Solzhenitsyn: The Ascent

While them that defend what they cannot see | With a killer's pride, security | It blows the minds most bitterly | For them that think death's honesty | Won't fall upon them naturally | Life sometimes | Must get lonely.

I grow old … I grow old … | I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled. | Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach? | I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. | I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each. | I do not think that they will sing to me.

"A decline in courage may be the most striking feature that an outside observer notices in the West today. The Western world has lost its civic courage, both as a whole and separately, in each country, in each government, in each political party, and, of course, in the United Nations. Such a decline in courage is particularly noticeable among the ruling and intellectual elites, causing an impression of a loss of courage by the entire society. There are many courageous individuals, but they have no determining influence on public life.

"Political and intellectual functionaries exhibit this depression, passivity, and perplexity in their actions and in their statements, and even more so in their self-serving rationales as to how realistic, reasonable, and intellectually and even morally justified it is to base state policies on weakness and cowardice. And the decline in courage, at times attaining what could be termed a lack of manhood, is ironically emphasized by occasional outbursts and inflexibility on the part of those same functionaries when dealing with weak governments and with countries that lack support, or with doomed currents which clearly cannot offer resistance. But they get tongue-tied and paralyzed when they deal with powerful governments and threatening forces, with aggressors and international terrorists.

"Must one point out that from ancient times a decline in courage has been considered the first symptom of the end?

"When the modern Western states were being formed, it was proclaimed as a principle that governments are meant to serve man and that man lives in order to be free and pursue happiness. (See, for example, the American Declaration of Independence.) Now at last during past decades technical and social progress has permitted the realization of such aspirations: the welfare state.

"Every citizen has been granted the desired freedom and material goods in such quantity and in such quality as to guarantee in theory the achievement of happiness, in the debased sense of the word which has come into being during those same decades. (In the process, however, one psychological detail has been overlooked: the constant desire to have still more things and a still better life and the struggle to this end imprint many Western faces with worry and even depression, though it is customary to carefully conceal such feelings. This active and tense competition comes to dominate all human thought and does not in the least open a way to free spiritual development.)

"The individual's independence from many types of state pressure has been guaranteed; the majority of the people have been granted well-being to an extent their fathers and grandfathers could not even dream about; it has become possible to raise young people according to these ideals, preparing them for and summoning them toward physical bloom, happiness, and leisure, the possession of material goods, money, and leisure, toward an almost unlimited freedom in the choice of pleasures. So who should now renounce all this, why and for the sake of what should one risk one's precious life in defense of the common good and particularly in the nebulous case when the security of one's nation must be defended in an as yet distant land?

"Even biology tells us that a high degree of habitual well-being is not advantageous to a living organism. Today, well-being in the life of Western society has begun to take off its pernicious mask."

...

"In America, I have received letters from highly intelligent persons — maybe a teacher in a faraway small college who could do much for the renewal and salvation of his country, but the country cannot hear him because the media will not provide him with a forum. This gives birth to strong mass prejudices, to a blindness which is perilous in our dynamic era. An example is the self-deluding interpretation of the state of affairs in the contemporary world that functions as a sort of petrified armor around people's minds, to such a degree that human voices from seventeen countries of Eastern Europe and Eastern Asia cannot pierce it. It will be broken only by the inexorable crowbar of events."

...

"Of course, a society cannot remain in an abyss of lawlessness, as is the case in our country. But it is also demeaning for it to stay on such a soulless and smooth plane of legalism, as is the case in yours. After the suffering of decades of violence and oppression, the human soul longs for things higher, warmer, and purer than those offered by today's mass living habits, introduced as by a calling card by the revolting invasion of commercial advertising, by TV stupor, and by intolerable music.

"All this is visible to numerous observers from all the worlds of our planet. The Western way of life is less and less likely to become the leading model.

"There are telltale symptoms by which history gives warning to a threatened or perishing society. Such are, for instance, a decline of the arts or a lack of great statesmen. Indeed, sometimes the warnings are quite explicit and concrete. The center of your democracy and of your culture is left without electric power for a few hours only, and all of a sudden crowds of American citizens start looting and creating havoc. The smooth surface film must be very thin, then, the social system quite unstable and unhealthy.

"But the fight for our planet, physical and spiritual, a fight of cosmic proportions, is not a vague matter of the future; it has already started. The forces of Evil have begun their decisive offensive. You can feel their pressure, yet your screens and publications are full of prescribed smiles and raised glasses. What is the joy about?"

...

"I am not examining the case of a disaster brought on by a world war and the changes which it would produce in society. But as long as we wake up every morning under a peaceful sun, we must lead an everyday life. Yet there is a disaster which is already very much with us. I am referring to the calamity of an autonomous, irreligious humanistic consciousness.

"It has made man the measure of all things on earth — imperfect man, who is never free of pride, self-interest, envy, vanity, and dozens of other defects. We are now paying for the mistakes which were not properly appraised at the beginning of the journey. On the way from the Renaissance to our days we have enriched our experience, but we have lost the concept of a Supreme Complete Entity which used to restrain our passions and our irresponsibility.

"We have placed too much hope in politics and social reforms, only to find out that we were being deprived of our most precious possession: our spiritual life. It is trampled by the party mob in the East, by the commercial one in the West. This is the essence of the crisis: the split in the world is less terrifying than the similarity of the disease afflicting its main sections."

Alexander Solzhenitsyn | Commencement Address Delivered At Harvard University, June 8, 1978

I have seen them riding seaward on the waves | Combing the white hair of the waves blown back | When the wind blows the water white and black. | We have lingered in the chambers of the sea | By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown | Till human voices wake us, and we drown.

T.S. Eliot | The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock [4MB mp3]

My eyes collide head-on with stuffed graveyards | False gods, I scuff | At pettiness which plays so rough | Walk upside-down inside handcuffs | Kick my legs to crash it off | Say okay, I have had enough | What else can you show me?

And if my thought-dreams could be seen | They'd probably put my head in a guillotine | But it's alright, Ma, it's life, and life only.

Bob Dylan | It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)

The Largest Flag

Flag of Zion

The flag of Israel was adopted on October 28, 1948, five months after the country's establishment. It depicts a blue Star of David on a white background, between two horizontal blue stripes. The blue color is mandated only as "dark sky-blue", and varies from flag to flag, ranging from a hue of pure blue, sometimes shaded almost as dark as navy blue, to hues about 75% toward pure cyan and shades as light as very light blue. The flag was designed for the Zionist Movement in 1891. The basic design recalls the Tallit, the Jewish prayer shawl, which is white with blue stripes. The hexagram in the centre is the Magen David ("shield of David"). It became a Jewish symbol starting in late medieval Prague, and was adopted by the First Zionist Congress in 1897.

