Springtime in the desert
Dana Moss
August 24, 2007 9:00 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/dana_moss/2007/08/springtime_in_the_des=
ert.html
The relative of a head of state recently declared: "We have to open
the door for women." Without utilising their skills, she said, the
country would never witness an economic boom. Such an announcement
would be unremarkable - except the woman making the statement was
Princess Adelah bint Abdullah bint Abdul Aziz, daughter of King
Abdullah, Saudi Arabia's ruler. Indeed, in the desert kingdom, where
women are second class citizens who cannot vote, drive or own real
estate, change is slowly coming for the female half of the population.
Needing to reinvigorate the kingdom's economy and provide jobs for
Saudi Arabia's youthful and potentially restless population, reform-
minded King Abdullah is trying to expand the female workforce. Women
currently represent a mere 5% of Saudi economic life. When Microsoft
billionaire Bill Gates was asked at the World Economic Forum whether
the kingdom could become one of the world's top competitive economies
by 2010, he replied: "If you're not fully utilising half the talent in
the country, you're not going to get too close to the top 10."
Common ground
Christopher Harvie
August 24, 2007 8:00 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/christopher_harvie/2007/08/common_groun=
d=2Ehtml
Since May we've been into the campaign for real politics, and Alex
Salmond is a class brew, not something gaseous flogged by PR men. The
world of Blair and Campbell, switched-on public charisma contrasted
with obsessive private targeting and frightening torrents of neurosis,
has dissolved. Salmond on song embodies what Richard Crossman called
"the charm of politics", or Disraeli's "with words we govern men".
Unpredictable, and maybe over-risky, but fascinating and fricative:
bringing new ideas into play and reviving old ones.
Enter one old factor, sensed by Jack McConnell and broadened by his
successor: the Commonwealth. Not post-Empire compensation but the
ideology of David Lindsay's John the Commonweal and Scotland's
Community of the Realm, which was the republicanism of George
Buchanan. A flexible, conciliatory creed. Salmond has recognised - as
Blair and Brown did not - that the Queen's Commonwealth loyalty gave
her a flexibility in negotiation which Westminster politicians lacked.
The resulting informal concordat between Strichen and Balmoral seems
based on a pretty shrewd assessment of the life-chances of multi-
national groupings. It could lead to somewhere big.
Kicking off
Seth Freedman
August 24, 2007 7:00 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/seth_freedman/2007/08/kicking_off.html
There is a long history of sportsmen using the cover of overseas
matches to abscond to their host country and refuse to return to their
homeland, usually for economic or political reasons. While it would be
utterly impractical to vet every single participant in sporting events
for the likelihood of their defecting, it is still understandable when
officials occasionally bar entry to teams and players if they are
suspicious of their motives for travel.
So, when the Foreign Office this week turned down visa applications by
the Palestine under-19 football team to tour England - on the grounds
that they "failed to meet entry criteria" - the decision should have
been treated as an isolated decision.
Drowning in liquidity
Melvyn Krauss
August 23, 2007 10:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/melvyn_krauss/2007/08/drowning_in_liqui=
dity.html
The possibility that the European Central Bank may raise interest
rates in the midst of a financial crisis recalls the great American
orator William Jennings Bryan's famous "cross of gold" speech in 1896.
Referring to the international gold standard's deflationary bias,
Bryan railed: "You shall not press down upon the brow of labor a crown
of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold."
In other words, ordinary people should not be made to suffer for the
foibles of policymakers enthralled by some defunct economic theory.
Come back Karl Rove, all is forgiven
Ian Williams
August 23, 2007 9:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/ian_williams/2007/08/bushs_brain_has_tr=
uly_gone.html
There can have been few speeches more laughable than George Bush's
latest. Referring to books he has surely never read, laden with
specious historical parallels guaranteed to turn round and bite him in
the bum, it is one long "speechwriter wanted at the White House" ad.
But bad speechwriting notwithstanding, didn't the president remember
that Karl Rove's parting words were almost certainly "Don't mention
Vietnam"? The parallels are obvious: a prolonged war started on false
pretences in which untold thousands on both sides die and the US is
eventually driven out anyway.
Putin's powerplay
Anna Matveeva
August 23, 2007 8:30 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/anna_matveeva/2007/08/putins_powerplay.=
html
A Kashmiri Muslim shopkeeper at my local store in north London knows I
am Russian. He told me the other day he loves the Russian president -
the man who is strong and can stand up to the Americans. As in the
Soviet days, Russia increasingly is being seen as the only force that
can challenge the US hegemony, even if only in symbolical terms.
In the last year, Kremlin made several strong-worded declarations
asserting its stance towards the west and took initiatives to
strengthen its military capabilities. Defence exports have also grown
and became more technologically sophisticated.
Dressed to kill
Brian Whitaker
August 23, 2007 8:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/brian_whitaker/2007/08/dressed_to_kill.=
html
There's no doubt that the Taliban government of Afghanistan was one of
the most fearsomely puritanical regimes the world has ever seen. The
list of banned activities included music, dancing, shaving, keeping
pigeons and flying kites - though as a Taliban official once helpfully
suggested, people who felt a need for entertainment could always "go
to the parks and see the flowers".
The Taliban also banned images of the human form. Faces were
obliterated from posters in the streets and heads removed from the
dummies in clothes shops. But the ban on photographs caused some
obvious difficulties for Afghans who wanted to travel, and so a few
small studio shops were allowed to operate, taking pictures for
passport purposes.
The internet comes of age
Victor Keegan
August 23, 2007 7:30 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/victor_keegan/2007/08/endgame_for_silve=
r_surfers.html
Silver surfers, defined as internet users over the age of 65, spend
more time on the web (42 hours a week) than any other group, according
to the annual report of Ofcom, the communications regulator.
