Ask Naomi Klein
Open Thread
September 13, 2007 1:30 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/open_thread/2007/09/ask_naomi_klein.html
Naomi Klein's major new book, The Shock Doctrine, has been serialised
this week in the Guardian and debated all week on Comment is free. You
can read all the extracts and watch Klein's short film about the book
on the special Guardian Unlimited site. You can also visit www.shockdoctrin=
e=2Ecom
where many of the key original documents that back up the thesis of
The Shock Doctrine are posted.
More Europe, not less
Brendan Barber
September 13, 2007 1:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/brendan_barber/2007/09/more_europe_not_=
less.html
The TUC's decision to back a GMB call for a referendum on the EU
reform treaty at our conference this week has predictably been seized
on by Britain's Eurosceptics as support for their cause.
But that is absolutely the wrong interpretation. Our complaint is that
that there is not enough Europe on offer. This is due to the UK's opt-
out from the charter of fundamental rights.
A hard reign
Sarfraz Manzoor
September 13, 2007 12:30 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/sarfraz_manzoor/2007/09/a_hard_reign.ht=
ml
I was 18 the first time I saw Bob Dylan in concert. Having discovered
his music two years earlier, I was so desperate to secure tickets I
travelled down from Manchester and spent a freezing December night
outside the Hammersmith Odeon waiting in line with similarly crazed
fans.
The night was too cold and the pavement too hard for any of us to
attempt sleep, so I spent the night listening to stories the fans told
of past shows attended and the lives changed by the wild mercury sound
of Dylan in concert. When the box office opened I waited in line and
was rewarded with front row seats to see the great man.
In praise of appeasement
Edward Pearce
September 13, 2007 12:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/edward_pearce/2007/09/in_praise_of_appe=
asement.html
There is something indecent about the attempts of the Bush people to
pretend that Iraq and the Iraq war and the occupation of Iraq are
things now quietly getting better. President Bush also invites a
comparison with Vietnam and says that "if only the boys hadn't been
withdrawn, if only we had fought on".
That plaint is, if you know your history, an echo of a legend familiar
in 1920s Germany, the dolchstoss, the stab in the back, the great
national betrayal - by student protesters and the McGovern Democrats
or by Prince Max of Baden. Either way, a duty was abandoned and a
victory spurned. We should have fought some more, died and killed some
more. The governments of countries fighting wars lose sight of what
war actually is, who dies, who suffers, who endures the ancillary
awfulness of it, the man described by Patrick Cockburn who, in the
fifth year of Iraqi democracy, squelches through green sewage to reach
the nearest stand-pipe.
A grim picture
Jason Burke
September 13, 2007 11:30 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/jason_burke/2007/09/a_grim_picture.html
It is difficult to argue with much of what the International Institute
of Strategic Studies (IISS) says about al-Qaida in its annual survey
of all the terrible things that could possibly happen in the world in
the near future. There is indeed increasing evidence "that 'core' al-
Qaida is proving adaptable and resilient, and has retained an ability
to plan and coordinate large-scale attacks in the western world
despite the attrition it has suffered".
Equally, the "threat from Islamist terrorism remains as high as ever".
The war on terror, as the IISS say, has far from achieved its aims. Al-
Qaida will, it is true, take decades to eliminate. However, I am not
entirely certain the threat is set to get worse, as the IISS predict.
It has evolved over the years and will evolve further, but are we on
the brink of a global conflagration? I do not think so.
A quality report
John Sauven
September 13, 2007 11:02 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/john_sauven/2007/09/a_quality_report.ht=
ml
The Conservative party's quality of life report is generating -
perhaps predictably - a typically robust response from the right.
Commentators are reaching for their keyboards to condemn detailed
policy announcements on green taxes, aviation, energy efficiency,
waste and planning, within seconds of the report being leaked last
night. But very few are attempting to look at the underlying points
made by the report and the message it sends about the future direction
of our society.
The quality of life report starts from the basic premise that humans
across the planet are consuming too much given the realities of
climate change and that the world needs to dramatically change its
consumption patterns. It might be uncomfortable, but this is not a
particularly radical point of view. Clearly a growing population, with
increasing standards of living will demand more and more. Indeed, it
might even be seen as a global right for every citizen given the west
has enjoyed a high consumption lifestyle for years. But the reality of
the science is that we can't carry on consuming like this. Not only
the threat of climate change, but the scarcity of water, arable land
and fish stocks, the destruction of forests and loss of biodiversity
all point to a single conclusion: we humans need to change the way we
live on this planet. How we do that globally in an environmentally
responsible and socially just way is the defining question of the 21st
century. The Gummer/Goldsmith report is an attempt to respond to
this.
Striking parallels?
Conor Foley
September 13, 2007 10:30 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/conor_foley/2007/09/striking_parallels.=
html
The Shock Doctrine, by Naomi Klein, is one of the best attempts so far
to link together two of the most successful protests that have arisen
in recent years: opposition to the invasion of Iraq and the anti-
globalisation movement. As John Berger writes, it provides "a striking
parallel between CIA prisoner interrogation technique and the
blackmailing technique of the World Bank and IMF for imposing disaster
capitalism across the world; both want to induce by shocks a loss of
identity."
To be honest, that was almost enough to put me off reading anything
further.
Chemical reactions
Jacqui Smith
September 13, 2007 10:00 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/jacqui_smith/2007/09/chemical_reactions=
..html
We are currently engaged in a big conversation about one of the most
complex issues we face today - how we can reduce the harm caused by
illegal drugs.