In 2007 an Israeli flag measuring 660 by 100 metres and weighing 5.2 tonnes was unfurled near the ancient Jewish fortress of Masada, breaking the world record for the largest flag.

[...]

In 1897, an international meeting of worldwide Zionists was held in Basel, Switzerland, to consider establishing a homeland for Jews in Palestine. Morris Harris, a member of New York Havevy Zion, used his awning shop to design a suitable banner and decorations for the reception, and his mother Lena Harris sewed the flag. The flag was made with two blue stripes and a large blue Star of David in the center, the colors blue and white chosen from the design of the tallit. The flag was ten feet by six feet — in the same proportions as the flag of the United States — and became known as the Flag of Zion. It was accepted as the official Zionist flag at the second international conference on Zionism held in Switzerland in 1898, and the state of Israel later adopted the design as the official flag, upon its independence from the United Kingdom in 1948.

Wikipedia | Flag of Israel

Indeed.

Obamania — Why Knock It?

Sonic youth...

Yes, there have been differences between America and Europe. No doubt, there will be differences in the future. But the burdens of global citizenship continue to bind us together. A change of leadership in Washington will not lift this burden. In this new century, Americans and Europeans alike will be required to do more — not less. Partnership and cooperation among nations is not a choice; it is the one way, the only way, to protect our common security and advance our common humanity.

That is why the greatest danger of all is to allow new walls to divide us from one another.

The walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand. The walls between the countries with the most and those with the least cannot stand. The walls between races and tribes; natives and immigrants; Christian and Muslim and Jew cannot stand. These now are the walls we must tear down.

U.S. Senator Barack Obama


Direct and forthright...

Y'hear the one about the Yank being welcomed by 200,000 Germans?

Yeah, what a thought. Weird, isn't it? Who'd of thunk an American pol could draw such an approving crowd?

Well, he did and despite the bile and gall of a host of Republican spoilers (no doubt eager to further entrench the U.S. as the most hated country on Earth), Obama proved himself capable of resurrecting America's appalling image abroad.

We face peak oil, climate change, food shortages, an extended Depression, and increasingly bitter and divisive resource wars. Like it or not, people see in Barack Obama shades of Jack Kennedy and Nelson Mandela. They see youth and they see hope. More — they feel it and, in a political world ruled by smoke, mirrors, and sleight of hand, such feeling matters more now than ever before.

In short, we need this guy. Desperately. Despite those who'd pretend otherwise.

It's as Lucy Powell, a British parliamentary candidate, says: "Yesterday's scene in Berlin was phenomenal — like nothing I can remember in my lifetime concerning an American politician — with thousands of people flocking to get a glimpse. What a contrast to the division, anger and tension that dominated Europe and US relations in the pre and post Iraq war era."

Not forgetting that, beyond its obliteration, we've yet to reach a post-Iraq era.

And it's as Robin Oakley, CNN's European political editor, puts it: "He is one of those politicians who reaches parts other politicians don't reach. After the unpopularity of George W. Bush, the world is waiting to love America again, and many see in Obama, with his youth and his optimism, somebody who can bring that about."

Americans would be crazy to turn their backs on a man who might well represent their final chance to "...do the other thing."

Vote him in now. We'll crucify him later. Trust me.

Barack Obama proved yesterday why November's presidential election will end in a 50-state sweep. John McCain has no chance. It's like George Bush climbing into the ring with Mike Tyson; one thundering left hook and the Crawford Caligula would be sprawled across the canvas in a pool of his own blood. "No mas"! The same fate awaits the crabby senator from Arizona. The polls are skewed to look like there's a political horse-race going on. There isn't. It's a complete rout. There's one well-toned thoroughbred striding from venue to venue electrifying the ever-increasing throngs, and one doddering old mare limping towards the glue-factory. Someone should put a stop to it before McCain gets hurt.

Mike Whitney | McCain Cries "No Mas!"

The Alternative is More of the Same

The death knell...

And to those who believe that threatening statements fall upon indifferent ears we say in one voice: that it is totally abhorrent for the President of Iran to call for Israel to be wiped from the map of the world.

And I promise that just as we have led the work on three mandatory sanctions resolutions of the UN, the UK will continue to lead - with the US and our EU partners - in our determination to prevent an Iranian nuclear weapons programme. The EU has gone beyond each of these resolutions. Last month we took action against an Iranian bank involved in proliferation. We stand ready to lead in taking firmer sanctions and ask the whole international community to join us. Iran has a clear choice to make: suspend its nuclear programme and accept our offer of negotiations or face growing isolation and the collective response not of one nation but of many nations.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown


Dumb and dangerous...

And this is what passes for reality in the minds of the dumb and dangerous? Yes, it's as full of high-flown rhetoric as Obama's speech but, in as much as the images tell their own stories, that's where any similarity ends.

The Pain of John McCain

Sidney — Watching John McCain

Having watched Barack Obama's Berlin speech (courtesy of Norm Jenson) and having noted the Kenyan counselling a miserable Gordon Brown, the vicious and facile backlash of fascistic righ-whingers driven to apoplexy and near-hysteria worldwide by the lanky candidate's international allure proved almost amusing. Given their candidate's impersonation of Gerald Ford doing Ronnie Reagan impersonating George W. Bush, it's certainly not surprising. Thing is; John McCain is a hopeless, clueless, embittered, flip-flopping loser in need of a thorough beating. Frank Rich is worth quoting at length:

“We have one president at a time,” Mr. Obama is careful to say. True, but the sitting president, a lame duck despised by voters and shunned by his own party’s candidates, now has all the gravitas of Mr. Cellophane in “Chicago.” The opening for a successor arrived prematurely, and the vacuum had been waiting to be filled. What was most striking about the Obama speech in Berlin was not anything he said so much as the alternative reality it fostered: many American children have never before seen huge crowds turn out abroad to wave American flags instead of burn them.

Mr. McCain could also have stepped into the leadership gap left by Mr. Bush’s de facto abdication. His inability to even make a stab at doing so is troubling. While drama-queen commentators on television last week were busy building up false suspense about the Obama trip — will he make a world-class gaffe? will he have too large an audience in Germany? — few focused on the alarms that Mr. McCain’s behavior at home raise about his fitness to be president.

Once again the candidate was making factual errors about the only subject he cares about, imagining an Iraq-Pakistan border and garbling the chronology of the Anbar Awakening. Once again he displayed a tantrum-prone temperament ill-suited to a high-pressure 21st-century presidency. His grim-faced crusade to brand his opponent as a traitor who wants to “lose a war” isn’t even a competent impersonation of Joe McCarthy. Mr. McCain comes off instead like the ineffectual Mr. Wilson, the retired neighbor perpetually busting a gasket at the antics of pesky little Dennis the Menace.

