February 2006 Archives

« January 2006 | Main | March 2006 »

echo of yesteryear

February 25, 2006 12:35 PM

On the 50-year anniversary of Khruschev's "secret speech," which began the de-Stalinization of Soviet Russia, Seamus Milne of London's Guardian newspaper revives the voice of the useful idiot.

But in any case, none of this explains why anyone might be nostalgic in former communist states, now enjoying the delights of capitalist restoration. The dominant account gives no sense of how communist regimes renewed themselves after 1956 or why western leaders feared they might overtake the capitalist world well into the 1960s.

True, you don't hear much these days about how we once hilariously believed the Soviet Union would pose an economic threat to the West. Ten minutes here in Kiev would have dispelled that nonsense. Some of us no longer fear the Cuban economic miracle, either.

For all its brutalities and failures, communism in the Soviet Union, eastern Europe and elsewhere delivered rapid industrialisation, mass education, job security and huge advances in social and gender equality. It encompassed genuine idealism and commitment, captured even by critical films and books of the post-Stalin era such as Wajda's Man of Marble and Rybakov's Children of the Arbat. Its existence helped to drive up welfare standards in the west, boosted the anticolonial movement and provided a powerful counterweight to western global domination....[snip]

So you're telling me I can learn to read, hold a job, experience "social and gender equality" and strike a blow against western hegemony -- and all I need to do is submit to the whims of the state, live in permanent terror of denunciation and maybe lose half my family in one misguided social experiment or another? Where do I sign up?

Part of the current enthusiasm in official western circles for dancing on the grave of communism is no doubt about relations with today's Russia and China. But it also reflects a determination to prove there is no alternative to the new global capitalist order - and that any attempt to find one is bound to lead to suffering and bloodshed....[snip]

Of course. That must be what They really want. As Stalin himself might say, that's why they must be killed.

Link · Europe | History | Journalism | Russia | Ukraine · TrackBack (1)

'Our Home Turf'

February 24, 2006 08:43 PM

One more reason it's fun being Jewish:

Israeli starts ‘anti-Semitic cartoon contest’

JERUSALEM: An Israeli cartoonist has launched an “anti-Semitic cartoon contest” to poke fun at fellow Jews in response to furore among Muslims over the publication of caricatures depicting the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).

Cartoonist Amitai Sandy said he was inspired by violent Muslim protests and the launching of a Holocaust cartoon competition by an Iranian daily that said it wanted to test the boundaries of free speech espoused by Western countries....[snip]

“We will show the world we can do the best, sharpest, most offensive Jew hating cartoons ever published,” Sandy wrote on his website.

“No Iranian will beat us on our home turf,” he added in reference to the cartoon competition being held by Iran’s best selling newspaper to lampoon the annihilation of six million Jews in the Nazi Holocaust during World War Two.

Link · Israel | Jews | Middle East | Modern Islam | News Media · Comments (0) · TrackBack (26)

peace be upon them

February 24, 2006 10:03 AM

Let us pray the cartoon riots don't break up the Super Best Friends. Not while David Blaine still holds the fate of earth in his tyrannical grip!

Thomas Jefferson, Buddha, Jesus and, well, uh....

And next they came for Lemmiwinks....

Link · Humor · Comments (0) · TrackBack (103)

Yushchenko closes the gap?

February 23, 2006 06:27 PM

Most recent Ukraine polling results, published today by Sotsinform:

"If the election was held now, the following parties and blocs would be in the parliament: the Party of Regions – 26.82%, NSNU – 19.35%, BYuT – 16.67%, People’s Bloc of Lytvyn – 7.72%, the Socialist Party of Ukraine – 7.09%, the Communist Party – 4.79% and PORA-PRP – 3.83%."

If the numbers are accurate -- and in Ukraine that's always open to question -- it suggests that Yushchenko's party, NSNU, has sheared about 10 points from the lead enjoyed by Yanukovich's Party of the Regions in the last poll I saw, which was probably two weeks ago. This poll also suggests that retired boxer Vitaliy Klitschko, who tops the PORA list, has a pretty good shot at parliament. (Parties need to break the 3 percent threshhold at the polls in order to be represented in the Rada.)

