Dan Feidt's log on Minnesota, Information Operations, spinstorms and latent contradictions.
HongPong.com operations will be suspended sometime tomorrow. Then it will come back in a while. probably late that night.
Bodyguards tackle Ali G
Los Angeles - Sacha Baron Cohen aka Ali G was dunked in the sea by Pamela Anderson's bodyguards - after rugby-tackling the actress at her dogs' wedding.
The Ali G star was dressed as his other creation, Kazakhstani TV journalist Borat, when he pulled the stunt.
Cohen, 33, in trunks, leather jacket and Village People-style cap, emerged from the surf on an inflatable turtle.
His rugby tackle sent Pam, 38, hurtling to the sand on the beach at Malibu, California.
Concerned security men grabbed the comedian and dragged him into the sea.
Pam was presiding over the nuptials of her Golden Retriever Star to Chihuahua Luca. - Ananova.com
Uhm, well I have to move out on Wednesday and nothing has been worked out yet, so it looks like I will take the default option of going back to Hudson for a while. On the plus side that means that the website will probably only go down for a few hours as I drag the server to Wisconsin. On the minus side, well, Hudson really sucks.
Fortunately I made a lot of progress with the apartment search today, so I think I will be back out on my own within a week or so. It will be weird to be in Hudson, it will be weirder to leave St. Paul as school starts for these youngsters.
Life is too weird right now, too weird to find suitable synonyms for weird.
I have decided that this post shall look delirious. Sorry.
ACLU: Government documents on torture
http://www.angelfire.com/indie/hairtransplant/
"Up is down"ism as a graphic.
I thought this was fantastic. A nice profile of Douglas Feith and what a horrible role he has played in the health of Zionism and the United States alike, from the Village Voice's Bush Beat. More background on Doug Feith, his role in Iraq and the Office of Special Plans. A really fabulous article by Feith in 1993 in which he highlights his extreme racism and fanatical views of the West Bank settlements (this was written when they were a fraction of current size)
The weaving around the bigshot Democratic centrists regarding Iraq. Why the hell should I care what another internet pundit like Yglesias says? i don't know, this navel gazing is tiresome but at least these guys are trying to get a grip on it. (also via dailykos)
No power, no constitution in Iraq (AP)
Blackouts disrupt oil exports as Iraqi parliament cannot overcome ethnic rivalries. Bush defends war amid Texas protests.
Joe Klein always seems to piss me off, with his holier-than-thou wisdom that has turned out to be worthless time and again. And here it drips with contempt for those who dare to challenge his orthodoxy, while he spins around and admits that it's evaporated, but the 'naive' types somehow don't get it, as always:
Perhaps he feels the pain more intensely than other Presidents, knowing that the real war in Iraq, the one that began after he proclaimed that "major combat operations are over," was not anticipated by his Administration, a colossal failure of planning and execution. It is also possible that there is more than crude political calculation to the President's failure to attend funerals; his refusal to intrude upon the private grief of the families has presidential precedent. But the inability to acknowledge these terrible losses leaves an aching void in the rest of us. It isolates the general public from the suffering that is a dominant reality of life in military communities.
And that is why the awkward anguish of Cindy Sheehan has struck a chord, despite her naive politics and the ideology of some of her supporters. She represents all the tears not shed when the coffins came home without public notice. She is pain made manifest. It is only with a public acknowledgment of the unutterable agony this war has caused that we can begin a serious and long overdue conversation about Iraq, about why this war—which, unlike Vietnam, cannot be abandoned without serious consequences—is still worth fighting and why we should recommit the entire nation to the struggle. This is a failure of leadership, perhaps the signal failure of the Bush presidency.
Sheehan defends herself. Meanwhile, back at the Crazy Ranch: US Christian Broadcaster Calls for Chavez Assassination
Pat Robertson said the United States has the ability to "take out" Mr. Chavez, and said he thinks the time has come to use that ability. Mr. Robertson accused Mr. Chavez of supporting communism and Muslim extremism, and said that killing him would be a "whole lot cheaper" than starting a war.
Chavez Ally: Robertson a 'fascist.' Why Pat Robertson's Statements Help Hugo Chavez. Oh Time. You and your talk of angry neoleftists.
Chavez is no doubt a source of concern for Washington, if only because Venezuela is America's fourth-largest foreign oil supplier. Chavez's erratic and often bellicose anti-U.S. rhetoric—he publicly called Bush an "ass____" in Spanish last year—as well as his desire to sell less oil to the U.S. and more to ideological allies like China, are hardly comforting as gas nears $3 per gallon. But neither is Chavez's embrace of nations like Iran, and nor is the fact that he's leading a politically potent (and, to the Bush Administration, potentially destabilizing) wave of angry neo-leftism in Latin America, from Argentina to Mexico.
But Chavez holds cards that make remarks like Robertson's all the more incendiary on the Latin American street, where language like "U.S. imperialism" suddenly has currency again. One is the past: Latin Americans have too many vivid and bitter memories of U.S. intervention in their countries—operations that sometimes included brazen assassinations —which is why the Bush Administration got burned by accusations it backed a failed coup against Chavez in 2002. Another is democratic legitimacy: Chavez, for all his authoritarian tendencies, is a democratically elected head of state who last year won a national recall referendum approved by international observers.