Good. Now let's get rid of them: not the people, the phrase. It is as
patronising as it is counterproductive to call someone a silver
surfer, conjuring up a picture of granny actually being able to type a
few words into Google and then press carriage return all on her own. A
lot of today's over-65s, let alone the over-50s, lived through the
personal computer revolution of the early 1980s, sparked by the
arrival of the BBC B computer and the Sinclair Spectrum, either
actively themselves or through their children.
The rubbish man of Europe
Darren Johnson
August 23, 2007 7:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/darren_johnson/2007/08/the_rubbish_man_=
of_europethe_rubbish_man_of_europea_load_of_rubbish.html
Compared with other European countries, England is one of worst
offenders for recycling and for generating waste, for each head of
population and for recycling - and London has one of the worst rates
of recycling in England, only managing to recycle a fifth of the waste
it generates.
The quantity London currently produces stands at 18m tonnes and is
forecast to rise to 23m in 2020. Recent government figures showed that
the amount of waste sent to landfill sites from greater London
increased by 21% between 2003 and 2005.
An oil stain on London
Angie Bray
August 23, 2007 6:30 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/angie_bray/2007/08/an_oil_stain_on_lond=
on.html
On the day last year when City Hall was overtaken by mysterious men in
dark glasses heralding the arrival of Venezuela's president, Hugo
Ch=E1vez, the Conservative group invited along one of the many dissident
groups in the country whose members have had to flee abroad since he
took office. Of course, Ken banned them from the building.
So, in an office across the road, I saw something that put into very
sharp focus the people with whom our mayor chooses to associate
himself and, by proxy, London.
After the gold rush
Will Somerville
August 23, 2007 6:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/will_somerville/2007/08/after_the_gold_=
rush.html
The record number of people leaving the country - a shade short of
200,000 - confirms that large-scale emigration has joined large-scale
immigration as a fact of British life. But in our obsession with the
present scale of the two, we are ignoring a fundamental question about
the future.
The trends in migration to and from Britain are not blips. Two forces,
economics and networks, make mass migration likely for the foreseeable
future. Given our ageing population and high-performing economy, job
gaps will continue to appear in the British economy at both high and
low ends. Increasing globalisation means firms will move people to
wherever they are needed, and the government will acquiesce in their
movement rather than lose out to neighbouring countries.
After the gold rush
Will Somerville
August 23, 2007 6:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/will_somerville/2007/08/after_the_gold_=
rush.html
The record number of people leaving the country - a shade short of
200,000 - confirms that large-scale emigration has joined large-scale
immigration as a fact of British life. But in our obsession with the
present scale of the two, we are ignoring a fundamental question about
the future.
The trends in migration to and from Britain are not blips. Two forces,
economics and networks, make mass migration likely for the foreseeable
future. Given our ageing population and high-performing economy, job
gaps will continue to appear in the British economy at both high and
low ends. Increasing globalisation means firms will move people to
wherever they are needed, and the government will acquiesce in their
movement rather than lose out to neighbouring countries.
Our friends electric
Laura Marcus
August 23, 2007 5:30 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/laura_marcus/2007/08/our_friends_electr=
ic.html
Some of my best friends are people I never see and may never meet. Is
that really possible? Surely true friendship requires proximity?
Ideally, yes, of course it does. But the news this week that, for the
first time in its short history, the net in the UK is being used more
by women than by men indicates how strongly ties formed across a
screen can be - and how much they mean to us.
Of course, Radio 4's Today programme came out with the usual glib
explanation: we're all shopping, of course! In fact, women are
embracing the net in ever growing numbers and across all ages because
it's a terrific form of communication and a brilliant way to make
friends.
This is a war for credibility
Martin Woollacott
August 23, 2007 5:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/martin_woollacott/2007/08/so_bush_has_f=
inally_used.html
So, Bush has finally used the V-word. He has drawn the parallel he has
in the past refused to draw between Iraq and Vietnam. His avoidance of
it had two obvious causes, personal and political: a bystander in the
first war and the instigator of the second, he did not want to remind
Americans that he was a man who sent others to fight but had never
fought himself. And he has not wanted, until now, to suggest that the
US faces a disaster in Iraq as big as that represented by defeat in
Vietnam.
Why has he invoked Vietnam in this way? Desperation is one answer.
Bush paints the spectacle of national humiliation, tragic results for
allies and friends, and the emboldening of America's enemies in order
to strengthen his weak hold on the allegiance and attention of the
American people. Alibi is another: if the war is to be lost, he wants
to be on the record that he warned of the consequences if defeatists
had their way. That way, Republicans could return to power at some
future point claiming that the decline in American influence in the
world, to which Iraq will almost certainly lead, came about because
Democrats ran out on the war.
The new nihilists
David Mills
August 23, 2007 4:30 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/david_mills/2007/08/the_new_nihilists.h=
tml
Another day, another murder at the hands of a bunch of kids. Jessie
James, Evren Anil, Garry Newlove, and now Rhys Jones (not to mention
many others). Jacqui Smith said she was shocked. But surely, no matter
how tragic and saddening this latest shooting is, it has become a
routine reminder of the undeniable fact that our streets are roamed by
teenage guerrillas looking to cause trouble, regardless of the
consequences? As one Croxteth resident said: "This has been a long
time coming. I've half-expected something like this for a while now."