Side note: NSNU has been doing a lot of TV recently, with spots that press a variant of the "Slava Ukraina" ("Glory to Ukraine") theme. The ads have this odd chant behind them that sounds like it might come from some Native American war dance. Perhaps someone knows its source?

Link · Ukraine · Comments (0) · TrackBack (15)

A special day

February 22, 2006 09:07 AM

Today I clicked the link to a column by "Joe Conason" -- the name given the IBM supercomputer that spits out predictably artless calumnies with assembly-line regularity -- without having any idea in advance of what it would argue. A fool I was! I should have gone with my first hunch, which was that "Joe Conason" sees the port deal as a sign that President Bush is sucking up to autocratic Arab regimes on behalf of his oil buddies. My misstep was in assuming that "Joe Conason" would have condemned President Bush for "Islamophobia" if he had blocked the deal -- ergo, by not standing in the way, Bush was playing admirably "against type," as they say. In such an instance, I reckoned, the computer might opt to follow a strategy of considered misdirection in order to make its next move less predictable. But in choosing this assumption, I neglected to take into account the basic flaw in "Joe Conason's" design: It will always take the shortest route to condemnation. Of course, it's possible that I am being misdirected by this lack of misdirection....

Link · American Politics | Middle East | News Media | War on Terror · Comments (0) · TrackBack (3)

What precedent, exactly?

February 21, 2006 06:51 AM

The people's search engine, Google, fails to penetrate the distinguished editorial offices of Vanity Fair.

192 | DRESSED TO KILL Breaking precedent, George W. Bush has used military audiences, backdrops, and costumes to sell his war. James Wolcott probes the commander in chief's armed-forces fetish. Photo composite by Michael Elins. -- Vanity Fair [My Emphasis]

Hey, y'all. Can I ask you to keep a secret from James Wolcott?

Beneath this hat I am invisible to James Wolcott

So, lookit. A priest, a rabbi and James Wolcott walk into this bar...

Oh, her? We're just friends

If Wolcott asks, that is not a fighter jet behind me, and none of you are in the military

Your first mission is to get. me. re-elected

Anyway, I told Wolcott y'all were gondoliers

Checkit. This flight jacket deflects Wolcott's editors

Link · American Politics | News Media · Comments (0) · TrackBack (8)

Your tax dollars at play

February 16, 2006 11:31 PM

Sure, the EastCoast/WestCoast rivalry in hip-hop may help explain the murders of prominent rappers such as Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls. But what explains the EastCoast/WestCoast rivalry? The voters of Georgia's 4th Congressional District sent Cynthia McKinney (D-EastCoast) to Congress to find out.

(Note: The following exchange is excerpted from a real interview. Seriously. No, I'm not kidding.)

ThugLifeArmy.com - After the records are released then what would be the next course of action by you and others?

Rep. Cynthia McKinney - Some records are already released that throw doubt on the officially unsolved murder of Tupac and the police version of the death. It seems clear that Tupac, who came from a family of very militant Black Panther activists, would himself have been followed and surveilled if not attacked by the FBI and their counter-gang programs. In the past this sort of surveillance was called COINTELPRO or Counter-Intelligence Program and aimed at peace, civil rights and militant activists who were working for social change. It not only surveilled people but it infiltrated groups with informants and provocateurs, created fights within groups, spread rumors about leaders, and created the conditions that led to political assassination, framing and imprisonment or destruction of progressive organizations. Senator Frank Church and others held hearings in the 1970s that exposed and made illegal some of the excesses of the FBI, CIA and military intelligence agencies. Soon Church and others on his committee were voted out of office with the help of intelligence agency support for other candidates. Even before 9/11 ongoing programs against Central America activists and youth culture musicians and leaders that looked exactly like COINTELPRO were exposed. After 9/11 Atty General Ashcroft and others called to renew the powers of COINTELPRO and even tried to pretend 9/11 happened because the CIA. FBI and DIA had their hands tied behind their backs the the Church committee rules. If the released records reveal that federal, state and local government agencies and police were violating Tupac's rights or setting the stage for his murder, there should be an outcry for a full investigation, criminal charges, demotions or firings of intelligence agents involved, and a change in the power of intelligence agencies to continue these practices. [Emphases mine]

Yes, indeed. How many more rappers must die before we clean up our intelligence services?