The week’s most revealing incident occurred on Wednesday when the new, supposedly improved McCain campaign management finalized its grand plan to counter Mr. Obama’s Berlin speech with a “Mission Accomplished”-like helicopter landing on an oil rig off Louisiana’s coast. The announcement was posted on politico.com even as any American with a television could see that Hurricane Dolly was imminent. Needless to say, this bit of theater was almost immediately “postponed” but not before raising the question of whether a McCain administration would be just as hapless in anticipating the next Katrina as the Bush-Brownie storm watch.

When not plotting such stunts, the McCain campaign whines about its lack of press attention like a lover jilted for a younger guy. The McCain camp should be careful what it wishes for. As its relentless goading of Mr. Obama to visit Iraq only ratcheted up anticipation for the Democrat’s triumphant trip, so its insistent demand for joint town-hall meetings with Mr. Obama and for more televised chronicling of Mr. McCain’s wanderings could be self-inflicted disasters in the making.

Mr. McCain may be most comfortable at town-hall meetings before largely friendly crowds, but his performance under pressure at this year’s G.O.P. primary debates was erratic. His sound-bite-deep knowledge of the country’s No. 1 issue, the economy, is a Gerald Ford train wreck waiting to happen in any matchup with Mr. Obama that requires focused, time-limited answers rather than rambling.

During Mr. McCain’s last two tours of the Middle East — conducted without the invasive scrutiny of network anchors — the only news he generated was his confusion of Sunni with Shia and his embarrassing stroll through a “safe” Baghdad market with helicopter cover. He should thank his stars that few TV viewers saw that he was even less at home when walking through a chaotic Pennsylvania supermarket last week. He inveighed against the price of milk while reading from a note card and felt the pain of a shopper planted by the local Republican Party.

New York Times | How Obama Became Acting President

If the erudite, media-friendly Democrat promising to rebrand American expansionism and aggression in every sphere has demonstrated anything, it's that John McCain represents the United States' alarmingly suicidal tendency to celebrate the dumb and dangerous referred to above.

The Enabler: "Wall Street Got Drunk"

"Wall Street Got Drunk."

Major U.S. stock indexes deepened their losses on Thursday afternoon as investors reacted to a worse-than-expected drop in existing home sales and some negative earnings reports, while oil prices reversed to the upside after earlier declines. ... On the earnings front, Ford Motor posted its worst quarterly performance ever, losing $8.67 billion in the second quarter. The results included an $8.03 billion write-down due to a decline in the value of its North American assets and its credit division's lease portfolio. Even excluding those items, Ford lost 62 cents per share, more than double the 27-cent loss anticipated on average by Wall Street analysts.

BussinessWeek | Stocks Drop on Grim Home Sales, Higher Oil

“Wall Street got drunk; that’s one of the reasons I asked you to turn off the TV cameras. It got drunk and now it’s got a hangover. The question is: "How long will it sober up and not try to do all these fancy financial instruments?”

George W. Bush

Existing home sales — including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops — fell 2.6 percent nationally to 4.86 million units in June, down from 4.99 million units sold in May, and 15.5 percent down from the 5.75 million units sold in June 2007, according to statistics released by the National Association of Realtors.

The local market experienced a 12.6 percent year-over-year decline in existing home sales in June with a total of 5,252 units sold, according to statistics from the Houston Association of Realtors.

Houston Business Journal | Houston home sales down 12.6 percent in June

"And we've got a housing issue? Not in Houston, evidently not in Dallas, because Laura's over there trying to buy a house today."

George W. Bush

A Case of The Vapors

Unless we act, we will spend more than $550 billion for imported oil by 1985 — more than $2,500 a year for every man, woman, and child in America. Along with that money we will continue losing American jobs and becoming increasingly vulnerable to supply interruptions.

Now we have a choice. But if we wait, we will live in fear of embargoes. We could endanger our freedom as a sovereign nation to act in foreign affairs. Within ten years we would not be able to import enough oil — from any country, at any acceptable price.

If we wait, and do not act, then our factories will not be able to keep our people on the job with reduced supplies of fuel. Too few of our utilities will have switched to coal, our most abundant energy source.

We will not be ready to keep our transportation system running with smaller, more efficient cars and a better network of buses, trains and public transportation.

We will feel mounting pressure to plunder the environment. We will have a crash program to build more nuclear plants, strip-mine and burn more coal, and drill more offshore wells than we will need if we begin to conserve now. Inflation will soar, production will go down, people will lose their jobs. Intense competition will build up among nations and among the different regions within our own country.

If we fail to act soon, we will face an economic, social and political crisis that will threaten our free institutions.

But we still have another choice. We can begin to prepare right now. We can decide to act while there is time.

U.S. President Jimmy Carter, 18 April 1977

As Stephen Pizzo points out, nobody listened...

An American B-52 bomber has crashed into the Pacific, 25 miles (40km) north-west of the US territory of Guam. A search is under way for six members of the plane's crew, coast guard officials say. The plane was due to take part in events to mark the island's Liberation Day, commemorating the end of Japanese occupation during World War II.

BBC | US bomber crashes in Pacific

Somehow, this BBC article reminds me of that cover...



Medvedev succeeded in prevailing over competing European and US rivals in the struggle for Turkmen gas. He further ensured that oil and gas from Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan will not bypass Russia. But what has truly incensed the Bush administration are Gazprom's dramatic inroads into Africa.

Russian giant Gazprom, the largest extractor of natural gas in the world, has announced plans to build a pipeline across the Mediterranean to pump Libyan gas to Europe. This is the final lap of a Kremlin strategy that involves Gazprom handling the entire output of Libya's gas, oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) designated for export to Europe and the US.

[...]

And Gazprom seeks to buy exploration licenses in Nigeria and proposes to build a pipeline from there to Algeria, and with Algeria, Gazprom is developing a proposal on "joint" marketing of gas in Europe. US officials have gone ballistic. "The monopolistic Gazprom is behaving like a monopolist does. It tries to gain control of the market as much as possible and to stifle competition. And that's clearly what is going on," thundered Matthew Bryza, US deputy assistant secretary of state for Eurasian affairs. "The Kremlin wants Gazprom to be a dominant force in global energy, and the dominant force in global gas. Tying up gas resources in Central Asia and Africa is part of that," he added. The plan is for Gazprom to dominate "in every corner of the planet", he alleged.

[...]

