Capitol punishment
Jeremy Pikser
October 6, 2006 06:45 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/jeremy_pikser/2006/10/capitol_punishmen=
t=2Ehtml
Just when the tawdry details of the Mark Foley scandal have, like a jab
to the solar plexus, disoriented and buckled the knees of congressional
Republicans, threatening to topple at long last the GOP's unchecked
power in the US Congress, a court adjudicating a different - but not
entirely different - case may have opened the door for a major
Republican regeneration.
For those of you who might have been following other more "substantial"
issues, let me fill you in. The party (nay, the entire institution of
Congress, to be fair) responsible for an unprovoked attack on a foreign
nation, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths of innocent men,
women, and children, and the life-long crippling and deforming injuries
to thousands and thousands more, has been rocked by the revelation that
one of it's more popular members, Congressman Mark Foley, from Florida,
who was responsible for overseeing the welfare of teenaged
congressional pages, had been, in fact, engaging in (at the very least)
cybersex with some of the underage boys in his care.
What not to wear
Vikram Dodd
October 6, 2006 04:58 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/vikram_dodd/2006/10/what_not_to_wear.ht=
ml
Perhaps Jack Straw's foray into the world of fashion advice is an
attempt to set up an alternative career, in case his bid to be the next
deputy prime minister goes pear-shaped. He seems to be trying to
establish himself as a political version of Trinny and Susannah in the
New Labour edition of "What not to wear".
In dispensing advice to British Muslims, at least, he has come across
as being as hectoring and rude as the two public school girls who
insulted volunteers' dress sense for the enjoyment of a television
audience, first on BBC and now this week on ITV.
Changing channels
Jeff Jarvis
October 6, 2006 03:54 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/jeff_jarvis/2006/10/happy_birthday_fox_=
news.html
Fox News in America is 10 years old this week. This year, al-Jazeera
turns 10. The Daily Show, the US comedy news show now starring Jon
Stewart, has also reached its first decade. All that the three have in
common, besides birthdays, is that they brought new voices to American
TV news: no longer the allegedly objective, cold, institutional tone
that journalism took on when it became a monopoly, one-size-fits-all
business in this country, thanks to the impact of broadcast on the
media marketplace. These fraternal triplets each brought perspective to
news, a distinct and clearly apparent world view, and a passion about
serving a public that each believed was underserved.
What enabled this to happen? The answer is simple: choice. Bandwidth.
The ability to broadcast off the broadcast tower and its straitjacket
frequencies. Cable made it possible, and satellite. And now, a decade
after the cable age, we are in the thick of the internet age, which
allows us to not only hear new voices but also to speak with our own.
Going separate ways
Tony Bayfield
October 6, 2006 03:15 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/tony_bayfield/2006/10/what_jack_straw_m=
ight_have_sai.html
There's an obscure (by today's standards) little book in the Hebrew
Bible called Esther. It's set in ancient Persia - Iran today,
ironically - and tells the story of a political leader called Haman who
attempts to persuade his king to persecute the Jews of the kingdom
because they live sinister, separate lives and don't obey the laws of
the land.
Almost certainly, Esther is not straight history but a book written
sometime in the second century before Jesus to warn Diaspora Jews of
the potential dangers of their position.
A vision born of failure
John Hilary
October 6, 2006 02:40 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/john_hilary/2006/10/mandelsons_failing_=
vision.html
Peter Mandelson made headlines in Manchester last week when he
intervened in the future of the Labour leadership. Yet his barbed
remarks about Gordon Brown and his attempts to secure the legacy of New
Labour are nothing compared to the bombshell he has dropped (more
quietly) this week. Back in his day job as EU trade commissioner,
Mandelson has delivered a chilling picture of the New Europe he has in
store for us. And anyone with the slightest interest in our common
future needs to start paying attention right now.
Mandelson's vision for a "global Europe - competing in the world" looks
outwards to our relations with other countries and inwards to the sort
of Europe we wish to create for ourselves. The outward-looking policy
marks a new beginning for the EU's relations with other countries, with
an emphasis on unapologetic self-interest at its core. Gone is the
fluffy talk of trade justice or making globalisation work for the
world's poorer countries. Instead Mandelson promises simply "a sharper
focus on market opening and stronger rules in new trade areas of
economic importance for us".
