Tuesday, August 24, 2004
No blood for oil...
...but don't worry, it's somewhere else, where it doesn't matter, because it's Arabs, and not the Americans, killing the blacks.
Welcome to Sudan. No Halliburton here, so not much interest or outcry from the international community and the usual clique of caring government who are always "concerned" about human right issues wherever and whenever the United States is involved militarily or commercially:
The charge has been made so frequently against the US so as to become a stock-standard response whenever an American official speaks about spreading freedom and democracy: the United States only uses lofty language to disguise is ruthless drive for world political, military and economic domination. America's critics have been very successful at claiming the moral high ground and the strategy of hijacking the humanitarian terminology has paid off quite well in propaganda dividends - after all, it's not easy to argue against the self-proclaimed defenders of "human rights", "peace", or "international community."
Yet, while America is traditionally presumed guilty of rhetorical abuse, the same sort of scrutiny is rarely applied to other states or international institutional actors. Would it be so, it might all too often emerge that some of the most passionate public defenders of "peace", "cooperation", "international law" and "human rights" use these terms not as a shield to protect the victims of war, oppression and injustice, but a sword to attack the United States and its allies.
There are many genuine humanitarians out there, compassionate albeit occasionally misguided good souls, but they seem to be largely unaware that their ethos has been infiltrated and colonized by others, who play on the world opinion's heartstrings out of cold, hard political calculation. The language might be one of high morality, but the objectives are quite down to earth: either own commercial advancement (see the Sudan example above, where the concern about American "imperialism" is used to deflect attention away from one's own interests elsewhere) or a strategic powerplay to weaken the hegemon and thus improve own relative position in the international scheme of things.
So next time you scan the news, beware of wolves in humanitarian sheep's clothes, and angels of compassion who speak with forked tongues. The "peace-makers" might indeed be blessed and the "meek" could still inherit the earth, but only if we allow ourselves to be bamboozled by their pious rhetoric and allow them to get away with it.
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Welcome to Sudan. No Halliburton here, so not much interest or outcry from the international community and the usual clique of caring government who are always "concerned" about human right issues wherever and whenever the United States is involved militarily or commercially:
"China, India, Malaysia and some European countries are dramatically expanding business ties with Sudan, taking advantage of U.S. sanctions that bar American companies from operating here, local officials and foreign diplomats say.And yes, I wasn't joking - there is oil involved:
"Companies from those countries some of which are at least partially state-owned are investing billions of dollars and working closely with the Khartoum government with little concern about its role in recent mass killings in Sudan's Darfur region, Western diplomats say."
"While Washington has begged the world -- and pressured the United Nations Security Council -- to send peacekeeping troops to Sudan to quell the sectarian fighting that has put a million refugees at risk, China has already deployed 4,000 troops to Sudan. But those troops are there only to protect China's investment in an oil pipeline. China is concerned that civil unrest could wreck the oil project. It has actually been hostile to U.S. pressure to impose economic sanctions on the Arab government in Khartoum, a key Chinese client, buyer of Chinese arms and partner in oil exploration.Hypocrisies are quite breathtaking.
"It was also telling that China was a major opponent at the Security Council of the war against Iraq, in large part because China had obtained prospective contracts with Saddam Hussein for exclusive exploitation of some oil fields. But perhaps the most worrisome prospect for U.S. policymakers is China's burgeoning attempt to secure ties with Saudi Arabia, the world's arbiter of the oil market, taking advantage of the Saudi regime's tensions with Washington since the 9/11 attacks."
The charge has been made so frequently against the US so as to become a stock-standard response whenever an American official speaks about spreading freedom and democracy: the United States only uses lofty language to disguise is ruthless drive for world political, military and economic domination. America's critics have been very successful at claiming the moral high ground and the strategy of hijacking the humanitarian terminology has paid off quite well in propaganda dividends - after all, it's not easy to argue against the self-proclaimed defenders of "human rights", "peace", or "international community."
Yet, while America is traditionally presumed guilty of rhetorical abuse, the same sort of scrutiny is rarely applied to other states or international institutional actors. Would it be so, it might all too often emerge that some of the most passionate public defenders of "peace", "cooperation", "international law" and "human rights" use these terms not as a shield to protect the victims of war, oppression and injustice, but a sword to attack the United States and its allies.
There are many genuine humanitarians out there, compassionate albeit occasionally misguided good souls, but they seem to be largely unaware that their ethos has been infiltrated and colonized by others, who play on the world opinion's heartstrings out of cold, hard political calculation. The language might be one of high morality, but the objectives are quite down to earth: either own commercial advancement (see the Sudan example above, where the concern about American "imperialism" is used to deflect attention away from one's own interests elsewhere) or a strategic powerplay to weaken the hegemon and thus improve own relative position in the international scheme of things.
So next time you scan the news, beware of wolves in humanitarian sheep's clothes, and angels of compassion who speak with forked tongues. The "peace-makers" might indeed be blessed and the "meek" could still inherit the earth, but only if we allow ourselves to be bamboozled by their pious rhetoric and allow them to get away with it.
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The power of one missing word
I'm sure they don't do it on purpose:
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"US President George W Bush has praised the military record of his election rival, John Kerry, and called a halt to unofficial negative advertising."The President called for a halt on negative advertising. To write that he "called a halt" implies that negative advertising campaign was under his control and therefore it was in his power to stop it - that is, it implies the truth of the subsequent paragraph in the story:
"Mr Kerry's campaign team has alleged Mr Bush backed ads by Republican-leaning Vietnam veterans which questioned Mr Kerry's record for bravery in the war."And the Dems go on to show some class in response. Not:
"The Democrats have described Mr Bush's remarks as 'too little, too late'. 'The moment of truth came and went, and the president still couldn't bring himself to do the right thing,' John Edwards, Mr Kerry's running-mate, said."In the memorable words of Terry McAuliffe, chairman of the Democratic National Committee:
"I look forward to that debate when John Kerry, a war hero with a chest full of medals, is standing next to George Bush, a man who was AWOL in the Alabama National Guard... George Bush never served in our military in our country. He didn't show up when he should have showed up. And there's John Kerry on the stage with a chest full of medals that he earned by saving the lives of American soldiers. So, as John Kerry says, 'Bring it on!' "Still waiting for that apology, Terry. If the Republicans are "too little, too late", the Dems take the cake for "still nothing, even later."
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Those wacky Republicans and their amazing celebrities
Now we finally know which celebrities are coming to the Republican convention in New York: country duo Brooks & Dunn, country singer Lee Ann Womack, Latin gospel singer Jaci Velasquez, Christian rock band Third Day, Christian singer Gracie Rosenburger, rock band Dexter Freebish, country singer Darryl Worley, gospel singer Donnie McClurkin, the legendary Wayne Newton, actor Stephen Baldwin, and actress Bo Derek.
Not wanting the begrudge the above their celebrity status, it's probably just as well that the presidential elections aren't decided by the Hollywood electoral college votes. It is also a pointed reminder that for all their inevitable glitz and excitement (at least as far as political junkies are concerned), conventions should never sacrifice substance for the sake of flashy but superficial symbolism.
And just to remind us what the Republicans will be missing by being denied the cream of our entertainment elite, Janet Jackson is claiming in a forthcoming interview that the Bush Administration had used her breast to distract people from the war in Iraq. The nefarious neo-con conspiracy in the White House must have in this case cleverly manipulated the mainstream media to do their dirty work for them. It just shows you how low the Bush junta will stoop to prevent the American people from keeping abreast of the real issues. Fortunately the distraction proved not to be particularly big, and the Titgage conspiracy was soon nipped in the bud.
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Not wanting the begrudge the above their celebrity status, it's probably just as well that the presidential elections aren't decided by the Hollywood electoral college votes. It is also a pointed reminder that for all their inevitable glitz and excitement (at least as far as political junkies are concerned), conventions should never sacrifice substance for the sake of flashy but superficial symbolism.
And just to remind us what the Republicans will be missing by being denied the cream of our entertainment elite, Janet Jackson is claiming in a forthcoming interview that the Bush Administration had used her breast to distract people from the war in Iraq. The nefarious neo-con conspiracy in the White House must have in this case cleverly manipulated the mainstream media to do their dirty work for them. It just shows you how low the Bush junta will stoop to prevent the American people from keeping abreast of the real issues. Fortunately the distraction proved not to be particularly big, and the Titgage conspiracy was soon nipped in the bud.
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Monday, August 23, 2004
The good guy of the week
This week's award goes to Ed Koch, the mayor of New York from 1978 to 1990:
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"Calling himself a 'liberal with sanity,' former mayor Ed Koch - a lifelong Democrat - said he had decided to support President Bush in the 2004 election because of Bush's policy on Iraq."Liberal with sanity" - a very nice description that, come to think of it, applies to so many people in the blogsphere - Glenn Reynolds and Dean Esmay spring instantly to mind, but I'm sure you can name another few yourself (hello, Joe Gandelman). These are all people, who like Koch, might not necessarily support some or even all of Bush's domestic policies, but who agree that there is indeed only one issue in this election - the war on terror. I tend to think of myself as a "conservative with sanity" so I don't have the same dilemmas about supporting Bush (morally, as I can't vote), but I warmly welcome to the ranks of the sane all those of other political persuasions who have the political courage to understand that we are at war.
" 'While I don't agree with Bush on any domestic matters, there's only one matter that's important in this race, and that relates to standing up to international terrorism, taking it on - and George Bush has established that he is willing to do that,' Koch said in an interview broadcast Sunday on WNBC-TV's 'News Forum.'
"Koch said Bush's unwavering opinions contrasted favorably with the 'hypocrisy' of Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry. Koch said Kerry had wavered on Iraq..."
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Good news from Afghanistan, Part 3
Note: Also available at the "Opinion Journal". Kudos and thanks to James Taranto, one of the few in the mainstream media who continue to spread the good news. And, as always, available at Winds of Change, thanks to Joe Katzman.
The former king of Afghanistan, Mohammad Zahir Shah, has seen it all in his 89 years: after four decades on the throne, a coup that saw his deposed, and another three decades in exile, he is now back in his homeland, living the peaceful life of a private citizen, albeit in the security of a private mansion on the grounds of the presidential palace in Kabul. Asked recently by an interviewer about his country's future, Mohammad Zahir Shah replied: "I am not a fortune-teller, but I am optimistic."
For the past quarter of a century, one need not have been a fortune teller to expect that Afghanistan's near future would remain grim. A communist coup, followed by the Soviet invasion and occupation, then the civil war between former mudjahedin freedom fighters, and finally the oppressive Taliban theocracy have all drastically reduced the number of optimists in this unlucky corner of Central Asia.
But optimism is back, and since the overthrow of Mullah Omar's regime almost three years ago it has been making a slow but steady comeback. For all the continuing security problems and sporadic fighting with the Taliban and al Qaeda remnants, Afghanistan's resurrection has been an unheralded success story of the recent times. Huge challenges remain, to be sure, but for the first time in a generation there is real hope that the country is finally breaking out of the cycle of violence and succeeding in its first steps on the road to normalcy.