Of course, when "setting the stage" for a political assassination, it helps to have for a target a loud-mouthed, pistol waving jackass with the words THUG LIFE tattooed across his belly. Hell, I'd whack him, and without any prodding from the government.

Side note: Can you imagine being demoted for your role in the Tupac Shakur murder? Can you imagine joining the intelligence services only to find that you've been assigned to the Gangsta Rappers desk? Can you imagine that Tupac Shakur must be killed, but Chuck D still walks the streets? Has Chuck D complained?

You might ponder these questions as you fill out your application for the Citizens Advisory Committee -- but only if you're black! The rest of you just wouldn't understand....

Link · American Politics | Congress | History | News Media · Comments (0) · TrackBack (87)

From Russia, With Chutzpah

February 13, 2006 04:40 AM

NIKITA KHRUSCHEV'S great-granddaughter, Nina, introduces a less familiar legacy of her famous forebear: freedomishness.

While it hadn't gone far enough in demystifying the totalitarian system, [Khruschev's "secret"] speech had launched the period known as the thaw, when millions of Soviet citizens were released from the gulag, and opened the door to a more frank exchange of ideas and to a limited flow of foreign visitors and goods. The freedoms that the former communist countries enjoy today have flowed from the cracks in the system that Khrushchev introduced with his speech of Feb. 25, 1956....

Wow, and to think it only took 50 years for all this flowing from cracks to become a trickling stream of stunted liberty! Of course, Hungary got to express its gratitude for this thaw to the column of Red Army tanks that rolled in later that year. (Oh, c'mon, Mister Stingy -- at least Khruschev started the ball rolling. People ought to be grateful for that - hlm. I agree! Now excuse me while I turn to my assailant here and thank him for no longer clanging my head with a pan.)

Link · History | News Media | Russia | Ukraine · Comments (0) · TrackBack (23)

An American Rebel in London

February 11, 2006 09:52 AM

George Clooney reveals his newest screenplay to the Guardian of London:

INT: SUMPTUOUS MALIBU MANSION -- NIGHT

Cocktail party at the home of a very wealthy and powerful industrialist. The finest of everything: LOUIS XVI would not feel out-of-place here. WE CAN HEAR the buzz of noisy conversation, punctuated by sudden bursts of galing laughter. Men clad in tuxedos stand in small clusters about the room, smoking long cigars and chatting amiably. Gorgeous, kittenish women in extravagant floor-length evening gowns weave among the guests, stopping here and there for air-kisses with old acquaintances. White-gloved waiters deliver trays of hors d'oevres and flutes of champagne. OUR ATTENTION IS DRAWN to a photograph, perched prominently on a lamp table, that shows GEORGE W. BUSH shaking hands with a MAN IN A TUXEDO who is presumably this party's host. CAMERA PANS UP from the photo to reveal CLOONEY, surrounded by a knot of inquisitors.

CLOONEY (V.O.)

I was at a party the other night and it was all these hardcore Republicans and these guys are like...

FAT CAT #1

C'mon big Hollywood star, Why do you hate your country?

CLOONEY (WITH SMIRK)

I love my country.

The inquisitors erupt with laughter. WE CAN HEAR scattered mutterings such as "Oh, come on, Clooney" and "Let's be serious here."

FAT CAT #2 (BREAKING IN)

Why, at a time of war, would you criticise it then?

The smirk disappears. Suddenly, CLOONEY looks deadly serious. He wheels to address FAT CAT #2 directly, his eyes flashing rage.

CLOONEY (POINTING AT MAN)

My country right or wrong means women don't vote, black people sit in the back of buses and we're still in Vietnam. My country right or wrong means we don't have the New Deal.