Venezuela Slams Robertson Over Remarks
Libertarian griping about the War on Terror eroding freedoms. True enough. Bush vs. Benedict: Catholic neoconservatives grapple with their church’s Just War tradition. Another libertarian griping about how our constitution has been hollowed out. Was the Credit too loose?
One war theory: Iraq Was Surviving the Sanctions Why They Wouldn't Wait. A tipping point on Iraq: HAS it been reached? (Jim Lobe)
Stories from the Gaza withdrawal:
Troops, police complete forced evacuations in less than a week.
NY Daily News: Hand-to-hand fight in Gaza. Bush: Next step after pullout is working gov't. in Gaza Strip.
Fascinating tale of the former West Bank civil administrator, who basically made himself an enemy of the settlers.
Bush might just be crazy then:
Is Bush Out of Control?
By DOUG THOMPSON
Aug 15, 2005, 05:46
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Buy beleaguered, overworked White House aides enough drinks and they tell a sordid tale of an administration under siege, beset by bitter staff infighting and led by a man whose mood swings suggest paranoia bordering on schizophrenia.
They describe a President whose public persona masks an angry, obscenity-spouting man who berates staff, unleashes tirades against those who disagree with him and ends meetings in the Oval Office with “get out of here!”
In fact, George W. Bush’s mood swings have become so drastic that White House emails often contain “weather reports” to warn of the President’s demeanor. “Calm seas” means Bush is calm while “tornado alert” is a warning that he is pissed at the world.
Decreasing job approval ratings and increased criticism within his own party drives the President’s paranoia even higher. Bush, in a meeting with senior advisors, called Senator Majority Leader Bill Frist a “god-damned traitor” for opposing him on stem-cell research.
“There’s real concern in the West Wing that the President is losing it,” a high-level aide told me recently.
A year ago, this web site discovered the White House physician prescribed anti-depressants for Bush. The news came after revelations that the President’s wide mood swings led some administration staffers to doubt his sanity.
Although GOP loyalists dismissed the reports an anti-Bush propaganda, the reports were later confirmed by prominent George Washington University psychiatrist Dr. Justin Frank in his book Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President. Dr. Frank diagnosed the President as a “paranoid meglomaniac” and “untreated alcoholic” whose “lifelong streak of sadism, ranging from childhood pranks (using firecrackers to explode frogs) to insulting journalists, gloating over state executions and pumping his hand gleefully before the bombing of Baghdad” showcase Bush’s instabilities.
“I was really very unsettled by him and I started watching everything he did and reading what he wrote and watching him on videotape. I felt he was disturbed,” Dr. Frank said. “He fits the profile of a former drinker whose alcoholism has been arrested but not treated.”
Damn. That's something horrible.
I am visualizing helicopter flyovers of the wasted remains of the French Quarter. It's quite a horrible thought....
Let's Roll. The two northern West Bank settlements went down without serious violence between the IDF and settlers, though some settlers have raided Palestinian villages. But a recent announcement of Jerusalem-region settlement construction jeopardizes any peace deal. E1 is going to be enclosed by the Big Fence. Cutting off South West Bank (Bethlehem & Palestinian neighborhoods) from North West Bank (Ramallah and northern Palestinian Jerusalem villages) . This tract of land is literally an ALL IMPORTANT key to a Final Agreement. But Sharon, ever the tactician, is going to make his move, World Court be damned. What does the Israel Hasbara Committee say?
(^this graphic from The UK Times)
Peace Now, the Israeli peace group which is anti-settler (and pro-Stable Zionism I might add) What is E-1?
What is E-1? Is it the same as reported plans to expand Ma'ale Adumim?
E-1 is short for "East 1," the administrative name given to the stretch of land northeast of Jerusalem, to the west of the settlement of Ma'ale Adumim. When people talk about E-1 today, they are referring to a longstanding Israeli plan – never implemented – to build a large new Israeli neighborhood in this area.
E-1 is not the same as the expansion of Ma'ale Adumim. The ongoing expansion of Ma'ale Adumim, which the biggest settlement in the West Bank (about 30,000 people), is toward the east, in the direction of another settlement, the Mishor Adumim industrial park.
Is E-1 part of Israel or the West Bank?
E-1 is part of the West Bank. It was never annexed to Israel and since 1967 it has been under Israeli military law.
(photo source) Is Ma'ale Adumim part of Israel or the West Bank?
Due to its close proximity to Jerusalem, Ma'ale Adumim is viewed by most Israelis as a suburb or neighborhood of Jerusalem. However, Ma'ale Adumim is located in the West Bank and is therefore a settlement. The area on which it is located was never annexed to Israel and since 1967 has been under Israeli military law. Ma'ale Adumim is the largest settlement in the West Bank and is one of only four settlements in the West Bank classified by Israel as a "city." Many observers expect that under any future peace agreement Ma'ale Adumim will remain part of Israel, as was the case under the Clinton proposal and the Geneva Initiative (with a land swap to compensate the Palestinians for the territory).