What makes Rhys Jones's murder all the more poignant is not just that
he was aged 11, but that one of the arrested suspects was only three
years older. Three of the youths arrested in connection with Garry
Newlove's murder are 15. There has been a number of opinions as to
what the causes of these crimes are and how we should tackle them,
from alcohol to military service. To borrow Andrew Antony's
liberalspeak, these crimes are rooted in social deprivation - namely,
poor education, difficult home lives and poverty.
Alberto Gonzales, angel of death
Dan Kennedy
August 23, 2007 4:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/dan_kennedy/2007/08/alberto_gonzales_an=
gel_of_deat.html
Alberto Gonzales, the ethically-challenged US attorney general, is on
the verge of having the power of life and death bestowed upon him.
Thanks to a little-known provision in the Patriot Act, executions
would be speeded up, and the attorney general would usurp the right of
judges to determine if states are providing competent lawyers to
defendants charged with capital crimes.
So Alberto Gonzales, meet Kenneth Foster.
Staking a claim against racism
Hugh Muir
August 23, 2007 3:30 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/hugh_muir/2007/08/there_are_some_harsh_=
words.html
Some harsh words are being spoken today. As I write this, Jesse
Jackson is addressing the Slavery Memorial Day service at London's
City Hall. He is speaking of the British government's complicity with
apartheid, and holding it partly culpable for the gun violence in our
inner cities.
If they can pull out the stops to try to stop arms flowing into Iraq,
he is saying, why can't they stem the flow to Brixton, Peckham,
Manchester or in Bristol. He is telling a mostly black audience that
they must not "self-destruct"; that they are "children of God", not
"niggers and bitches"; that they are due some recompense for the
damage done by slavery.
China's toxic problem
Pietra Rivoli
August 23, 2007 3:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/pietra_rivoli/2007/08/chinas_toxic_prob=
lem.html
On the glitzy streets of Shanghai today, one can easily find Western
trappings such as a Starbucks or Pizza Hut. Not so easy to find,
however, is a real newspaper. The International Herald Tribune or the
Financial Times are sometimes available in the gift shops of the
fanciest hotels, but the only English language paper for sale at
newsstands around town is the China Daily. The Daily, it is safe to
say, is not a real newspaper. It fairly reeks of Communist party
control.
Of course, many things in China are not real, from Nike shoes to Louis
Vuitton bags to the pirated DVDs. As the recent spate of news stories
shows, the more ominous fakes threaten the health and well-being of
consumers throughout the world. Fake blood-sugar test strips, baby
formula and cough medicines are just a few recent examples.
Draft measures
Chris Ames
August 23, 2007 2:30 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/chris_ames/2007/08/draft_measures.html
In the New Statesman today I reveal that Alastair Campbell placed the
September 2002 Iraq dossier in the hands of the propaganda unit that
later produced the really "dodgy dossier"; that the government misled
both the Hutton inquiry and the Butler review about the genesis of the
dossier; and that there was an even earlier version of the document
than the still suppressed draft by Foreign Office press secretary John
Williams.
It is not surprising that the government has until now concealed the
involvement of the Coalition Information Centre (CIC) in the dossier.
The CIC is a propaganda unit set up by Campbell to promote UK
involvement in US-led wars, sorry, "the war on terror".
Fighting firearms
Open Thread
August 23, 2007 2:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/open_thread/2007/08/fighting_firearms.h=
tml
In recent months, tragic shootings in London and Manchester have
highlighted the problem of gun crime among young people in Britain.
Yesterday another young victim, 11-year old Rhys Jones, was shot in
the neck outside a pub in Liverpool. The home secretary, Jacqui Smith
responded to the news by vowing to get "as tough as it needs to get
guns off our streets and people out of gangs".
Girl trouble
Cynthia McVey
August 23, 2007 1:30 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/cynthia_mcvey/2007/08/girl_trouble.html
Recently, we have heard a good deal of concern expressed about the
"yob culture" - The politicians are promising to address this.
Worryingly, recent research, as well as anecdotal accounts, have
indicated that yobs now include girls who are also involved in gangs,
with some carrying knives.
Should we be surprised at this? Not really - although I understand why
it may be hard for many to understand why females would be involved in
what we believe to be male-type behaviour.
Britain is still a slave economy
Rahila Gupta
August 23, 2007 1:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/rahila_gupta/2007/08/britain_is_still_a=
_slave_economy.html
Would you be shocked to discover that in modern Britain there is a
substantial minority of people who are starved, imprisoned, beaten,
sexually violated and made to work 18 hours a day, seven days a week?
The locations are many and varied: a walk-up flat in Soho where a
trafficked woman sells her body; a beach where cocklepickers work in
the middle of the night; the kitchen of a middle-class family, where
the servant sleeps; or the bedroom in which a man imprisons his
"foreign wife".
A model friend
Martin Kettle
August 23, 2007 12:30 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/martin_kettle/2007/08/a_model_friend.ht=
ml
When in doubt, stick with Germany. That ought generally to be
Britain's policy on matters European, so it ought to be Gordon Brown's
golden rule in Europe too. Yesterday's summit with German chancellor
Angela Merkel may be a good sign that the PM is looking in a German
direction over Europe. But I'm not sure he really gets it yet.
There are three big reasons why Britain should always, other things
being equal, want to be in alliance with Germany. The first is because
Germany is the most important country in the European Union. The
second is because Germany is broadly right about most international
issues (and that includes most international economic issues) most of
the time. And the third is because Germany is not France.
The history boys
Mick Fealty
August 23, 2007 12:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/mick_fealty/2007/08/blessed_are_the_dea=
lmakers.html
David (Lord) Putnam was the first UK parliamentarian to give an
address to the annual commemoration of the assassination of Michael
Collins, who was killed after making the deal with Lloyd George that
finally brought the Irish Free State independence from the UK.