Today the Home Office is hosting a workshop in London to gauge opinion
and seek fresh and constructive ideas on how best to tackle drugs and
the devastating impact they have on individuals, families and
communities. Ipsos Mori will be in town to hold a "drug chat", one of
four that will take place around England to discuss how we can build
on our achievements in tackling drugs.
Paying with their lives
Brandon Friedman
September 13, 2007 9:30 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/brandon_friedman/2007/09/paying_with_th=
eir_lives.html
Bad news never comes easy. Shock, followed by anger and sadness, and
then the questioning: why did it happen? What does "it all" mean?
I experienced this repeatedly during my own tours in Afghanistan and
Iraq. My reaction was the same yesterday, when I learned of the deaths
of two of the seven soldiers who had penned "The War As We Saw It", an
opinion piece that was published on August 19 in the New York Times.
Hung hang-up
Mark Oaten
September 13, 2007 9:00 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/mark_oaten/2007/09/hung_hangup.html
Earlier this year, the prime minister outlined proposals for a new
British constitutional settlement to return the balance of power from
the executive to parliament. However, in a number of areas - including
in the event of a hung parliament - Mr Brown failed to address the
unwritten powers of the executive vis-=C3=A0-vis the monarch. With the
Tories and Labour level-pegging in recent polling for the first time
in a generation, the prospect of no overall control for any one party
is being taken more seriously by the political classes, and it raises
an important question about exactly what happens in such a scenario.
Imagine the scene: in the warm balmy air of an early summer's evening,
latecomers drift into polling stations across the country to cast the
final votes in the 2008 general election. As the polls close and the
results come in, the swingometer hovers towards equilibrium and the
spectre of a rare occurrence - a hung parliament - casts its shadow
over Westminster. The Conservative poll ratings have rallied during
the election campaign and Cameron has pipped Brown to the post,
securing a small majority of seats over Labour. What happens next?
Heeding the right global warnings
Bj=C3=B6rn Lomborg
September 13, 2007 8:00 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/bjrn_lomborg/2007/09/global_warnings.ht=
ml
You know how you are told to give your kids organic food because
pesticides will give them cancer? Well, it's technically true that
there is a link between the chemicals and illness, but the risk is
miniscule in any well-regulated country.
There is another threat that you haven't been told much about. One of
the best ways to avoid cancer is to eat lots of fruit and vegetables.
Organic items are 10% or 20% more expensive than regular produce, so
most of us naturally buy less when we "go organic".
The Malaysian miracle
Joseph Stiglitz
September 13, 2007 7:00 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/joseph_stiglitz/2007/09/the_malaysian_m=
iracle.html
August 31 marked the 50th anniversary of Malaysia's Merdeka:
independence after more than 400 years of colonialism. Malaysia's
peaceful, non-violent struggle may not have received the attention
that Mahatma Gandhi's did in India, but what Malaysia has accomplished
since then is impressive - and has much to teach the world, both about
economics, and about how to construct a vibrant multiracial, multi-
ethnic, multicultural society.
The numbers themselves say a lot. At independence, Malaysia was one of
the poorest countries in the world. Though reliable data are hard to
come by, its GDP (in purchasing power parity terms) was comparable to
that of Haiti, Honduras, and Egypt, and some 5% below that of Ghana.
Today, Malaysia's income is 7.8 times that of Ghana, more than five
times that of Honduras, and more than 2.5 times that of Egypt. In the
global growth league tables, Malaysia is in the top tier, along with
China, Taiwan, South Korea, and Thailand.
More money, more problems
Jeremy Seabrook
September 12, 2007 9:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/jeremy_seabrook/2007/09/more_money_more=
_problems_.html
You don't have to be a dogmatic Marxist to recognise the intimacy of
the relationship between economy and society. This relationship is
generally thought to be symbiotic: when the economy is successful,
society is peaceable and orderly; only in economic adversity does
society suffer.
The origins of belief in this sentimental attachment are not far to
seek. The last time it broke down dramatically in Europe, the virulent
ideology of Nazism grew out of the wreckage. After the war, it became
axiomatic that as long as the economy grows, we may expect society to
progress in sympathy. Accordingly, all political effort has been
concentrated since 1945 upon ensuring that the economy functions well.
Despite setbacks, this has been more or less achieved, never more so
than in the past decade of sustained expansion.
Testimony of the tortured
Jeremy Scahill
September 12, 2007 8:30 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/jeremy_scahill/2007/09/testimony_of_the=
_tortured.html
When President Bush dispatched the neoconservative "terror expert"
Paul Bremer to Baghdad in the summer of 2003, it took the former
staffer to Henry Kissinger just two weeks to boldly declare that Iraq
was "open for business." Naomi Klein, who traveled to Iraq during
Bremer's one year stint in the country, writes in The Shock Doctrine:
"Overnight, Iraq went from being one of the most isolated countries in
the world, sealed off from the most basic trade by strict UN
sanctions, to becoming the widest-open market anywhere."
Bremer swiftly set about wiping Iraq clean and applying Milton
Friedman's radical economic formula in the Arab world, a region Klein
calls "the last holdout for this neoliberal crusade." This, Klein
writes, would come in the form of "mass privatization, complete free
trade, a 15% flat tax and a dramatically downsized government." As
Klein says, it was an anti-Marshall Plan. And while it appeared early
on in Bremer's tenure that the neoconservatives were winning, it
didn't take long for the temporary euphoria of life without Saddam to
be overcome by a collective Iraqi rage at the US agenda.