Why are Israeli construction of E-1 and the expansion of Ma'ale Adumim a big deal? (AERIAL PHOTO)
Construction of E-1 would jeopardize the hopes for a two-state solution. It would, by design, block off the narrow undeveloped land corridor which runs east of Jerusalem and which is necessary for any meaningful future connection between the southern and the northern parts of the West Bank. It would thus break the West Bank into two parts – north and south. It would also sever access to East Jerusalem for Palestinians in the West Bank, and sever access to the West Bank for Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem. Both of these situations are antithetical to the achievement of any real, durable peace agreement and the establishment of a viable, contiguous Palestinian state.
The expansion of Ma'ale Adumim, as with the expansion of any other settlement, is a unilateral act which undermines and jeopardizes efforts to resume negotiations which are based on the principal of two states living side by side with peace and security.
Yes, it's got its own website: www.securityfence.mod.gov.il/Pages/ENG/operational.htm
So the latest news:
Israel plans police station on key West Bank land
Thu 25 Aug 2005 10:26 AM ET
By Cynthia Johnston
JERUSALEM, Aug 25 (Reuters) - Israel is finalising plans to build a police station on a strategic tract of land near Jerusalem in a move Palestinians fear will ultimately isolate the West Bank from the holy city and deny them a viable state.
The construction would be Israel's first on land where the Jewish state hopes to build 3,500 settler homes to link Jerusalem to the biggest West Bank settlement, Maale Adumim, despite U.S. opposition. That plan is on hold for now.
A spokesman for Israel's civil administration, Adam Avidan, said on Thursday final approval to build the station was days away and construction could begin in as little as two months.
Such a move is likely to anger Palestinians two days after Israel completed its evacuation of all 21 Gaza Strip settlements and four of 120 in the West Bank under a plan that has been touted as a springboard to renewed peacemaking.
It also comes a week after Israel issued orders to seize four tracts of Palestinian-owned land near Maale Adumim to build its West Bank barrier, whose route takes in that settlement.
By enveloping the enclave on Israel's side of the barrier, Palestinians say Israel would cut off the West Bank from Arab East Jerusalem, which they want as capital of a future state.
Israel, which says its barrier keeps suicide bombers out of Israeli cities, said the police station was needed purely for security reasons. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said he wants more settler homes built in the area. "I think everyone understands that Maale Adumim in any final status scenario would be part of Israel," Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said of Israel's largest settlement, which has around 30,000 inhabitants. [NOTE "Hegemonic Discourse"!! ]
"But we are not building residential housing. Although the prime minister has expressed his position that he would like to see that happen, it is not happening. And I think there is an appreciation of that."
Israel considers all of Jerusalem as its eternal capital, a claim not recognised internationally. Palestinians want the Arab eastern sector, which Israel also captured in 1967.
U.S. embassy spokesman Stewart Tuttle, asked about the plan, reiterated a call by President George W. Bush that Israel stop settlement construction, but had no comment on the fresh plans.
Israel evacuated 9,000 settlers and some 6,000 supporters from Gaza and part of the West Bank this month. More than 200,000 West Bank settlers remain, primarily in large blocs like Maale Adumim Sharon says Israel must keep for strategic reasons.
Sharon billed the pullout as "disengagement" from conflict with Palestinians in revolt but Palestinians fear the move was a ruse to cement Israeli control over much of the West Bank. They said they now fear Israel will use the police station to stake a claim to West Bank land near Jerusalem and block the creation of a territorially contiguous Palestinian state with a capital in the eastern sector of the holy city.
Without that tract of land, which Israel has labelled as E-1, Palestinians fear they will be unable to reach agreement with Israel for a two-state solution to decades of conflict.
"I think it is a rather cynical move. At a time when Israel is trying to gain brownie points for the Gaza disengagement, its real strategy is being executed in East Jerusalem," said Michael Tarazi, legal adviser to the Palestinian Authority on Jerusalem affairs.
The International Crisis Group think tank has said barrier construction and settlement growth, especially around Jerusalem, could drive Palestinians to violence and damage prospects for a comprehensive peace deal. A fragile ceasefire now prevails.
(source)
E-1: The End of a viable Palestinian state by ElectronicIntifada, a few months ago:
Still, Israel cannot “digest” the 3.6 million Palestinians living in the Occupied Territories. Giving them citizenship would nullify Israel as a Jewish state; not giving them citizenship yet keeping them forever under occupation would constitute outright apartheid.
What to do? The answer is clear: establish a tiny Palestinian state of, say, five or six cantons (Sharon's term) on 40-70% of the Occupied Territories, completely surrounded and controlled by Israel. Such a Palestinian state would cover only 10-15% of the entire country and would have no meaningful sovereignty and viability: no coherent territory, no freedom of movement, no control of borders, no capital in Jerusalem, no economic viability, no control of water, no control of airspace or communications, no military - not even the right as a sovereign state to enter into alliances without Israeli permission.