The Afghans know it's happening, but we in the West, looking at Afghanistan through the prism of mainstream media coverage, are far less aware of all the positive developments taking place over there. Here is some good news from the last four weeks that you might have missed while the media, true to their form, continued to focus on the negatives.
SOCIETY: The presidential elections are still some two months away, but the foundations have already been laid down with considerable success: according to initial United Nations reports, almost 80 per cent, or 7.9 million out of estimated 10 million eligible voters have registered to vote in October's poll. Other reports at the time put the figure as high as 9 million registered voters, but when the voter registration officially closed on Sunday, 15 August, the United Nations realized that a staggering 9.9 million Afghans had registered to vote, of whom almost 42 percent were women. In the words of Manoel de Almeida e Silva, a spokesman for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), "This registration process has concluded after a number of problems and what is even more remarkable is the number of Afghans registered in spite of these problems." One of those who have recently registered to vote is Afghanistan's former king.
To assist in the proper running of the election some much needed foreign aid continues to flow in, including an addition $2 million from Australia (A$2 million has already been provided). "Australia's total assistance to Afghanistan since September 2001 stands at [A]$110 million, making it Australia's third largest humanitarian effort, exceeded only by East Timor and Iraq," said Australia's foreign minister Alexander Downer. The European Union is also providing an extra $10.9 million towards the running of the elections. Some 5,000 polling centers are expected to operate across the country, each consisting of 5 polling stations, making it a total of 25,000 places where the Afghans will be able to cast their vote in October.
There's already considerable political interest in the presidential poll:
Not surprisingly, it's those who have suffered the most in the past who feel most passionately about the need for democracy. Take, for instance, the Panjshir valley, which used to be the hotbed of anti-Taliban resistance and where the voter registration figures now are twice what the UN has originally expected. As the poll draws near, the enthusiasm is palatable:
As the situation in Afghanistan slowly returns to normal, refugees continue to flow back to their homeland: more than half a million have returned from Iran and Pakistan so far this year, bringing the total to 3 million out of the estimated 4.5 million who have left Afghanistan over the last quarter of a century of war and dictatorship. The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is providing an extra 20,500 housing units for the returnees. So far, "[a]s part of an initial reintegration effort to help vulnerable returnees, UNHCR, in collaboration with the Afghan Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation (MRR), provided some 100,000 rural shelter units as new homes that have benefited more than half a million Afghans in the past two years." You can read how this assistance is helping to rebuild houses in Kabul.
In entertainment news, "Earth and Ashes", a film by Paris-based Afghan director Atiq Rahimi, shared the Best Picture prize with a Taiwanese entry at the sixth Osian Cinefan film festival. Back in Kabul, French Culture Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres has officially reopened the capital's famous 600-seat Arian cinema, which was destroyed during the civil war in the 1990s. The cinema was rebuild with donations from the French film industry. And Afghanistan now has its first entertainment television channel:
And in sports news, Friba Razayee and Robina Muqim Yaar are the first Afghan women to compete in the Olympics (in Judo and sprint, respectively): "When asked about her chances of winning an Olympic medal in Judo, Friba Razayee smiles and giggles that she's just happy to be able to compete at the games. 'I am really happy, winning or losing is not important for us, because we are the first women,' she says. 'The Olympic Games are important to us, we are all Olympians and it is important to us to participate and we are not here just for a medal'." Afghanistan was banned from competing in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, partly because the then Taliban government did not allow female athletes to participate.
The sprinter Robina Muqim Yaar recently had this to say about the day she stopped wearing her burqa: "It was liberating, marvelous. I was very happy. The burka was not me, it was forced on many people by others." Her Olympic message back home is simple, yet powerful: "I am here to give hope to the women of my country. They can look forward to the future. Sports like athletics cost nothing to do. I would like to see many more Afghan women competing in sport."
It's an example that others are already following. On the somewhat more junior level, eight girls with four months of soccer experience behind them are the first team from Afghanistan to participate in the International Children's Games, held this year in Cleveland, Ohio: "They're part of the Afghan Youth Sports Exchange, which brings Afghan girls to the USA for a six-week sports leadership camp. When program organizer Awista Ayub, a 24-year-old Afghan-American, learned about the Games, she realized it would be a great event for her girls to work toward." The rest, as they say is history; or in this case, history in the making. The team in now being couched by the local Cleveland soccer legend, Iranian immigrant Ali Kazemaini and President Bush has already met with the girls.
Not just the two female members but the whole Afghan Olympic team is making history, even without getting onto the podium:
And finally, a moral victory in the war on the local scourge of drug cultivation, after Afghanistan's religious leaders declare any involvement in drug industry out of bounds: "Afghanistan's Council of Ulemas earlier this month issued a fatwa, or religious decree, saying the cultivation, processing trafficking and consumption of drugs must be prevented... opium poppy cultivation, even if it is not consumed by Muslims or if it is done out of poverty, is illegal." This coincides with signs of increased efforts to combat drug cultivation: "US-led coalition forces are preparing a coordinated effort to attack the narcotics trade in Afghanistan, recognizing that drug income could be used to fund insurgents and terrorists in the country."
RECONSTRUCTION: Says Lt. Col. Scott Normandeau, of Manchester, New Hampshire, commander of the 157th Communications Flight for the Air National Guard: "There is a huge reconstruction effort going on... I came back here [to the United States] and was surprised at what I heard on the news." Having been following the media coverage of Afghanistan I can sympathize with Lt. Col. Normandeau. "I don't think people realize, this isn't a country at war," he continues. "It is a country that is in the process of recovering." Normandeau provides a good picture of how the reconstruction is taking place every day, out of the eye of news camera:
In transport news, Russian Railways (RZD) will be constructing a railway network which will link major Afghan cities and extend to Iran and Pakistan. Meanwhile, Pakistani Minister for Railways, Ghous Bukhsh Mehar, has announced that his government is considering the construction of the Pakistan-Afghanistan rail link to slash the high transport costs between the two countries and open Afghanistan to the international markets. "To accomplish the objective, both Islamabad and Kabul had already agreed to lay down railway track of about 103 Km between Chaman and Kandhar", said the Minister.
Pakistan is also donating 200 trucks and 100 buses to help in the reconstruction effort in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, the Manila-based Asian Development Bank is funding the development of a master plan to "identify the main road systems required to link major markets, production centers and development opportunities in Afghanistan" as well as linkages between Afghanistan and its neighbors. Earlier this year, the Asian Development Bank has already pledged $1 billion in loans and grants to Afghanistan between 2005 and 2008.
And in the private sector, some quite unexpected business concepts prove to be quite successful: "Afghanistan's first fashion brand -- 'Tarsian & Blinkley' -- is selling fast in New York and various other cities around the world. It is a product of a company a 30-year-old female fashion designer has created with the local non governmental organization 'Morning Star.'
Civilians, too, are active in humanitarian work on the ground in Afghanistan. These are people like Cindy and Zack Taylor (Zack is a gastroenterologist in Germantown), who have taken medical teams with them into Afghanistan on six occasions so far. The genesis of their effort lies on September 11, when Cindy Taylor was onboard one of the planes which were diverted to Canada when the terrorists struck. "We began to ask ourselves what we could do to help," says Cindy.
Agriculture still remains Afghanistan's major industry, and so in that area, too, some major assistance programs are currently under way. A native of Fairfield, Iowa, Randy Frescoln, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development business and cooperative program director, is going to Afghanistan on a six-month assignment to help increase agricultural growth and rural incomes. Meanwhile, Canada's Drew Gilmour is "trying to marry business and aid by forming Development Works Canada with two silent partners" in a $4 million aid project to build a sustainable business for Afghan farmers. Says Gilmour: "Smart development doesn't have to be charity. Emergency relief is absolutely necessary, but if a country is going to recover, it has to have opportunities. Long-term recovery can only happen through economic investment and job creation." Hence, Gilmour's new project: a vegetable dehydration facility.
It's not just the Coalition governments which are providing funds and support to aid in Afghanistan's reconstruction: the government of New Zealand, for example, is spending an additional NZ$5 million on education, agriculture and governance programs, targeted specifically at the southeast province of Bamiyan, which is the base of the operation for a New Zealand provincial reconstruction team.
Private businesses are also contributing to the reconstruction: "All thanks to the efforts of a construction company owner from Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture, a badly needed schoolhouse is rising from the rubble in a small village in the east of war-ravaged Afghanistan. Mitsuhiro Kanemoto, 61, has donated the majority of the funds for the project with money he raised to help the children of Qara-i-wazir, about 10 kilometers south of Kabul."
Japanese students, too, lend a helping hand: students form Tsuruma Elementary School in Tokyo's Machida, for example, have all donated their old school bags after the graduation. "Artificial-leather manufacturer Kuraray, Co. and JOICPF [Japanese Organization for International Cooperation in Family Planning] teamed up in February to collect and deliver the bags, along with stationery and other utensils. Contributions came from around the nation. Of about 10,000 bags donated so far, 2,200 were shipped from Yokohama in May to the mountainous Nangarhar province of eastern Afghanistan. JOICFP has asked an Afghan group to distribute the bags to schools."
SECURITY SITUATION: The fight against the Taliban remnants continues: in recent fighting in the Khost province along the Pakistani border, the US forces have killed 50 Taliban fighters. In another recent success, "Afghan forces acting on a tip captured four regional Taliban commanders and killed six other militants in two separate weekend raids in southern Afghanistan." And in eastern Afghanistan, a Taliban commander has been killed during an unsuccessful ambush against a Coalition convoy.
Some successes in border control, too, as Pakistani Frontier Corps arrest 13 suspected terrorists near the border between the two countries, also seizing a "huge quantity of arms and ammunition" that the arrested men were attempting to smuggle into Pakistan.
After two and a half years out of power and under constant military pressure, a split has developed in the Taliban ranks, resulting in the formation of a breakaway faction. Claiming the loyalty of about one third of fighters, the new faction is led by Sabir Momin, the Taliban's deputy operations commander in southern Afghanistan. According to Momin, "the Taleban militia was beset by internal differences and suffered serious losses due to poor leadership." May they continue.
As the new Afghan security forces are slowly building up and gaining strength, there is more foreign military assistance with Eurocorp, the European security force, arriving on the Afghan scene. In the force's first deployment outside Europe in its 12 year history, Eurocorp has now taken control over the 7,000-strong peacekeeping contingent in Afghanistan: "Eurocorps is made up of detachments from five European Union countries - Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and Spain. Created in 1992 by France and Germany, it was later put at the service of the European Union and is certified as a NATO rapid reaction force... Ultimately some 350 Eurocorps troops will be deployed to Kabul. While the peacekeepers patrol Kabul and parts of northern Afghanistan, another 20,000-strong coalition of troops under the United States' leadership is hunting militants in the southern and eastern parts of the country."
There is a strong cooperation between the foreign troops and the new Afghan security forces: the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, for example, has been airlifting Afghani army units to trouble spots around the country. Other contributions are smaller in scale, but just as valuable: "Cisko the sniffer dog is worth more than a new Corvette sports car, but his ability to intercept explosives is priceless."
