Shoes over California?

As Diego Gambetta points out, stories of foiled terror plots are often difficult to take seriously because the means involved do not always seem to add up to a plausible threat. Taking down the Brooklyn Bridge with a blowtorch? Technically improbable mass poisoning schemes? On the other hand, it also does not seem so likely that a small group of men with box cutting knives could have managed what they did, and they did. But the story offered yesterday by US president George Bush, who "said that in early 2002 the United States and its allies disrupted a plot to use bombs hidden in shoes to breach the cockpit door of an airplane and fly it into the tallest building in Los Angeles," seems odd at best. The bomb-in-a-shoe threat was tried once and failed for reasons that were fairly predictable -- it might be more persuasive than radio receivers in a rock (24 hour rock radio!). But even accepting the whole shoe proposition, as a matter of planning bombs would make a poor hijacking instrument. The perpetrators would be just as likely to destroy the plane as to take control of it. Then there is the matter that if there was a threat in Los Angeles, somebody appears to have neglected to tell the city government about it. In a restrained comment, LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa "told the Associated Press news agency he had not been forewarned about the president's revelations," and said, "I'm amazed that the president would make this [announcement] on national TV and not inform us of these details through the appropriate channels," he said. John McKay points out the striking resemblance between the plot Mr Bush described and another one which failed in 1995.

Formally, there is another matter: Mr Bush made his remarks in the context of a widening controversy over his illegal program to practice surveillance over people's private communications. But there is no indication that this secret program provided useful intelligence regarding this or any other plot. As Mr Bush himself noted, "It took the combined efforts of several countries to break up this plot." Which suggests that compulsive secrecy and deliberate self-isolation continue to be poor strategies.

Update: The more I think about it, the less clear it is to me whether the quotation from the LA mayor refers to the threat itself, or to the president's decision to make information about it public.

Enthusiasm!

For all those not yet convinced that "Serbian music is great!" Thanks to Illyrian Gazette for linking

All over the world of entertainment

Comeback efforts that nobody wanted are not limited to the remix/reissue of the ouevre of Leo Sayer, but also include the return of the very diplomatic Vibbi, about whom if there is anything to be said he will &(*%$#@^ well say it himself. Before the plague of reappearance strikes people you want to see again in the wrong way, you may want to consider signing the petition by the "Odbor za očuvanje dostojanstva profesora Baltazara."

Image courtesy of Društvo hrvatskih filmskih redatelja.

The secret

There are two reasons that there was no posting over the weekend. One was that the Blogger service was misbehaving, so it was not possible to post anything. Whatever the problem was, it seems to be working fine now. The other was that I was doing some experimenting with bread making. Commercial yeast is a fine and useful thing, but I have found that using just that with bread sometimes gives it an overpowering flavor, and the crust and texture are not as good as the stuff you get from the really good bakeries. What the good bakeries do, of course, is get their yeast from the air, which is easy for them because they have big warm rooms with lots of dough rising. But that is what gives the bread its nice complex flavor, which should not be the least bit chemical. It would probably be possible to cut out using commercial yeast altogether if, say, we had a steambath in our apartment and I had unlimited amounts of time to devote to baking. But I've combined a few recipes to come up with a technique that uses a little instead of a lot of commercial yeast, only takes more time in the sense that you have to remember to spend two minutes setting it up the night before, and produces a loaf of bread that rivals just about anything you can buy. Here is how it looks after a couple of tries:

THE NIGHT BEFORE
Put about half a cup of warmish water and half a teaspoon of yeast in a bowl, stir it until the yeast dissolves, then mix in just over a cup of flour. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, poke little holes in the plastic wrap, and leave it overnight. In the morning the mixture will have grown, and will be soft and insubstantial, like an initial thought.

THE NEXT DAY
Add about 3 cups of flour, a cup and a half of water, another teaspoon of yeast, and two teaspoons of salt, and mix the whole glop together gently with a spoon. When it assumes some sort of form, put the contents of the bowl on a board and knead it. The kneading will be difficult because the dough is wet and sticky, but try to avoid the temptation to add more flour than you need to keep the dough off your hands. The high proportion of water to flour is what will make the crust good later. Then pour some olive oil in a big bowl, flup the dough around in it a little, and cover it again with the plastic wrap with holes in it. Let it rise until you are astounded at how much it has risen (at least 2 hours, maybe 3). Then shape it into your favorite shape loaf and put the loaf on a thin board that has been covered with a generous amount of corn flour (to keep the loaf from sticking to the board). Let it rise again for at least a half hour, longer if you can, and in the meantime put a "pizza stone" in the oven and let it heat up to 500 of those illogical Farenheit degrees. Sprinkle the top of the loaf with whatever you like to see on the tops of loaves, if you are into that sort of thing. Ploop the loaf from the board onto the stone and bake it for about 30 minutes. Take it out, let it cool, and amaze everybody.

There are people who say that the crust can be even better if you let the loaf rise in the refrigerator for 10 to 12 hours, but these must be people who never leave home, or who have all kinds of unexplainable space in their refrigerators.