They've got to be kidding
Marcy Wheeler
September 12, 2007 8:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/marcy_wheeler/2007/09/theyve_got_to_be_=
kidding.html
The New York Times has a story this morning reporting that Ted Olson
will be President Bush's nominee to replace Alberto Gonzales as
attorney general. The Politico's Mike Allen, with his many White House
sources, is less definitive about whether Olson's nomination is a done
deal - Allen lists four other candidates that remain in contention and
quotes a senior administration official stating there is "no clear
frontrunner."
So the Times report might be a real scoop - or it might reflect
efforts among conservatives to push Olson as their top choice. Because
it's clear that conservatives favor Olson to be the nominee, even
though (perhaps because) an Olson nomination would be sure to rile
Democrats.
Out of the frying pan
Julian Borger
September 12, 2007 7:15 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/julian_borger/2007/09/out_of_the_frying=
_pan_1.html
One of most significant moments in General David Petraeus's
congressional testimony this week was his reference to a "proxy war"
with Iran being fought out in Iraq. It has been implied in many recent
US allegations against the Iran's Revolutionary Guard, but the use of
the phrase at such a critical moment was itself a milestone.
It reflects the evolution of US strategic thinking about Iraq, which
increasingly views the conflict as a battle to contain Iran. One of
the greatest fears, perhaps the greatest fear, Washington has about a
radical drawdown of troops is that it would open a space, both
physical and political, for the expansion of Iranian influence. The
aim is no longer to spread democracy in the Middle East, but to
bolster friendly Sunni governments against Iran, with diplomatic
support and arms sales.
Fat chance
Neville Rigby
September 12, 2007 6:45 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/neville_rigby/2007/09/fat_chance_1.html
Another Wanless review warns of dire consequences unless radical
action is taken to aid the recuperation of an ailing health service
and its clientele. Yet it should surprise no one that obesity
continues its remorseless upward trend and that this will impose an
extraordinary burden - even greater than it already does - on the
already stretched health system, the economy and, implicitly, on
people's lives and wellbeing.
The latest report from Derek Wanless and his team refers to key
determinants that have worsened since his 2002 review, "particularly
the unforeseen rise in adult and childhood obesity". Unforeseen? This
would depend upon which direction one is looking.
An appetite for punishment
Eric Allison
September 12, 2007 6:15 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/eric_allison/2007/09/an_appetite_for_pu=
nishment.html
Thank goodness for the jury system. Against all the odds - and much of
the evidence - the jury, at Liverpool, in the trial of Jacqueline
Simpson found her not guilty of the manslaughter of her five-year old
granddaughter Ellie, last New Years Day. Simpson had admitted letting
a pit bull terrier, belonging to her son, into the her house, after
the dog had been "whimpering" in fright at the sounds of the fireworks
set off to celebrate the New Year.
The rest is tragic history, the dog,who had previously attacked
another family member, mauled the little girl to death. Simpson, who
admitted to drinking two bottles of wine and smoking several joints of
cannabis, was herself severely wounded as she attempted to drag the
animal off the child.
Bad planning
James Denselow
September 12, 2007 5:15 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/james_denselow/2007/09/bad_planning.html
And so we arrive at the next deadline in the long litany that is US
failure in Iraq. From CPA creation to disbanding, from Saddam's
capture to execution, from democratic election to constitutional
referendum, from the Iraqisation of security forces to the 2007 surge
appraisal - the idea of Iraq as a work in progress is seldom far from
the speeches of US government officials. They promise that hope is
just around the next corner and all that is required is another dose
of political therapy. Yet the reality is that the ability of the US to
"shock" Iraq out of its chaos is weaker than ever.
Indeed, despite the presence of some 168,000 US troops the biggest
success story of the "surge" occurred in an area where no significant
"surging" took place. The devolution of local responsibility to Sattar
Abu Rishah, chairman of the Anbar Salvation Council, is not a
reflection of democratic ideas finally coming to fruition but is
instead a case of grim reality catching up with idealistic rhetoric.
As Professor Juan Cole put it, there has been a shift from the
Coalition Provisional Authority's (CPA) top-down approach, to Paul
Bremer's opening of Iraq up to the free market (as described by Naomi
Klein), to counter-insurgency guru General Petraeus' bottom-up
approach, which ties in with the surge to make it seem like US action
was responsible.
Is this the end for the Lib Dems?
Iain Macwhirter
September 12, 2007 4:30 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/iain_macwhirter/2007/09/is_this_the_end=
_for_the_lib_dems.html
Only five months ago the Liberal Democrats were parading their
successes in office as the dynamic end of the Lib-Lab coalition in the
Scottish parliament. Scottish Lib Dem ministers used to be feted at
their UK conference as the first of their kind to be in possession of
red boxes since the days of Lloyd George 80 years ago. Not any more.
Out of office and out of power, the Liberal Democrats are in danger of
answering the old question of what they are for. And they don't need
to phone a friend.
The Tories used to be called the stupid party, but the mantle has been
handed on. The Liberal Democrats have been guilty of monumental
miscalculation over the past year in all three mainland parliaments.
It has been serial political stupidity of epic proportions, which may
lead to the virtual destruction of the party.
Snoring for England
Dave Hill
September 12, 2007 3:45 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/dave_hill/2007/09/snoring_for_england.h=
tml
Thank goodness for televised sport. Without it how would I get any
sleep? Last Friday evening, weary from the post-school holidays back-
to-work week and vibrating with caffeine, I was thankful to the hairy
guys of France and Argentina for lulling me into slumber on the sofa.