The Iranian leader also suggested to Miller a market-sharing arrangement so that Russia and Iran could "collectively meet the demands of Europe, India and China in the gas sector". During the visit, an agreement was signed on the development of Iran's oil and gas fields by Russian companies; on Russian participation in the transfer of Iran's Caspian Sea crude oil to the Oman Sea; cooperation in the development of Iran's fabulous North Azadegan oil field; and, possible participation of Gazprom in the planned Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project. Evidently, Moscow took a deliberate decision to press ahead with Iran in energy cooperation in the full glare of world publicity in complete disregard of US displeasure. Tehran loved it.

[...]

By now it must be obvious to the Bush administration that the youthful-looking, post-communist lawyer-president who took over from Putin has lost no time drilling a hole through the entire US strategy to weaken Gazprom's grip over the supply of gas to Europe. The sense of fury is imaginable. But then Washington has only itself to blame. Medvedev's career as an energy czar is an open book like Cheney's - or Rice's. From 2000, he headed Gazprom. Now he controls Gazprom from the Kremlin.

M K Bhadrakumar | Russia's energy drive leaves US reeling

Well, yes, it's always been about the oil...

The most expensive crash in Air Force history - the $1.4 billion loss of a B-2 Spirit bomber Feb. 23 - was caused by water clogging aircraft sensors, according to an Air Combat Command report. The two pilots couldn't regain control of the bomber and as the left wing struck the runway, the pilots safely ejected.

Most Expensive Crash in USAF History

• Clifford J. Wirth | Peak Oil: Alternatives, Renewables, and Impacts
• BP | Statistical Review of World Energy 2008

Most importantly...

But the left, the Anglo-American left? Where and what do our most prominent public intellectuals, including those with booking agents charging five-digit lecture fees, have to say about this world-wide revolt? Nary a word is found in left, center-left magazines, web sites and blogs. During their lucrative lectures, they thunder against the immoralities of war and climate change. They hurl imprecations against rulers and exploiters and their immoralities, and the bellicose interests they represent (with special exemption of the ubiquitous Zionist Power configuration). Yet there is hardly a mention of the purveyors of the global cancer which is literally eating away the bread of everyday life of billions of people. They talk of a ‘peace movement’, (which has disappeared); of one or another dissident electoral candidate; and reminisce over youth revolts 50 years ago. But like the intellectuals who sipped their wine while the revolting masses headed for the Bastille, they are at best irrelevant, unblinking spectators to the greatest turmoil of the new millennium.

James Petras | Inflation and the Spectre of World Revolution

Reading Madiba

Cape Town, South Africa 18 July 2008

For South Africa, the first 20 years of democracy should have been the time for the victims of apartheid to enjoy life and to catch up economically, intellectually, and socially, freed from all of those dark times. Despite that, it is premature for the influx of foreigners into South Africa, as South Africans are not yet ready to welcome any competition from anybody on any level.

So, I’m in Nelson Mandela Square -- from its name you might mistake it for something other than a shopping mall -- and, it being a cold day, I’m sitting in the sun on that staircase near the entrance, eating a sandwich, waiting for a friend, filled with that perfect 50/50 of disgust and lust that shopping malls bring out.

Upmarket malls gather the grotesque. Everything is out of proportion.

Breasts out of proportion with bodies, egos out of proportion with intellects, spending out of proportion with credit ratings, children whose libidos are well out of proportion with their ages. Which is why it makes sense that here, Nelson Mandela’s head is out of proportion with his body.

But, briefly, back to breasts. I can’t say I don’t like them. It’s just that an uncomfortably overinflated pair are coming right at me. And they’re calling me “lovey”.

Mail & Guardian | That man, that smile, that dance

I read the above column a short while ago and left a comment beneath it:

Many thanks for this column, Lev; I hope Madiba gets around to reading it. You've taken a snapshot of far more than Stan and 'that woman'. Somehow you've squeezed all of us into the picture and that takes some doing. With Madiba driving the piece, anything's possible — but it takes a special talent to capture in 800 words our myriad multilayered states of being South African.

Thing is, I do not know Lev David's writing — nor am I qualified to certify it as exceptional. Nevertheless, this piece struck me as singularly profound; a synopsis of our national character touching many levels.


Cape Town, South Africa 18 July 2008

The government itself is cooperating or promoting xenophobic spirit in some way or another, like by renewing refugees’ status, issuing red identification cards as if to mean blood or danger, or issuing a different birth certificate to a baby even though he was born in South Africa. These are only a few examples. Ironically, the South African government has always been fair to issue the same death certificate to foreigners and South Africans.

Having indulged The New Yorker cover farce, I struggled to find a piece that adequately articulated my feelings on Madiba's ninetieth birthday. Below, I point to a damned good critique of Mandela by Tom Lodge, but this column is very different. It's art, posing as journalism — reflecting the nuances and paradoxes of our collective South African psyche.

Like us, and if you enjoy splitting hairs, it's flawed but, as a local, I'd tell you that if the statue has a "tiny little" head, it has both.

From the domestics and security guards introducing it to the blithely racist comment of our all-too-average Sandton socialite, the writing addresses us as a fractured people doing far more than 'going through the motions'. From the emotive give-and-take of Mandela's stage appearance — with all the implications of its spontaneously choreographed automatism to the writer's intensely personal endearment, it captures us as raw, passionate, arrogant, obdurate and, yet, easily swayed.

It also shows us to be somehow capable of recognising and, perhaps, realising the vision of a man the like of whom we'll never know again.

Perhaps I read too much into Lev David's column, but I don't think so. As a gift to the old man, it's perfect.

It’s also a lie that the victim of xenophobia can find peace and happiness in South Africa as long as the citizens of the country are still complaining about service delivery. It’s more the duty of the government to respond to its citizens’ long-promised dreams than to try to hypnotize the immigrant by mere words of reintegration, of which the government itself doesn’t even know the meaning.

Bertin Mushigo | Piece of My Heart On Xenophobia Issue

Golfing in Zimbabwe

Album of Terror: Bunker Shot

This coming weekend, Saturday and Sunday 10-11 May, it is club championships weekend right round the country as the nation’s myriad of amateur golfers take to the course for what has become an annual ritual for local golf enthusiasts. Indeed, the action is spread across the country with clubs, as far afield as Hwange and the Lowveld, engaging in two days of golf in various divisions to determine their best golfers.

In Harare, virtually all the clubs are engaged in their closed championships. The championships at Royal Harare will be sponsored by Brayford Petroleum with golfers competing in four Divisions – the Championship, B, C and D. The Championship Division is reserved for players with a handicap of 6 or lower, while the ‘B’ Division takes in those playing off 7-12 handicaps. The ‘C’ Division is open to 13-16 handicap golfers with those whose handicaps range between 17 and 24 making up the ‘D’ Division.

