Trying to stay the course
Ismail Patel
January 5, 2007 04:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/ismail_patel/2007/01/staying_the_course=
..html
The quagmire that now engulfs Iraq and the occupation forces stationed
there has the power to bring down more than one government. While the
Iraqi government plays a central and non-negotiable role in bringing
about peace the US government is in a much trickier position. This war
has been a disastrous failure on almost every front for the US and thus
far it has failed to seize any one of the numerous opportunities
presented for a respectable withdrawal.
The resignation of Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld presented an
opportunity for a new tactic and a justifiable exit strategy while
saving political and perhaps military face, but this was passed. Most
recently, the sadistic circumstances surrounding Saddam's execution
which proved beyond a doubt that Iraq is now a battleground of civil
war, should have assailed a whole new approach from the occupiers.
However, as we await Bush's response to the Iraq Study Group Report,
which considered the situation in Iraq as "sliding into chaos"; early
signs suggest political and military manoeuvres that fly in the face of
logic.
Beyond the pale
Sarita Malik
January 6, 2007 11:00 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/sarita_malik/2007/01/scared_of_the_dark=
..html
As a couple is fined for selling dangerous skin-bleaching products, the
real question is, why do black and Asian women want to whiten up in the
first place? Yinka and Michael Oluyemi are believed to have made over
=A31 million from selling toxic skin-lightening mixtures, and will have
to pay =A3100,000 in costs for breaking medical and safety regulations.
Those who bought the products risked permanent skin and blood vessel
damage, infection and ruining layers of the epidermis.
But is skin-lightening really any different from going under the knife,
spray-on tanning or yo-yo dieting? Well yes. Skin-lightening is about
disliking your colour so much that you think you will look better or be
deemed more attractive if you permanently become a lighter shade, or
perhaps even a different colour - and as such, a different race. It
makes a clear statement about how you perceive your racial image.
"Bleach queens" simply do not like their colour and are willing to risk
their health to change it. Even for commercial skin-bleaching products
which are properly labeled, the emphasis is usually on "improving
pigmentation" and "reducing scarring"; a smokescreen for the real
promise they offer - that by using them you will look whiter.
The spy who came in from the heat
Joseph S Nye, Jr
January 5, 2007 08:30 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/joseph_s_nye_jr/2007/01/nye_on_negropon=
te.html
The announcement that John Negroponte is to move from his cabinet-level
post as America's director of national intelligence to a sub-cabinet
position in the State Department caught Washington by surprise.
Negroponte had been in the newly created intelligence position for less
than two years, and was always more of a diplomat than an intelligence
professional. Some speculate that may be why he wished to return to
State where his policy experience with Iraq will be welcome.
Rudy can fail
Eric Alterman
January 5, 2007 08:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/eric_alterman/2007/01/alterman_on_giuli=
ani.html
It's hard to get a handle on just what is the weirdest part of the
story about the theft of Rudy Giuliani's campaign briefing papers. Is
it that Republican politicians are playing dirty tricks on one another?
Is that that Republicans are stealing something of political value in
Florida? Or is it that the stolen property was actually returned?
Is that Mr Guiliani, the former famously mad-dog prosecutor, is already
absolving the suspects who, based on the available evidence, had the
greatest opportunity to commit the crime but who also happens to be
someone without whom he cannot hope to win the presidency? ("'We have
no question that whatever happened had nothing to do with Governor
Crist or his staff,' said the statement from Anthony Carbonetti, a
senior political adviser to Mr. Giuliani. 'The mayor has the highest
regard for Governor Crist.'")
I blame feminism
David Cox
January 5, 2007 06:18 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/david_cox/2007/01/i_blame_feminism.html
With wearying inevitability, the Cameronian Tories have decided to
apply their reforming zeal to social mobility. In doing so, they are at
least highlighting an enormous chink in New Labour's armour. It is
surely remarkable that, after a decade of supposed onslaught on "social
exclusion", the lower orders should be more firmly chained to their
station in life than they were half a century ago. Yet, surveys show
that this is the case. How come?
By way of explanation, shadow home secretary David Davis proffers a
predictable catalogue of governmental sins, ranging from the tax credit
promotion trap to the regulatory burdens that now face would-be small
businessmen. Even he, however, is unlikely to believe that any of these
is the real culprit. Baby-boomer working-class winners like Davis are
usually convinced that the current rigidity of class barriers is down
to something that house-trained Tories are no longer allowed to
mention.