And since the Palestinians will never agree to this, Israel must “create facts on the ground” that prejudice negotiations even before they begin. Last week's announcement that Israel is constructing 3500 housing units in E-1, a corridor connecting Jerusalem to the West Bank settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim, seals the fate of the Palestinian state.
As a key element of an Israeli “Greater Jerusalem,” the E-1 plan removes any viability from a Palestinian state. It cuts the West Bank in half, allowing Israel to control Palestinian movement from one part of their country to another, while isolating East Jerusalem from the rest of Palestinian territory. Since 40% of the Palestinian economy revolves around Jerusalem and its tourist-based economy, the E-1 plan effectively cuts the economic heart out of any Palestinian state, rendering it nothing more than a set of non-viable Indian reservations.
The apparent Development pattern as Palestinians project. Note that the connection between Arab areas, between the northern and southern West Bank:
A few years ago, a group of Bedouin who had settled in the area after getting kicked out of Israel at the beginning, was chased out of their resettled spot inside the area known as Maale Adumim.
The Jahalin Bedouin, who have been living on the site of Ma'ale Adumim since the early 1950s after their forced transfer from the 'Arad area in the Negev, have enjoyed a mixed relationship with the Israeli settlement. When the first construction began in earnest in 1982, some Bedouin (who have traditionally been non-political) supplemented their income by working on the new building sites. However, the expansion of Ma'ale Adumim has gradually ensured the displacement of nearly all the Jahalin; and those of the tribe still remaining in their original homes are now protesting fervently against Israel's threatened confiscation.
The land on which the Jahalin have been living belongs to Palestinian landowners in the neighbouring village of Abu-Dies. However, since Israel declared the area to be 'State land' in 1982, the claims of these landowners, let alone the Jahalin, have been dismissed. Israel is pursuing its claim to the land even though the Jahalin's lawyers have been able to establish serious irregularities in the procedures by which the area was made State land. The fight to save the remaining Jahalin, or at least to ensure that they are properly and fully compensated for the loss of their homes, continues to date in the Israeli High Court [Requested Compensations].
So guess what? This isn't good.... The game of crazed Holy Geography continues. Which reminds me of how much clarity being an Atheist provides with these situations.
[IDF] Troops bracing for fierce opposition at West Bank settlements
By Amos Harel, Aluf Benn and Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondents
Last update - 07:37 21/08/2005
Opposition to the evacuation of Sa-Nur and Homesh, in the northern West Bank, set to begin on Wednesday, is expected to be fierce. A senior police official said he believed the struggle would be violent and even escalate to the use of firearms.
Sticks, rocks, oil, sprays and other means are expected to be used against the evacuating forces, as in Kfar Darom. Another concern is that the settlers might enter nearby Arab villages and carry out attacks, as happened recently in Shiloh and Shfaram.
However, another police official said Saturday, "Current intelligence information gives us no indication of an organized use of arms toward evacuating forces. However, we are preparing for any eventuality."
"What happened on the roof of the Kfar Darom synagogue is mild compared to what we expect at Sa-Nur and Homesh," a senior IDF officer told Haaretz at the weekend.
A total of 2,100 people are now in Homesh and Sa-Nur, among them hundreds of radical youths and a large group of Chabad Hasids who have infiltrated in recent months. Of that number, 1,500 are in Homesh, where previously only 15 families had been living.
The residents of two other northern West Bank settlements - Ganim and Kadim - left voluntarily over the past several weeks. Infiltrations by night have continued over the past few days, even after the IDF declared the area closed last week. A number of right-wing activists have been arrested near both settlements.
The IDF attempt to collect weapons from the residents of the two settlements has met with only partial success, more from Sa-Nur than from Homesh. "It is a mistake to think Sa-Nur is the more problematic of the two settlements," a police officer said. "We see a concentration of hundreds of extremists on Homesh who might react with violence and even use firearms," police said Saturday.
Applying lessons learned from the evacuation in the Gaza Strip, the Central Command will be using harsh measures against pullout foes from the outset. Police anti-riot units and Border Police will enter the settlements first to clear rioters from the streets and only then go to the homes.
Mounted police will be deployed in greater numbers than in the Gaza Strip, along with water cannons. Arming the police with clubs is also under consideration. "The force we apply at the outset might prevent serious escalation to violence later," a senior officer said. "The only way to respond to their militancy is to finish it hard and fast. There is not a lot of room here for negotiation. They want a confrontation," the officer said.
The Central Command is concerned by the lack of leadership among the pullout opponents and their desire to "burn into the public's consciousness" harsher pictures than those that emerged from the roof of the Kfar Darom synagogue, both of which might lead to greater violence. "We are trying to help create a leadership there that we can negotiate with over the rules of evacuation," the officer said.
"To this end, we will consider allowing rabbis in, especially to Sa-Nur. The second problem is that many of those at Sa-Nur and Homesh feel the scar left by the evacuation of Gush Katif was not deep enough and an incident must be created that will really be remembered in the history of Israel."
One police officer said that in recent weeks some families have fled what he called the "atmosphere of anarchy" now prevailing in the settlements. In recent days young people have been involved in scuffles with veteran residents of the two settlements.