While armed forces work to guarantee a more peaceful tomorrow for the country, international organizations are working to deal with the legacy of Afghanistan's bloody past:
No one is pretending that Afghanistan doesn't have a long way to go yet - it is, after all, starting almost from zero. But thanks to the Coalition military action that overthrew the Taliban regime almost three years ago, and with the continuing assistance from governments, organizations and individuals around the world, the Afghans are finally allowed to be optimists again. For a country that has suffered so much, it's a good start.
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The former king of Afghanistan, Mohammad Zahir Shah, has seen it all in his 89 years: after four decades on the throne, a coup that saw his deposed, and another three decades in exile, he is now back in his homeland, living the peaceful life of a private citizen, albeit in the security of a private mansion on the grounds of the presidential palace in Kabul. Asked recently by an interviewer about his country's future, Mohammad Zahir Shah replied: "I am not a fortune-teller, but I am optimistic."
For the past quarter of a century, one need not have been a fortune teller to expect that Afghanistan's near future would remain grim. A communist coup, followed by the Soviet invasion and occupation, then the civil war between former mudjahedin freedom fighters, and finally the oppressive Taliban theocracy have all drastically reduced the number of optimists in this unlucky corner of Central Asia.
But optimism is back, and since the overthrow of Mullah Omar's regime almost three years ago it has been making a slow but steady comeback. For all the continuing security problems and sporadic fighting with the Taliban and al Qaeda remnants, Afghanistan's resurrection has been an unheralded success story of the recent times. Huge challenges remain, to be sure, but for the first time in a generation there is real hope that the country is finally breaking out of the cycle of violence and succeeding in its first steps on the road to normalcy.
The Afghans know it's happening, but we in the West, looking at Afghanistan through the prism of mainstream media coverage, are far less aware of all the positive developments taking place over there. Here is some good news from the last four weeks that you might have missed while the media, true to their form, continued to focus on the negatives.
SOCIETY: The presidential elections are still some two months away, but the foundations have already been laid down with considerable success: according to initial United Nations reports, almost 80 per cent, or 7.9 million out of estimated 10 million eligible voters have registered to vote in October's poll. Other reports at the time put the figure as high as 9 million registered voters, but when the voter registration officially closed on Sunday, 15 August, the United Nations realized that a staggering 9.9 million Afghans had registered to vote, of whom almost 42 percent were women. In the words of Manoel de Almeida e Silva, a spokesman for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), "This registration process has concluded after a number of problems and what is even more remarkable is the number of Afghans registered in spite of these problems." One of those who have recently registered to vote is Afghanistan's former king.
To assist in the proper running of the election some much needed foreign aid continues to flow in, including an addition $2 million from Australia (A$2 million has already been provided). "Australia's total assistance to Afghanistan since September 2001 stands at [A]$110 million, making it Australia's third largest humanitarian effort, exceeded only by East Timor and Iraq," said Australia's foreign minister Alexander Downer. The European Union is also providing an extra $10.9 million towards the running of the elections. Some 5,000 polling centers are expected to operate across the country, each consisting of 5 polling stations, making it a total of 25,000 places where the Afghans will be able to cast their vote in October.
There's already considerable political interest in the presidential poll:
"Three of the political parties, the Afghanistan National Unity, the Afghanistan National Welfare and the National Ideal of the People of Afghanistan officially began their activities on Saturday August 17 after registering with the Afghan judiciary.The Afghan Joint Electoral Management Body has recently announced the names of 18 eligible candidates for the presidential election. "Of the 23 candidates who filed their nomination papers prior to the 26 July deadline, three were rejected for failure to comply with the nomination procedures and two others later withdrew."
"The latest reports released by Afghanistan's Justice Ministry indicate that so far 61 parties have asked for permission to campaign for the nation's top job and 31 parties have obtained permission to participate in the elections.
"According to Afghanistan's laws on parties, one of the main conditions for establishing a party is to dissolve military sections; therefore, it seems that Afghanistan's active political parties have done an about-face in their policy by accepting this law."
Not surprisingly, it's those who have suffered the most in the past who feel most passionately about the need for democracy. Take, for instance, the Panjshir valley, which used to be the hotbed of anti-Taliban resistance and where the voter registration figures now are twice what the UN has originally expected. As the poll draws near, the enthusiasm is palatable:
"Like virtually every adult in this Panjshir Valley village, Rahmal Beg registered to vote weeks ago. Indeed, popular enthusiasm is so high for the Oct. 9 presidential election -- the first in Afghan history -- that thousands of people in the valley have reportedly registered twice.The feelings are similar among the minority Hazaras who have also strongly opposed the Taliban takeover in the 1990s and as a consequence suffered thousands of their own people killed by Mullah Omar's not-so-holy warriors:
" 'Everyone wants to vote,' the 75-year-old farmer said proudly. 'The radio, the mullahs and the district officials have all promoted the election. This is our chance to choose a leader who is patriotic and Islamic. Our valley was the center of resistance against the Russians and the Taliban. Now we want to become the center of democracy'."
"There is one main reason Sher Aga will not allow the Taliban to scuttle his chance to vote in the October presidential election. Aga... recalled how agents of the former regime fatally shot his friends in this provincial capital's bazaar.There's more about the Hazaras in this current profile of their province:
" 'They really exploited us,' he said at a teashop in the market. 'They killed a lot of our youth, burned our houses, destroyed the Buddhas and even released sheep and cattle into our fields to destroy our crops. Now it's a good opportunity for us to elect someone to serve the country... I have a voter card, so now I have the power...'
"Aga's comments are typical of the ethnic Hazara minority who live in the central Afghan province of Bamian. Armed with a new constitution that guarantees equal rights to minority groups, Hazaras are engaged in an intense campaign to grasp some power and lift themselves from the bottom of Afghan society."
"It is an idyllic image of what the rest of Afghanistan could be: University students play volleyball against the backdrop of the destroyed Bamyan Buddhas, while groups of chattering young girls walk to school through fields of wheat. Taliban fighters are hiding in caves just 60 kilometres to the south, launching attacks against U.S.-led coalition forces, election workers and the aid community, but the central province of Bamyan has become the safest, most egalitarian place in Afghanistan."Unlike in some conservative tribal areas of Afghanistan, women were actively encouraged to enroll to vote by the local Hazara religious and community leaders, and they have done so in numbers equal to their men. Speaking of Hazaras, the famous ancient Buddha statues, whose destruction by the Taliban had generated so much anger across the world a few years ago, might soon be raised from the ashes, or in this case, rubble:
"[T]he fate of the Buddhas may lie with a veteran Bavarian art restorer with a walrus moustache who has spent a lifetime in German castles and cathedrals. Edmund Melzl has been sent out by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) for the summer to sort through the rubble piles to evaluate whether they contain the raw material to rebuild... 'Yes, we think it is possible to recreate the Buddhas,' he said. 'In restoration terms, this is the biggest challenge imaginable. Really good restorers could do it. A giant scaffold is needed, and a lot of money. It could take years. We could train local people so Afghans would do most of the work'."Not a minority like the Hazaras, the Afghan women, too, continue to enjoy their new-found freedoms. Both Afghanistan and Iraq have for the first time sent official delegations to the Global Summit of Women, held this year in South Korea. "I can't compare before with now," says Soraya Rahim, deputy minister of the Afghan Ministry of Women's Affairs, who heads the nine-person delegation. Indicative of the huge social changes that have taken place in the post-Taliban Afghanistan, Masooda Jalal, a female doctor from the Tajik ethnic minority, is contesting the presidential elections. It's not just politics, as dangerous as they can be; after the hiatus of the fundamentalist rule women are also rejoining the security forces:
"Nahid, 18, from Kushhal Kan in the western part of Kabul, leaned against the wall as she watched hundreds of young male recruits, march in formation in a graduation rehearsal at Afghanistan's only police academy.And in their more traditional roles, yet still undreamed of under the Taliban, two Afghan women give birth to test tube babies at the Australian Concept Infertility Medical Centre in Karachi, Pakistan.
"Her decision to become a police officer had caused a family row, she said. Her uncle cut off all relations with her parents, who supported her decision to enter the academy. But despite such challenges, women are once again joining the ranks of the police in Afghanistan."
As the situation in Afghanistan slowly returns to normal, refugees continue to flow back to their homeland: more than half a million have returned from Iran and Pakistan so far this year, bringing the total to 3 million out of the estimated 4.5 million who have left Afghanistan over the last quarter of a century of war and dictatorship. The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is providing an extra 20,500 housing units for the returnees. So far, "[a]s part of an initial reintegration effort to help vulnerable returnees, UNHCR, in collaboration with the Afghan Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation (MRR), provided some 100,000 rural shelter units as new homes that have benefited more than half a million Afghans in the past two years." You can read how this assistance is helping to rebuild houses in Kabul.
In entertainment news, "Earth and Ashes", a film by Paris-based Afghan director Atiq Rahimi, shared the Best Picture prize with a Taiwanese entry at the sixth Osian Cinefan film festival. Back in Kabul, French Culture Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres has officially reopened the capital's famous 600-seat Arian cinema, which was destroyed during the civil war in the 1990s. The cinema was rebuild with donations from the French film industry. And Afghanistan now has its first entertainment television channel:
"Using a mobile antenna positioned on a hill overlooking the capital, the broadcast range of 'Afghan TV' station only covers Kabul city, but its owner, Ahmad Shah Afghanzai, hopes to widen its range across the country in a year's time. 'Within a year we hope to be watched all over the country through a satellite station,' he told Reuters. Afghanzai, a 34-year-old businessman, has invested $200,000 in the nascent private operation, and needs nearly $3 million to expand it to cover the whole of the country."Mullah Omar must be turning in his cave. Another new station, Ayna TV (Mirror TV), which is broadcasting to northern Afghanistan, is also up and running.
And in sports news, Friba Razayee and Robina Muqim Yaar are the first Afghan women to compete in the Olympics (in Judo and sprint, respectively): "When asked about her chances of winning an Olympic medal in Judo, Friba Razayee smiles and giggles that she's just happy to be able to compete at the games. 'I am really happy, winning or losing is not important for us, because we are the first women,' she says. 'The Olympic Games are important to us, we are all Olympians and it is important to us to participate and we are not here just for a medal'." Afghanistan was banned from competing in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, partly because the then Taliban government did not allow female athletes to participate.
The sprinter Robina Muqim Yaar recently had this to say about the day she stopped wearing her burqa: "It was liberating, marvelous. I was very happy. The burka was not me, it was forced on many people by others." Her Olympic message back home is simple, yet powerful: "I am here to give hope to the women of my country. They can look forward to the future. Sports like athletics cost nothing to do. I would like to see many more Afghan women competing in sport."