The :-) defence
Tim Footman
January 5, 2007 06:06 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/tim_footman/2007/01/the_smiley_defence.=
html
Last year's Danish cartoons case forced us to reconsider and reframe
many of our most cherished beliefs about civil society, not least that
old warhorse about disagreeing with what you say, but defending your
right to say it. And the influence of those not-terribly-good daubs is
now extending to the Old Bailey.
Umran Javed has been found guilty of soliciting murder and inciting
racial hatred by shouting "Bomb, bomb Denmark, bomb, bomb USA" at a
demonstration outside the Danish embassy in London in February 2006.
But it's his (ultimately unsuccessful) defence that offers the most
startling challenge to our received notions of discourse and reality.
The human animal
Richard Horton
January 5, 2007 05:21 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/richard_horton/2007/01/the_human_animal=
..html
In Patricia Piccinini's disturbing sculpture, The Young Family, a
human-dog mother is displayed feeding its three hybrid offspring. The
image of a curled-up, hairless, flabby, four-limbed body with a
dog-like face and long flapping ears, two of its grotesque humanoid
babies suckling teats embedded in gorged flesh, makes a frightening
sight. It is one that has certainly scared this government.
Next Thursday (January 11), the Human Fertilisation and Embryology
Authority (HFEA) will announce its decision about the licensing of
human-animal embryo research. But before their deliberations can take
their independent course, the public health minister, Caroline Flint,
has already signalled her distaste for this work. Based on an
impressively inadequate consultation - 535 responses - she seems to
have accepted Piccinini's premise that animals and humans should not
mix.
Ford's shame
Clive Baldwin
January 5, 2007 04:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/clive_baldwin/2007/01/fords_shame.html
Augusto Pinochet, Saddam Hussein, Gerald Ford: three former presidents
whose recent deaths have made for rich pickings in the obituary
columns. After Pinochet's death, the media set out in detail the crimes
against humanity that he authorised. Iraq's Saddam Hussein received the
same treatment, with thorough descriptions of horrific genocide. The
obituaries provided a final chance to bear witness to their actions
whilst in power, a last word on how they should be remembered. But for
Gerald Ford, who was buried this week, the writers seem to have got
bored of bad guys. For America's 39th president, who served a truncated
term, there was overwhelming praise. Even the British media referred to
him as a "healer." It's a curious epitaph for the man who was deeply
involved in one of the worst genocides of the last 50 years: East
Timor.
On December 7 1975, the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor,
President Suharto of Indonesia ordered the invasion of East Timor. In
the 24 year occupation that followed as many as 200 000 people, a third
of the island's population, are estimated to have died. On the scale of
human tragedy, East Timor ranks with the massacres of Pol Pot in
Cambodia.
A continental rift
Sasha Abramsky
January 5, 2007 03:43 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/sasha_abramsky/2007/01/post_872.html
In my last posting, on the emergence of progressive political trends in
the United States, I called the US a "continental country." Several
readers responded with derogatory comments.
So ... let me explain. Yes, technically the American continent is far
larger than simply the United States; yet, the US alone is of a scale
that dwarfs that of most countries. The United Kingdom could fit in one
small corner of a large state like California or Texas. Los Angeles to
New York is considerably further than London to Moscow. Maine to the
tip of Florida is roughly comparable to the distance between Scotland
and the south of Spain. In that sense, the country exists on a
continental scale. Its population is as large as that of western Europe
and, because it is divided into a federal structure that gives
considerable political and economic autonomy to all 50 states, it has
considerably more legislatures, with considerably more decision-making
clout, than does the continent of Europe. California's legislature, for
example, controls an annual budget larger than the budgets of most
countries in Europe.
All change?
Jonathan Freedland
January 5, 2007 02:57 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/jonathan_freedland/2007/01/post_874.html
So Ed Koch, the motor mouth former mayor of New York, has started a new
line of work as a blogger. That kind of figures. Opinions were the one
commodity Hizzoner the Mayor never ran out of.
In his debut, he's been musing about life post-Blair:
Our major ally in this war against the forces of darkness, Great
Britain, is still being led by an outstanding prime minister, Tony
Blair. However, Blair will soon be set out to pasture, which means
Great Britain will leave our side and join France, Germany, Spain and
other countries that foolishly believe they can tame the wolf at the
door and convert it into a domestic pet that will live in peace with
them.