Democracy's new dawn is on CCTV: the security state as infotainment
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2155136,00.html
So keen are America's leaders to hear dissent they're videotaping the
dissenters. Welcome to a world of total surveillance
Naomi Klein
Friday August 24, 2007
The Guardian
As protesters gathered recently outside the Security and Prosperity
Partnership summit in Montebello, Quebec, to confront George Bush,
Felipe Calder=F3n, the Mexican president, and Stephen Harper, the
Canadian prime minister, Associated Press reported this surreal
detail: "Leaders were not able to see the protesters in person, but
they could watch the protesters on TV monitors inside the hotel ...
Cameramen hired to ensure that demonstrators would be able to pass
along their messages to the three leaders sat idly in a tent full of
audio and video equipment ... A sign on the outside of the tent said,
'Our cameras are here today providing your right to be seen and heard.
Please let us help you get your message out. Thank You.'"
The BBC has squandered trust. But we will win it back
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2155195,00.html
Only the deluded would deny that public faith has been gravely
damaged. To repair it, we must build on existing values
Mark Thompson
Friday August 24, 2007
The Guardian
'We have had no end of a lesson; it will do us no end of good." That
was Kipling's verdict on the British and the Boer war. It seems like a
fair comment on the experience of the BBC and the other major British
broadcasters this year in the matter of trust.
Public trust is not a new topic for us. We've always known that it's
the foundation on which everything the BBC does is built. We've also
known that it's asymmetrical - easy to lose, slow and difficult to
restore.
The advocates of partition in Iraq only make things worse
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2155130,00.html
However misguided were Bush's remarks this week, at least he didn't
further fuel ethnic conflict by calling to split the country
Jonathan Steele
Friday August 24, 2007
The Guardian
The death toll from last week's staggeringly brutal attacks by suicide
bombers on two small-town communities in northern Iraq has crept up
above 500, making it by far the worst atrocity since the 2003
invasion. No other mass killing has come within even half that total.
Why did four truck bombers make these people their target? The mind
struggles for an answer. The Yezidis are one of Iraq's smallest
religious minorities, who follow an ancient cult unique to themselves.
They wield no political or economic power. They live in an area that
is remote from the key cities at the eye of Iraq's recurring
hurricanes.
Drown the silver surfer
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2155196,00.html
Web-literate older people are making waves online. But that's quite
enough condescension, thanks
Victor Keegan
Friday August 24, 2007
The Guardian
Silver surfers over the age of 65 spend more time on the web (42 hours
a week) than any other group, according to Ofcom, the communications
regulator. Good, now let's get rid of them. Not the people, the
phrase. It is as patronising as it is counter-productive to call
someone a silver surfer, conjuring up a pensioner actually able to
type a few words into Google and press carriage return all on his or
her own. A lot of today's over-65s, let alone over-50s, lived through
the personal computer revolution of the early 1980s - sparked by the
BBC B computer and the Sinclair Spectrum. Now with more time on their
hands, and often more money, they are the natural beneficiaries of the
innovations sweeping the web.
Feeding the fear gene
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2155197,00.html
Health scares are almost a religion for the media - but this summer we
are in danger of overdosing
Mark Lawson
Friday August 24, 2007
The Guardian
It began as a rash, a summer virus of a familiar kind, but by
yesterday morning had become an epidemic, leading readers to fear for
their sanity. Within the pages of a single British newspaper, it was
reported that pensioners risk sexually transmitted infections because
of their energetic bedhopping; that daily exposure to the sun may help
to prevent cancer; that so-called good cholesterol might actually
increase the risk of heart attacks; and that permitting nurses to
write prescriptions is putting patients at risk.
Our intervention in Afghanistan has nothing to do with jingoism
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2155112,00.html
Progress may take decades, but we must stay the course for the sake of
the Afghan people, says Kim Howells
Dr Kim Howells
Friday August 24, 2007
The Guardian
Simon Jenkins raises many important issues about the challenges of
building a modern state in Afghanistan (It takes inane optimism to see
victory in Afghanistan, August 8). But his central premise that this
is a British "post-imperial spasm, a knee-jerk jingoism" is plain
wrong.
I have visited Afghanistan a number of times and there is no doubting
the international community's common view of the task ahead, nor the
fact that the overwhelming majority of Afghan people reject the
Taliban and their brutal tactics. Afghanistan has suffered 30 years of
despair and conflict. It remains one of the poorest and least
developed countries on earth. Britain and its international partners
are determined to ensure that the country does not slip back into
being run by a regime that terrorises and intimidates its people. We
want to see Afghanistan back on its feet as an independent democratic
state, responsible for its own actions.
I'm becoming a less confident driver - especially in a country where
the Vatican writes the highway code
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,2155226,00.html
The church says that the road 'must not be an instrument of death, but
one of communion'
Alexander Chancellor
Friday August 24, 2007
The Guardian
I have spent a lot of time on the road during my holiday in Tuscany,
driving a car hither and thither on countless errands. But I find I
drive with less confidence as I get older, and especially so in Italy,
where I am sometimes awestruck by the risks that other drivers are
prepared to take.
That driving in Italy is dangerous is confirmed by the fact that about
6,000 people die in car accidents each year; and by a report of the
Italian Automobile Club saying that, among drivers under 24, more than
40% break the speed limits, 37% don't wear seat belts, and 7% drive
when drunk.
Dogs and samosas
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,2155230,00.html
Noorjehan Barmania
Friday August 24, 2007
The Guardian
Growing up in apartheid South Africa, Sundays always meant a long
drive in the White Group Areas. Without stopping of course. Because
stopping might mean that the little brown family in the car were
planning a coup, and not simply wondering about the white lives those
houses hid, and which brown relative to visit that evening.