It's an example that others are already following. On the somewhat more junior level, eight girls with four months of soccer experience behind them are the first team from Afghanistan to participate in the International Children's Games, held this year in Cleveland, Ohio: "They're part of the Afghan Youth Sports Exchange, which brings Afghan girls to the USA for a six-week sports leadership camp. When program organizer Awista Ayub, a 24-year-old Afghan-American, learned about the Games, she realized it would be a great event for her girls to work toward." The rest, as they say is history; or in this case, history in the making. The team in now being couched by the local Cleveland soccer legend, Iranian immigrant Ali Kazemaini and President Bush has already met with the girls.
Not just the two female members but the whole Afghan Olympic team is making history, even without getting onto the podium:
"For Afghanistan's athletes, gold medals are a distant dream. For them, the Athens Olympics merely represent ground zero after years left out in the cold. For the five Afghan athletes bravely carrying the flag for their war-torn nation, Olympic glory will be measured simply by the fact they were able to take part at all.More here about the tough journey of the Afghan team from their war-torn country to the Olympic stadiums: "The road to Athens is tough for any athlete, but for some it is lined with land mines. For those representing war-torn countries, training can mean risking bombs and bullets to reach the stadium, and making do without the barest essentials of equipment and coaching... But many say the adversity they face has strengthened their resolve to push themselves to the limit." Let's hope that win, lose or draw, the Afghan Olympic squad with their determination, tenacity and hard work will provide some much needed inspiration and role models for their compatriots.
Afghanistan Olympic officials have long-term plans. 'All of Afghanistan is proud of what the athletes are doing in Athens,' Sayed Mahmood Ziadashti, vice-president of the Afghan Olympic Committee, told Reuters on Sunday. 'This is a very important step for Afghan sport and will encourage the youth and younger generations so we can build for the future'."
And finally, a moral victory in the war on the local scourge of drug cultivation, after Afghanistan's religious leaders declare any involvement in drug industry out of bounds: "Afghanistan's Council of Ulemas earlier this month issued a fatwa, or religious decree, saying the cultivation, processing trafficking and consumption of drugs must be prevented... opium poppy cultivation, even if it is not consumed by Muslims or if it is done out of poverty, is illegal." This coincides with signs of increased efforts to combat drug cultivation: "US-led coalition forces are preparing a coordinated effort to attack the narcotics trade in Afghanistan, recognizing that drug income could be used to fund insurgents and terrorists in the country."
RECONSTRUCTION: Says Lt. Col. Scott Normandeau, of Manchester, New Hampshire, commander of the 157th Communications Flight for the Air National Guard: "There is a huge reconstruction effort going on... I came back here [to the United States] and was surprised at what I heard on the news." Having been following the media coverage of Afghanistan I can sympathize with Lt. Col. Normandeau. "I don't think people realize, this isn't a country at war," he continues. "It is a country that is in the process of recovering." Normandeau provides a good picture of how the reconstruction is taking place every day, out of the eye of news camera:
"The city is divided into reconstruction zones, whose first effort is to establish security. After that, people like Normandeau go from zone to zone, having tea with the governors and finding out what they need. Schools top the list, but after almost a quarter of a century trying to defend itself against invaders and the Taliban, they need everything.On the other side of the world, University of California-Berkeley recently hosted about 100 businesspeople, professors and government officials at the International Conference for the Rehabilitation and Development of Infrastructures in Afghanistan. The conference was organized by the Society of Afghan Engineers, a global group of about 500 members, which has a large local branch in the Bay Area:
"So Normandeau and others act as liaisons between the provinces and the workers who are being taught basic skills such as plumbing techniques and reinforcing concrete. 'The engineering unit there isn't just doing the building for them, they are teaching them how to do it themselves,' Normandeau said. 'The Afghanis are learning a trade.'
"Because the last two decades have been spent waging war, there hasn't been much time to create infrastructure, let alone build anything, Normandeau says. 'We are helping them rebuild and providing the security so they can do that,' he said. 'But we are just a part of it. Most of the security is provided by the Afghanis. And we are just one of 68 nations. There are Germans, Poles, Italians'...
"Normandeau's area of expertise is telecommunications. In that role, he worked with the nationals to design systems, obtain equipment, build new telecommunication centers. The 'first generation' of communication will be cell phones, he said, which will replace the switchboards and radios in use now. After that - in five to 10 years - fiber-optic cables will be laid."
"Invited to the conference were prominent guests including Afghanistan's deputy ministers of education, water and power, housing, irrigation, and education; leading scholars, such as Bernard Amadei, professor of civil engineering at the University of Colorado and head of the U.S. branch of Engineers Without Borders; and Afghan-American activists Rona Popal of Fremont and Humaira Ghilzai of San Francisco, both of whom simply want to understand what's going on in their homeland and see what they can do to help.Back on the ground, the World Bank has announced a grant of $456 million, half of nearly $900 million already pledged to Afghanistan, which will be released by June next year. The Bank has also approved a $145 million package of extra assistance: "$35 million in grant funding for education, a $25 million credit for urban reconstruction, a $80 million credit to support the Afghan government's medium-term development strategy, and a $5 million in seed money for a private investment guarantee initiative."
"The academic setting provided an opportunity for Said Mirzada, 29, a Newark computer engineer who plans to return to Afghanistan in about two years. Mirzada wanted to meet with big names in the field such as Hunter Lovins, president of Natural Capitalism in Colorado, who spoke about how Afghan engineers have an opportunity to develop their homeland 'right the first time' by using eco-friendly infrastructure. 'My dream is to rebuild Afghanistan and get it stabilized,' Mirzada said."
In transport news, Russian Railways (RZD) will be constructing a railway network which will link major Afghan cities and extend to Iran and Pakistan. Meanwhile, Pakistani Minister for Railways, Ghous Bukhsh Mehar, has announced that his government is considering the construction of the Pakistan-Afghanistan rail link to slash the high transport costs between the two countries and open Afghanistan to the international markets. "To accomplish the objective, both Islamabad and Kabul had already agreed to lay down railway track of about 103 Km between Chaman and Kandhar", said the Minister.
Pakistan is also donating 200 trucks and 100 buses to help in the reconstruction effort in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, the Manila-based Asian Development Bank is funding the development of a master plan to "identify the main road systems required to link major markets, production centers and development opportunities in Afghanistan" as well as linkages between Afghanistan and its neighbors. Earlier this year, the Asian Development Bank has already pledged $1 billion in loans and grants to Afghanistan between 2005 and 2008.
And in the private sector, some quite unexpected business concepts prove to be quite successful: "Afghanistan's first fashion brand -- 'Tarsian & Blinkley' -- is selling fast in New York and various other cities around the world. It is a product of a company a 30-year-old female fashion designer has created with the local non governmental organization 'Morning Star.'
" 'Morning Star''s office in the Taimai residential area in the heart of Kabul is always crowded with Afghan women, mostly those who lost their husbands to war, trying to meet the designer, Sarah Takesh, to sell their embroidered products..."HUMANITARIAN AID: The Coalition forces, in addition to their vital security role, continue to assist in reconstruction. Some of their tasks are unlike any faced in previous deployments: for example, getting more girls to schools:
"Coalition officials are working with village elders in Aibat Khile to improve the learning environment for the girls who are starting to go back to school. The groundbreaking ceremony for Aibat Khile Girls School was held July 15. 'As the number of children in the village grows, so does the number of students,' said Gen. Maulano, a local mujahedeen commander. 'There will be 600 girls attending Aibat Khile Girls School when the construction is done'."The Coalition governments are also providing valuable assistance, which in some cases can take quite a high-tech form:
"The Bush administration is sending talking, electronic books to Afghanistan to give women basic lessons about public health. The concept is based on LeapPad, a top-selling line of electronic books that help children learn to read...Other health assistance is more straight-forward: "Japanese surgeons successfully removed a bullet from a 13-year-old Afghan girl's head, eight years after she was caught in crossfire in her war-torn homeland. Fatema Safar was hit by a stray bullet during fighting when she was five years old. The bullet, embedded near the top of her nose, caused her chronic headaches. Safar was brought to Japan by a Tokyo-based aid group last month for treatment." You can also read this story about one humanitarian "over-stayer" in Afghanistan: "When Army Col. (Dr.) Richard Gonzales arrived in Afghanistan, his mission was to serve 90 days before he could return to his family and private practice in Puerto Rico. Now, six months later, his private practice is sold and he has signed on for an entire year." Col. Gonzales will be teaching modern orthopedic techniques to Afghan surgeons.
"The books have a small wand that can be used to touch images of everyday life in Afghanistan that are then described in Dari or Pashto, the country's two principal languages. One scene describes how to make water safe to drink, another how to give basic care to an infant. Health clinics initially will distribute 20,000 books to Afghan women."
Civilians, too, are active in humanitarian work on the ground in Afghanistan. These are people like Cindy and Zack Taylor (Zack is a gastroenterologist in Germantown), who have taken medical teams with them into Afghanistan on six occasions so far. The genesis of their effort lies on September 11, when Cindy Taylor was onboard one of the planes which were diverted to Canada when the terrorists struck. "We began to ask ourselves what we could do to help," says Cindy.
Agriculture still remains Afghanistan's major industry, and so in that area, too, some major assistance programs are currently under way. A native of Fairfield, Iowa, Randy Frescoln, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development business and cooperative program director, is going to Afghanistan on a six-month assignment to help increase agricultural growth and rural incomes. Meanwhile, Canada's Drew Gilmour is "trying to marry business and aid by forming Development Works Canada with two silent partners" in a $4 million aid project to build a sustainable business for Afghan farmers. Says Gilmour: "Smart development doesn't have to be charity. Emergency relief is absolutely necessary, but if a country is going to recover, it has to have opportunities. Long-term recovery can only happen through economic investment and job creation." Hence, Gilmour's new project: a vegetable dehydration facility.
"Dehydration is labour-intensive and increasingly popular, two reasons that attracted Mr. Gilmour to it. In addition, the climate of Afghanistan allows many things to grow well. 'Afghanistan is an agricultural greenbelt. The quality of goods you can get there is amazing,' says Mr. Gilmour. 't's sandy, but things can grow in that environment. They have wonderful soil that has not been contaminated (by pesticides or chemicals).'Another of Gilmour's projects: producing sun-died tomatoes, with four hundred farms led by women participating in the project.
"The company has already sold its dehydrated vegetables to Dutch, German, British and French customers. With produce coming from 1,200 farms, the new venture employs 5,000 people. A top-of-the-line dehydration factory is under construction and will open in December, employing another 125 people. A second factory is being considered."
It's not just the Coalition governments which are providing funds and support to aid in Afghanistan's reconstruction: the government of New Zealand, for example, is spending an additional NZ$5 million on education, agriculture and governance programs, targeted specifically at the southeast province of Bamiyan, which is the base of the operation for a New Zealand provincial reconstruction team.
Private businesses are also contributing to the reconstruction: "All thanks to the efforts of a construction company owner from Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture, a badly needed schoolhouse is rising from the rubble in a small village in the east of war-ravaged Afghanistan. Mitsuhiro Kanemoto, 61, has donated the majority of the funds for the project with money he raised to help the children of Qara-i-wazir, about 10 kilometers south of Kabul."