An intricate plan of attack
Joseph Stiglitz
October 6, 2006 01:40 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/joseph_stiglitz/2006/10/stiglitz_1.html
At its recent annual meeting, World Bank officials spoke extensively
about corruption. It is an understandable concern: money that the bank
lends to developing countries that ends up in secret bank accounts or
finances some contractors' luxurious lifestyle leaves a country more
indebted, not more prosperous.
James Wolfensohn, the bank's previous president, and I are widely
credited with putting corruption on the bank's agenda, against
opponents who regarded corruption as a political issue, not an economic
one, and thus outside the bank's mandate. Our research showed
systematic relationships between corruption and economic growth, which
allowed us to pursue this critical issue.
A raw deal
Daniel Davies
October 6, 2006 01:09 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/daniel_davies/2006/10/gamblers_ruin.html
The US government's latest attack on the gambling industry is really
quite subtly dangerous. The general project of attempting to stop
Americans from gambling online is one that might or might not work, but
the specific attempt that has been made to enlist the banks and credit
card companies to act as the police (described by my mate Henry Farrell
here at Crooked Timber) seems to me to be actively dangerous.
Basically, in making it impossible to use normal payment systems in
order to get something that a lot of Americans want, the effect of the
US legislation is going to be to train a whole new generation of money
launderers.
In the near term, the ability of governments to enforce their power on
the internet is underestimated, as we saw from the success of the
French ban on Yahoo auctions of Nazi memorabilia. The effect of
arresting a few chief executives has been quite galvanic in forcing the
UK and European gambling industry to make a good-faith effort to ban
American users, and this ban has been roughly 90% effective, which is
as much as it was reasonable to hope for.
Double Jack's standards
Mike Marqusee
October 6, 2006 12:41 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/mike_marqusee/2006/10/post_487.html
It has become routine in this country for those who wish to give vent
to prejudice to insist that they only wish to start a "debate". How
could anyone object? Debate is always a good thing. But when the
premises informing the putative debate are riddled with double
standards and unexamined assumptions, one has to wonder if the real aim
is not to provoke (or justify) something much less benign than a
debate.
Like Jack Straw, I find it awkward to talk with women who veil their
faces. Unlike Jack Straw, I don't assume that the onus is on them to
relieve me of my discomfort, or that this discomfort is inevitable and
entrenched, or that it betokens an unbridgeable cultural gap or
irreconcilable social difference.
Condi's top priority
Brian Whitaker
October 6, 2006 12:29 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/brian_whitaker/2006/10/condis_big_deal.=
html
With a cheery wave and admiring smiles from the Palestinian president,
Condoleezza Rice continues her whirlwind visit to "moderate" parts of
the Middle East. Meanwhile, the real purpose of her trip is becoming a
little clearer.
According to the Wall Street Journal (subscribers only), "leaders
across the political spectrum" in Israel "now agree that Israel must
find ways to work with other Middle Eastern states, even if that means
dealing with governments that have been hostile to Israel in the past".
Incitement to hatred
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1889768,00.html
Politicians and the media are creating an ominous climate by exploiting
fear and ignorance of Muslims
Soumaya Ghannoushi
Saturday October 7, 2006
The Guardian
Watching the news or reading the papers, you'd think that Muslims were
Britain 's No 1 problem. Everyone, it seems, is frantically racing to
offer magic cures for this chronic disease. Islam and Muslims are only
ever invoked as objects of fear and horror: terrorism, forced marriage,
honour killing and fanaticism. Over the past few days, hostility to
Muslims has dominated the media: from the saga of the Muslim policeman
excused guard duty outside the Israeli embassy to the violent attacks
on a Muslim-owned dairy in Windsor and Jack Straw's complaints about
Muslim women who cover their faces. An ominous climate is being
created.
Sinking in the Iraqi quagmire and lost in the Afghan labyrinth, Tony
Blair turns on Muslims at home, demanding they clear up the mess he and
his neocon allies have created. His communities secretary, Ruth Kelly,
joins the rightwing French interior minister, Nicholas Sarkozy, in his
war on multiculturalism. The hawkish John Reid launches his bid for the
leadership of the Labour party by lecturing Muslim parents on how they
should bring up their children. Image-obsessed David Cameron seeks to
lure rightwing voters with a promise to "break Muslims ghettoes" and
Straw seeks to revive his flagging fortunes by flexing his manly muscle
at vulnerable female Muslim constituents.
