Warrior Monks and Scoundrels

When I heard that Moqtada al-Sadr’s ragtag militia was calling itself the Mahdi Army, it struck a couple interesting chords. The last Mahdi was a charismatic local cleric in the Sudan, a man of no great standing or military training who nevertheless took the name of a legendary figure in Islam and rallied Muslim armies to his side. His soldiers united the desert tribes south of Egypt and cast out the Ottomans (and a British garrison or two) in the late 19th C. He’s probably best known for a battle that he actually wasn’t at. After his death, the Mahdists (also called the dervishes) decided to take on the British, who were there to protect the territory adjacent to the Suez -- not from the natives, ironically, but from the French, who were ambitiously pushing out of their traditional haunts in West Africa. In an encounter typical of colonial campaigns in Africa (and that subsequently formed the basis for the movie The Four Feathers) the Mahdists were cut to ribbons by Kitchener’s guns outside Omdurman in 1898. (For centuries, the European nations – even enemies like France and Germany -- maintained a pretty airtight embargo on sales of modern arms to Africans, resulting in several lopsided encounters like this one. The Brits versus the Zulus, who put up a damn good tactical fight despite their outright rejection of rifles as ignoble, is another example.)

But the Sudanese Mahdists aren’t regarded so lightly everywhere. Before the debacle at Omdurman, the Mahdi’s armies played havoc with the Ethiopian forces of Yohannes IV and almost overran the ancient empire. These were the same Ethiopian soldiers that a few years later routed the Italians at Adowa -- a thorough and humiliating defeat that was the only example in the 19th century of a native African army driving a native European army entirely and permanently (for a generation, anyway) out of its borders. I was in Ethiopia in 2002; beautiful country. Even now, despite Mussolini’s vandalism of the country in the 1930’s, Ethiopians regard Arabs as more their natural enemies than Europeans -- who are, after all, Christian like them.

Now, via the Belmont Club (a site that consistently busts the Liebling curve for the rest of us), I find this fascinating and typically arrogant Der Spiegel article giving an insightful account of intra-Shia politics and the thuggish Sadr (call it "Portrait of the Young Cleric as a Murderer"). The article also reacquainted me with the historical roots of Shia and the Mahdi. One passage that’s relevant here:

The Shiites believe that all of their imams after Ali died a sacrificial death. A small minority only acknowledges seven imams (like the Ismailites), while most consider themselves part of the twelve imam Shia. The twelfth in the sequence of their leaders is said to have suffered an unusual fate. Little Mohammed, born in 869, was hidden by his father and then disappeared. Most Shiites believe that the "hidden imam," or "Mahdi," will reappear one day and will take the helm of the party of Ali to claim the legitimate rights of its ancestors and lead his followers into paradise.

Seems awfully cheeky for this thirty-something cleric to claim a mantle so rich and freighted for Shi’ites -- indeed, for all Muslims. (Reminds me a bit of the Lubavitcher who was proclaimed the Messiah a few years ago. You looked at the wizened little guy in a cheap suit and said, that’s it??) On the other hand, mixed reports on his uprising so far. The last thing anybody needs in Iraq is a charismatic warrior cleric making the Americans look like the Ottomans. So if Sadr pops up in public anywhere besides a sacred mosque, let’s hope Coalition troops are there to escort him and his followers directly into paradise.

The Night the Lights Went Out in Gilroy

Judge Danser of the Santa Clara County Superior Court is just a big hearted fellow who liked to help people:

The Santa Clara County superior court judge is expected to start an eight- week trial today for allegedly fixing traffic tickets and giving wrist-slap sentences to drunken drivers.

No one accuses Danser of doing it for money or San Jose Sharks box seats -- or even an autographed hockey stick. Prosecutors said he just yearned to be the "big man,'' to show off how he could flex his judicial muscles, pull strings for friends and acquaintances and to rub elbows with celebrity jocks.

"This is about status ... being a big guy," Prosecutor David Pandori told the grand jury that indicted Danser and his accused accomplice, former Los Gatos police Detective Randy Bishop, last fall on felony conspiracy to pervert and obstruct justice and multiple misdemeanor obstruction counts. "This is all about power ... the exercise of power and being able to pull favors for people. "

Mind my cynicism, but if a Judge is going to be corrupt, you think he'd try to make a buck at it. Man is frail creature and you'd half-expect a story like this would have an alimony or gambling debt subplot. Something to block the scene. But to give away your honest and bring shame to the bench for a pat on the back? For the approval of strangers?