Japanese students, too, lend a helping hand: students form Tsuruma Elementary School in Tokyo's Machida, for example, have all donated their old school bags after the graduation. "Artificial-leather manufacturer Kuraray, Co. and JOICPF [Japanese Organization for International Cooperation in Family Planning] teamed up in February to collect and deliver the bags, along with stationery and other utensils. Contributions came from around the nation. Of about 10,000 bags donated so far, 2,200 were shipped from Yokohama in May to the mountainous Nangarhar province of eastern Afghanistan. JOICFP has asked an Afghan group to distribute the bags to schools."
SECURITY SITUATION: The fight against the Taliban remnants continues: in recent fighting in the Khost province along the Pakistani border, the US forces have killed 50 Taliban fighters. In another recent success, "Afghan forces acting on a tip captured four regional Taliban commanders and killed six other militants in two separate weekend raids in southern Afghanistan." And in eastern Afghanistan, a Taliban commander has been killed during an unsuccessful ambush against a Coalition convoy.
Some successes in border control, too, as Pakistani Frontier Corps arrest 13 suspected terrorists near the border between the two countries, also seizing a "huge quantity of arms and ammunition" that the arrested men were attempting to smuggle into Pakistan.
After two and a half years out of power and under constant military pressure, a split has developed in the Taliban ranks, resulting in the formation of a breakaway faction. Claiming the loyalty of about one third of fighters, the new faction is led by Sabir Momin, the Taliban's deputy operations commander in southern Afghanistan. According to Momin, "the Taleban militia was beset by internal differences and suffered serious losses due to poor leadership." May they continue.
As the new Afghan security forces are slowly building up and gaining strength, there is more foreign military assistance with Eurocorp, the European security force, arriving on the Afghan scene. In the force's first deployment outside Europe in its 12 year history, Eurocorp has now taken control over the 7,000-strong peacekeeping contingent in Afghanistan: "Eurocorps is made up of detachments from five European Union countries - Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and Spain. Created in 1992 by France and Germany, it was later put at the service of the European Union and is certified as a NATO rapid reaction force... Ultimately some 350 Eurocorps troops will be deployed to Kabul. While the peacekeepers patrol Kabul and parts of northern Afghanistan, another 20,000-strong coalition of troops under the United States' leadership is hunting militants in the southern and eastern parts of the country."
There is a strong cooperation between the foreign troops and the new Afghan security forces: the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, for example, has been airlifting Afghani army units to trouble spots around the country. Other contributions are smaller in scale, but just as valuable: "Cisko the sniffer dog is worth more than a new Corvette sports car, but his ability to intercept explosives is priceless."
While armed forces work to guarantee a more peaceful tomorrow for the country, international organizations are working to deal with the legacy of Afghanistan's bloody past:
"Ahmed has had to grow up fast. Aged 12, he found the bodies of his parents amid the rubble of their home bombed by Taliban aircraft four years ago. By then he was already a fighter in Afghanistan's resistance forces, and ever since has been providing for two younger sisters.According Yousaf Ghaznavi, programme supervisor and UNICEF's local partner, between 2,000 and 2,500 former child soldiers (out of the total of around 8,000) have enrolled in the scheme since February. You can read more about this valuable program here.
"With shaved head and troubled, darting eyes, the thin 16-year-old seems to have lost his childhood, although he loves to play soccer when he can. Like thousands of other child soldiers in Afghanistan being prepared for civilian life under a programme sponsored by the U.N. children's charity UNICEF, he is looking forward to a less turbulent future.
" 'I want to be a blacksmith,' he said, after enrolling in the scheme in a village on the old frontline between the Taliban and Northern Alliance forces north of Kabul."
No one is pretending that Afghanistan doesn't have a long way to go yet - it is, after all, starting almost from zero. But thanks to the Coalition military action that overthrew the Taliban regime almost three years ago, and with the continuing assistance from governments, organizations and individuals around the world, the Afghans are finally allowed to be optimists again. For a country that has suffered so much, it's a good start.
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Sunday, August 22, 2004
More confusing polls
Some interesting polls out in the United States on the war in Iraq.
Earlier in the week I referred to a recent Associated Press poll suggesting that the majority of Americans now think that the decision to go to war was a mistake. But according to another new poll, this time from CBS, 49% of Americans believe that the US did the right thing by taking action in Iraq - up by 4% since July, while 44% believe that the US should have stayed out - down by 3% since the previous month.
A more in-depth research on public attitudes has been conducted by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland. The PIPA notes a decrease in support for war (putting it more in line with the Associated Press poll). More intriguingly, however, most Americans seem to be hearing different things to what the White House is actually saying.
For example, 60% of the polled believe that the Administration is currently saying that Iraq had actual weapons of mass destruction before the war, and according to a further 20%, that Iraq has no actual weapons but major programs to develop them. 43% believe that the Administration is currently saying that Iraq gave major assistance to al Qaeda and according to a further 27%, that Iraq was involved in September 11.
The pollsters are mystified, as these misinterpretations of the Bush Administration's pronouncements tend to cut across political lines and are reasonably consistent among both the well informed and the less well informed sections of the population. Are people hearing what they want to hear, or are they not listening at all? the pollsters ask. The most obvious answer, of course, is that people get their news through the filter of the mainstream media. How then can we blame them for misunderstanding the Administration's positions?
But what do Americans believe themselves as opposed to believing what the Administration is saying? 35% say that Iraq gave substantial support to al Qaeda and a further 15% that Iraq was involved in S11. 35% say that Iraq had WMDs and 19% say that at the very least had major programs to develop them.
Yet - 69% now believe that Bush's decision to go to war was based on wrong assumptions. This is a curious result - people who don't think that Iraq had WMDs and wasn't connected to al Qaeda (less than half of the polled in each case) would obviously think that the decision to go to war in Iraq was based on the wrong assumptions (weapons of mass destruction and terrorism being the most prominent justifications for going to war). But where does that leave the other 20% or so within the 69% who based on the other results believe in WMDs and the terrorist link, yet still think that Bush went to war on based on wrong assumptions? There's just no way to please everyone.
The wonders of public opinion never cease.
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Earlier in the week I referred to a recent Associated Press poll suggesting that the majority of Americans now think that the decision to go to war was a mistake. But according to another new poll, this time from CBS, 49% of Americans believe that the US did the right thing by taking action in Iraq - up by 4% since July, while 44% believe that the US should have stayed out - down by 3% since the previous month.
A more in-depth research on public attitudes has been conducted by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland. The PIPA notes a decrease in support for war (putting it more in line with the Associated Press poll). More intriguingly, however, most Americans seem to be hearing different things to what the White House is actually saying.
For example, 60% of the polled believe that the Administration is currently saying that Iraq had actual weapons of mass destruction before the war, and according to a further 20%, that Iraq has no actual weapons but major programs to develop them. 43% believe that the Administration is currently saying that Iraq gave major assistance to al Qaeda and according to a further 27%, that Iraq was involved in September 11.
The pollsters are mystified, as these misinterpretations of the Bush Administration's pronouncements tend to cut across political lines and are reasonably consistent among both the well informed and the less well informed sections of the population. Are people hearing what they want to hear, or are they not listening at all? the pollsters ask. The most obvious answer, of course, is that people get their news through the filter of the mainstream media. How then can we blame them for misunderstanding the Administration's positions?
But what do Americans believe themselves as opposed to believing what the Administration is saying? 35% say that Iraq gave substantial support to al Qaeda and a further 15% that Iraq was involved in S11. 35% say that Iraq had WMDs and 19% say that at the very least had major programs to develop them.
Yet - 69% now believe that Bush's decision to go to war was based on wrong assumptions. This is a curious result - people who don't think that Iraq had WMDs and wasn't connected to al Qaeda (less than half of the polled in each case) would obviously think that the decision to go to war in Iraq was based on the wrong assumptions (weapons of mass destruction and terrorism being the most prominent justifications for going to war). But where does that leave the other 20% or so within the 69% who based on the other results believe in WMDs and the terrorist link, yet still think that Bush went to war on based on wrong assumptions? There's just no way to please everyone.
The wonders of public opinion never cease.
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Sports ingratitude
No, I'm not happy that Australia lost the quarterfinals soccer (football) match at the Olympics.
But at least I'm happy that if we had to lose, we lost to Iraq.
In the words of the Qatar-based midfielder Emad Mohammed responsible for the 1:0 victory: "People where I live (in Iraq) have suffered so much... It's very confusing for us and hard to keep our minds on the game. But we hope we can give a little happiness to our country."
I'm sure that's the case. As guys at Iraq the Model write, "Right now there is lots of shooting into the air (I don't like it but at least Iraqis are happy and it's better to waste bullets this way)."
I guess that's how they repay you - you liberate them one day, the next day they beat you at the Olympics.
Well done Iraq!
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But at least I'm happy that if we had to lose, we lost to Iraq.
In the words of the Qatar-based midfielder Emad Mohammed responsible for the 1:0 victory: "People where I live (in Iraq) have suffered so much... It's very confusing for us and hard to keep our minds on the game. But we hope we can give a little happiness to our country."
I'm sure that's the case. As guys at Iraq the Model write, "Right now there is lots of shooting into the air (I don't like it but at least Iraqis are happy and it's better to waste bullets this way)."
I guess that's how they repay you - you liberate them one day, the next day they beat you at the Olympics.
Well done Iraq!
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Around the world in 40 blogs - the mega edition
In Australia, but temporarily in the US, Tim Blair continues to drive from California to New York for the Republican convention. Along the way he stops at a motel in Albuquerque.
Gnu Hunter writes about Australia's partisan press.
The Currency Lad has another wide-ranging post about history, the North Korean threat, the mad mullahs of Tehran and what the politicians are doing about it all.
The fellow blogger Alan Anderson is following the trend into the mainstream media, with an opinion piece in the Melbourne "Age." Well done.
And Yobbo muses on aging air hostesses who are suing to work for the youthful Virgin airlines.
In the United States, Powerline writes on the Dem's 527 hypocrisy.
And Captain's Quarters has few question to ask John Kerry at his next press conference.
Blackfive knows one thing about military leadership - leaders don't sell their troops out. By the way, Blackfive, welcome to suburbia. It's not that bad, trust me.
Daniel Drezner has been persuaded enough to reduce his probability of voting for Bush down to 0.4. Find out way. Dan also argues with Patrick Belton from OxBlog whether the American people are Wilsonian in their foreign policy inclinations.
Dean Esmay's probability of voting for Bush is, I would guess, higher than 0.4: Dean can smell fear in the Kerry campaign.
Lots of goodies at Winds of Change, including new editions of Hate Watch and Winds of Discovery.
Clayton Cramer fisks some "growing income gap" scare figures.
IowaHawk has some Olympic stories you won't read anywhere else.
In the aftermath of the Governor McGreevey resignation, The Bad Hair Blog agitates against corruption in New Jersey.
Brainshavings alnalyses John Kerry's anti-Swift Boat Veterans for Truth statement.
And Patterico writes about the "Washington Post" and the Vets.