In one case youths punctured the tires of the vehicle belonging to the civilian security officer in Homesh. Police sources said Saturday that one of the rabbis identified with Sa-Nur left the settlement after he told police he could no longer control the youths there. Extremist elements from nearby settlements, including Adei-Ad, Yitzhar and Itamar, have joined the group at Sa-Nur and Homesh in recent days.
"I am afraid the flames here will be higher than in the Gush. This group has nothing to lose - neither property, nor compensation, nor public opinion, which it didn't have anyhow," the officer said.
The IDF has stopped entering Sa-Nur, and now only those the settlers call "the good army" - Nahal soldiers in charge of their security - are going in. "The IDF has deployed thousands of troops at roadblocks and observation points in the northern West Bank to prevent additional attempts to infiltrate the settlements, and clashes with infiltrators are expected in the coming days.
Marches toward the settlement began Saturday night, some in cooperation with the Yesha Council.
At this very moment, Hunter Thompson's ashes may be arcing through the air, settling back down all over the place. A fitting end to the legend. There were Golden Tickets to the ceremony hidden in Gonzo Imperial Porter bottles which you can order from Flying Dog brewery over the Internet. "Photographer tangles with Thompson's neighbor for shot of cannon". A news roundup via the Great Thompson Hunt. Hunter Thompson Widow Tells AP of Send-Off. FAA to keep tight grip on airspace at Hunter Thompson’s memorial (it is near the airport).
I've got nothing particular to say, save a quote (Songs of the Doomed, p. 294)
Feeling crazy has never really worried me. It is an occupational hazard and some days I even get paid for it--but there are some things that even crazy people can't get away with, and this idea of turning around and driving back to Sacramento to pick up Jilly's birth certificate seemed to be one of them.
"Don't worry about him," she said. "He's having dinner with some tax lobbyists tonight. I'll just run in and get a little suitcase. It won't take two minutes."
I shrugged and turned around. What the hell? I thought. Buy the ticket, take the ride. There was madness in either direction. And besides, I was beginning to like the girl.
She was a dangerous dingbat with a very pure dedication to the Love and Adventure ethic--but I recognized a warrior when I met one, and on the way down the mountain I knew what Clyde must have felt like when he met Bonnie.
Fare thee well, Doctor of Journalism. Selah.
Gonzo in Space: Hunter S. Thompson to Go Out With a Bang on Saturday
"We have never had a request such as this one in our company's history," Marcy Zambelli, chief executive officer of Zambelli Fireworks, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gaztte this week. "But we respect the request of the family and have actually custom engineered an aerial shell specifically designed to carry out his final wish."
Richard Gilmore, left, and Tom Bennie with Specialized Protective Services of Aspen, stand guard at the entrance to Hunter S. Thompson's Owl Farm in Woody Creek, Colo., on Friday, Aug. 19, 2005, where preparations are underway for Saturday's memorials service for Thompson. The memorial pictured in the background will be unveiled Saturday night and Thompson's ashes will be distributed by a fireworks projectile. As many as 250 family members and friends are expected to attend the by invitation only ceremony. Thompson shot himself to death six months ago on Feb. 20 at age 67. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)
Hunter S. Thompson's counselor By D.A. Blyler | RAW STORY CONTRIBUTOR
The Scriptures relevance for Thompson flooded back as I stared at The Proud Highway and Bible in the bottom of the box. It reminded me of the mystery surrounding Thompson’s brief suicide note. Before shooting himself with a revolver, he had typed the single word “Counselor” in the center of a blank page. To date, fellow journalists and friends of Thompson have expressed confusion as to what the word might signify, comparing it to the mysterious “Rosebud” of Citizen Kane. And that’s when it hit me. I picked up the Bible and quickly scanned the Gospel of John. There it was in the 14th chapter:
“16 And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counselor*, to be with you for ever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; you know him, for he dwells with you, and will be in you.”
It isn’t surprising that journalists didn’t pick up on this connection with Thompson’s goodbye in the days following his death. While the Bible has wielded greater influence on the history of American Letters than any other work, we currently live in an age where any mention of the Bible immediately conjures up images of right-wing nut-cases, homophobic TV evangelists, and door-knocking Adventists in bad suits. Fewer and fewer educated people (including Christians) read the Bible anymore. But Thompson wasn’t a product of this age. He was of that rapidly dwindling generation of writers who saw the majesty of the Bible as both a work of literature and a looking-glass into the human condition.
Thompson surely would have felt drawn to the Gospel of John, the most lyrical and mystical of the four Gospels. It’s there that we find the pronouncement: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” It is a decree that has resonated with writers from Twain to Whitman to Fitzgerald to Miller—a revelation that words are transcendent, that a writer’s vocation is more than just a job. It should be a calling, wherein the “Spirit of truth” (Counselor) is followed unfailingly. No mean trick.