Victim of the bloggers
Brian Whitaker
January 5, 2007 02:15 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/brian_whitaker/2007/01/bloggers_victim.=
html
For the second time in a fortnight, bloggers have got some serious egg
on their faces.
Towards the end of last month, Human Rights Watch issued a very
detailed study examining the claims of pro-Israel bloggers that a
reported attack by Israeli forces on two ambulances in Lebanon last
July never took place. Clearly the bloggers were wrong, and the issue
was discussed by Conor Foley on Cif earlier this week.
Secular fundamentalists are the new totalitarians
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1983820,00.html
Militant secularists like Richard Dawkins are taking their revenge on
us believers for refusing to stay in the closet
Tobias Jones
Saturday January 6, 2007
The Guardian
There's an aspiring totalitarianism in Britain which is brilliantly
disguised. It's disguised because the would-be dictators - and there
are many of them - all pretend to be more tolerant than thou. They hide
alongside the anti-racists, the anti-homophobes and anti-sexists. But
what they are really against is something very different. They - call
them secular fundamentalists - are anti-God, and what they really want
is the eradication of religion, and all believers, from the face of the
earth.
They have made a killing
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1983817,00.html
The US has spent a million dollars for every dead Iraqi - is that what
they mean by value for money?
Terry Jones
Saturday January 6, 2007
The Guardian
Early this year the Bush administration is to ask Congress to approve
an additional $100bn for the onerous task of making life intolerable
for the Iraqis. This will bring the total spent on the White House's
current obsession with war to almost $500bn - enough to have given
every US citizen $1,600 each. I wonder which the voters would have gone
for if given the choice: shall we (a) give every American $1,600 or (b)
spend the money on bombing a country in the Middle East that doesn't
use lavatory paper?
Face to faith
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1983811,00.html
Epiphany shows how both the life of the mind and that of the heart can
be good
Canon Dr Judith Maltby
Saturday January 6, 2007
The Guardian
Today is the Christian feast of the Epiphany, which celebrates the
arrival of a second set of human visitors to the infant Christ. The
first set, the shepherds, we are told rushed to Bethlehem urged on by
direct angelic intervention. In contrast, the wise men take years:
stopping, measuring, calculating, assessing, consulting. There is
something fantastical and exotic about the magi and one modern biblical
translation prefers to call them "astrologers" rather than "sages" or
"wise men". Working in a university, I prefer to think of the magi as
the "three dons": prone at times to over-speculation, immersed in
theory, at times unaware that their intellectual pursuits may have
unintended consequences for others; their journey to Christ made even
longer by the frequent need to apply for research funding from the
government.
Uzbekistan's reign of repression
Lucy Popescu
January 5, 2007 08:40 AM
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/01/uzbekistans_reign_of_repressio.ht=
ml
I visited Uzbekistan in 2004 and was followed so closely by one man he
practically tripped over my heels. Given the severe repression of
journalists, non-governmental organisations and those human rights
defenders in touch with foreign media, I doubt I would even be granted
a visa today.
President Islam Karimov's tyranny seems to know no bounds and recently,
in a bizarre twist, it appears that even his own family are at risk. It
was the poet and translator Richard McKane who first alerted me to the
fate of 39-year-old Dzhamshid Karimov, an independent journalist and
nephew of the president, who disappeared on September 12 2006, after
visiting his mother in hospital.
Democrats in party mood as speaker flexes her muscles
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1983989,00.html
=B7 Pelosi fires warning shots from helm of Congress
=B7 Challenge to Bush over plan for more Iraq troops
Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
Saturday January 6, 2007
The Guardian
Nine victory parties in three days, six new pieces of legislation to be
passed in 100 hours - it is no wonder that Nancy Pelosi, the most
powerful woman in Congress, has taken to flexing the bicep muscles
beneath her impeccably tailored jackets.
"We've come a long way," Ms Pelosi told a breakfast for the Democratic
faithful on Capitol Hill yesterday as she showed off her right arm.
"This is such an exciting thing."
Love crosses the barricades in city at war
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1983975,00.html
Ghaith Abdul-Ahad in Baghdad
Saturday January 6, 2007
The Guardian
In the summer of 2006, Akram and Zainab fell in love. Theirs was a
typical Iraqi courtship. They could not spend much time with each
other, but several weeks later they decided to get married.