The Moderate Voice has some insider's thoughts on media and bias.
Marty Dee writes on why teachers love John Kerry.
Freedom's Truth fisks the polling on Americans' attitudes to war in Iraq.
Solomonia considers pros and cons of US troop withdrawals from Europe.
Athena from Terrorism Unveiled will soon be blogging live from Jordan. Make sure to check her out.
Fine? Why Fine? engages in people-watching at the Pakistani Independence Day celebrations in New York.
Pacetown is playing with Wordcount. I bet you always wanted to know which is more popular: love or sex. Now you'll know.
Fringeblog presents another Carnival of the Vanities.
And for something totally different - The Beacon - in addition to being a solid right-winger, is also a co-owner of a sports photography marketing firm - and some of the Olympic photos in his stable have made it to some high places. Check out his blog generally for some very nice shots.
Meanwhile, TigerHawk muses on which side is winning the Olympics.
And from Canada, Damian Penny has more thoughts on boycotting Bruce Springsteen.
In Europe, David Adesnik at OxBlog tries to get to the bottom of the controversy whether John Kerry does have a clear position on Iraq.
The Czech Republic's ever dependable Tomas Kohl, inspired by yours truly's "Good news from Iraq" has started publishing "Bad News from Europe" - here's part 1 and part 2 so far. Highly recommended, particularly if you need some European madness fix while waiting for my next installment of "All in the same EU-Boat."
Another one of our good Euro friends, Barcepundit, has been asked to join the esteemed Command Post team. Here's his first post for his new outlet.
And Michael at DownEastBlog writes about the new faces of the European Commission.
In Asia, John Kennett reports from South Korea that John Kerry is not the only politician whose past is coming back to haunt him.
Simon World has another monster round-up of what Asian blogs are writing about - well worth checking out.
In the Middle East, Ali at Iraq the Model reports on democracy in progress: "What happened yesterday was a serious blow to terrorists and fanatics and their supporters. Its a clear message that says, 'Do your best. It wont stop us'." The guys at the Model are also celebrating one million visits to their blog. It's all richly deserved - you're doing a fantastic job.
Zeyad at Healing Iraq, too, has commentary on the birth of Iraq's provisional parliament.
Israellycool writes about blog concepts. Ever heard of Premature Blogulation or Blog Standoff? No? Then read on. Also check out the return of the peace tool.
In Africa, Ethiopundit comments on the curious mix of Marxism and crony capitalism that is running down Ethiopia's economy.
Last but not least, Part I: please also welcome a "new kid on the blog", Right Makes Right.
Last but not least, Part II: check out the output of Homespun Bloggers, the ever growing merry bunch of those of us who, unlike the big guns, do it for fun not money. With Tom of MuD & PHuD on holidays, I've been the guest compiler of the weekly "Best of..." round-up of the Homespunners. Check it out on Monday, and let Tom know if you would like to join in and increase your exposure.
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Gnu Hunter writes about Australia's partisan press.
The Currency Lad has another wide-ranging post about history, the North Korean threat, the mad mullahs of Tehran and what the politicians are doing about it all.
The fellow blogger Alan Anderson is following the trend into the mainstream media, with an opinion piece in the Melbourne "Age." Well done.
And Yobbo muses on aging air hostesses who are suing to work for the youthful Virgin airlines.
In the United States, Powerline writes on the Dem's 527 hypocrisy.
And Captain's Quarters has few question to ask John Kerry at his next press conference.
Blackfive knows one thing about military leadership - leaders don't sell their troops out. By the way, Blackfive, welcome to suburbia. It's not that bad, trust me.
Daniel Drezner has been persuaded enough to reduce his probability of voting for Bush down to 0.4. Find out way. Dan also argues with Patrick Belton from OxBlog whether the American people are Wilsonian in their foreign policy inclinations.
Dean Esmay's probability of voting for Bush is, I would guess, higher than 0.4: Dean can smell fear in the Kerry campaign.
Lots of goodies at Winds of Change, including new editions of Hate Watch and Winds of Discovery.
Clayton Cramer fisks some "growing income gap" scare figures.
IowaHawk has some Olympic stories you won't read anywhere else.
In the aftermath of the Governor McGreevey resignation, The Bad Hair Blog agitates against corruption in New Jersey.
Brainshavings alnalyses John Kerry's anti-Swift Boat Veterans for Truth statement.
And Patterico writes about the "Washington Post" and the Vets.
The Moderate Voice has some insider's thoughts on media and bias.
Marty Dee writes on why teachers love John Kerry.
Freedom's Truth fisks the polling on Americans' attitudes to war in Iraq.
Solomonia considers pros and cons of US troop withdrawals from Europe.
Athena from Terrorism Unveiled will soon be blogging live from Jordan. Make sure to check her out.
Fine? Why Fine? engages in people-watching at the Pakistani Independence Day celebrations in New York.
Pacetown is playing with Wordcount. I bet you always wanted to know which is more popular: love or sex. Now you'll know.
Fringeblog presents another Carnival of the Vanities.
And for something totally different - The Beacon - in addition to being a solid right-winger, is also a co-owner of a sports photography marketing firm - and some of the Olympic photos in his stable have made it to some high places. Check out his blog generally for some very nice shots.
Meanwhile, TigerHawk muses on which side is winning the Olympics.
And from Canada, Damian Penny has more thoughts on boycotting Bruce Springsteen.
In Europe, David Adesnik at OxBlog tries to get to the bottom of the controversy whether John Kerry does have a clear position on Iraq.
The Czech Republic's ever dependable Tomas Kohl, inspired by yours truly's "Good news from Iraq" has started publishing "Bad News from Europe" - here's part 1 and part 2 so far. Highly recommended, particularly if you need some European madness fix while waiting for my next installment of "All in the same EU-Boat."
Another one of our good Euro friends, Barcepundit, has been asked to join the esteemed Command Post team. Here's his first post for his new outlet.
And Michael at DownEastBlog writes about the new faces of the European Commission.
In Asia, John Kennett reports from South Korea that John Kerry is not the only politician whose past is coming back to haunt him.
Simon World has another monster round-up of what Asian blogs are writing about - well worth checking out.
In the Middle East, Ali at Iraq the Model reports on democracy in progress: "What happened yesterday was a serious blow to terrorists and fanatics and their supporters. Its a clear message that says, 'Do your best. It wont stop us'." The guys at the Model are also celebrating one million visits to their blog. It's all richly deserved - you're doing a fantastic job.
Zeyad at Healing Iraq, too, has commentary on the birth of Iraq's provisional parliament.
Israellycool writes about blog concepts. Ever heard of Premature Blogulation or Blog Standoff? No? Then read on. Also check out the return of the peace tool.
In Africa, Ethiopundit comments on the curious mix of Marxism and crony capitalism that is running down Ethiopia's economy.
Last but not least, Part I: please also welcome a "new kid on the blog", Right Makes Right.
Last but not least, Part II: check out the output of Homespun Bloggers, the ever growing merry bunch of those of us who, unlike the big guns, do it for fun not money. With Tom of MuD & PHuD on holidays, I've been the guest compiler of the weekly "Best of..." round-up of the Homespunners. Check it out on Monday, and let Tom know if you would like to join in and increase your exposure.
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Saturday, August 21, 2004
Forget the investigation, media already knows the answers
This is how the mainstream media - Reuters in this case - is reporting Democrat talking points as fact:
Then again, maybe Reuters doesn't need to wait for the Commission to reach its decisions, now that the "New York Times" (registration required, alas) has passed its verdict:
Maybe the Vets should have instead made a documentary that alleges, say, that John Kerry had been in cahoots with the Vietnamese Communist Party. Maybe there would be international awards and millions at the box-office instead of a Federal Election Commission investigation anda shrill overreaction from the Democrat candidate.
Michael Moore says that George Bush, in league with the Saudi Royal family, perverted the war on terror and send his country into a senseless war to benefit his corporate buddies. The Swift Boat Vets say that John Kerry lied about his personal military record in Vietnam.
Compare the gravity of accusations. Compare the official reaction of the accused. Then ask yourself, which one of them has better judgment and integrity to qualify them for the top office?
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"Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry asked the Federal Election Commission on Friday to force Republican critics to withdraw ads challenging his military service, and accused the Bush campaign of illegally helping coordinate the attacks.In other words, Reuters seems to be so keen to speed up the complaint process that it is already reporting as fact today what the Kerry campaign wants to Commission to establish as fact tomorrow. That's called pre-judging the outcome.
"The Kerry campaign said it filed the complaint against the group behind the ads, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, 'for violating the law with inaccurate ads that are illegally coordinated with the Bush-Cheney presidential campaign and Republican National Committee'...
"Bush and a top adviser have long-standing ties to people behind the advertisements, which claim Kerry lied about his Vietnam War service record, but the campaign denies any part in the ads themselves."
Then again, maybe Reuters doesn't need to wait for the Commission to reach its decisions, now that the "New York Times" (registration required, alas) has passed its verdict:
"Records show that the group received the bulk of its initial financing from two men with ties to the president and his family -- one a longtime political associate of Mr. Rove's, the other a trustee of the foundation for Mr. Bush's father's presidential library. A Texas publicist who once helped prepare Mr. Bush's father for his debate when he was running for vice president provided them with strategic advice. And the group's television commercial was produced by the same team that made the devastating ad mocking Michael S. Dukakis in an oversized tank helmet when he and Mr. Bush's father faced off in the 1988 presidential election."This is what liberals call a vast right-wing conspiracy. As Patterico writes:
"The article then spends an incredible amount of space detailing this 'web of connections,' which boils down to this: John O'Neill, a successful lawyer in Houston, knows some influential Republicans in Texas. He even knows people, including current and former law partners, who know George Bush and Karl Rove. Wow."Let's forget for a moment logical arguments along the lines of "the group received funding from a trustee of the foundation for Mr. Bush's father's presidential library, therefore it's all lies." Let's hope that at least the Commission will be able to finally concentrate on what the media has largely failed to do so far - determining whether the allegations raised by the vets are true or not. The question is not whether you can draw a fancy graph - "web of connections" - that resembles something out of a JFK conspiracy book; it is whether 250 Swift Boat veterans are lying about John Kerry's war record.
Maybe the Vets should have instead made a documentary that alleges, say, that John Kerry had been in cahoots with the Vietnamese Communist Party. Maybe there would be international awards and millions at the box-office instead of a Federal Election Commission investigation anda shrill overreaction from the Democrat candidate.
Michael Moore says that George Bush, in league with the Saudi Royal family, perverted the war on terror and send his country into a senseless war to benefit his corporate buddies. The Swift Boat Vets say that John Kerry lied about his personal military record in Vietnam.
Compare the gravity of accusations. Compare the official reaction of the accused. Then ask yourself, which one of them has better judgment and integrity to qualify them for the top office?