It isn't enough to say anyone can wear whatever they like
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1889747,00.html
There is too much overreaction and striking of attitudes on Muslim
veils. But Jack Straw was right to raise the issue
Martin Kettle
Saturday October 7, 2006
The Guardian
Whatever else you may think about Jack Straw's wish for Muslim women
not to wear the veil, he is undoubtedly right about one thing. As the
former home secretary put it at the end of his Lancashire Telegraph
article this week, there is an issue here. If there was any doubt about
that, the huge response to Straw's views on radio phone-ins and
internet message boards yesterday was proof of it. And since there is
so clearly an issue, it is surely desirable to discuss it in public and
not keep it, er, veiled.
It is beyond all doubt that Straw knew what he was doing. Few senior
politicians are as painstaking in their public utterances as he is.
This former foreign secretary, who so meticulously differentiated
himself from Downing Street in subtle ways over Iran and even Iraq, is
not a man who blunders into controversy - least of all, given that 26%
of the electorate in his Blackburn constituency are Muslims, on Islamic
matters. This man is running for the Labour deputy leadership. He is
looking for profile, fishing for votes.
Face to faith
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1889693,00.html
The peacemakers of the Caucasus must never give up, says John Coutts
Saturday October 7, 2006
The Guardian
'I tell you naught for your comfort," wrote GK Chesterton in The Ballad
of the White Horse. Trevor Huddelston took the grim warning for the
title of his 1956 exposure of South African apartheid. There was,
indeed, little comfort to be had at the time. The Sharpeville massacre
- and much else - was still to come.
And nowadays things look just as grim in Chechnya as attitudes have
hardened on both sides. So, where does that leave the would-be
peacemaker?
EU strikes deal with US over sharing of passenger data
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1889814,00.html
=B7 'Guarantees' that privacy standards will be met
=B7 Green MEPs highlight threat to civil liberties
David Gow in Brussels
Saturday October 7, 2006
The Guardian
US counter-terrorism agencies, including the FBI and CIA, will get
quicker and easier access to the personal data of millions of European
passengers flying across the Atlantic under a deal reached yesterday
between the EU and the Bush administration.
European ministers and senior officials claimed the temporary deal
would ensure data protection and personal privacy standards were met.
"We got concrete guarantees," French justice minister Pascal Cl=E9ment
said. But Green MEPs and others accused the EU of caving into US
pressure at the expense of civil liberties, enabling American agencies
to continue to "plunder" 34 pieces of personal data, including credit
card details, telephone and email contacts and "no-show" records.
The Great Satan vs the Axis of Evil
http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,1888563,00.html
As sabre rattling mounts in Washington, Martin Woollacott surveys
studies of the contradictions and complications of modern Iran
Saturday October 7, 2006
The Guardian
Iran Awakening: A Memoir of Revolution and Hope by by Shirin Ebadi
232pp, Rider, =A312.99
Islam and Democracy in Iran by Ziba Mir-Hosseini and Richard Tapper
198pp, IB Tauris, =A315.99
Democracy in Iran: History and the Quest for Liberty by Ali Gheissari
and Vali Nasr 214pp, Oxford, =A314.99
Iran Today by Dilip Hiro 426pp, Politico's, =A39.99
Modern Iran: Roots and Results of Revolution by Nikki R Keddie 408pp,
Yale, =A312.50
Confronting Iran: The Failure of American Foreign Policy and the Roots
of Mistrust by Ali Ansari 280pp, Hurst, =A316.95
The Persian Puzzle: The Conflict Between Iran and America by Keith
Pollack 539pp, Random House, $15.95
It is the most liberal nation in the Middle East, yet it elected a
deeply illiberal president. It is the most pro-American country in the
Muslim world, yet its citizens abhor the prospect of American
intervention. It is a nation which has seen too much war, yet it is
planning to produce nuclear weapons, or at least to acquire the
capacity to do so. It is a land where a narrowly defined Islamic
ideology holds sway, yet where modern and humane versions of religion
have been pursued more intensely than anywhere else in the realm of
Islam. It is run by a government which, as European diplomats have
found, is always ready to talk about difficulties but rarely ready to
settle them. It is a place both democratic and undemocratic, both
westernised and anti-western, both religious and irreligious. It is, in
short, Iran, the home of a complex, engaging and unique civilisation.