No matter that while I snored through their encounter at the Stade de
France - the opening fixture of the Rugby World Cup - was resulting in
the gripping turnover of the home nation in its own scared turf. The
draw of screen image and drone of commentary were the ideal drug
combination, its efficacy undermined only when my five-year-old sat on
my stomach. I'll make she sure she's tucked up in bed before Steve
McClaren's men kick off against Russia tonight.
I thanked broadcasters and world-class sportsmen again on Saturday
afternoon after a key phase in the England's cricketers' defeat of
India induced a restorative half-hour snooze. And as I later grazed
among the simultaneous tele-spectacles of other England teams'
contests - with Israel (at football) and the United States (rugby
again), I reflected that I'm not alone in my tranquiliser of choice.
Wake up, the invisible front line runs right through your back yard
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2167722,00.html
The struggle against terrorism will be decided not in the United
States but in Europe, not in Iraq but in Pakistan
Timothy Garton Ash
Thursday September 13, 2007
The Guardian
To return from the United States to Europe is to travel from a country
that thinks it is on the front line of the struggle against jihadist
terrorism, but is not, to a continent which is on the front line but
still has not fully woken up to the fact. On the front line at home, I
mean; abroad is another matter. Only a fool would rule out the
possibility of another terrorist assault on what is now styled the
American homeland, but the fact is that in the six years since
September 11 2001 there have been several major attacks (Madrid,
London) and foiled plots in Europe. In the United States there have
been no major attacks and, so far as we know, just a few averted
conspiracies. All the evidence shows that American Muslims are better
integrated than those in western Europe. Last week's arrest of a group
apparently planning a September 11 anniversary attack in Germany
suggests that the threat to the Heimat is greater than that to the
homeland.
No wonder men treat us as sex objects if we act like this
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2167736,00.html
It is too easy to blame lad culture for today's brand of sexism. Women
have to stop lying about their own complicity
Decca Aitkenhead
Thursday September 13, 2007
The Guardian
Women have been debating whether lad mags are sexist for so long that
the average media studies sixth-former could probably have scripted
most of yesterday's discussion on Radio 4. One of the genre's leading
titles, Nuts, launched its own cable TV channel last night, and a Nuts
TV spokesperson was invited on to Today to persuade the feminist
writer Natasha Walter that the station was in no way sexist. Nuts TV's
female - naturally - executive offered the familiar, if outlandish,
proposition that lad mags "celebrate" and "respect" women. Walter said
that's funny, because they look exactly like a vision of old-fashioned
sexism, not female empowerment.
Criminally confident
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2167735,00.html
The razor-sharp cops at the arms fair were quick to collar me - I
looked far too sure of myself
Mark Thomas
Thursday September 13, 2007
The Guardian
The demonstration against the arms fair in London's Docklands on
Tuesday saw the usual gathering of pensioners, Quakers, anarchists,
peaceniks and tutting liberals (my category), waving banners in blood-
red paint. From a distance it looked like Sesame Street was doing a
show-and-tell special on imperialism. Closer inspection would reveal a
cop-to-demonstrator ratio of 1:1; this wasn't crowd control, it was
more like mentoring.
I had been asked along by Campaign Against Arms Trade as a speaker,
which entailed being backed up against a brick wall and addressing a
crowd penned in by metal barriers, via a megaphone held above the
phalanx of the Met's fluorescent jackets. Everything went swimmingly:
local residents' speeches were met with particular appreciation, news
teams scribbled notes, and peace songs were faintly sung. I thanked
the organisers and headed for the Docklands light railway to go home.
If not this year, it will be next. You can only squeeze so far
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2167719,00.html
We're not facing a winter of discontent. But if Brown keeps cutting
public sector workers' pay, there'll be a backlash
Seumas Milne
Thursday September 13, 2007
The Guardian
It almost feels like old times. A Labour government, struggling to cut
back a spending deficit, imposes a pay ceiling on public sector
workers well below the rate of inflation. The Trades Union Congress
backs coordinated strikes across the public services, as workers start
to take unofficial action. The prime minister insists that inflation
can only be beaten if pay discipline is maintained. The press demands
that the government stands firm and denounces trade unionists as thugs
and throwbacks - or calls for a new style of trade unionism that
doesn't involve strikes and militants. No wonder the media and even
some trade union leaders have started to invoke the spectre of the
winter of discontent of 1978-79 - when the last Labour government
tried to impose real wage cuts for the third year in a row, triggered
mass walkouts by millions, and paved the way for Margaret Thatcher's
election victory.
Germany's mythic titans
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2167737,00.html
It is a brave novelist who attempts to convey how Wagnerian intensity
led to Nazi catastrophe
Hywel Williams
Thursday September 13, 2007
The Guardian
Conventional political history, with its story of elections won and
lost, struggles to explain what happened to Germany between the
unification of 1871 and the nemesis of 1945. Here we are at the
furthermost limits of the usefulness of "facts". The consequences of
nazism were so catastrophic that there is a gap of historical
explanation that might link the possible factual causes with that
final G=C3=B6tterd=C3=A4mmerung effect. This remains a mysterious question =
and
it explains why the history of the Third Reich remains big business: a
teasing psychodrama as well as a consuming Holocaust. It's at this
point that the historian needs an artist's imagination.