For following your Counselor often means discovering things that aren’t fit for polite company. It’s never pleasant to find evil growing among the peonies. Or in the hearts of your elected officials. Better to be “vaguely happy” than uncomfortable. Thompson, though, never fell for that devil’s lie. He knew that even though the truth often cuts like a razor, it also serves as a “Comforter*” when the jackals begin circling. Because as Thompson recognized, the jackals don’t really give a damn whether you speak the truth or not. They are coming after us all one day. But facing the bastards down is a whole lot easier when you’ve got the truth by your side.
Hunter Thompson Ashes Set to Blast Off
By ROBERT WELLER
The Associated Press
Saturday, August 20, 2005; 8:26 PM
WOODY CREEK, Colo. -- Iconoclastic journalist Hunter S. Thompson would have loved the 153-foot tower built to blast his ashes into the sky, said one of his many friends and admirers gathered for an unsolemn farewell.
"It's a beautiful structure. Of course, he would not have been able to resist putting a few holes into it," said Michael Cleverly, referring to his former neighbor's love of shooting guns. "But it weighs several tons, so it could handle a few holes."
The counterculture author killed himself six months ago at his home near Aspen. His ashes, intermingled with fireworks, were to be fired out of the tower Saturday evening in front of a star-studded crowd at his Owl Farm compound.
"He loved explosions," his wife, Anita Thompson, explained during the planning of the fireworks sendoff.
The tower _ intentionally built just taller than the Statue of Liberty _ was erected in a field between Thompson's home and a tree-covered canyon wall. It was shrouded in tarpaulins for days, but his widow, Anita, said it was modeled after Thompson's Gonzo logo: a clenched fist, made symmetrical with two thumbs, rising from the hilt of a dagger.
The memorial was expected to be a party, with plenty of alcohol, reminiscences, readings from Thompson's works and performances by both Lyle Lovett and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.
About 250 people were invited, including Thompson's longtime illustrator, Ralph Steadman, and actors Sean Penn and Johnny Depp, close friends of the writer. Depp portrayed Thompson in the 1998 movie version of "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream," perhaps the writer's most well-known work.
Anita Thompson said Depp funded much of the celebration.
"We had talked a couple of times about his last wishes to be shot out of a cannon of his own design," Depp told The Associated Press last month. "All I'm doing is trying to make sure his last wish comes true. I just want to send my pal out the way he wants to go out."
I just feel like putting this picture up. I just restored a whole bunch of sweet old collections of photos and such to the site. Therefore, it's like we're kicking some ass and winning!!!
That is all.
On television, the tumult in the Gaza Strip looks like nothing less than a pogrom -- soldiers dragging Jews out of their homes and synagogues for immediate, involuntary, permanent relocation. Does it matter that the soldiers are Jewish, too? Not to the Jews being hauled away. Does it matter that some of the most vociferous protesters don't even live in Gaza and are just there to make a point? Not if you remember all the Freedom Riders of the civil rights era who came from Massachusetts or Michigan, not Mississippi.
What's happening in Gaza is geopolitically and historically correct, and when seen from the proper altitude -- high enough that individuals blur into groups -- it's morally correct as well.
[.......]A friend once observed that for African Americans and Jews, the word "paranoid" has no meaning. That's because history proves that it's not our imagination: They are out to get us.
So can I recognize the necessity, the inevitability of the autopogrom in Gaza without cheering its execution? I guess I don't have a choice, since that's what I feel. I'm sorry for those people, long misguided and now betrayed. Some may be religious fanatics and others political extremists, but their sugar-plum-fairy visions of Greater Israel didn't just pop into their heads. Their political and religious leaders put them there. And now, as those leaders do what they must, they should feel the deepest sorrow and shame.
'Goodbye to all that:" IDF plans to complete evacuating Gaza by Tuesday. Not bad! Haaretz writers put disengagement in perspective. A Defining Moment. Who will rule Gaza now?
IDF digs trench to keep Palestinians out of Gush Katif
By Nir Hasson and Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondents
Israel Defense Forces on Friday began digging eight-meter-deep trenches around the evacuated Gush Katif settlements in the Gaza Strip in a bid to prevent Palestinians from reaching the settlement bloc prior to its complete evacuation. Troops will renew operations on Sunday as activity was halted for the Sabbath. By Tuesday, the IDF intends to complete the evacuation of all settlements in the Gaza Strip. Troops will then focus their efforts on the northern West Bank settlements of Homesh and Sa-Nur. Hundreds of radical settler youths have moved into the latter settlement in recent weeks.
So we will get a bit of a Round Two from those damn Yesha teenagers.
Israel's Gaza Operation Sets Precedent (AP)
With its lightning operation in Gaza — nearly all Jewish settlers evacuated in just 55 hours — Israel has shown the world that it can dismantle such enclaves with relative ease, despite the settlers' tears, anguish and occasional violence.
Having set this precedent, Israel will likely come under increasingly intense pressure to do the same in the West Bank — though Israeli officials insist it could be years before settlements there even come up for discussion.
On the Palestinian side, leader Mahmoud Abbas' success in preventing deadly attacks by militants during the pullout has boosted his image as a peace partner and given new weight to his demand that Israel resume negotiations.