Uncle Akram invariably won. And not because his samosas were the best
but because he was vividly eccentric. He'd been a sailor in the
British navy and had come back to South Africa tattooed. This was
shocking for a Muslim - but then Akram was more rock'n'roll than
Muslim. He held court behind dark sunglasses in his subterranean
lounge with the curtains drawn. His beloved black Doberman, Bruno, sat
vigilantly by his side.
World faces threat from new deadly diseases as scientists struggle to
keep up, say experts
http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,,2155194,00.html
=B7 Infectious illness spreads at fastest rate in history
=B7 WHO calls for worldwide effort to avoid pandemics
Polly Curtis, health correspondent
Friday August 24, 2007
The Guardian
The world will face a new deadly threat on the scale of Aids, Sars and
Ebola within a decade, the world's leading authority on health said
yesterday, as it warned that diseases were spreading more quickly than
at any time in history.
New diseases are emerging at an unprecedented rate, of one a year, and
are becoming more difficult to treat, says the World Health
Organisation's annual report. It paints a bleak picture of future
health threats, with science struggling to keep up as diseases
increasingly become drug resistant.
Republican senator urges Bush to start Iraq exit by Christmas
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2155309,00.html
=B7 Call comes after bleak US intelligence assessment
=B7 Military fears Tet-style offensive in coming weeks
Ewen MacAskill in Washington
Friday August 24, 2007
The Guardian
A senior Republican senator, John Warner, last night urged President
George Bush to begin bringing troops back from Iraq by Christmas, as
US intelligence agencies published a bleak assessment of the chances
of progress in the country in the next 12 months.
Mr Warner, who has recently returned from Iraq and is widely respected
by his Republican colleagues, went much further than in June when he
first broke ranks with Mr Bush over the war. After a meeting with
White House aides, he told reporters: "We simply cannot, as a nation,
stand and continue to put our troops at continuous risk of loss of
life and limb without beginning to take some decisive action."
Playwright's portrait paints Sarkozy as a vain, childlike egotist
http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,,2155346,00.html
=B7 Yasmina Reza given access to presidential campaign
=B7 Publication follows claims holiday snaps airbrushed
Angelique Chrisafis in Paris
Friday August 24, 2007
The Guardian
Nicolas Sarkozy is a pint-sized egotist with a limp who hates being
alone, rails at his "bloody stupid" publicists and is ashamed of his
pet chihuahua named Big, according to a book published today by the
French playwright Yasmina Reza.
The French president allowed Reza, best known for her West End hit
Art, to trail him for a year in the run-up to his May election. He
knew that authorising a portrait by a literary figure would boost his
standing in the arts world, where he is derided for his lack of
cultural standing and tacky tastes, which include the ageing rocker
Johnny Hallyday. "Even if you demolish me, you will make me bigger,"
he told Reza as she began the project.
Guano theory in bridge collapse
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2155336,00.html
Ed Pilkington in New York
Friday August 24, 2007
The Guardian
Inspectors searching for the causes of the collapse of a Minnesota
bridge this month that killed at least 13 people have identified
pigeon droppings as a possible factor.
It is thought the build-up of guano over many years could have speeded
up the rusting of the steel beams in the eight-lane bridge, which
collapsed into the Mississippi on August 1.
Structural engineers had been aware of the problem since as early as
1987, when inspectors noted a coating of guano on the inside of some
of the steel girders.
Jailed dissident's wife under house arrest in Beijing
http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,,2155262,00.html
=B7 Trip to collect husband's award thrown into doubt
=B7 Ban seen as test of human rights commitment
Jonathan Watts in Beijing
Friday August 24, 2007
The Guardian
The wife of a jailed Chinese activist was under house arrest last
night less than 24 hours before she was due to fly to the Philippines
to collect an award on her husband's behalf.
Yuan Weijing, the wife of the blind activist Chen Chuangcheng, said
the decision on whether she can travel would be a test of China's
commitment to improve human rights ahead of the 2008 Olympics. Mr Chen
has won this year's Magsaysay award, often described as Asia's Nobel
prize, for his one-man campaign on behalf of peasants, disabled people
and women forced into abortions.
Pakistan court quashes former PM's exile
http://www.guardian.co.uk/pakistan/Story/0,,2155282,00.html
=B7 Musharraf's arch-rival free to return, says chief justice
=B7 Ruling deepens political pressure on president
Declan Walsh in Islamabad
Friday August 24, 2007
The Guardian
President Pervez Musharraf's political problems deepened yesterday
when the Pakistan supreme court ruled that his arch-rival, the former
prime minister Nawaz Sharif, is free to return home after seven years
in exile.
Mr Sharif and his brother Shahbaz, currently living in London, have an
inalienable right of return, said the chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad
Chaudhry, whom Mr Musharraf tried to fire earlier this year. The
government should not try to impede Mr Sharif's return, the judge
warned.
Bolivian MPs trade punches in row over control of judiciary
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2155178,00.html
Rory Carroll, Latin America correspondent
Friday August 24, 2007
The Guardian
Bolivia's congress this week descended into a bout of fighting, with
MPs hitting and kicking each other in an argument over control of the
judiciary. The brief but bruising fight was broadcast on television
and boosted widespread tension concerning ambitious attempts by
President Evo Morales to overhaul the state.
The violence flared in the lower house when opposition congressmen
tried to stop supporters of Mr Morales from bringing corruption
charges against the country's highest court.