How Oona got her groove back
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,2167753,00.html
Oona King was one of the brightest of Tony Blair's 1997 intake, with a
gift for coming across as a 'normal' human being. But then it all went
wrong ... As her candid memoirs are published, she talks to Patrick
Barkham about the brutal world of Westminster. On the following pages,
she describes her IVF nightmare and finally becoming a mother
Thursday September 13, 2007
The Guardian
It is two years since Oona King - only the second black woman MP ever
- lost her supposedly impregnable Labour seat in Bethnal Green and
Bow. The wan grimace with which she greeted George Galloway's general
election triumph was one of the most memorable images of the 2005
general election, but today the grimace is gone, and she chortles as
she talks about life after the House of Commons. She has been
campaigning on youth issues, she says, and broadcasting and being a
mother: after years of trying for a baby, she and her husband have
adopted a son, Elia.
Bird brain - or parrot prodigy?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,2167779,00.html
His death has been reported in the New York Times; an internet
condolence book has been set up in his memory. So what made Alex the
parrot so special - and so controversial? Stephen Moss reports
Thursday September 13, 2007
The Guardian
America is in mourning. Alex, the African Grey parrot who was smarter
than the average US president, has died at the relatively tender age
of 31. He could count to six, identify colours, understand concepts
such as bigger and smaller, and had a vocabulary of 150 words. To his
supporters he was proof that the phrase "bird brain" should be
expunged from the dictionary.
Alex was the star of the Alex (Avian Learning Experiment) Foundation,
run by Dr Irene Pepperberg at Brandeis University in Boston. She
bought him from a pet shop in 1977, and has spent the past 30 years
training him and analysing his progress. "He was my closest
colleague," a devastated Pepperberg said at the weekend. "Alex broke
all preconceived notions about bird brains. He had the intelligence of
a five-year-old and the communication skills of a two-year-old, and
sometimes threw tantrums like a small child would. He would take his
beak and knock everything on the floor."
Why Casanova had to be a woman
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,2167798,00.html
The great seducer has been reinvented - as a caring, sharing woman who
gives everyone their heart's desire. Lyn Gardner reports
Thursday September 13, 2007
The Guardian
Casanova was the great seducer. An adventurer, jailbreaker and
duellist, cutting a swathe through Europe's finest salons and bedrooms
and hob-nobbing with Voltaire, Madame de Pompadour, Jean-Jacques
Rousseau and Catherine the Great. An 18th-century figure who remains a
source of fascination today for artists from Fellini to the Pet Shop
Boys. Oh, and of course Casanova was a woman. At least she is in Carol
Ann Duffy's stage version of the story, which reinvents the notorious
lover as an object of all our desires, and not just the sexual ones.
Al-Qaida has revived, spread and is capable of a spectacular
http://www.guardian.co.uk/alqaida/story/0,,2167923,00.html
=C2=B7 Stark warning from leading think tank
=C2=B7 Iran could have its own bomb by 2009
=C2=B7 Islamic countries radicalising at a pace
Richard Norton-Taylor
Thursday September 13, 2007
The Guardian
Al-Qaida has revived, extended its influence, and has the capacity to
carry out a spectacular strike similar to the September 11 attacks on
America, one of the world's leading security thinktanks warned
yesterday.
There is increasing evidence "that 'core' al-Qaida is proving
adaptable and resilient, and has retained an ability to plan and
coordinate large-scale attacks in the western world despite the
attrition it has suffered", said the London-based International
Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). "The threat from Islamist
terrorism remains as high as ever, and looks set to get worse," it
added.
Putin names long-term ally as new PM
http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/article/0,,2167882,00.html
=C2=B7 President makes surprise move ahead of elections
=C2=B7 Choice of Zubkov a bid to keep power, say critics
Luke Harding in Moscow
Thursday September 13, 2007
The Guardian
President Vladimir Putin yesterday dismissed Russia's government ahead
of elections for a new parliament and president and appointed a little-
known ally, Viktor Zubkov, as the country's new prime minister.
After months of speculation about a possible reshuffle, Mr Putin said
he had accepted the resignation of prime minister Mikhail Fradkov and
his government during a meeting in the Kremlin.
Later the Kremlin announced that Mr Zubkov had been nominated as the
new head of Russia's government ahead of parliamentary elections on
December 2 and a presidential poll in March 2008.
Expensive and divisive: how America is losing patience with a failing
system
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2167865,00.html
Onus on workers to buy health insurance as rising costs force firms to
end perk
In pictures: healthcare in the US
Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
Thursday September 13, 2007
The Guardian
It's nearing lunchtime and the few people left on the hard chairs in
the clinic waiting room are glancing at the television hanging high on
the wall. In his examination room, Dr Jamal Gwathney has seen a two-
month-old baby, a young woman with a heart pacemaker and chemical
burns brought in after a fight with the police, and patients with
asthma and diabetes.
But in clinics such as this, just across the Anacostia river from the
great white dome of the Capitol, many of the ailments have an
underlying cause: none of these people have access to adequate medical
care.
China lifts the lid on Foster's new airport
http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,,2167872,00.html
=C2=B7 Beijing terminal to open on time and within budget
=C2=B7 Huge pool of labourers helped speed up project.
In pictures: Beijing's new airport terminal revealed
Jonathan Watts in Beijing
Thursday September 13, 2007
The Guardian
It is about twice the size, half the cost and planned and built in
almost a third of the time. When Beijing's new airport terminal opens
in February, comparisons with Heathrow's Terminal 5 will be inevitable
and not entirely flattering to London.
The Chinese capital's new gateway to the skies was given its first
international airing today after a three-and-a-half-year sprint to
construct the world's biggest airport complex for next year's
Olympics.