FAT CAT #2, feeling uncomfortable now, looks down at the floor.

CLOONEY (CONT.)

I mean, what, are you crazy? My country, right or wrong? It's not your right, it's your duty. Where was I wrong, schmuck?

A GASP rises from the group. The lecture begins drawing the attention of other guests, who step closer or crane their necks to hear.

CLOONEY (WITH PASSION)

In 2003 I was saying, where are the ties between Iraq and al-Qaida? Where are the ties to 9/11? I knew it. Where the fuck were these Democrats who said, 'We were misled'? That's the kind of thing that drives me crazy: 'We were misled.' Fuck you, you weren't misled. You were afraid of being called unpatriotic.

Silence falls over the group, but only for a moment. As the din of conversation begins to build again in the room, WE CAN HEAR affirmative murmurs, along with phrases such as "He's right, you know," and "It makes sense when he says it," and "If only we had listened."

CUT TO:

EXT: STREETS OF MALIBU -- NIGHT

Still wearing his tux, Clooney roars off into the darkness aboard his Harley, a beautiful gal (CLEARLY REPUBLICAN - luxuriant red hair; fur stoll; diamond earrings) draped over his shoulders. Neither is wearing a helmet....

Link · American Politics | Humor | News Media | War on Terror · Comments (1) · TrackBack (48)

Dog Dane Afternoon

February 10, 2006 07:25 AM

Who knew there were Iranians in Kiev? I didn't, until I ran into my Danish friend Lars on the street this morning. Half tongue-in-cheek, I asked Lars, who handles security issues between Ukraine and the Scandinavian countries, whether the Danish embassy was still intact. Yes, he told me, but as a matter of fact the embassy saw its first cartoon protests just this morning. (They've had police protection out front since Monday.) He said the 30-odd protestors included representatives from a local Islamic Association and some Iranians who are students at some of the local universities. No major disruptions, but the Danes decided to close for the day, just in case.

I was curious to see what practicing Muslims looked like in Ukraine -- I had never seen one here, and let's just say that Ukraine is not the safest place on earth for non-whites, if there were to be any (non-whites) in this crowd. Since the embassy is only a couple of blocks from my flat, I quickly headed home, grabbed my notebook and camera, and headed for the site. Unfortunately, by the time I reached the embassy the crowd had already left, though I did spot one woman in hijab buying a coke at a nearby kiosk. But what struck me anyhow was one minor detail that remainded: the Danes had taken down their flag, as well as the EU flag that customarily flies beside it. I could not imagine that the United States -- or even France -- would respond similarly. What an awful capitulation in the face of such cretinous incitement. Even if you close for the day in the interests of staff safety (fair enough), you don't let them take down your flag. I headed back to my apartment, wondering what I might see at the Swedish embassy, which is across the street. Sure enough....

It's easy for me to judge, though. The Danes and the Swedes don't imagine themselves as provocatuers; they can't make sense of the strange hatred and violence directed at them; they aren't accustomed to the rent-a-mobs that are routinely sent to pester U.S. consulates for the pleasure of satellite viewers. Part of the privilege of being American is in feeling a perverse exhilaration, not fear, when I see the mob burning my flag in the streets of Tehran or Damascus. It is the exhilaration of knowing that my flag represents everything the busily benighted are fighting against: liberty, tolerance, robust dignity. Until they can get their grimy little hands on me, they're just going to have to settle for the flag. And they couldn't possibly face a tougher adversary. The flag will hate them back; it will never stand for cynical neutrality between opposites, like the Swiss flag. But what happens when you replace pride with modesty, and still they burn your flag? When do you stop surrendering if you can't possibly comprehend the source of the grievance? At some point, Denmark, you just have to let the flag fly.

UPDATE: Do not miss Michael Kinsley's ruminations on the cartoon riots in today's Washington Post.