And it is also a country which, given certain decisions in Washington,
we may be bombing next week, next month, or next year.
The outlaws
http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,1888594,00.html
As Robin Hood returns to our television screens, Tom Dewe Mathews looks
back on the McCarthy-era version, which provided the perfect vehicle
for Hollywood's blacklisted scriptwriters
Saturday October 7, 2006
The Guardian
Robin Hood returns to the small screen tonight. The BBC promises that
its new production will be both "modern and medieval". Yet, however
much street-cred accrues to the new man in Lincoln green, it is likely
that this version will pale culturally and politically compared to that
of the late 1950s, when ATV's The Adventures of Robin Hood was a Trojan
Horse that carried Hollywood communists into our homes.
The ATV version was conceived, written and produced as a means of
employing communist scriptwriters who had been blacklisted from the
Hollywood studios by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC),
headed by Senator Joseph McCarthy. For this reason, the scriptwriters
wrote under pseudonyms, so the first episode, "The Coming of Robin",
for example, is credited to Lawrence McClellan. "McClellan" was really
Ring Lardner Jr, a member of the Hollywood Ten who refused to give up
the names of communist comrades to the HUAC. (Lardner was hustled out
of the Washington hearings in 1947, after he told the committee: "I
would answer that, but I couldn't face myself in the morning if I
did.")
Robin Hood returns to the small screen tonight. The BBC promises that
its new production will be both "modern and medieval". Yet, however
much street-cred accrues to the new man in Lincoln green, it is likely
that this version will pale culturally and politically compared to that
of the late 1950s, when ATV's The Adventures of Robin Hood was a Trojan
Horse that carried Hollywood communists into our homes.
Mummies of 'cloud warriors' tribe found in Peruvian cave
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article1816823.ece
By Daniel Howden
Published: 07 October 2006
Archaeologists in Peru have discovered an underground burial vault that
could unlock the mystery of a pre-Colombian tribe known as the
"warriors of the clouds".
The Chachapoyas commanded a vast kingdom stretching across the Andes to
the fringe of Peru's northern Amazon jungle until they were conquered
by the Incas in the 15th century.
A depressing week
Asim Siddiqui
October 7, 2006 08:36 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/asim_siddiqui/2006/10/what_a_depressing=
_week.html
This week has been exceptionally depressing. The number of negative
news stories involving British Muslims is enough to make people wonder
whether anything else was happening in the world. The policeman not
wishing to protect the Israeli embassy in London, violence surrounding
mosque plans in Windsor and Jack Straw's comments on the face veil -
all hit the front pages and news channels on the same day.
Part of the problem is that exaggerated views are so much more
newsworthy. In an age of headline-grabbing ratings and a saturation of
channels and newspapers, the ones that shout the loudest bring in the
sales and boost the ratings. Moderate views are, quite frankly, boring.
Walking on eggshells
Rime Allaf
October 6, 2006 06:10 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/rime_allaf/2006/10/towards_braver_and_f=
airer_midd.html
It has become disheartening, albeit ordinary, to observe that most
people in positions of power, authority or responsibility in
US-friendly countries treat the Arab-Israeli conflict in one of two
ways: with kid gloves and exaggerated detachment (speaking of "two
sides" while pretending to be objective and neutral, as many EU states
do) or with confident partisanship and only feigned concern for the
region (unwaveringly replicating Israel's rhetoric and supporting its
position, as the Anglo-American partners, standing
shoulder-to-shoulder, demonstrated this summer). While the latter's
glaring double standards are infuriating, the former's deceptive
engagement only creates false hopes.
It is supposedly when excellencies become ex-excellencies, or so one
would have hoped, that they become free to voice opinions, to let their
sense of justice overtake realpolitik, and to demand the application of
international law, all of which can only benefit the dispossessed
Palestinian people in dire need of help, and bring Israel the security
and peace it claims to be seeking.
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