Sudan expels western diplomats as pressure mounts over Darfur
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sudan/story/0,,2155177,00.html
Ian Black, Middle East editor
Friday August 24, 2007
The Guardian
Sudan has expelled a top Canadian diplomat and the European
commission's envoy as it faces international pressure over the crisis
in Darfur.
The two were summoned on Wednesday to the foreign ministry in
Khartoum, which confirmed yesterday that it had declared them persona
non grata for "intervention in the internal affairs of the Sudan" - a
euphemism for spying.
Canada and the EU, like many western countries, have been highly
critical of the Sudanese government's role in Darfur, where more than
200,000 people have died since ethnic African rebels took up arms
against the Arab-dominated central government in 2003.
50 arrested as police storm play in Belarus
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2155174,00.html
Tom Parfitt in Moscow
Friday August 24, 2007
The Guardian
Police special forces stormed the performance of a play by an
underground theatre group in Belarus on Wednesday and arrested 50
people, it has emerged.
The British playwright Tom Stoppard, who has supported the Free
Theatre for several years, told the Guardian he learned of the raid
through a text message sent by one of the theatre's directors, who was
detained in the Belarussian capital, Minsk. Stoppard accused the
authorities of a "grotesque" attack on civil rights.
After 46 years, couple hope to meet again in North Korea
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2155133,00.html
Jack Kim
Friday August 24, 2007
The Guardian
For 70-year-old German Renate Hong, a rare summit between North and
South Korea in October may give her the best chance of seeing her
North Korean husband for the first time in almost half a century.
Renate Kleinle and Hong Ok-gun, an exchange student in East Germany at
the time, met in Jena about two hours from Berlin in 1955. They fell
in love and married, believing they could transcend cold war realities
and raise a family together.
India's secret history: 'A holocaust, one where millions
disappeared...'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/india/story/0,,2155324,00.html
Author says British reprisals involved the killing of 10m, spread over
10 years
Randeep Ramesh in New Delhi
Friday August 24, 2007
The Guardian
A controversial new history of the Indian Mutiny, which broke out 150
years ago and is acknowledged to have been the greatest challenge to
any European power in the 19th century, claims that the British
pursued a murderous decade-long campaign to wipe out millions of
people who dared rise up against them.
In War of Civilisations: India AD 1857, Amaresh Misra, a writer and
historian based in Mumbai, argues that there was an "untold holocaust"
which caused the deaths of almost 10 million people over 10 years
beginning in 1857. Britain was then the world's superpower but, says
Misra, came perilously close to losing its most prized possession:
India.
Spray-on coat leaves shorn sheep happy come rain or shine
http://www.guardian.co.uk/australia/story/0,,2155171,00.html
Barbara McMahon in Sydney
Friday August 24, 2007
The Guardian
Imagine being left outside in freezing weather without any clothes on
or standing naked for hours under a fierce sun. It's not much fun for
newly sheared sheep in Australia, some of whom die of hypothermia or
heat stress within days of having their fleeces removed.
Help may be at hand, however, after a chemist claimed yesterday to
have developed a spray to protect delicate sheepskin from the harsh
Australian elements.
Henry King said his biodegradable lanolin-based spray acts like an
invisible raincoat on shorn sheep and can also be used as a sunscreen.
Trials on livestock in New South Wales, a region badly hit this year
with cold and wet weather, proved a success, he said. Certainly there
will be a market: there are an estimated 120m sheep on the continent.
Scottish inquiry into 'rendition' flights by CIA
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2155348,00.html
Severin Carrell, Scotland correspondent
Friday August 24, 2007
The Guardian
Fresh allegations that British airports were secretly used by the CIA
to "render" Islamist terror suspects to be tortured in secret prisons
or held in Guant=E1namo Bay are to be investigated by Scottish
prosecutors.
Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish justice minister, is to give the lord
advocate a new report alleging that airports in Scotland were used 107
times for refuelling by secret CIA flights, which later carried at
least six suspects, including the senior al-Qaida leader Khalid Sheikh
Mohammed.
Mbeki defends his stance on Zimbabwe
http://www.guardian.co.uk/zimbabwe/article/0,,2155021,00.html
Chris McGreal in Johannesburg
Thursday August 23, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
The South African president, Thabo Mbeki, chided critics of his
handling of the political upheaval in Zimbabwe today, saying his
efforts to mediate between the government and opposition were "on
track" and would deliver a resolution to the crisis.
A meeting of Mr Mbeki's cabinet rejected reports in the South African
press that the talks were failing after Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu-PF
failed to turn up for the first round and the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change said there was no progress at subsequent
negotiations.
Gazprom seeks BP's help to break into American energy supply
http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/article/0,,2155368,00.html
Terry Macalister
Friday August 24, 2007
The Guardian
Russia's Gazprom is trying to muscle its way into the American energy
market by encouraging BP to share a stake in its liquefied natural gas
operation in Trinidad, which supplies the US.
Gazprom, the world's largest gas producer, has already secured a 25%
share of the wholesale gas market in Europe - something that has
caused widespread political unease - and wants to increase its
influence in the US.
Trinidad supplies around two-thirds of America's imported LNG and
although the volumes remain relatively small they are expected to
grow. BP declined to comment on any specific talks with Gazprom on
Trinidad but admitted wide-ranging discussions were ongoing about
future areas for cooperation.
Police guard funerals over mafia feud fears
http://www.guardian.co.uk/italy/story/0,,2155198,00.html
Antonino Condorelli
Friday August 24, 2007
The Guardian
Police trying to curb underworld violence yesterday banned the funeral
processions for two of six Italians who last week were shot in Germany
in a suspected mafia feud. Extra police were drafted to Calabria, in
Italy, to try to contain the feud of 16 years, which has claimed up to
20 lives.