The competition at Royal will be played over 54 holes for the Championship and ‘B’ Divisions with 36 holes on Saturday and 18 holes on Sunday. The ‘C’ and ‘D’ Divisions will be played over 36 holes with 18 holes being played on each day. Competition is certain to be stiff especially given that golfers will be keen to avoid missing the ‘cut’ that will be effected in each of the divisions after the first day’s play.

Defending champion, Gary Thompson, looks set to be involved in the proceedings yet again while Cedar Ilic, who was the runner-up in last year’s competition should once again pose a big threat along with the likes of R. Menk, S. Ferreira and Tapiwa Mabikacheche.

In the lower divisions, the likes of Albert Chinogureyi, who ran “riot” and won the ‘C’ Division title last year, N. Dhudhia, F. Jagot, B. Stoltz as well as the duo of Professors Sam Tswana and Herbert Chinyanga, who won the ‘B’ and ‘D’ Division titles respectively last year are almost certain to be among the protagonists yet again.

GolfZone | This Weekend is Club Champs right Round Zimbabwe

Sounds like "business as usual" in Zim...

Seriously though, I wanted to place links to the text of the SACBC's A Report on the Disturbances in Matabeleland and the Midlands,1980 - 1988. It's fast disappearing from the Web and should not. The report details a campaign of terror in which 10,000 died and Joshua Nkoma's ZAPU was 'disappeared' by a 'power-sharing' agreement such as that now touted in the mainstream press.

As for the golfers out there...it seems they feel as much sympathy for their compatriots as do South Africa's Department of Home Affairs.

• Yes, it's an horrific, terrible picture to post to the Web. Unfortunately, it's real and it's happening. Mugabe retains power, his detractors have hit a brick wall, the media circus has moved on, and Zimbabweans continue to suffer the most ghastly abuses. Zimbabwe shames the globe. We need a blockade or military intervention and we need it now.

• Tom Lodge delivers an extraordinarily good article on Madiba's ninetieth. Do yourself a favour and read Nelson Mandela: assessing the icon at Open Democracy. Would that we were celebrating his sixtieth — South Africa needs such leadership, i.e. a firm hand, now more than ever before.

Breakfast in Helmand

"OK, let's trash this place!"

The Taliban this morning began a bad-hair day for the Empire, killing nine U.S. soldiers defending a combat outpost in a remote corner of Kunar Province. Backed by artillery, jets and Apache helicopters, the U.S. troops proved no obstacle to Taliban forces now fighting the U.S. / NATO occupation of Afghanistan with increasing success.

A tenth occupation-force soldier was killed by Afghan forces in heavy fighting around Sangin, a key town on the Helmand River, which runs through the bitterly contested province carrying the same name.

Helmand Province appears to have been left to U.S. surrogate Britain to lose as their on-the-ground soldiery is generally far better than that of their American overlords.

Violence in Afghanistan typically reaches a peak in the months of August and September, before dropping off through the winter months. Military sources have told The Times that 'violent incidents' involving British forces in Helmand during June overtook last year's most violent month, September. US figures for attacks in the eastern border area are currently running around 40 per cent higher than last year.

The Times | Nine US soldiers killed in Afghanistan as Taliban attacks base

Israeli Apartheid No More

As if more dead troops weren't enough to spoil the average Whiner's Sunday breakfast, a high-level South African delegation visiting the 51st State proclaimed, once and for all, that which we have known all along, i.e. Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the extermination of its Palestinian populace lends South Africa's apartheid past a genteel air of philanthropic colonial benevolence.

Terming them "very unhelpful", Judge Dennis Davis put Israel / apartheid comparisons to rest. Describing Israeli laws as "...more cynically pernicious than what we have ever had," he pointed out that Israel "... is a country that is really about how there is going to be divorce and we were always a marriage."

The sadly inept or duplicitously deceitful sub-editor at The Independent didn't bother to read the copy sent him by Donald Macintyre from Hebron and put the story to bed under a headline at odds with its content. It should have been something along the lines of 'Most Unlike Apartheid'.

Whether or not the insidiously benign evil of apartheid was, in the long run, more damaging to South Africans than will be the six-decade hell visited on the Palestinians is not at issue here. The point made by the delegation was that, though Israeli policies carry all the trappings of apartheid, their brutality is so great the two systems of social control are beyond compare.

Then again, we've known that all along...

Fatima Hassan, a leading South African human rights lawyer, said: "The issue of separate roads, [different registration] of cars driven by different nationalities, the indignity of producing a permit any time a soldier asks for it, and of waiting in long queues in the boiling sun at checkpoints just to enter your own city, I think is worse than what we experienced during apartheid."

[…]

One prominent member of the delegation, who declined to be named, said South Africa had been "much poorer" both during and after apartheid than the Palestinian territories. But he added: "The daily indignity to which the Palestinian population is subjected far outstrips the apartheid regime. And the effectiveness with which the bureaucracy implements the repressive measures far exceed that of the apartheid regime."

The Independent | 'This is like apartheid': ANC veterans visit West Bank

How about this? The 51st state link leads to a Time article which, in part, reads:

The American commitment to Israel is something that transcends formal international agreements. It is partly an emotional tie, an almost institutionalized impulse of sympathy left over from the state's birth out of the European holocaust. It is also a powerful and sometimes disturbing factor. No presidential candidate, for example, would risk the hostility of the nation's Jewish voters — and wealthy Jewish contributors — by even hinting that his affection for Israel was less than total.

Well, yeah, we know that. So what's new?

It seems nothing's new. The article was written in 1972.

The Politics of Fear

"Where's Barry Blitt? I wanna cut his nuts off."

Is this shit for real? The New Yorker brouhaha? I mean, Murkans do have cartoonists don't they?

The magazine's editor, David Remnick, believes the image "holds up a mirror" to the absurd and often malicious rumours that have stuck to his [Obama's] campaign. And he believes his readers are intelligent enough to get the joke.

Rather depressingly, it has been suggested that people won't understand the point of cartoon, titled "The Politics of Fear", and that the cover should have included a caption.

A caption? What would it have said? 'The New Yorker would like to inform readers that the above depiction is supposed to be funny. We don't really think Obama is a terrorist and we like Michelle's hairstyle as it is. Just in case any of you should think us unpatriotic, we remind readers that the Stars and the Stripes should be kept away from fire at all times.'

For anyone who needs a caption to get the joke, Remnick's most extensive explanation of the cover can be found in this question and answer session.

The Guardian | New Yorker's 'terrorist' Obama cover under fire

You people really are ruled by the politics of fear, eh?