Ugh.

This is a Caucus of Democracies?

Franco Aleman (who I've spotted on Roger Simon's site, as well as Tim Blair's) caught my eye by declaring his native Spain the "proud new member of the Axis of Weasels." Well put. But while "weasel" is an accurate term for what the Spanish are doing now, does it still adequately describe what the French and Germans were doing before the invasion of Iraq? Schroder and Chirac didn't have anything to weasel out of, because neither perceived that he had any obligations vis a vis Saddam. On the contrary, more and more evidence suggests that France, at least, may have actively collaborated with the guy.

Look again: what do France, Germany and Iraq have in common? They're all former Fascist states, and they all have complicated, ambiguous relationships with that part of their history -- and with America's role in it. What's more, recent events in Iraq sadly seem to confirm that even if democracy does take permanent root there (God willing), the Iraqis will be about as grateful for it as the rest of the League of Former Fascists.

Now comes Spain, with its own Fascist history -- although obviously a quite different narrative; for starters, the Spanish clawed their way back to democracy on their own, more or less. But Spain's recent flip from one side to the other in the War on Terror (neutrality in this fight being about as worthless as in the last couple world wars) makes me think about the peculiar relation of the European nations to authoritarianism. How can a civilized people let themselves slip into Fascism? And how can any people so recently freed from under the Fascist boot not recognize it on their own doorstep? Or do they recognize it all too well, and let intimacy provide the fatal pause? Is there some national version of Stockholm syndrome at work here?

Single Malt Whisky. Neat.

This serving suggestion is new to me.

Give em enough rope

This is one of the best examples I’ve seen of the now-common web practice of contrasting people (or one person) by juxtaposing their own words on a given topic. Usually, it’s possible to put one of them in a bad light by taking words out of the context in which they were given (though that’s not always the case – with some things, either you’re for or against). But here, the context is precisely the same – and the difference is quite instructive.

Win Ben Stein's Influence

Republicans, thoughtfully, are giving money to Ralph Nader. I suppose politics dictate circumspection, but Ben Stein says his motives are pure:

"If he gets into the debates and raises issues about securities fraud that no one else has raised, I consider it money well donated," said Mr. Stein, who also mentioned another incentive: His teenage son wants to volunteer in the Nader campaign. "I thought this money might help buy him a few paper clips so he does not have to take them from home," Mr. Stein said.

Me? I gave $25 to Ralph Nader in 2000 because I knew it would do more to get the right guy elected than would an extra $25 to the President.

Giants v A's Sunday

I've got four extra tickets for tomorrow's Giants v. A's game at Pac Bell Park. Section 312, Row 10. That's upper deck but right behind home plate. If you are interested, let me know in comments and/or emails.

$60 for the set, OBO.

Mao's Little Red Cape

China's concern about its international reputation touches me.

Organizers have scrapped plans to hold bullfights in Beijing after complaints that the event would be cruel to animals, Chinese media reported Friday.

The first bullfight was to have taken place May 1 in a new 6,400-seat bullring billed as the biggest in Asia.

But members of the Beijing city council complained that the fights would be inhumane and have "the potential to tarnish Beijing's and China's image," China Radio International reported. They called such events "uncultured in Chinese tradition."

I didn't know the reputation of a country responsible for this, this or this could be tarnished by a bullfight, but okay.

And while we’re talking geographic trivia...

The monitor in my office elevator had a nice quiz today: the flags of six nations have flown over which American state?

The answer’s not hard to guess, but the six nations are – or they were for me anyway; I was one short until I looked it up.

Ya Mon, Eh

Can you name all thirteen Canadian provinces and territories? Even well-educated people will often be stumped by that one. But a better geography trivia question might be: what will be the next?

Continental Drift

I’ve been reading Instapundit since before I knew what a blog was, primarily because I like Glenn Reynolds. He’s shaded to the right on some things, leftish on others, generally libertarian on most -- like me. Moreover, he’s fair and level-headed on everything.