Sheehan stuff: It was a good episode for the antiwar movement, few can doubt. A spearhead of the peace movement? has it touched off some kind of national nerve? Yeah. A good roundup from Froomkin at the WaPo. Too bad she's gone. NewsFromBabylon is a sweet site, and they posted a big NY Times story about "The Other Army," namely all those private military firms, or "private security companies" as the softies wish you'd call them. "US Spy satellites under scrutiny:"
One of the systems under scrutiny by Negroponte is a classified program to build the next generation of stealth satellites, whose estimated costs have nearly doubled to $9.5 billion in recent years, according to sources.
The program has been severely criticized in closed session by members of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, who have objected to the rising costs and who argue that it is ineffective against modern adversaries such as terrorist networks. The Senate panel has tried to kill the program in the past, sources said, but it has been supported by House and Senate appropriations committees and the House intelligence panel.
Because of their small size, these satellites -- early generations had been code-named Misty -- would be almost invisible among existing space debris to enemy radars. But those same small dimensions would also limit some of their collection capabilities, according to John Pike, an expert in space vehicles with GlobalSecurity.org.
The other futuristic spy satellite program that Negroponte has focused on is the new generation of non-stealth space vehicles -- using optical, radar, listening and infrared-red capabilities -- known collectively as the Future Imagery Architecture (FIA). Development of these satellites, which has been going on since the late 1990s, has also had major cost increases, now estimated at more than $25 billion over the next decade. As a result, the House intelligence panel voted sharp reductions in its version of the fiscal 2006 intelligence authorization bill.
The Sign That Knows You: Look at this graphic as it looks back at you.
GAZA: Haaretz: STATUS: Disengagement - Day Five Diary. Analysis: Resistance to the disengagement has been futile.
You have to read Sharon's speech:
Sharon did not use his speech to joyfully declare that he has no intention of withdrawing from even one millimeter of Judea and Samaria. In fact, he opened the door to a continuation of the process: "The world is awaiting the Palestinian response, a hand toward peace or the fire of terrorism. We will respond to the outstretched hand with an olive leaf, but we will respond to fire with stronger fire than ever before."
Herein lies a hint that the Gaza prototype, with requisite corrections, would be applied in areas to the east. In an interview appearing in last Friday's Yedioth Ahronoth, Sharon provided a few more details about his plans for the West Bank: "Not everything will remain; the settlement blocs will remain."
Toward of the end of the speech, Sharon offered another, surprising, diagnosis: "The disengagement will give us a chance to look inside ourselves. The agenda will change. Economic policy will find the time to address closing the social gaps and a real war on poverty."
You could hardly believe your ears. For this is the exact argument of the left: that the settlements were built at the expense of the development towns, investment in infrastructures, in roads, in education and vocational training, and are therefore the major cause of social and economic gaps and poverty.
Sharon slams 'grave' Jewish terror attack on Palestinians. Man who killed 4 Palestinians: I hope someone kills Sharon:
Asher Weissgan, a 38-year-old resident of the West Bank settlement Shvut Rahel, on Wednesday shot to death four Palestinians with whom he worked and wounded two others, one of them seriously. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon condemned the attack as an "exceptionally grave Jewish act of terror," Israel Radio reported, and instructed the security establishment to deal harshly with all attempts to harm innocent people. "I'm not sorry for what I did," said Weissgan before entering a remand hearing at the Petah Tikvah Magistrate's Court. "I hope someone also kills Sharon."
Earlier Thursday, security forces prepared for possible riots in Palestinian areas in the territories in reaction to the shooting. Hamas has threatened to avenge the shooting, which was the second Jewish terror attack in two weeks. Sources in Hamas told Haaretz on Wednesday night that it was still committed to the current cease-fire, but that they would not be able to continue restraint in the face of repeated Jewish terror attacks. "We are in favor of quiet and continue to be committed to it but will not permit it to be unilateral," said Sheikh Hassan Yusef, a senior Hamas official in the West Bank. But Sami Abu Zohari, a Hamas spokesman in the Gaza Strip, warned that retaliation would follow. The victims have been identified as Mohammed Mansour, 48, and Bassam Tauase, 30, both from the Nablus region; Halil Salah, 42, from Qalqilyah; and Osama Moussa Tawafsha, 33, from the village of Sanjil, not far from the West Bank town of Ramallah.
Palestinians fire mortar shells towards Gaza settlement of Gadid. IDF says thwarted terror attack by Palestinians during pullout. Children caught in middle of settlers' struggle to make gains on TV (not to mention caught in the settlements themselves). They never had to cut off the power & water. Palestinian After Party by Amira Hass. Op: Territory for Israel. I thought this argument about how settler rabbis sanctify random objects to theologically justify their activities was fascinating. Analysis / Settler leaders: Riding the tiger: Who would have thought that people who even see the state of Israel as an enemy wouldn't obey their leaders?
Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, a leading settler rabbi, who was cursed as a heretic this week after trying to restrain a group of angry teenagers, has perhaps learned the lesson that his colleagues should have learned from countless incidents in Jewish history: He who nurtures a tiger will not always be able to control it. If you wish to retain control, your ranks must be confined to those willing to accept your authority.