At the village church in Siderno, near San Luca, which has been at the
centre of the feud, about 200 family and friends were present for the
funerals of two brothers of the Pergola family, Francesco, 22, and
Marco, 20. Police allowed the funerals but banned processions to the
church.
Pac-Man finds next level in fear research
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/aug/24/1
Ian Sample Science correspondent
The Guardian Friday August 24 2007
A version of the computer game Pac-Man that delivers an electric shock
to players has revealed how the human brain reacts to imminent danger.
Volunteers played a game in which they had to outrun a virtual
predator as it stalked them around a maze. If caught they received a
shock to the hand.
Hopes rise for new generation of blood pressure drugs
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2007/aug/24/1
Ian Sample, science correspondent
The Guardian Friday August 24 2007
Scientists have discovered a fresh way to regulate blood pressure,
raising hopes for a new generation of drugs to combat strokes and
heart disease.
The finding has excited experts who believe it could boost life
expectancy for people with high blood pressure and offer a potentially
life-saving alternative to patients who fail to respond to drugs
already on the market.
Scientists develop technique to induce out-of-body experiences
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2007/aug/24/2
=B7 Breakthrough could be used in remote surgery
=B7 Virtual reality games may also be improved
Alok Jha, science correspondent
The Guardian Friday August 24 2007
Scientists have induced the age-old phenomenon of out-of-body
experiences in healthy volunteers for the first time.
The technique, which uses a virtual-reality-style set up of cameras
linked to a head-mounted video display, will help researchers
understand how the brain assimilates sensory information to determine
the position of its body.
Food firms accused of understating salt levels
http://society.guardian.co.uk/health/story/0,,2155256,00.html
Ian Sample, science correspondent
Friday August 24, 2007
The Guardian
Consumers are being misled about the salt content of some ready meals
and other processed foods, according to a survey published yesterday.
The report accuses manufacturers of deliberately understating portion
sizes on food labels, in an apparent effort to make the amount of salt
in their products seem as low as possible. In one case a packet of
chicken nuggets gave the salt content for a portion weighing 15g, the
equivalent of just one nugget. Servings of baked beans varied across
brands from half to one third of a 420g can.
Infertility crisis looms in the west as obesity levels soar
http://society.guardian.co.uk/health/story/0,,2155218,00.html
=B7 Couples seeking treatment may double in next decade
=B7 Problem could be eased if women lose weight
Polly Curtis, health correspondent
Friday August 24, 2007
The Guardian
Soaring levels of obesity in the western world are expected to trigger
a major new infertility crisis among women, doctors warn today. The
Lancet reports that the obesity epidemic will leave more couples
struggling to conceive as women suffer more fertility-related
problems.
One expert suggested the proportion of couples seeking infertility
treatment could double to one in five within a decade. "We're at the
tip of the iceberg," said Bill Ledger, professor of obstetrics at the
University of Sheffield. But he said the problem could be eased if
women lost weight before resorting to medical interventions to get
pregnant.
Was George Bush right about Vietnam?
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2891176.ece
This week, President Bush cited America's experience in Vietnam as an
argument against withdrawing from Iraq. Unfortunately, argues Rupert
Cornwell, he had got quite the wrong end of the historical stick
Published: 24 August 2007
There have been surreal moments aplenty in the presidency of George W
Bush. Few, however, can match his invocation of Graham Greene in
defence of America's policy in Iraq. Where Bush is the most faith-
driven of leaders, so unafflicted by self-doubt, Greene is the
mouthpiece par excellence of seedy ambiguity, tattered faith and human
frailty.
The subject was Vietnam, the war that Mr Bush famously chose not to
fight. In the intervening 30-plus years, however, he has plainly
undergone something of a conversion. Vietnam was a noble undertaking,
was his basic message this week to a convention of US veterans. If
anything, the mistake of America was not to stay there longer, a
mistake he has no intention of repeating in Iraq.
Photos show Sudan breaking Darfur arms ban
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/article2891196.ece
By Steve Bloomfield, Africa Correspondent
Published: 24 August 2007
Sudan is continuing to deploy offensive military equipment, including
attack helicopters, in Darfur in defiance of a UN arms embargo and
numerous peace agreements, photographs obtained by Amnesty
International show.
The photographs show military equipment supplied by Russia at West
Darfur's Geneina airport. A previous Amnesty report accused Russia and
Sudan's key ally, China, of supplying military equipment that was used
by the Sudanese armed forces in the troubled region.
Timber mill threatens birthplace of green politics
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/australasia/article2891190.ece
By Kathy Marks in Sydney
Published: 24 August 2007
Residents of Tasmania, the Australian state regarded as the birthplace
of the global environmental movement, are bitterly divided about plans
to build a massive timber-pulping mill in one of the island's most
scenic areas.
The state government and the logging industry are firmly behind the
mill, which will pulp several million tons of woodchips a year for
export. Opponents claim that it will harm the environment, the economy
and public health. Launceston - Tasmania's second-largest city, with a
population of 65,000 - is just 22 miles south.
Burmese junta in military build-up after fuel protests
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article2891194.ece
By Andrew Buncombe, Asia Correspondent
Published: 24 August 2007
In a defiant stand against the military junta, activists in Burma took
to the streets yesterday for the third time in less than a week to
protest against rising fuel prices and soaring inflation. Once again
the march was broken up by the security forces, who dragged away up to
a dozen protesters.
Meanwhile, reports suggest that the authorities are bolstering their
military presence, stationing vehicles and troops out of sight in
local compounds.