Maybe this will cheer you all up. Following reports of the Bush administration taking a beating in the Middle East, a retreat from bellicose beligerence is on the cards now more than ever before — despite the propaganda.

Hot News Just In: Breaking News from Joan Tintor's blog exposes The New Yorker Obama cartoonist as a Canadian.

What's more, Tintor links to a profile and interview with Barry Blitt, America's most hated man and 2006's winner of the American Society of Magazine Editors' Best Cover Competition.

Listen to this:

Sometimes I just don’t care. I’ll work on something and I just won’t want to be doing it, and I’ll have a bad attitude. I’m trouble: you have to stay away from me.

Barry Blitt

Yeah, just like Osama bin-fucking-Laden and one of his secret-fucking al-Jazeera tapes. There always was going to be more to this than met the eye. Why the hell did The New Yorker hire this guy? He's anti-American, for God's sake. They should've seen him coming... all the way from Ontario. I agree...

Don't blame me | For my son Stan | He saw the damn cartoon | And now he's off to join the Klan! | And my boy Eric once | Had my picture on his shelf | But now when I see him he tells me to fuck myself! | Well, blame Canada | Blame Canada | It seems that everything's gone wrong | Since Canada came along | Blame Canada...

South Park | Blame Canada

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose

CHICAGO—According to witnesses, a loud black man approached a crowd of some 4,000 strangers in downtown Chicago Tuesday and made repeated demands for change.

"The time for change is now," said the black guy, yelling at everyone within earshot for 20 straight minutes, practically begging America for change. "The need for change is stronger and more urgent than ever before. And only you—the people standing here today, and indeed all the people of this great nation—only you can deliver this change."

The black guy is oddly comfortable demanding change from people he's never even met. It is estimated that, to date, the black man has asked every single person in the United States for change.

"I've already seen this guy four times today," Chicago-area ad salesman Blake Gordon said. "Every time, it's the same exact spiel. 'I need change.' 'I want change.' Why's he so eager for all this change? What's he going to do with it, anyway?"

The Onion | Black Guy Asks Nation For Change

Note For some reason, this sorry affair reminds me of Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time. Published in hard cover, it headed The Bookseller's best-seller list for some sixty weeks — a record. Having plowed through what turned out to be a thoroughly enjoyable and educative read, I have often wondered how many other buyers had taken the trouble to do the same, i.e. read the book.

Similarly, I wonder how many of those now decrying The New Yorker's taste have read its overwhelmingly positive and extraordinarly well-articulated articles on Obama. I guess the irony's kinda lost...

Dear Landlord

Fannie Mae (left), Freddie Mac (right), await their new landlord

Dear landlord, | Please don't dismiss my case. | I'm not about to argue, | I'm not about to move to no other place.

Investors may be feeling more confident that, even if the companies fail, the government would step in and guarantee their outstanding obligations.

Senior Bush administration officials are already considering a plan to have the government take over one or both of the companies and place them in a conservatorship if their problems worsen, according to people briefed about the plan.

Under a conservatorship, shares of Fannie and Freddie would be worth little or nothing, and any losses on mortgages they own or guarantee — which could be staggering — would be paid by taxpayers.

New York Times | Woes at Loan Agencies and Oil-Price Spike Roil Markets

Even before the latest report on a possible rescue plan, investors fled the two stocks this week due to speculation about their future. The drop in their shares raised questions about how difficult and expensive it will be for them to raise needed capital in the future, which fueled further losses in their stock prices.

"Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have lost investor confidence evidenced by the rapid brutal sell-off in their stocks, which could dramatically hinder their ability to raise any additional capital going forward," wrote Richard Hofmann of research firm CreditSights in a note Friday.

Hoffmann added that the firms' ability to function normally "remain at the core of government efforts to stabilize the mortgage markets."

CNNMoney | Fannie and Freddie: A wild ride

While senior Democratic and Republican officials in successive administrations have for many years repeatedly denied that the trillions of dollars of debt Fannie and Freddie issued is guaranteed, the package, if adopted, would bring the Treasury closer than ever to exposing taxpayers to potentially huge new liabilities.

[...]

While the Treasury did not specify the size of the packages, officials briefed on the plan said they were told by administration officials that, to be meaningful, Congress should consider extending the line of credit to the two institutions to $300 billion.

New York Times | Treasury Acts to Save Mortgage Giants

Because of the turmoil surrounding Fannie and Freddie, recent borrowers are likely paying nearly 10% more in monthly mortgage payments than they would have.

The added cost stems from an erosion in confidence in Fannie and Freddie, according to Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody's Economy.com.

Fannie and Freddie borrow money in the bond markets to pay for the mortgages they buy from lenders and then sell to hedge funds and other investors. Their cost of borrowing that money has now gone up, and that filters down to lenders who have to charge more to borrowers.

CNNMoney | You're already paying for Fannie and Freddie

The U.S. Treasury Department's plan to shore up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is an "unmitigated disaster" and the largest U.S. mortgage lenders are "basically insolvent," according to investor Jim Rogers.

Taxpayers will be saddled with debt if Congress approves U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's request for the authority to buy unlimited stakes in and lend to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Rogers said in a Bloomberg Television interview. Rogers is betting that Fannie Mae shares will keep tumbling.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analyst Daniel Zimmerman said the mortgage finance companies' shares may fall another 35 percent and lowered his share-price estimate for Fannie Mae to $7 from $18 and for Freddie Mac to $5 from $17. Freddie Mac fell 14 cents, or 3.3 percent, to $7.61 at 2:33 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange trading, while Fannie Mae rose 50 cents, or 4.9 percent, to $10.75.

"I don't know where these guys get the audacity to take our money, taxpayer money, and buy stock in Fannie Mae," Rogers, 65, said in an interview from Singapore. "So we're going to bail out everybody else in the world. And it ruins the Federal Reserve's balance sheet and it makes the dollar more vulnerable and it increases inflation."

Bloomber | Fannie Plan a 'Disaster' to Rogers; Goldman Says Sell

The top five foreign holders of Freddie and Fannie long-term debt are China, Japan, the Cayman Islands, Luxembourg, and Belgium. In total foreign investors hold over $1.3 trillion in these agency bonds, according to the U.S. Treasury's most recent "Report on Foreign Portfolio Holdings of U.S. Securities."

FreedomWorks President Matt Kibbe commented, "The prospectus for every GSE bond clearly states that it is not backed by the United States government. That's why investors holding agency bonds already receive a significant risk premium over Treasuries."

"A bailout at this stage would be the worst possible outcome for American taxpayers and mortgage holders, who have been paying a risk premium to these foreign investors. It would change the rules of the game retroactively and would directly subsidize the risks taken by sophisticated foreign investors."