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Friday, August 20, 2004
The joy of blogging
It's 11.25pm on Friday night. Just finished watching "Love Actually" on DVD with Mrs Chrenkoff (a fluffy but cute piece of film-making. I enjoyed a chuckle at Hugh Grant's Prime Minister - that's how the British artistic left obviously wishes Tony Blair would be in real life - dashing, wife-less, and tough on the United States. "Reality actually", is fortunately quite different), but I thought I would drop a quick line to let you know I'm still alive, however infrequent the blogging.
Ah, the dreaded blogligation strikes again - the desire to give all of you dear readers the biggest bang for your buck (metaphorically speaking; after all you're not paying) and provide you with tons of new and exciting stuff every day. And the feeling of guilt when I don't. And the blog envy at all those bloggers who can churn out half a dozen or dozen good posts every day containing not only interesting links but insightful analysis, some good fisking and a decent dose of humour.
My only defence is that this blog is slightly different in structure than others, in that instead of steady publication schedule, every Monday I publish a mega post of one kind or another, whether it's good news from Iraq, or good news from Afghanistan, or crazy news from Europe. As you can imagine, compiling them takes a lot of time - so in case you were wondering why I'm a lazy bastard and not posting more often during the week - that's what's taking my time every day.
Aside from that, I have a job and try to have a life. I blog as much as time permits outside the two. I would love to blog more, but for that to happen I'm afraid you have to arrange for me a stint as a professional pundit or a syndicated columnist so I can spend more time on the net, and more time "chrenkin' off" for you.
Anyway, enough whinging and self-pity. I'll promise to keep on writing if you promise to keep dropping in.
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Ah, the dreaded blogligation strikes again - the desire to give all of you dear readers the biggest bang for your buck (metaphorically speaking; after all you're not paying) and provide you with tons of new and exciting stuff every day. And the feeling of guilt when I don't. And the blog envy at all those bloggers who can churn out half a dozen or dozen good posts every day containing not only interesting links but insightful analysis, some good fisking and a decent dose of humour.
My only defence is that this blog is slightly different in structure than others, in that instead of steady publication schedule, every Monday I publish a mega post of one kind or another, whether it's good news from Iraq, or good news from Afghanistan, or crazy news from Europe. As you can imagine, compiling them takes a lot of time - so in case you were wondering why I'm a lazy bastard and not posting more often during the week - that's what's taking my time every day.
Aside from that, I have a job and try to have a life. I blog as much as time permits outside the two. I would love to blog more, but for that to happen I'm afraid you have to arrange for me a stint as a professional pundit or a syndicated columnist so I can spend more time on the net, and more time "chrenkin' off" for you.
Anyway, enough whinging and self-pity. I'll promise to keep on writing if you promise to keep dropping in.
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Nepal and Venezuela
While many of us are preoccupied with the war on terror, there are some people who are still fighting the Cold War (and no, they're not John Kerry). It seems that while we were sleeping, the Maoist rebels in Nepal were quitely on the march:
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"The second day of a blockade of the Nepalese capital Kathmandu, ordered by Maoist rebels, has led to petrol rationing and a rise in food prices. Despite the threat to block highways, so far only the threat of reprisals has kept drivers off the roads.And James Taranto has this to say about the Venezuelan referendum:
"The Maoist demands include the release of detained rebels and an inquiry into the killings of others. The government says it wants to negotiate with the rebels to end the crisis and restart peace talks."
"One of the [New York] Times' complaints about U.S. elections is that many states disfranchise would-be voters who've been convicted of a felony. 'Denying the vote to ex-offenders is antidemocratic,' the paper announced in a July editorial. In Venezuela, it seems criminals are so empowered that they actually run the country. By the Times' standards, we guess that makes Venezuela more democratic than America."Read the whole piece.
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Thursday, August 19, 2004
Baby, we were born to whine
Another clash from the cultural front of the political war: the Republican Senate candidate from New York, Marilyn O'Grady, has launched "Boycott the Boss" television campaign in response to Bruce Springsteen's recent anti-Bush outbursts and his participation in the pro-Kerry "Vote for Change" tour through battleground states. As O'Grady says in her ad: "He thinks making millions with a song and dance routine allows him to tell you how to vote. Here's my vote: boycott the boss. If you don't buy his politics, don't buy his music."
The entertainment industry is not amused, even if it's still ignorant. E! Online calls O'Grady "Conservative Party candidate" before noting that "[t]he conservative Republican is lagging in the polls at present - maybe she just wasn't born to run?" (Update: Thanks to readers in the comments section for clarifying the situation)
O'Grady explains in a statement that Springsteen "has a right to say what he thinks, but we have an equal right to speak. Now that he's moved onto the political stage to bash my president, it is entirely fair to respond". I've written before about artists and freedom of speech, so I'm not going to repeat myself except to say once again that Springsteen has a right to his political views, but also the obligation to take whatever commercial consequences may come as a result of his statements and actions. Freedom of speech is a two-way street.
Personally, I won't be smashing up my extensive Springsteen CD collection. If I had to boycott every artists on the account of their stupid comments or trendy political views I would lose half of my collection and deprived myself of the pleasure of listening to (the music, not outbursts of) not just the Boss, but U2, Simple Minds, Big Country, Peter Gabriel, REM, Live, Manic Street Preachers and many others. By the same token, I'm not going to begrudge O'Grady her right to call for a boycott, nor indeed try to deny others the pleasure and the adventure of trying to put Springsteen's "The Rising" through an industrial shredder.
If anything, O'Grady has created a lot of extra publicity for herself, which is what those sorts of election-time gimmicks are mostly all about anyway. So whether or not the fans will punish the Boss for his "rocking for change", the ad money's well spend already.
Oh, and apparently, Springsteen's "No Surrender" is said to have become the anthem of Kerry's campaign. I would have thought that "Dancing in the Dark" would have been a more appropriate choice.
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The entertainment industry is not amused, even if it's still ignorant. E! Online calls O'Grady "Conservative Party candidate" before noting that "[t]he conservative Republican is lagging in the polls at present - maybe she just wasn't born to run?" (Update: Thanks to readers in the comments section for clarifying the situation)
O'Grady explains in a statement that Springsteen "has a right to say what he thinks, but we have an equal right to speak. Now that he's moved onto the political stage to bash my president, it is entirely fair to respond". I've written before about artists and freedom of speech, so I'm not going to repeat myself except to say once again that Springsteen has a right to his political views, but also the obligation to take whatever commercial consequences may come as a result of his statements and actions. Freedom of speech is a two-way street.
Personally, I won't be smashing up my extensive Springsteen CD collection. If I had to boycott every artists on the account of their stupid comments or trendy political views I would lose half of my collection and deprived myself of the pleasure of listening to (the music, not outbursts of) not just the Boss, but U2, Simple Minds, Big Country, Peter Gabriel, REM, Live, Manic Street Preachers and many others. By the same token, I'm not going to begrudge O'Grady her right to call for a boycott, nor indeed try to deny others the pleasure and the adventure of trying to put Springsteen's "The Rising" through an industrial shredder.
If anything, O'Grady has created a lot of extra publicity for herself, which is what those sorts of election-time gimmicks are mostly all about anyway. So whether or not the fans will punish the Boss for his "rocking for change", the ad money's well spend already.
Oh, and apparently, Springsteen's "No Surrender" is said to have become the anthem of Kerry's campaign. I would have thought that "Dancing in the Dark" would have been a more appropriate choice.
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The hero gets precious under fire
Senator Kerry has issued a new call from a location close to the Cambodian border:
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"John Kerry called yesterday for a 'campaign of issues, not insults' hours after his supporters returned fire against the Republicans with an attack on George W. Bush's military service.I'm sorry to rain on John Kerry's military parade, but these are election issues. It was him and the Democratic Party who first made Kerry's service in Vietnam into one (some uncharitable souls might say, the one and only issue of the campaign), just as they subsequently did to George Bush's service record. It's a bit too late, not to say somewhat dishonest, to now call for a "campaign of issues, not insults." Kerry himself, of course, might help if he stopped continually reporting for duty in Vietnam and instead shifted his focus onto some more contemporary challenges facing the United States.
"Retired general Wesley Clark led the Democrats into battle, repeating accusations in the latest advertisement by a liberal interest group that the US President had drawn on family connections to avoid serving in the Vietnam War.
"The MoveOn.org advertisement, which accuses Mr Bush of allowing false advertising attacking Senator Kerry, started airing yesterday."
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No Olympics, thanks; we're Greek
What if you gave the Olympic Games and nobody came?
We're used to by now to the bizarre sight of empty stadium stands and small groups of spectators huddling together, looking almost embarrassed to be spoiling the pristine, virginal venues with their insignificant presence. Now Professor Richard Cashman has an interesting opinion piece in the "Australian" explaining what went so wrong in a space of just four years:
Memo for the future: if you're organising a major international event, make sure that cold hard economic considerations get ahead of nice warm symbolic ones.
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We're used to by now to the bizarre sight of empty stadium stands and small groups of spectators huddling together, looking almost embarrassed to be spoiling the pristine, virginal venues with their insignificant presence. Now Professor Richard Cashman has an interesting opinion piece in the "Australian" explaining what went so wrong in a space of just four years:
"Although Sydney had less spectator capacity and a smaller aggregate of 6.7 million spectators [than Atlanta's 8.7 million], it set a benchmark for the proportion of tickets sold -- more than 90 per cent... [I]nternational tourists represent only a small proportion of the Olympic crowd. It was reported that there were 111,000 Olympic tourists at the Sydney Olympics. If each tourist attended 10 events, they made up less than one-sixth of the spectator figure. The vast majority of spectators were from the host city, state and country."So what's wrong with Athens? The Greeks aren't showing up because they're simply not interested in the Olympic Games, argues Cashman. It might have sounded very appropriate to the International Olympic Committee to give the 2004 Games to Greece, the birthplace of the Olympic idea almost three millennia ago, but the sport honchos seemed to have overlooked the very basic consideration that there isn't much of an Olympic tradition in modern Greece.
Memo for the future: if you're organising a major international event, make sure that cold hard economic considerations get ahead of nice warm symbolic ones.
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You too can help Iraqi democracy
Another election I'll be watching with more than just general interest, now that Ali and Mohammed of Iraq the Model blog have decided that writing just ain't enough and will throw their hats into the ring to run for the Iraqi National Assembly:
Dear readers, while our brave men and women of the Coalition armed forces have done the heavy lifting to liberate the country and continue to work for security of Iraq, this is our opportunity, as non-military folk, to ensure that the sacrifices of our soldiers and Iraqi people have not been in vain. So please, consider doing your bit to ensure that decent, pro-Western forces get some foothold in democratic Iraqi politics.
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"For sometime we thought that we can help by doing our jobs and by posting our opinions here on the blog, and while we still think it does help, the battle against tyranny and fanaticism in our country demands more than that. It demands that each one of us put all the effort he/she can make and take an active stand regardless of how difficult or dangerous it may seem. We simply cannot just stand and watch and we hope that we will encourage others also to do their best in order to achieve our freedom and establish democracy in a country that suffered more than enough from wars, dictators, terrorists and fanatics. We believe that democracy is the only cure to all those diseases and the only answers to all threats. As hard the battle seems now and as far victory may look, we believe in our people and we believe in our friends and we know we will win."Please visit the website of Iraqi Pro-Democracy Party, which Ali and Mohammed have co-founded and which is now fielding a dozen candidates in the election. Most importantly learn how you can help their campaign, by donating money, buying their campaign gear, or just simply spreading the news.