We were over-optimistic about regeneration, Blair adviser says
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2167834,00.html
Patrick Wintour, political editor
Thursday September 13, 2007
The Guardian
America and Britain failed in the reconstruction of Iraq and were over-
optimistic about the ease with which a new society would be formed,
Sir David Manning, the outgoing British ambassador to Washington and
Tony Blair's chief foreign policy adviser during the Iraq war, has
admitted.
Sir David insisted that Mr Blair was not told by President George Bush
that the defence department led by Donald Rumsfeld, rather than the US
state department, would be given responsibility for the reconstruction
of Iraq. The decision was taken only two months before the invasion
and involved the rejection of months of pre-war planning by the state
department and British Foreign Office.
Far-right movement gathers strength as Greek election nears
http://www.guardian.co.uk/farright/story/0,,2167883,00.html
=C2=B7 Extreme nationalist party likely to enter parliament
=C2=B7 Protest votes over forest fires threaten status quo
Helena Smith in Athens
Thursday September 13, 2007
The Guardian
Of all the political party stands on Panepistimiou, the boulevard that
runs through central Athens, there is one that stands out as the
country prepares for general elections on Sunday. Oddly, it the
smallest of all the stalls: a cubicle next to a white plastic table
with three plastic chairs. Only an umbrella, adorned with the insignia
of the far-right Popular Orthodox Alarm (Laos) and the posters of its
leader, Giorgos Karatzerferis, promising to throw "a punch at the
status quo", indicate that it is a political stand at all.
Oil price hits record of more than $80 a barrel as US stocks fall
http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2167743,00.html
Larry Elliott, economics editor
Thursday September 13, 2007
The Guardian
The price of oil last night broke through the $80 a barrel level for
the first time on fears of winter supply shortages.
News of a sharp drop in US oil stockpiles coupled with disappointment
at the modest production increases announced by the Opec oil cartel
sent the cost of US crude to $80.18 a barrel - beating the previous
high of $78.77 reached last month. It later settled back to $79.91.
Indonesian quakes trigger fears of tsunami across Indian ocean
http://www.guardian.co.uk/kenya/story/0,,2167863,00.html
Martin Hodgson and agencies
Thursday September 13, 2007
The Guardian
Three tsunami warnings were issued in 24 hours after a series of
earthquakes in western Indonesia triggered fears of a deadly tidal
surge throughout the Indian Ocean region.
The latest warning came early this morning after a tremor measuring
7=2E9 on the Richter scale hit south Sumatra at 7am local time, 14 hours
after the first quake.
The earlier 8.2 magnitude quake struck Indonesia yesterday evening,
killing at least 10 people and injuring hundreds more.
US troops who criticised Iraq war strategy killed in Baghdad
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2167859,00.html
=C2=B7 Article claimed Bush's policy was total failure
=C2=B7 Deaths reported on eve of presidential address
Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
Thursday September 13, 2007
The Guardian
Two US soldiers who helped write a critique from the front saying
America had "failed on every promise" in the war have been killed in
Iraq, it was reported yesterday.
Staff Sergeant Yance Gray, 26, and Sergeant Omar Mora, 28, were among
a group of seven soldiers serving in Iraq who wrote a piece
excoriating America's conduct of the war. The piece was published in
the New York Times last month.
The men were killed in Baghdad when the cargo truck in which they were
riding rolled over, the Associated Press and local news outlets
reported yesterday. The Pentagon had yet to confirm their deaths early
yesterday.
Japan's PM quits after scandals and poll defeat
http://www.guardian.co.uk/japan/story/0,,2167894,00.html
=C2=B7 New leader is needed to end impasse, says Abe
=C2=B7 Speculation that decision linked to tax evasion claim
Justin McCurry in Tokyo
Thursday September 13, 2007
The Guardian
Japan's prime minister, Shinzo Abe, said yesterday that he would
resign to take responsibility for his scandal-ridden party's
disastrous showing in recent national elections, sparking a new round
of political turmoil.
Mr Abe said he hoped that his departure would also end the political
deadlock over the future of Japan's logistical support for US forces
in Afghanistan.
"In the present situation, it is difficult to push ahead with
effective policies that win the support of the public," he said at a
televised news conference. "We need a change in this situation. I
decided a quick decision was necessary, and that a further delay would
cause political confusion. I find myself unable to keep my [political]
promises - I have become an obstacle to fulfilling those promises."
Agree to police reforms or forget talks, EU tells Bosnian leaders
http://www.guardian.co.uk/eu/story/0,,2167881,00.html
Ian Traynor in Brussels
Thursday September 13, 2007
The Guardian
The European Union is to break off negotiations with Bosnia on
eventual membership unless its feuding leaders agree to radical police
reforms, the country's international governor warned yesterday.
Miroslav Lajcak, a Slovak diplomat who took over the running of Bosnia
10 weeks ago, told the Guardian that he had given Bosnia's rival
political leaders an ultimatum - agree to the creation of a single
national police structure by the end of the month or see the
negotiations with Brussels frozen.
Suck it and see: French launch carton of wine with a straw
http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,,2167886,00.html
Alasdair Sandford in Paris
Thursday September 13, 2007
The Guardian
To the traditionalists, the idea of drinking wine through a straw may
indeed be the last straw.
Yet after wine in glass bottles (seen as "lame and fusty" by the youth
of today, according to one expert), wine in plastic bottles, wine in
cartons, and even wine in cans, the junk-food approach could become
France's latest attempt to conquer a declining youth market.