MarketWatch | Chinese Government is Top Foreign Holder of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Bonds

• Fannie Mayhem: A History


Customers await news at the Torrance IndyMac branch Saturday

Federal regulators seized IndyMac Bancorp on Friday evening, marking one of the largest bank failures in American history.

The bank, once part of the Countrywide Financial Corporation, is the first major bank to shut its doors since the mortgage crisis erupted more than a year ago. (IndyMac is not related to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the big mortgage finance companies that alarmed the stock market this week.)

The closure followed a frenzied week during which IndyMac’s executives tried to bolster the ailing bank. IndyMac, based in Pasadena, Calif., stopped making new loans and announced layoffs of more than half of its 7,200 workers. But IndyMac’s customers, afraid their savings might disappear, stampeded tellers and demanded their money.

New York Times | Regulators Seize Mortgage Lender

How to survive the inevitable run on your bank...

If your account is under the $100,000 FDIC insurance limit, even headlines like the failure of IndyMac Bank, the second-largest bank failure in history, shouldn't make you lose any sleep. But if your deposits are above the $100,000-per-person insured limit, this latest bank failure should be a wake-up call.

America has $6.881 trillion dollars in deposit institutions, but only $4.241 trillion of those deposits are insured, according to the latest FDIC year-end statement. That leaves a staggering gap of more than $2.6 trillion sitting in uninsured bank accounts.

In the IndyMac takeover, it has been estimated that around $1 billion of deposits in the bank were uninsured, impacting 10,000 depositors.

Terry Savage | IndyMac Lesson: Check for FDIC Insurance

Although roughly a year has passed since credit conditions began to tighten, wreaking havoc on capital markets, many traditional banks are just now starting to feel the effects of a rising number of borrowers who can't pay back loans, ranging from mortgages to auto loans to small-business loans.

Adding to the problem is that banks that need to shore up their balance sheets are beginning to have trouble attracting capital from investors. Moreover, there is a lack of buyers who are financially able or willing to snap up wounded banks.

The shaky state of the industry will be on vivid display this week when banks start to report financial results for the second quarter. Those results are largely expected to weaken from the first quarter, when bank profits tumbled 46% from a year earlier to $19.3 billion, according to the FDIC. Slightly more than half of the nation's insured institutions reported profit declines in the first quarter.

"This is a very serious banking crisis. There's just no question about that," said Donald G. Ogilvie, a longtime president of the American Bankers Association and now a senior adviser at Deloitte LLP.

Wall Street Journal | Bank Fears Spread After Seizure of IndyMac

Now, each of us has his own special gift | And you know this was meant to be true, | And if you don't underestimate me, | I won't underestimate you.

Bob Dylan | Dear Landlord

One Good Man...

"If we did nothing, why did we do nothing?"

"Mr President, a time such as this demands that the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth should be told. It should be told because not to tell it is to create the conditions for the crime to recur.

"Not to tell the truth is to impose an additional burden on those who already carry too heavy a burden of an intensely felt pain, of denying them the possibility to forgive those who had done wrong, of condemning them to nurse a consuming anger and grievance against those guilty of acts of commission and omission.

"Mr President, at a time such as this, it is inevitable that many questions will and must be asked and answers demanded.

"Why did it happen?

"What evil force captured the souls of the genocidaires, giving them the courage to murder a million people in cold blood?

"What was it that gave the leaders and commanders of the genocidaires the murderous courage to direct and preside over so gruesome a crime?

"What did we as Africans do to stop the slaughter? If we did nothing, why did we do nothing?

"Why did the United Nations, set up to ensure that genocide, as occurred when the Holocaust was visited on the Jewish people, did not recur anywhere in the world, stand by as Africans were exterminated like pernicious vermin?"

Thabo Mbeki | On the 10th Anniversary of the Commencement of the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda

Because good men like Shepherd Yuda did nothing?


Pic: Erin Lubin

We, meanwhile, complain about ungrateful Somali refugees. What — I ask our president and the myriad moronic commenters clogging our newspaper sites, might we do with the killing fields from which they fled — George W. Bush's Godforsaken corner of Africa?

Sadly, most South African newspaper readers believe the United States absent from Africa and therefore irrelevant to any discussion of its problems. I mean, what the hell do the Americans want with Somalia?

Would that our pissing pundits acquaint themselves with my old friend Thomas P.M. Barnett's plans for that neck of the woods. In The Americans Have Landed, Barnett relates with glee and undisguised pride:

Ethiopia's Meles regime, which American Central Command officers describe as "xenophobic to the core," was going into Somalia last December whether the Americans approved or not. The recently installed Somali Council of Islamic Courts, with its loose talk of getting back another star point in its flag (otherwise known as Ethiopia's Ogaden region), simply had to go. As it happened, the Americans, who had been quietly training the Ethiopian troops for years, did approve.

In fact, Centcom was very eager for the operation. Most press leaks made it sound like our main targets were a trio of Al Qaeda senior operatives responsible for bombing American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania a decade ago. But the real story is one of pure opportunism, according to a knowledgeable source within the headquarters: "There were three thousand foreign fighters in there. Honestly, nobody had any idea just how many there really were. But we wanted to get them all."

When the invading Ethiopians quickly enjoyed unexpected success, Centcom's plan became elegantly simple: Let the blitzkrieging Ethiopian army drive the CIC, along with its foreign fighters and Al Qaeda operatives, south out of Mogadishu and toward the Kenyan border, where Kenyan troops would help trap them on the coast. "We begged the Kenyans to get to the border as fast as possible," the Centcom source says, "because the targets were so confused, they were running around like chickens with their heads cut off."

Once boxed in by the sea and the Kenyans, the killing zone was set and America's first AC-130 gunship went wheels-up on January 7 from that secret Ethiopian airstrip. After each strike, anybody left alive was to be wiped out by successive waves of Ethiopian commandos and Task Force 88, operating out of Manda Bay. The plan was to rinse and repeat "until no more bad guys," as one officer put it.

"Rinse and repeat"? Cool, huh? Turns out most of those killed were civilians...

You didn't know?

It should be no great surprise that the western media has stubbornly refused to report on the rising death-toll in Somalia, choosing instead to focus all of their attention on America's "villain du jour", Robert Mugabe. Mugabe is next on the neocon's list for regime change. Neocon Godfather Paul Wolfowitz even composed a postmortem for Zimbabwe's president in a recent Wall Street Journal editorial "How to Put the Heat on Mugabe".

In 2006, the United States supported an alliance of Somali warlords known as the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) who established a base of operations in the western city of Baidoa. With the help of the US-backed Ethiopian army, western mercenaries, US Navy warships, and AC-130 gunships; the TFG was able capture Mogadishu and force the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) and their allies to retreat to the south.