Link · Europe | Middle East | Modern Islam | Ukraine | War on Terror · Comments (0) · TrackBack (27)

A meme grows in cyberspace

February 7, 2006 08:42 AM

There seem to be a alot of people impressed by this post from Mark Tapscott:

A veteran Senate GOP staffer who requested anonymity offered this observation about the significance of the Durbin-Mirengoff exchange:

"The mainstream news media that covers Congress is tightly controlled by the House and Senate press galleries and they would never be so aggressive in pressing a Member of Congress. So this was big, it was unprecedented to have a blogger asking such questions. We need more bloggers up here asking questions because they aren't controlled by the galleries."

My God, what nonsense! Whoever said this to Mr. Tapscott -- and I'm assuming the quote is accurate -- is either absurdly ignorant of how the press galleries operate on Capitol Hill or plainly dishonest. At the very least he is playing Tapscott for a fool.

Let's be clear: The press galleries have no control whatsoever -- nada, zip, zilch, zero -- over the substance of reporting by the accredited news media. The galleries issue credentials; they answer the phones; they help the press interact with the politicians (i.e. maintain the press theater). That's it. All of this is overseen by an elected committee of the journalists who are served. The thought of one of these galleries revoking the credentials or otherwise punishing an intemperate questioner is beyond the reach of absurdity. It is beyond metaphysics.

I suspect that beneath this blogospheric fantasy, soon be known as the Mirengoff Miracle, is an (understandable) frustration at watching politicians getting soft-balled at press conferences. But just because these events are televised does not make them "newsy." Reporters use them to gather "message" points, background and quotes. The news channels use them as space-fillers. Unless the press conference itself is the news (i.e. Murtha and Iraq), no one goes to one of these events expecting to break news or learn anything novel. In the Capitol by far the most important reporting is done out of sight of the cameras, in discrete, one-on-one encounters with Senators and Representatives, primarily during votes. Reporters stake out the House and Senate chambers and button-hole lawmakers as they come and go. Even the TV reporters do this. A reporter can sit in front of a lawmaker's office all day if he wishes to. On Capitol Hill it is almost impossible for a politician to evade journalists if the journalists are determined to find him. If you don't believe me, ask Gary Condit.

There's a very simple explanation for why the system works this way. It is because nothing worth asking a politician is worth asking in front of the assembled press corps. (Unless the purpose of the question is to trip up the target before the assembled press corps -- or to seem clever. That's the presidential press conference model.) Reporters want scoops, and they won't get scoops if they can't prevent competitors from learning the same information. Being sensible about how you gather your information is often the difference between A1 and B13. Only a bleeding idiot would tip off his competitors at a public event.

The truth is that for a reporter in the Capitol, the only real inhibitors are reluctant editors and one's personal desire to maintain credibility (i.e. by not printing falsehoods under your byline, or by not letting your questions outpace your facts). In the time I reported on Capitol Hill, I had occasion to pursue one lawmaker about his gambling addiction; another about his "relationship" with the daughter of a colleague; and several about whether they took bribes from Saddam Hussein. (Hey, it was worth a shot!) And I assure you, none of these matters was addressed before the assembled press corps and its television audience.

Link · News Media · Comments (1) · TrackBack (10)

The battle is joined

February 6, 2006 07:39 AM

I'm so outraged by this, I might just go draw a picture of Mohammed. Don't push me!

P.S. In the Arab World, the blood libel against Jews is endlessly repeated in the mainstream press; translations of Mein Kampf and The Protocols of the Elders of Zion are bestsellers, and the latter even "inspired" (is that the right word?) a TV miniseries broadcast in Egypt and Syria; Imams compare Jews to monkeys and pigs and call for God to destroy them (the Jews, not the monkeys and pigs). And I'm supposed to be offended by a cartoon depicting a Jew with actual human emotions? Puhleez.

P.P.S. From a sociological perspective, it is interesting to see what comes out of the Islamic world when the mask slips. A Danish newspaper runs a bunch of cartoon depictions of Mohammed... must be time to attack the Jews! Someone more clever than myself is going to have to connect these dots.... Message to Europe: Stop drawing Mohammed or the Jew gets it! (...Did you hear me, Europe? Europe? Hello? Europe, are you still there?... )

P.P.P.S. This reminds me of an incident that occurred at Harvard a while back. A young woman from Virginia had hung the Confederate flag in her dormroom window. Responding to this offense, an African-American woman displayed a Nazi flag in her window. Which raised some interesting questions: 1) Where on earth did she find the Nazi flag? 2) Hitler was an especially effective... cracker? 3) How much does a Harvard eductation cost? 4) Isn't a protest supposed to suggest that its target is the idiot?