Corner of London where a =A3100,000 salary is the norm
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article2891209.ece
By Natale Labia
Published: 24 August 2007
With some of the most expensive properties in the UK, the residents of
Kensington and Chelsea have never tended to be short on cash. But now
a survey has shown that the average salary in the west London borough
has exceeded =A3100,000 a year for the first time.
The survey, by Barclays Bank, also shows the Royal Borough had the
fastest-growing average earnings in the country over the past five
years, cementing its reputation as the play pad of Britain's highest
earners.
Cousin of Estonia's former president charged over 1949 genocide
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2891197.ece
By Jari Tanner in Tallinn
Published: 24 August 2007
The cousin of Estonia's late president Lennart Meri committed genocide
by helping deport his countrymen to Siberia nearly 60 years ago,
according to state prosecutors.
But Arnold Meri, 88, a former top-ranking Communist Party official in
Estonia, claimed he was a mere civil servant. He also said his poor
health meant that he was unlikely to survive a trial.
Rails replace waiters as dining rolls into future
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2891206.ece
By Tony Paterson in Berlin
Published: 24 August 2007
Fed up with being sneered at by waiters for choosing the wrong wine?
Sick and tired of having your expensive bistro supper served an hour
late? Germany may have found the solution.
There is not a waiter or waitress to be seen at 's Baggers bistro in
the Bavarian city of Nuremberg. Instead - in what seems like a parody
of the advertising slogan Vorsprung durch Technik (Progress through
Technology) - the brightly painted interior of the restaurant is
dominated by a series of 15ft steel spirals that look like enormous
bedsprings. Each one is connected to a dining table and is held in
place by blue painted metal rods that reach up to the ceiling.
OBAMA & BLACK POLITICS
http://aapoliticalpundit.blogspot.com/2007/08/obama-black-politics.html
Here is another great post from the follks at BlackPolicy.org. They
point out in the post that "Sadly, in 2007, we are still a nation
struggling with "firsts." In a perfect and just world, we would be on
our second, third or fourth African American/woman/Hispanic candidate.
However, Obama's candidacy should be a signal for more disenfranchised
groups and individuals to step up to the plate and make a change. In
the meantime, we give props to a brother who has the audacity to try
and make history."
Kremlin sells Putin's muscles and tough love to Russians
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2891203.ece
By Anne Penketh, Diplomatic Editor
Published: 24 August 2007
If Russian women are searching for a new sex symbol, they need look no
further than the Kremlin's website. There they can find the full set
of pictures of Vladimir "The Body" Putin strutting his stuff, bare-
chested, along the banks of a Siberian river during a fishing
expedition.
Since the pictures were released to the world last week, the mainly
Kremlin-controlled Russian media have finally got in on the act, and
the 54-year-old President's macho but raunchy poses are the talk of
the country.
The Big Question: Are the French and the Spanish finally turning
against bullfighting?
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2891158.ece
By John Lichfield, Paris Correspondent
Published: 24 August 2007
Why are we asking the question now?
Opposition to bullfighting in France - weak and divided in the past -
has finally broken through into the mainstream media and political
agenda this summer. An anti-bullfighting television advertisement,
narrated by the French protest singer Renaud was banned by the
country's advertising watchdog as "too violent". The 46-second ad
showed standard, bullfighting scenes of animals being weakened with
spears and then slaughtered. If such scenes are too gruesome for prime
time television, the anti-bullfight campaigners ask, why are children
allowed to attend bullfights in the south of France? Why do bullfights
exist at all, when they are clearly contrary to the spirit of French
and European laws on cruelty to animals?
China's wall of money
http://news.independent.co.uk/business/analysis_and_features/article2891171=
..ece
Chinese investors may soon have a dramatic impact on world stock
exchanges. By Sean O'Grady
Published: 24 August 2007
Are we about to see a great wall of Chinese money slam into the
world's equity markets?
The Chinese authorities have announced that for the first time,
citizens will be permitted to own foreign shares. Given the nerve-
shredding gyrations on Western stock markets, that sounds like a good
idea. Millions of enthusiastic Chinese share buyers would be very
helpful right now, underpinning stock exchanges weakened by our own
flight from riskier assets.
It will happen, although it seems, in typical Chinese style, to be
something that will evolve slowly rather than burst forth upon the
international scene with all the impact of a brightly decorated
dancing dragon in a Chinese new year festival. However the longer-term
effects will be as dramatic, and, as they say over there, even the
longest journey starts with a single step.
Adrian Hamilton: This exhibition scares me
http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/article2889305.ece
Published: 24 August 2007
The drumbeat is getting ever louder in preparation for the British
Museum's exhibition of China's terracotta army next month. Rightly so.
The discovery of the army of life-size warriors by some farmers at
Xian in Shaanxi province in 1974 was one of the great finds. Here, as
excavations began to reveal their full extent, was a whole world of
figures buried around the tomb of China's first emperor, Qin
Shihuangdi, an awesome attempt by one man to repeat his temporal power
in his afterlife.
The British Museum's show, with a dozen figures and a total of 120
artefacts, is the first time the Chinese have allowed such an
extensive display to go abroad. It is being presented in a
reconstituted BM Reading Room, so that the visitor can come face to
face with these sublime warriors and learn about this martial monarch
who conquered China's warring kingdoms between 230BC and 221BC and
fathered the Great Wall of China. Indeed, one of the main points of
the display - the main point, according to the museum - is to provide
an opportunity to assess the man and his achievement.
Obama Video of the Day - 8/24/2007
http://blackwomenforobama.wordpress.com/2007/08/24/obama-video-of-the-day-8=
242007/
Friday, August 24th, 2007 in Did You Know? by bfwo
Today's "Obama Video of the Day" was produced by none other than the
ladies of Black Women for Obama Atlanta!
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