Tandem wine is already being tried out in Belgian supermarkets, where
the 25cl cartons are selling at more than 1,000 a week. At =E2=82=AC1.25 a
container (85p), the red, white and ros=C3=A9 Bordeaux wines can be found
amid the snacks and salads, aimed at customers popping in for a
sandwich and eating "on the go".
President Petraeus? Iraqi official recalls the day US general revealed
ambition
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2956422.ece
By Patrick Cockburn
Published: 13 September 2007
The US commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, expressed long-term
interest in running for the US presidency when he was stationed in
Baghdad, according to a senior Iraqi official who knew him at that
time.
Sabah Khadim, then a senior adviser at Iraq's Interior Ministry, says
General Petraeus discussed with him his ambition when the general was
head of training and recruitment of the Iraqi army in 2004-05.
Rising petrol prices could force obese Americans to hit the street
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2956424.ece
By Leonard Doyle in Washington
Published: 13 September 2007
For overweight Americans relief is on the way, in the shape of ever-
higher petrol prices. Getting out the car to drive downtown for a
super-sized plate full of fatty fast-food is the highlight of the day
for many Americans. The result is a public health crisis with four out
of 10 American adults already overweight or heading that way.
After consuming mountains of chips, fried meat and baked goods all
washed down with corn-sweetened soft drinks, overweight Americans then
worry which best-selling diet book will help them see their toes
again. It turns out that higher petrol prices can slim down more than
the wallets of the overweight.
Rediscovering Che Guevara, the romantic revolutionary
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2956426.ece
By David Usborne in New York
Published: 13 September 2007
Romanticising the memory of Che Guevara, Fidel Castro's brother-in-
arms during the Cuban uprising,has long been a worldwide industry. But
the Argentinian revolutionary remained in touch with his own romantic
side to the end, even as he battled to foment a second revolution in
the jungles of Bolivia, a new book reveals.
Guevara was executed by Bolivian troops near the town of La Higuera on
9 October 1967, after an ambush backed by the CIA and US special
forces. Now, as the 40th anniversary of his death approaches, a
Mexican publisher has printed what it claims are the contents of a dog-
eared notebook which was found on his body and kept locked away for
years in a Bolivian army vault. But the secrets offered up in the new
book, The Green Notebook Of Che, are neither codes nor battle plans.
Instead, the pages =E2=80=93 densely filled with Guevara's handwriting =E2=
=80=93
contain a collection of his favourite poetry. Many of the entries are
love poems.
Al-Jazeera man 'close to death' at Guantanamo Bay
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2956428.ece
By Robert Verkaik, Law Editor
Published: 13 September 2007
An al-Jazeera journalist captured in Afghanistan six years ago and
sent to Guantanamo Bay is close to becoming the fifth detainee at the
US naval base to take his own life, according to a medical report
written by a team of British and American psychiatrists
Sami al-Haj, a Sudanese national, is 250 days into a hunger strike
which he began in protest over his detention without charge or trial
in January 2002. But British and American doctors, who have been given
exclusive access to his interview notes, say there is very strong
evidence that he has given up his fight for life, experiencing what
doctors recognise as "passive suicide", a condition suffered by female
victims of Darfur.
Second earthquake hits Sumatra
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article2959034.ece
Published: 13 September 2007
A second powerful earthquake in as many days jolted Southeast Asia and
triggered a regional tsunami warning today, damaging hundreds of
buildings along Indonesia's western coast and sending panicked
residents fleeing inland.
At least nine people were killed and 49 injured in the twin tremors,
which caused tall buildings to sway in at least three countries.
The tyrant and the archbishop: How a good man was silenced by scandal
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/article2956423.ece
Pius Ncube was one of Africa's most respected churchmen. Then he dared
to challenge Robert Mugabe's tyranny. Now his life is in ruins.
Basildon Peta on a nasty tale of Zimbabwean realpolitik
Published: 13 September 2007
When Pius Ncube lamented what he perceived as the lack of an
inspirational Zimbabwean leader in the mould of Nelson Mandela or
Mahatma Gandhi, a visionary who might lead the people in a revolution
against the tyranny of Robert Mugabe, many of his countrymen wondered
why he needed to look any further than himself.
"Why don't you emulate [the priest] Jean Bertrand Aristide's example
in Haiti and lead this revolution. We will all follow you," a
Zimbabwean journalist in exile at one of the Archbishop's regular
press conferences in Johannesburg, suggested.
Obama wants troops out next year
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2956420.ece
By Leonard Doyle in Washington
Published: 13 September 2007
Senator Barack Obama has called for US combat troops to immediately be
pulled out of Iraq one or two brigades at a time, leading to a
complete withdrawal of US fighting forces by the end of next year.
His timetable, announced in a speech in Iowa yesterday, came as a
direct challenge to the White House and his main Democratic rival for
the presidency, Hillary Clinton. "Let me be clear: There is no
military solution in Iraq and there never was," said Mr Obama. "The
best way to protect our security and to pressure Iraq's leaders to
resolve their civil war is to immediately begin to remove our combat
troops. Not in six months or one year =E2=80=93 now."
Brown faces domestic pressure over 'proxy war'
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article2956421.ece
By Nigel Morris
Published: 13 September 2007
Gordon Brown faces anger over the deployment of UK troops to Iraq's
border with Iran and warnings that the strategy could drag Britain
into confrontation with Tehran.
The Independent disclosed yesterday that up to 350 soldiers had been
transferred from Basra to the frontier at the request of the
Americans. The troop movement followed warnings from a senior US
commander that the Iranian government was fomenting conflict between
rival factions within Iraq.