Link · Europe | Modern Islam · Comments (0) · TrackBack (8)

She loves to surprise us

February 4, 2006 11:32 AM

Some encouraging words from Yulia Tymoshenko at the European Parliament:

Ms Tymoshenko plans to form a new coalition with Mr Yushchenko's parliamentary party, Our Ukraine, after the election despite last year's rift.

"We have a chance to be united in the new parliament. I will support president Yushchenko in the new parliament, we will try to join forces," she said, adding "We will not create a coalition with Mr Yanukovych under any circumstances." [emphasis mine]

This is a welcome development, but also puzzling in its own way. In negotiations for a possible coalition with Yushchenko, Tymoshenko's principal condition -- strongly resisted by Yushchenko's forces -- has been that she would become prime minister once again after the the parliamentary elections on March 26. The implied threat, of course, was that Tymoshenko's bloc would partner up with Yanukovich to form an opposition majority in the Rada. And while it has never been clear how Tymoshenko would become prime minister in that arrangement, that prospect was nevertheless the only leverage she had at hand with Yushchenko. Unless I'm missing something, she just threw it away.

Link · Ukraine · Comments (0) · TrackBack (238)

Your World From the BBC

February 1, 2006 05:03 AM

I turned to the Beeb for some news a couple of days ago, after my Internet service was once again disabled by the monkeys who run the cable business here in Ukraine. Only this morning, thanks to this piece by Michelle Malkin, did I realize what I had learned during that hour. The article makes reference to the invasion and takeover of the European Union's offices in Gaza the other day by masked gunmen. They were calling for death to "Denmark" over the publication of some cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed in a Danish newspaper. Malkin's reference sent my mind back to the report, and I could once again recall the Kalashnikov-toting gunmen, their faces wrapped in Kaffiyehs, holding forth before (presumably) a bank of television cameras. There's one guy reading some fatwa or another, and then a bunch of others around him, shuffling about, looking distracted, as if they have other "terrorist" jobs (i.e. "perimeter security") that need doing -- like they had actually made a plan beyond busting into the compound and calling the local media. And as I recollected all this, it occurred to me that this ridiculous scene looked like the most natural thing in the world. Who doesn't seize a consulate after some periodical in a small, out-of-the-way country publishes something that offends? If anyone ever besmirched the honor of Angelina Jolie, I don't know what I might do!

The takeover was, of course, only one piece of that morning's news product. What else was there?... oh, yes! I also learned that "it may already be too late" to save the Greenland icecap from slipping into the sea. Evidently "we" (Who? Britain? China?) have to get "our" emissions down below some level or another or... well, I didn't actually hear the rest because I was working on plans for my ark. But my ears pricked up again at the sound of Jaap "de Hoop" Scheffer, NATO's general secretary, who was being engaged in debate by a suddenly quite animated presenter. (I know him only as "the bald guy.") The bald guy was badgering "de Hoop" about some forthcoming NATO deployment in Afghanistan, and was pressing his guest quite urgently to admit (basically) that NATO was "cleaning up after the Americans," who had supposedly botched something serious having to do with security. And "de Hoop" was clever enough to point out that NATO includes the United States, which I suppose is one way to describe America's contribution of about 90 percent of NATO's fighting capability. And then I got lost in deep metaphysical contemplation... Is NATO covering for America or is it the other way around? At what point is American military action allowed to be called NATO military action? France is in NATO? If we attack France, will France join the invasion force?

So let's review: Gunmen storm building in Gaza over a cartoon in Denmark; Greenland to become grassy marshland, apocalypse imminent; NATO (or America) may be covering America's (or NATO's) ass.

Link · News Media · Comments (0) · TrackBack (8)