So this is freedom

By the time prosecutors brought charges against the Karić brothers (for tax evasion, as it turns out), all four of them had left the country. The general assumption is that they are in Russia. The lawyer representing Bogoljub Karić, Zdenko Tomanović, says that his client will not return to the country to face the charges because, as B92 reports, he would prefer "to defend himself in freedom." He gave no suggestion as to how his client would defend himself as a fugitive, or why absentia is a synonym for freedom. His statement has interesting implications for another defendant Mr Tomanović is representing, who would also like to visit Russia.

On hinting at sadness, and being worldly and wounded

Christopher Solomon paid a visit to Sarajevo. He squinted in distant wonder at people's war stories. He remembered the names of some old ski champions. He chatted with some journalists. He did a little shopping and snacking. He went skiing. He found turbo-folk catchy. He wanted us to know that he can adjectify the name of Samuel Beckett. He wrote a feature for the New York Times about it.

All in a day's work.

Update: Mat wasn't impressed by the piece. But (I think) Quod was.

Cuisinia Slovenia

I have just been told by a highly-placed and well-informed source (my sister) that this month's Gourmet magazine has a feature on the delights (nay, glories) of Slovenia. They don't make their articles available online, though, so my report on it will have to wait until I get a chance to visit a store. Has anyone had a look?

Ma nemoj!

The army, you say? Next thing you know, someone might say that the people responsible were higher-ranking than a retired "colonel" in an "army" that never existed except as a bureaucratic ruse to cover for what the army was doing.

Our relations to the world: under construction

This is the page that greets visitors to the "Bosnia and the world" section of the Bosnian foreign ministry's homepage: it's under construction, and a cute little Bosnian construction worker is working very hard to bring this to you uskoro. (In case the screen shot is too small: it's some dude warming his hands against a fire.)

Who's got a secret?

The petition for release pending trial by the former "VRS" colonel Jovo Đogo, arrested on suspicion of assisting in the harboring of the fugitive Ratko Mladić, has been denied, according to his lawyer. This neither surprising nor particularly interesting. Much more interesting is the last sentence of B92's article about the fact, according to which "the court in the meantime declared the case to be a state secret." Clearly it is not a secret that Mr Đogo has been arrested, and the nature of the charges against him is also not secret. Nor is his relationship with official institutions secret, and neither are the relationships of other people believed to be accomplices the operation secret (they are active military officers). So what would the motivation be for declaring a state secret? Here are some possibilities:

1. The interests and reputation of the state are involved (i.e., the operation involves individuals and institutions working on the basis of something other than individual initiative)
2. The ongoing operations of the state are involved (i.e., as has been recognised by some but denied elsewhere, there is continuing contact between state institutions and the fugitive)
3. The past operations of the state are involved (i.e., the collusion between representatives of state institutions and the fugitive dates back some time, and may involve current officials)
4. Investigations by state institutions are involved (i.e., currently active prosecutions and investigations may make use of information which the defendant is expected to provide)

The list is not exhaustive, of course. For now, it would have to be guess which motivation explains the most.

Njega i Rusa 200 miliona

I've yet to see this reported anywhere else, but Index.hr is reporting that ICTY has agreed to ship off Slobodan Milošević for "medical treatment" to Russia, and that Mr Milošević has agreed for his trial to continue (and verdict be delivered?) in his absence. More information would be needed to tell whether Index's "well informed sources" are correct, but even if they are, the news leaves several questions unanswered. In particular, it leaves open the question of who would be representing the side of the accused, which is in the process of presenting the defence. If the job is done by attorneys (which ones?) it would be reasonable to expect a major change in defence strategy, in which case the result might be more rather than less delay. Another detail of the report is that Milošević would await his verdict, and likely also serve whatever sentence he may receive, in a luxurious suburban villa. Delightfully tendentious line from the report: "Representatives of the Tribunal are not exactly thrilled with this development of events, but they are aware that the trial of Milošević, with the evidence that has been gathered by Carla del Ponte, has reached a dead end and that the sentence which he could receive on the basis of it would not in any way approach the level of his guilt." Does that come from a well informed source, as well?

Diplomatic passports

Police are not saying how many blank diplomatic passports were stolen by thieves who raided a warehouse belonging to the Serbia-Montenegro ministry of foreign affairs, reports Danas.

One for all you vertebrate biology types

Every once in a while one runs across a news item like this one about an apartment building in Šabac where the residents were left without telephones, electricity and heat because rats ate through the cables. A little gross, yes, and I know there is nothing special about Šabac here because rats are at home pretty much anywhere (but most of all, I think, in the NYC subways). But my question is: electrical cables? They will really eat metal? Wouldn't they be shocked? Your animalistic analyses, please.

Update: Andras found this answer from a "nuisance wildlife control company" in Orlando, Florida. It's illustrated, high "blecchhhh" factor.

A bit more about "Captain Dragan"

Mildly interesting: an Australian court has refused to grant bail for Dragan Vasiljković, and it looks fairly likely that he will be extradited to Croatia. More interesting: a short biography, describing the meteoric rise and soufflesque fall of Mr Vasiljković, with a dose of reserve about the charges against him, by Miloš Vasić in Vreme.

