. The second half of September saw all open hearings, while those in October alternated between open and closed. In December, the Joint Inquiry issued its report, but only 24 pages were publicly released out of a total of over 800.
In May 2003, Newsweek, Knight Ridder, and other media outlets reported that the Bush Administration was working to block the release of the Joint Inquiry's full report. In fact, officials were quoted as saying that they'd like to retroactively classify parts of the material that came out during the open hearings. They're upset about some of the information divulged by senior intelligence officials and by the Inquiry staff's leader, Eleanor Hill. (They now regret giving Hill and her team access to so many classified intelligence briefings.)
But you can't put the genie back in the bottle. We're going to help make sure of that. Below you'll find Acrobat files of all publicly released statements from the hearings, including the very ones the White House wants to restrict.
British trade minister admits he's been wrong about the IMF and the World Bank.
In a fascinating
Guardian article, Stephen Byers, a former British trade and industry secretary and a cabinet member from 1998 to 2002, admits: "I was wrong. Free market trade policies hurt the poor. The IMF and World Bank orthodoxy is increasing global poverty."
In November 1999, during the World Trade Organisation ministerial conference in Seattle, I watched from my hotel room as thousands demonstrated against the evils of globalisation.
... As leader of the delegation from the United Kingdom, I was convinced that the expansion of world trade had the potential to bring major benefits to developing countries and would be one of the key means by which world poverty would be tackled.
In order to achieve this, I believed that developing countries would need to embrace trade liberalisation. This would mean opening up their own domestic markets to international competition. The thinking behind this approach being that the discipline of the market would resolve problems of underperformance, a strong economy would emerge and that, as a result, the poor would benefit. This still remains the position of major international bodies like the IMF and World Bank and is reflected in the system of incentives and penalties which they incorporate in their loan agreements with developing countries. But my mind has changed.
I now believe that this approach is wrong and misguided. Since leaving the cabinet a year ago, I've had the opportunity to see at first hand the consequences of trade policy. No longer sitting in the air-conditioned offices of fellow government ministers I have, instead, been meeting farmers and communities at the sharp end.
It is this experience that has led me to the conclusion that full trade liberalisation is not the way forward. A different approach is needed: one which recognises the importance of managing trade with the objective of achieving development goals.
He goes on to cite numerous instances and examples, and in particular shows how in fact developing countries that protected their domestic industries ended up doing better.
Just look at some examples. Taiwan and South Korea are often held out as being good illustrations of the benefits of trade liberalisation. In fact, they built their international trading strength on the foundations of government subsidies and heavy investment in infrastructure and skills development while being protected from competition by overseas firms.
Interesting to see a prominent politician so openly admit he was wrong. And especially interesting to think that it was the demonstrations in Seattle that caused him to begin reconsidering his views.
May 18, 2003
George W. Bush's resume.
George Bush's resume. What could I possibly add? Would YOU hire this guy?
It is not exactly true however, that "every" single economic indicator is down. The movies have absolutely boomed during his administration. The first weekend grosses for the top-rated films have gone from around $40 million to around $140 million, and the rate of increase is accelerating. I'm not sure what that says about America at this time, but there you are.
Chechen attacks represent new level of violence.
Also from
the Moscow Times is an article pointing out that the two large Chechen suicide bombings this week represent the emergence of a new side of the war there.
Chechen suicide bombings killing at least 75 people this week highlight a new pattern in rebel warfare that will be next to impossible for Moscow to prevent, terrorism and Chechnya analysts said Thursday.
"Chechens live in such a violent and tense environment that many become obsessed with getting revenge against Russian troops and those who support them, even at the cost of their own lives," said Oleg Nechiporenko, head of the National Anti-Crime and Anti-Terrorism Fund think tank. "It is like in the Middle East, where even little Arab children are obsessed with gaining revenge against the Jews."
Exasperation and desperation are prompting an increasing number of Chechens to become shahids, or holy suicide fighters, said Timur Muzayev, a Chechnya analyst at the Panorama think tank, and rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov's representative in Moscow, Salambek Maigov.
US and Russia bargaining over Iraqi spoils.
The
Moscow Times reports on the negotiations between the US and Russia over payments of Iraq's Saddam-era debt to Russia. They seem quite cynical about it all. Can't say I blame them.
It is amazing, if not outrageous, to have top statesmen of two countries abandon all conventionalities of international diplomacy to publicly bargain over the spoils in a country occupied without a clear UN mandate.
It is also amazing that, while negotiating the spoils, neither side no longer even bothers to mention weapons of mass destruction, which was the reason these sanctions were imposed in the first place.
This public horse-trading makes a mockery of U.S. posturing that the entire military operation was meant to disarm a dangerous regime that possessed weapons of mass destruction. It also makes a mockery of Russia's posturing that the argument with the United States is not about money, but about international mandates for use of force against a sovereign nation and principles of global government in general.
Such horse-trading has always been part and will probably remain an inalienable part of realpolitik, but in the past it was at least done behind closed doors rather than in an open manner that shows the Iraqi people to what extent their new government will be a puppet of a global superpower.
Brutal hazing of girls by girls.
The
Scotsman reports on a case of hazing in Illinois.
Several adults stood by watching and drinking beer as the 16 and 17-year-olds were put through the ‘hazing©– ritual by older girls at Glenbrook North High, a respected school in an affluent suburb of Chicago.
The horrific ordeal has outraged America after home videotapes of the incident were broadcast nationally.
Marina, who suffered a fractured tailbone after being kicked repeatedly by several of the older teenagers, was one of five girls who needed hospital treatment.
Another suffered a broken ankle, and a third contracted a bacterial infection after being smeared with faeces and made to swallow mud.
The younger girls were made to sit in a huddle while the older ones pelted them with urine, paint, rubbish, fish and animal intestines.
A "respected" school? Says who?
US troops spray paint graffiti on ancient city of Ur, Marines misspell 'Semper Fi'.
The
Observer reports that US troops have been vandalizing the ancient city of Ur, probably the world's most ancient structures and city. They've also built an enormous military base right on or very close to the site that has changed a landscape that has remained the same for 6000 years.
Ur is believed by many to be the birthplace of the prophet Abraham. It was the religious seat of the civilisation of Sumer at the dawn of the line of dynasties which ruled Mesopotamia starting about 4000 BC. Long before the rise of the Egyptian, Greek or Roman empires, it was here that the wheel was invented and the first mathematical system developed. Here, the first poetry was written, notably the epic Gilganesh, a classic of ancient literature.
The most prominent monument is the best preserved ziggurat - stepped pyramid - in the Arab world, initially built by the Sumerians around 4000 BC and restored by Nebuchadnezzar II in the sixth century BC.
The Pentagon has elected to build its massive and potentially permanent base right alongside the site, so that the view from the peak of the ziggurat - more or less unchanged for 6,000 years - will be radically altered.
... There are reports that walls have been damaged by spray-painted graffiti, mostly patriotic or other slogans, and regimental mottos. One graffiti reads: 'SEMPER FE' - Always Faithful - the motto of the Marines, who stormed through this region on their way to Baghdad, and form a contingent at the base.
Other reports by groups who cannot be named for fear of losing access to medical patients being treated on the base say there has been widespread stealing of clay bricks baked to build and restore the structures at Ur.
This is really disgusting. It's frightening just how uneducated and inconsiderate these people are. Assuming the Observer is accurate they misspelled "Semper Fi." It's not easy to misspell a two letter word. :)
What's also frightening and disgusting is the assumption among folks that if they speak out of turn there will be reprisals.
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