End of the affair for Sarkozy and Merkel after serial blunders
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2956418.ece
By John Lichfield in Paris
Published: 13 September 2007
Problems are piling up for Nicolas Sarkozy. Relations between the
French President and the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, are said to
be deeply strained. Serious tensions are starting to appear in the
French government. The economy is beginning to stutter. M. Sarkozy's
domestic popularity, which was in the stratosphere until last month,
is drifting downwards.
At the heart of all these problems lurk questions about the all-action
style of the new President and doubts about the direction and
substance of the radical reforms which he has promised to deliver.
France may rejoin military wing of Nato
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2956419.ece
By John Lichfield in Paris
Published: 13 September 2007
President Nicolas Sarkozy, a self-proclaimed Gaullist, may be ready to
reverse one of the most celebrated actions sanctioned by Charles de
Gaulle =E2=80=93 France's abrupt exit from the military wing of Nato in 196=
6=2E
After a hint dropped by M. Sarkozy last month, the country's Defence
Minister, Herv=C3=A9 Morin, has raised the possibility of France rejoining
the integrated, military structure of the alliance. In return, he
suggested, France would want the US to lift its objections to the
development of a European Union defence policy linked to Nato. Paris
would also want Nato to rethink its overall strategy and structures.
Mystery of the nearly men: New thinking on an old conundrum
http://news.independent.co.uk/sci_tech/article2956409.ece
Once we thought of them as mere brutes. But a series of recent
discoveries shows the Neanderthals in a haunting new light. Steve
Connor reports on a dark skeleton in humanity's cupboard
Published: 13 September 2007
Much has been unearthed about Neanderthal Man since a skull and bones
were famously dug out of the Neander Valley near D=C3=BCsseldorf in 1856.
But not since that date has there been such excitement about this
archaic form of humanity. He was a thick-set, muscular sort with a
tough jaw, but diminutive chin. Not very tall, but with more
intelligence than originally given credit, the Neanderthal occupied
much of Europe for about 200,000 years prior to the arrival of
anatomically modern humans =E2=80=93 our own species, Homo sapiens.
Yet there is one enduring puzzle about this early cousin of ours that
is now engaging scientists in frenzied debate. If the Neanderthal
managed to survive for so long and lived through an ice age, what
caused them to disappear? Was it, as some have suggested, a period of
intense climate change that even they could not adapt to?
Hamish McRae: The global slowdown will be shaped by rising economies,
not the old world
http://news.independent.co.uk/business/comment/article2956460.ece
Published: 13 September 2007
The long march back towards stability continues. It is impossible to
be at all precise but it looks as though we are still in the early
stages of the reaction to the excessively easy money conditions of the
world during the past four or five years, and that markets will be
bumpy for some months yet.
However, and this is the good news, disruptive markets do not continue
forever. They never do. So it would be odd if, by the end of the
autumn, things had not settled down. The usual signal for a return to
calm is for a major financial institution somewhere in the world to
need to be rescued, probably buy the central banks. When that happens
(and I would be surprised if it were a British one) we can all relax.
Until then things will be bumpy.
Adrian Hamilton: The charade of letting the generals decide
http://comment.independent.co.uk/columnists_a_l/adrian_hamilton/article2956=
398.ece
Published: 13 September 2007
You may not have noticed it from the coverage, indeed you may not have
seen his name at all, but General Petraeus was in fact accompanied by
Ryan Crocker, US ambassador to Iraq, in what was meant to be a joint
presentation to Congress this week.
That Crocker paled into virtual invisibility beside the bemedalled
figure of the four-star general beside him is a demonstration of
Washington's priorities now. With an election year coming up, what the
American politicians and the public care about is how soon will their
soldiers come home. It is what President Bush will be concentrating on
in his response to the evidence tonight.
Leading article: The arrogance of power
http://comment.independent.co.uk/leading_articles/article2956400.ece
Published: 13 September 2007
Six weeks after leading his party to its worst-ever electoral defeat
and amid growing political chaos, Shinzo Abe has announced his
resignation as Japan's Prime Minister, saying the country needs a "new
leader to fight terrorism". The resignation, despite a vow by Mr Abe
earlier this week to remain in office until a controversial anti-
terror bill is passed, has surprised political observers and leaves
the conservative ruling Liberal Democratic Party floundering for a
successor.
Mr Abe's departure, ostensibly over his failure to fulfil a personal
promise to President George Bush that Japan would continue to back the
US "war on terror", is a textbook case of the arrogance of power. Mr
Abe, Japan's youngest post-war prime minister, took office last
September, brandishing the political slogan "beautiful Japan" and
promising to radically reform the constitution and instil patriotism
into the education system. But voters struggling with bread-and-butter
issues such as jobs and a growing income gap showed little enthusiasm
for his agenda. Mr Abe's support fell steadily after a string of
cabinet resignations exposed him as a desperately poor judge of
political talent.
Obama to Bush: Don't invade Iran
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/09/12/obama-to-bush-dont-attack-i=
ran/
CLINTON, Iowa (CNN) =E2=80=94 Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama
warned the Bush administration against expanding the war in Iraq to
neighboring Iran, telling an Iowa audience Wednesday that he hears
"eerie echoes" of the rhetoric that led up to the invasion of Iraq.
"George Bush and ***** Cheney must hear loud and clear from the
American people and the Congress: You do not have our support, and you
do not have our authorization, to launch another war," he said.
.
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