Prosecution abandons charges against Orhan Pamuk

The justice ministry refused to support (but also declined to oppose) the move to charge the celebrated writer Orhan Pamuk with a violation of Article 301 of the Turkish penal code, according to which it is illegal to insult the republic, parliament or any organs of state, or something called "Turkishness." The justice ministry's decision relieves the country of a source of embarassment, but also removes the most prominent object of prosecution from public attention, making it easier to continue to proceed against less well-known people charged with the same offence. Ironically, the prosecution was meant to punish Mr Pamuk for telling a Swiss magazine last year, "One million Armenians and 30,000 Kurds were killed in these lands, and nobody but me dares talk about it." Among other effects of the publicity surrounding the harassment of a major literary figure, more people than him are talking about it.

Coming: Extradition request for "Captain Dragan"

In an interview with Biljana Bašić for the daily Vjesnik, Croatian justice minister Vesna Škare-Ozbolt predicted that a request for the extradition of Dragan Vasiljković would be sent to Australia by Friday, which would be well within the 45-day period within which Australian law requires such requests to be made. The request will have to be accompanied by evidence that there is reason to make charges against Mr Vasiljković, as well as by assurances that he would not face a death penalty in the country to which extradition is requested. The charges against him so far are based on events in June and July 1991, and February 1993, for destruction of civilian objects, theft, and forced expulsion of civilians in Glina and in Gornji and Donji Viduševac, and for abuse of prisoners in Knin and Bruška. These are the charges developed by local prosecutors in Šibenik, but Ms Škare-Ozbolt leaves open in the interview the possibility that an eventual prosecution may move to another jurisdiction.

Update, 25 January: The Australian reports that Dragan Vasiljković's lawyer, George Draca (who is representing him together with Richard Thomas and Bradley Slowgrove), has announced a plan to challenge the arrest as "arbitrary detention" and demand his release. No details on what Mr Draca plans to argue is arbitrary about the detention.

Studentska posla

Just an ever-so-brief note to the people who are kind enough to read here: you may have noticed that posting has been less frequent, and that is because the semester has begun. I am East Ethnia by night, and by day a mild-mannered professor of sociology at the fetching Clark University. This semester is the "heavy" semester (three classes instead of two), so a lot of time goes to teaching and related activity. I am trying to eliminate the use of paper as much as possible, and make as much activity as I can electronic. You are welcome to follow that bit of cyborg academia at The Iron Cage, should you care to.

Amusing photo courtesy of Srbovanje.

Breaking news

Dragan Vasiljković arrested in Sydney. More news as it happens.

Annoying little brother would like someone else to be watching you

Horrors! There may be people in the field of education with perspectives different from the ones held by the people currently in power! At one institution, students have the ability to make a little pocket change by ratting them out. This is the service promised by UCLAprofs.com, which invites students:

"Do you have a professor who just can’t stop talking about President Bush, about Howard Dean, about the war in Iraq, about MoveOn.org, about the Republican Party, about the Democratic Party, or any other ideological issue that has nothing to do with the class subject matter? It doesn't matter whether this is a past class, or your ongoing class this winter quarter.

If you can help UCLAProfs.com collect information about abusive, one-sided, or off-topic classroom behavior, we’ll pay you for your work."

Their price list ranges from $100 for surveillance and recording, $50 for technically unaided surveillance, and $10 for hearsay. The material goes to support the essayistic impulses of the group's president (and only member), one Andrew Jones, who would like to be a major-league right-wing provocateur and thinker once he learns to assemble a sentence. His previous achievements include a public stunt to sell cookies to people at different prices according to their ethnicity, presumably to show that there is no such thing as discrimination. Isn't that clever?

Živeli!

In the spirit of the photo of the day from Dnevnik, I offer you my recipe for stuffed onions in the style of the world onion prestonica, which is not Walla Walla (as I was raised to believe) but Makó.

For the osnovica:

• 8 onions, medium size
• A cup or so of bread crumbs, from good bread, preferably homemade
• A handful or so of parsley, chopped up
• 3-4 teaspoons of oil
• 1 egg

For the sauce:

• 3 teaspoons of butter
• 4 tablespoons of flour
• About a teacup or so of milk
• Half that much cream
• The yolk of an unfortunate egg
• Grated cheese

• Pepper and salt, naturally

1. Soak the breadcrumbs and squeeze them.
2. Cut the tops off the onions so that they can be used afterward like little pot lids. Scoop out the insides of the onions with a spoon and chop the whole mess up.
3. Saute the chopped onion innards until they are soft and brownish. Mix it up in a bowl with the breadcrumbs, parsley, an egg, and a bit of salt, and stuff the hollow onions with it.
4. Arrange the onions in a baking pan with a bit of oil in the bottom, cover them with their tops, add an inch or so of water, and bake the whole thing until the onions are soft.
5. Do up a nice little bechamel with the butter, flour, milk, cream, and pepper, them stir in the egg yolk when it is done. You have done this a thousand times, no need to tell you how.
6. Take the onions out of the oven. pour the bechamel over them, sprinkle on the cheese and put it back. Take it out when it is done.
7. Serve with a nice, sort of sharpish white wine, and you will not regret it.