MIke Whitney | Bush's Blood-Orgy in Somalia: "They Are Slaughtering Somalis Like Goats"

In many cases TFG and Ethiopian forces were searching for specific, named individuals believed to have collaborated with armed groups, and in several such cases they beat, arrested or killed someone other than the person they were looking for. In many other cases, TFG and Ethiopian forces would sweep entire streets, moving door to door, beating or shooting those they found in areas from which armed groups were believed to have launched attacks, or areas presumed to be armed group strongholds.

Many individuals and families under such circumstances were accused of collaboration with armed groups by association or mere proximity to attacks.

Among the most common violations reported were an increased incidence of gang rape, and scores of reports of a type of killing locally referred to as "slaughtering," or "killing like goats." These terms refer to extrajudicial killing by slitting of the throat. Amnesty International heard dozens of testimonies stating that the bodies of such victims were left lying in pools of blood in the streets and in homes until combatants, including snipers, evacuated the area and it was considered safe for family and neighbours to retrieve them.

Amnesty International | Routinely Targeted: Attacks on Civilians in Somalia

Until now, the attitude of African leaders has been an obstacle to peaceful change. Despite everything, some still look to Mugabe's leadership in the historic fight against white supremacy. Most significant among them is President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa.

Paul Wolfowitz | How to Put the Heat on Mugabe

"Evil flourishes when good men do nothing." [Burke]

Embarrass George W. Bush?

Biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75% — far more than previously estimated — according to a confidential World Bank report obtained by the Guardian.

The damning unpublished assessment is based on the most detailed analysis of the crisis so far, carried out by an internationally-respected economist at global financial body.

The figure emphatically contradicts the US government’s claims that plant-derived fuels contribute less than 3% to food-price rises. It will add to pressure on governments in Washington and across Europe, which have turned to plant-derived fuels to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and reduce their dependence on imported oil.

Senior development sources believe the report, completed in April, has not been published to avoid embarrassing President George Bush.

“It would put the World Bank in a political hot-spot with the White House,” said one yesterday.

The news comes at a critical point in the world’s negotiations on biofuels policy. Leaders of the G8 industrialised countries meet next week in Hokkaido, Japan, where they will discuss the food crisis and come under intense lobbying from campaigners calling for a moratorium on the use of plant-derived fuels.

Guardian | Secret report: biofuel caused food crisis

While I delight in the Guardian's use of sarcasm (I mean, face it, you cannot embarrass George W. Bush), its showing the World Bank to be nothing more than a Beltway derivative instrument makes for fine journalism.



A resolution of the crisis situation implies putting an end to the current agricultural model and food system which puts the interests of the large transnational corporations ahead of the food needs of millions of people. Is it necessary to deal with the structural causes; the neo-liberal policies that have been systematically applied in the last 30 years, promoted by the WB, the IMF and the World Trade Organization (WTO), with the U.S. and the European Union in front. ... According to the WB it is calculated that 850 million people have been suffering hunger (prior to the "crisis") and that an additional 100 million will be added to this group due to the crisis.

CADTM | FAO: More Free Trade, More Hunger

It seems even Mr. Robert M. Zoellick is not averse to offering substantive arguments against the contradiction in terms we so happily pass off as Free Trade.

"The US’s use of corn for ethanol has consumed more than 75 per cent of the increase in global corn production over the past three years."

Robert M. Zoellick | A 10-point plan for tackling the food crisis [29 May 2008]

Its result? From the U.S. to South Africa to Australia, retailers face increasing numbers of people shoplifting food.

I'm sure George, archtect and advocate of the Global War on the Poor, would understand. Without embarrassment.

The evidence linking biofuel production to rising food prices can't be ignored. Between the start of 2002 and early 2008, basic global food commodity prices rose by 220%. The global production of biofuels - ethanol and bodiesel - rose from less than 8m gallons in 2004 to an estimated 18m gallons in 2008. The most rapid increase has been in the production of ethanol derived from corn in the US: rising from about 3.5m gallons in 2004 to an estimated 9m in 2008. This year ethanol production is forecast to consume 30% or more of 2008's entire US corn crop.

Guardian | The appetite for biofuel starves the poor

The above noted, it seems it was all an embarrassing mistake.

European Union energy ministers said at an informal meeting on Saturday they had been labouring for 18 months under the false impression that an EU plan to fight global warming included an obligation to develop controversial biofuels.

What seems to be a stunning misreading on the part of policymakers in Brussels comes at a time when the image of biofuels has shifted over a matter of a months from climate saviour to climate pariah.

Mail & Guardian | Ministers 'discover' biofuels not an obligation after all

Right... we'll swallow that one for the moment, shall we?

It's rather like believing the NIST, purveyor of two of the greatest — albeit flimsiest conspiracy theories of all time, stating they will shortly 'prove' — without evidence, a third, i.e. that WTC7 was levelled by fire. The BBC, having waited seven years for the NIST report, states: "Conspiracy theorists have argued that the third tower was brought down in a controlled demolition."

I think not. Anybody with a shred of intelligence (internal or external) knows it was levelled by explosives. So-called "conspiracy theorists" have spent seven years and tens of millions of dollars constructing computer models of dubious merit to fit empty claims WTC7 was one of three buildings razed by fire.

Expressing the Nonsense of AIPAC

"Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), [t]hat Congress ... demands that the President initiate an international effort to immediately and dramatically increase the economic, political, and diplomatic pressure on Iran to verifiably suspend its nuclear enrichment activities by, inter alia, prohibiting the export to Iran of all refined petroleum products; imposing stringent inspection requirements on all persons, vehicles, ships, planes, trains, and cargo entering or departing Iran; and prohibiting the international movement of all Iranian officials not involved in negotiating the suspension of Iran’s nuclear program..."

House Congressional Resolution 362

Bearing in mind all that has gone before, I cannot believe the U.S. administration to be dumb, evil, or arrogant enough to sign this AIPAC-sponsored Declaration of War into law. If it does, Americans will get what they deserve, i.e. more enemies than they can handle (to Washington's economic detriment and chagrin, Germany, France, Russia, and China invest massively in Iran) and the rest of us will be left storming Stodels.

So much, as they say, for the PR.

Note: Beyond urging you to read Michel Chossudovsky's Iran: War or Privatization: All Out War or "Economic Conquest"? (which dissects paragraph two of the above War Law and correctly frames it in its uber/unter-capitalism context), I'd point out that Brendan O'Neill's Sp!ked offers the best coverage of the Zimbabwe crisis I've yet found. Anywhere.