Dear readers, while our brave men and women of the Coalition armed forces have done the heavy lifting to liberate the country and continue to work for security of Iraq, this is our opportunity, as non-military folk, to ensure that the sacrifices of our soldiers and Iraqi people have not been in vain. So please, consider doing your bit to ensure that decent, pro-Western forces get some foothold in democratic Iraqi politics.
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Wednesday, August 18, 2004
Can I have my daily dose of Iraq, thanks?
No, I'm not obsessed by Iraq. Honestly, I'm not. Why do you keep looking at me funny? Anyway, here are today's Iraq-related stories that caught my attention.
VH1 is screening "VH1 News Presents: Soundtrack To War", a documentary about the music of the Iraq war. The soundtrack to World War Two - not that many of us can remember it - was part-sentimental crooning, part-big band swing sound. The soundtrack to Vietnam was rock'n'roll, probably of the harder variety for those on the ground than the soft and sentimental late '60s musical journey you can find today on the soundtracks to "Forrest Gump" or "China Beach" (any readers who served can correct me - more Hendrix than the Mamas and the Papas?). Other wars of the last sixty years have been rather deficient in soundtracks, mostly because they haven't lasted long enough to generate them (thank God). In Iraq, according to the VH1 documentary, it's heavy metal and rap. No surprises there; I can't imagine any two musical genres better suited to combat. Any reader suggestions for the Songs of War?
While I - and the media - are obsessed with Iraqi war, and the chances are that you who are reading my blog are also somewhat interested in the issue, it seems that the good people of Great Britain aren't at all: "With a general election expected in just nine months, the war came last in a list of 12 key issues put to people... Just one in 10 people, 12%, said the conflict was among the most important to them, The Guardian survey showed. The state of the NHS [British public health system] was named by an overwhelming 59% while 42% said education. The findings explain why backing for the Government has remained relatively strong despite continuing controversy over Iraq." So much for the backlash.
Still, the possibility that Iraqi interim prime minister Iyad Allawi will be invited to Labour Party's National Conference has split the Labour ranks with the left of the party throwing a tantrum. The treasurer of an intra-party group Labour Against the War, Jeremy Corbyn MP, wrote to Blair to tell him that inviting Allawi will be "seen as an insult to many around the country." Particularly to those who would not have minded if Saddam was still in power.
Speaking of those sorts of people, the ex-Labour MP and a rabid anti-war activist George Galloway entertained a crowd at a recent book festival saying that "in a perverse way" he was hoping that the US and British forces would stay in Iraq so they could get a "bloody good hiding" from the Iraqi resistance. The British soldiers might or might not actually want to be in Iraq, not having have had much personal input into their deployment, but I'm sure that they will warmly approve of Galloway's idea that as many of them as possible should be killed to teach Tony Blair a lesson.
In Australia, meanwhile, "74 per cent of people surveyed believed [the Prime Minister] Mr Howard misled them about the reasons for going to war in Iraq, up six percentage points since last September. But 47 per cent of respondents said Mr Howard was misled on the issue by others, and did not intentionally mislead them.... 27 per cent said Mr Howard deliberately misled the public on the issue." That 27 per cent of the population tends to believe that John Howard eats babies at the best of times, so the overall result is quite positive. Still, I would have thought that the better opener would be "74 per cent of people surveyed believe that Saddam Hussein misled them about the reasons for going to war in Iraq." Canada's Centre for Public Opinion and Democracy helpfully comments that "Iraq War affects voters in Ukraine and Australia. The conflict is becoming an issue in the two nations. The outcome of their respective elections could further deplete the U.S.-led coalition." I don't know about Ukraine, but unfortunately the only polling cited in the article indicates that 58% of Australian voters agree with the Prime Minister that our troops should stay in Iraq, while only 38% want to bring them home by Christmas. So if the war is affecting Australian voters enough to potentially cause the depletion of the Coalition of the Willing, perhaps the voters should start showing it a bit more.
And in the US some real polarisation of the electorate emerges out of the latest poll, which by the way shows that the majority now think Iraq was a mistake. The breakdown between various political affiliations is quite interesting: in December 2003, 91% of Republicans supported the war, while in August 2004 this figure is down to 86%. For Democrats, the figures are 39% and 19% respectively. What's more concerning is that the support among the independents has fallen from 56% to 29%. Iraq is no longer a war that enjoyed a broad mainstream support; it's a Republican war with a Democrat opposition. God knows why Kerry still tries to appear serious on defence issues, now that his base no longer is.
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VH1 is screening "VH1 News Presents: Soundtrack To War", a documentary about the music of the Iraq war. The soundtrack to World War Two - not that many of us can remember it - was part-sentimental crooning, part-big band swing sound. The soundtrack to Vietnam was rock'n'roll, probably of the harder variety for those on the ground than the soft and sentimental late '60s musical journey you can find today on the soundtracks to "Forrest Gump" or "China Beach" (any readers who served can correct me - more Hendrix than the Mamas and the Papas?). Other wars of the last sixty years have been rather deficient in soundtracks, mostly because they haven't lasted long enough to generate them (thank God). In Iraq, according to the VH1 documentary, it's heavy metal and rap. No surprises there; I can't imagine any two musical genres better suited to combat. Any reader suggestions for the Songs of War?
While I - and the media - are obsessed with Iraqi war, and the chances are that you who are reading my blog are also somewhat interested in the issue, it seems that the good people of Great Britain aren't at all: "With a general election expected in just nine months, the war came last in a list of 12 key issues put to people... Just one in 10 people, 12%, said the conflict was among the most important to them, The Guardian survey showed. The state of the NHS [British public health system] was named by an overwhelming 59% while 42% said education. The findings explain why backing for the Government has remained relatively strong despite continuing controversy over Iraq." So much for the backlash.
Still, the possibility that Iraqi interim prime minister Iyad Allawi will be invited to Labour Party's National Conference has split the Labour ranks with the left of the party throwing a tantrum. The treasurer of an intra-party group Labour Against the War, Jeremy Corbyn MP, wrote to Blair to tell him that inviting Allawi will be "seen as an insult to many around the country." Particularly to those who would not have minded if Saddam was still in power.
Speaking of those sorts of people, the ex-Labour MP and a rabid anti-war activist George Galloway entertained a crowd at a recent book festival saying that "in a perverse way" he was hoping that the US and British forces would stay in Iraq so they could get a "bloody good hiding" from the Iraqi resistance. The British soldiers might or might not actually want to be in Iraq, not having have had much personal input into their deployment, but I'm sure that they will warmly approve of Galloway's idea that as many of them as possible should be killed to teach Tony Blair a lesson.
In Australia, meanwhile, "74 per cent of people surveyed believed [the Prime Minister] Mr Howard misled them about the reasons for going to war in Iraq, up six percentage points since last September. But 47 per cent of respondents said Mr Howard was misled on the issue by others, and did not intentionally mislead them.... 27 per cent said Mr Howard deliberately misled the public on the issue." That 27 per cent of the population tends to believe that John Howard eats babies at the best of times, so the overall result is quite positive. Still, I would have thought that the better opener would be "74 per cent of people surveyed believe that Saddam Hussein misled them about the reasons for going to war in Iraq." Canada's Centre for Public Opinion and Democracy helpfully comments that "Iraq War affects voters in Ukraine and Australia. The conflict is becoming an issue in the two nations. The outcome of their respective elections could further deplete the U.S.-led coalition." I don't know about Ukraine, but unfortunately the only polling cited in the article indicates that 58% of Australian voters agree with the Prime Minister that our troops should stay in Iraq, while only 38% want to bring them home by Christmas. So if the war is affecting Australian voters enough to potentially cause the depletion of the Coalition of the Willing, perhaps the voters should start showing it a bit more.
And in the US some real polarisation of the electorate emerges out of the latest poll, which by the way shows that the majority now think Iraq was a mistake. The breakdown between various political affiliations is quite interesting: in December 2003, 91% of Republicans supported the war, while in August 2004 this figure is down to 86%. For Democrats, the figures are 39% and 19% respectively. What's more concerning is that the support among the independents has fallen from 56% to 29%. Iraq is no longer a war that enjoyed a broad mainstream support; it's a Republican war with a Democrat opposition. God knows why Kerry still tries to appear serious on defence issues, now that his base no longer is.
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Kerry - still fighting the last war
You really have to give it to John Kerry. Not only does he still continue to re-fight the war in Vietnam (more than thirty years after President Nixon declared the end of the major combat operations), as opposed to focusing on something more contemporary, like Iraq; but now the Democratic presidential contender is determined to prove he can reach even further back in time for strategic inspiration:
There might be a reasonable argument to be made about maintaining military presence in South Korea, however strong the temptation to say to the Korean people "You don't like our forces in your country? See how much you'll enjoy living under Kim Jong-il's enlightened leadership." But the American bases in Western Europe no longer protect the Europeans from anything, even the consequences of their own strategic stupidity. They neither generate any local goodwill anymore, nor strengthen the alliance, much less allow the US to project its forces more efficiently, seeing how many restrictions the host countries put on the use of the facilities. It might be time for the realism to have one over symbolism - but not if John Kerry gets to the White House (if you want the same arguments expressed in a much better way, check out this "Opinion Journal" article).
It would be unfair to say that Kerry's mindset is September 10, 2001. At best, it is September 10, 1988, at worst, 10 September 1968.
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"John Kerry will on Wednesday set out his opposition to the Bush administration's plans to bring home 70,000 US troops from permanent overseas bases, leaving their future dependent on the outcome of the presidential election.The "two war" strategy has been an integral part of the Cold War military paradigm, allowing the US forces to fight one major conflict in South East Asia and another one concurrently in Europe. John Kerry might be reporting for duty, but unfortunately only to fight the last war.
"Setting out one of the few clear strategic differences between himself and George W. Bush, Mr Kerry is expected to argue that the withdrawal of troops from Europe and Asia threatens to undercut alliances and weakens America's ability to project its power overseas."
There might be a reasonable argument to be made about maintaining military presence in South Korea, however strong the temptation to say to the Korean people "You don't like our forces in your country? See how much you'll enjoy living under Kim Jong-il's enlightened leadership." But the American bases in Western Europe no longer protect the Europeans from anything, even the consequences of their own strategic stupidity. They neither generate any local goodwill anymore, nor strengthen the alliance, much less allow the US to project its forces more efficiently, seeing how many restrictions the host countries put on the use of the facilities. It might be time for the realism to have one over symbolism - but not if John Kerry gets to the White House (if you want the same arguments expressed in a much better way, check out this "Opinion Journal" article).
It would be unfair to say that Kerry's mindset is September 10, 2001. At best, it is September 10, 1988, at worst, 10 September 1968.
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