So it’s been dismaying to detect a bit of rancor creeping into his tone recently. For instance, today Instapundit has an item about media depiction of military casualties. Reynolds reproduces this quote from the Executive Producer of ABC’s Nightline (via Mudville Gazette)

"War is a horrible thing. It is about killing….If we try to avoid showing pictures of bodies, if we make it too clean, then maybe we make it too easy to go to war again."

and responds by saying

So shaping the war debate, and hampering future military efforts, is the central focus of decisions about news coverage. Nice to see them admit it.

It’s certainly true that many, or even most, reporters and media executives have a Democratic bias, and that this consciously or unconsciously affects the news. And while there's nothing inherently evil about that – everybody’s got a bias – Reynolds is of course right that it’s important to be aware of the bias of the source when reading any news item. But I think he’s going overboard. First, this quote doesn’t support the charge that “shaping the war debate” is the “central focus of decisions about news coverage,” only that it may be a factor. (Some of Mudville’s other quotes might go farther, but they weren’t used.) Second, and more importantly, “hampering future military efforts”? That seems extreme; we’re talking about ABC, not ANSWER. The media have immense power to sway opinions and therefore events, and it seems perfectly legitimate to worry about making war “too easy” (although one can, of course, disagree about what “too easy” means).

Another example: yesterday Instapundit had an item about the new and unfortunately named Air America liberal radio network. Apparently, in many places (including here in the Bay Area) the network has displaced existing ethnic programming. Reynolds’ comment is:

Al Franken and Air America: "Silencing Minorities Since 2004!"

Ouch – but while Franken deserves all the tweaking he can get, that’s a bit unfair. According to this New York Times article, Air America has been trying to buy its own radio stations, but none are currently for sale, so they’re buying blocks of time until they can amass their own broadcast hardware. Presumably, the stations most likely to be willing to sell day-long blocks of time are relatively low-audience independent local stations, many of which now carry ethnic programming. I’d be astonished if Franken & Co. intended to “silence minorities.” Reynolds is almost certainly joking, but he repeats the charge in a later post: “I am disappointed with the loss of broadcast diversity associated with Air America's rollout….”

These examples remind me of that infuriating trait of people like Atrios or Alterman to consistently reach for the worst possible, most anti-Bush interpretation of any event, quote or piece of news. (For instance, Alterman’s comment on the recent events in Falluja was “Bush asked for this.”) It sucks all the credibility out of the room, and moreover, it’s transparent. Reynolds is nowhere near that point, and granted, both of these examples have more to do with the media (an equal opportunity whipping boy) than with actual politics. But Instapundit’s single greatest asset is Reynolds’ basic fairness. If I were in his position I’d be more prudent.

Citizens Against Citizens Against Airports

Folks in Livermore, CA are up in arms about the potential for increased traffic at the Livermore Airport. I suppose some folks might have legitimate gripes. I don't get it. Me, I love airplane noise -- jets, helicopters, I don't care -- and depending on which runway is active, I live on the long final approach favored by business jets.

But a year and a half ago, I had occasion to talk to some airport manager from Livermore and we got to talking about noise complaints. It is a certainty among noise complaints for small aviation airports that 90% of the complaints come from about 10% of the complainers. And usually there are one or two folks who make up the bulk of those complaints.

Well, this fellow tells me about this one woman -- who called about twice a day, every day to complain -- and the fact that on September 12th, 2001, that there wasn't an airplane in the sky, didn't stop her.

Mission to Ares

Cute article in the New Yorker a couple months ago about a meeting of Cornell scientists, I think a few years ago. These guys were were charged with making design recommendations to NASA for the Mars probes -- two of which, of course, landed earlier this year.

One topic was photometric calibration, which means (if I understand correctly) adjusting the probes' camera equipment for the Martian atmosphere so as to record the colors correctly. (I don't quite understand why this is. Light is light, presumably. But whatever.) Most of the scientists in the Cornell group envisioned a simple rod which would cast a shadow on a set of grey concentric rings. But one guy had a better idea: why not put a real sundial on the outside of each probe? That way you could adjust your equipment and tell time. Sundial would work the same on another planet, right? Plus it would just be cool.

His colleagues were skeptical. NASA already had plenty of clocks, and they are pretty accurate. But this one guy held out for sundials and eventually brought his fellow scientists around. So when Opportunity and Spirit landed on the Martian surface earlier this year, each carried a palm-size aluminum sundial on its outer casing, engraved with the words "Two Worlds, One Sun" in 17 languages.

Who was the gnomonophile holdout? One William Nye, class of '77.