There was just one problem: the lovers were from different sides of the
religious divide. Akram was a Sunni, Zainab a Shia. They lived in the
north of Baghdad, in two neighbourhoods that border each other.
From Milton to Hilton
http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,1983058,00.html
Tim Radford marvels at The Goldilocks Enigma, Paul Davies's discourse
on the fundamental forces that gave rise to the universe and to life
Saturday January 6, 2007
The Guardian
The Goldilocks Enigma: Why Is the Universe Just Right for Life?
by Paul Davies
360pp, Allen Lane, =A322
The universe is an open book, but open only at the present page. The
authorship is permanently in dispute and no one will ever see the
dustjacket or decipher the opening sentences. The entire narrative
trajectory must be reconstructed from the lethargic action, incidental
characters and indeterminate location visible right now. Nevertheless,
in the past 40 years physicists have put together a story-so-far that
confidently describes almost the entire history of the last 13.7
billion years. There is a catch: they do not know what happened at the
very beginning, they have no idea why the story is at all legible and
they do not understand why the book has any readers.
The Meccano of life
In Martyn Amos's Genesis Machines, Steven Poole discovers how to turn
some DNA into 50 billion smiley faces
Saturday January 6, 2007
The Guardian
Genesis Machines: The New Science of Biocomputing
by Martyn Amos
353pp, Atlantic, =A318.99
If you thought molecular biology was an earnest business, look here: a
scientist has coaxed strands of DNA into forming countless tiny smiley
faces, a hundred times smaller than a red blood cell. Haunting!
Reproduced photographically in this book is the smallest smile ever
made, looking almost as though it belongs to a benign alien
intelligence. Humans love to read faces into clouds or rock formations
on Mars; now they can imprint their features in the submicroscopic
netherworld. The researcher's boss declared: "In a typical reaction, he
can make about 50 billion smiley faces. I think this is the most
concentrated happiness ever created." The optimism of the rave
generation lives on.
Robert Fisk: The whole bloody thing was obscene
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/article2129966.ece
Butchery was supposed to have been presented as a solemn execution
Published: 06 January 2007
The lynching of Saddam Hussein - for that is what we are talking about
- will turn out to be one of the determining moments in the whole
shameful crusade upon which the West embarked in March of 2003. Only
the president-governor George Bush and Lord Blair of Kut al-Amara could
have devised a militia administration in Iraq so murderous and so
immoral that the most ruthless mass murderer in the Middle East could
end his days on the gallows as a figure of nobility, scalding his
hooded killers for their lack of manhood and - in his last seconds -
reminding the thug who told him to "go to hell" that the hell was now
Iraq.
"Nothing in his life became him like the leaving it," Malcolm reported
of the execution of the treacherous Thane of Cawdor in Macbeth. Or, as
a good friend of mine in Ballymena said to me on the phone a few hours
later, "The whole bloody thing was obscene." Quite so. On this
occasion, I'll go along with the voice of Protestant Ulster.
Howard Jacobson: Even the wicked can show some dignity, no matter how
much we try to deprive them of it
It was written across Saddam's face when he declined the black hood and
accepted the noose
Published: 06 January 2007
My subject today is the aesthetics of downfall. I state it baldly so
there will be no confusion: my subject is not Iraq, not American
foreign policy, not Blair's long silence in the matter of Saddam
Hussein's execution, not politics at all except in so far as the
political, too, is subject to aesthetics.
From the moment Saddam Hussein was captured in his dirt hole our
perception of him changed. What we saw was suddenly not what we had
seen before. First, the beard. Wild, matted, shot with grey - a tramp's
or hermit's beard. The hair, too, overgrown and frantic. And the black,
distracted eyebrows. We cannot help ourselves - we attach the idea of
sorrow to dishevelment of this sort. Only something beyond the bounds
of ordinary suffering and loss - some unendurable disappointment, some
unimaginable grief - explains it. Of course we knew what actually
explained it in this instance, but associations are associations - let
the facts speak of a deposed tyrant and braggart unearthed where he'd
gone to ground, what the aesthetics told us was that a man had become a
frightened animal. And by the perverse logic of our sympathies, we find
the first shoots of nobility in that.
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