It is almost ironic: Those who refused to accept the authority of the state's decisions have now discovered that they cannot impose their authority on their own forces. Except that this is no laughing matter.
AIPAC bits and PR for the West Bank settlements. I found today I have a good Google ranking for 'AIPAC intel.' So why not add a story from about a year ago, "Israel has long spied on U.S., say officials." in the LA Times via w3ar.com. Even Billmon is talking about the latest bits of the AIPAC scandal. This site also has exciting keywords like Intelligence:Espionage:Israeli Espionage. Meanwhile, we are getting some trial balloons for the coming PR offensive to help Israel retain West Bank settlements. Note the trickier rhetorical devices, which I will set in subtle HTML:
Mother Knows Best By ZEV CHAFETS
This diplomatic success was possible only because Mr. Bush won Ariel Sharon's trust. Previous administrations tried to bribe or pressure Israel into making territorial concessions. The president used different tools - common sense and credibility.
As a master politician, Mr. Bush realized that there were political limits on what Mr. Sharon could do. Neither Mr. Sharon nor any conceivable Israeli prime minister would ever evict the hundreds of thousands of Israelis who now live in East Jerusalem and the major settlement blocs of the West Bank. Asking for that would be an automatic deal-breaker. Same for the Palestinian demand that millions of Arab refugees and their descendants be "returned" to Israel. And Israel would never relinquish its option to respond militarily to armed aggression.
Mr. Bush acknowledged these Israeli truths in an official letter he sent to Mr. Sharon in April of 2004. In exchange for that recognition, however, the president asked for - and got - Mr. Sharon's agreement to do what he could do. Evacuating Gaza was one of those things.
The American vision for Middle East peace sees exit from Gaza as a first step. Next comes an Israeli withdrawal from those settlements in the West Bank that aren't already de facto parts of Israel, and then the creation of an independent Palestinian state.
You PONK ASS BITCH. LOOK AT THIS DAMN MAP AND TELL ME WHICH ONES. Ariel? Kiryat Arba? sorry folks that was crude. But I find this kind of shady language most antagonizing.
Cut and Run? That is a very good question which is hardly asked with the kind of objective rigor that it deserves. It's converse, "Staying the course," always has struck me as a weird and flimsy oxymoron, since the course has been wobbly and improvised quite badly. For example, what is the difference between "Cutting and Running" from the Kurds, and "Staying the Course" with the Kurds? "Kurdish Autonomy Moves Evoke Bloody Repression [in Iran]- Regional Crisis Growing." Fortunately a retired military theorist, William Odom, brings home the main points in a clear way:
What’s wrong with cutting and running?
If I were a journalist, I would list all the arguments that you hear against pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq, the horrible things that people say would happen, and then ask: Aren’t they happening already? Would a pullout really make things worse? Maybe it would make things better.
Here are some of the arguments against pulling out:
1) We would leave behind a civil war.
2) We would lose credibility on the world stage.
3) It would embolden the insurgency and cripple the move toward democracy.
4) Iraq would become a haven for terrorists.
5) Iranian influence in Iraq would increase.
6) Unrest might spread in the region and/or draw in Iraq's neighbors.
7) Shiite-Sunni clashes would worsen.
8) We haven’t fully trained the Iraqi military and police forces yet.
9) Talk of deadlines would undercut the morale of our troops.
But consider this:
1) On civil war. Iraqis are already fighting Iraqis. Insurgents have killed far more Iraqis than Americans. That’s civil war. We created the civil war when we invaded; we can’t prevent a civil war by staying.
[..........]
6) On Iraq’s neighbors. The civil war we leave behind may well draw in Syria, Turkey and Iran. But already today each of those states is deeply involved in support for or opposition to factions in the ongoing Iraqi civil war. The very act of invading Iraq almost insured that violence would involve the larger region. And so it has and will continue, with, or without, US forces in Iraq.
7) On Shiite-Sunni conflict. The US presence is not preventing Shiite-Sunni conflict; it merely delays it. Iran is preventing it today, and it will probably encourage it once the Shiites dominate the new government, an outcome US policy virtually ensures.
8) On training the Iraq military and police. The insurgents are fighting very effectively without US or European military advisors to train them. Why don't the soldiers and police in the present Iraqi regime's service do their duty as well? Because they are uncertain about committing their lives to this regime. They are being asked to take a political stand, just as the insurgents are. Political consolidation, not military-technical consolidation, is the issue.
The issue is not military training; it is institutional loyalty. We trained the Vietnamese military effectively. Its generals took power and proved to be lousy politicians and poor fighters in the final showdown. In many battles over a decade or more, South Vietnamese military units fought very well, defeating VC and NVA units. But South Vietnam's political leaders lost the war.
Even if we were able to successfully train an Iraqi military and police force, the likely result, after all that, would be another military dictatorship. Experience around the world teaches us that military dictatorships arise when the military’s institutional modernization gets ahead of political consolidation.
[........]
The US invasion of Iraq only serves the interest of:
1) Osama bin Laden (it made Iraq safe for al Qaeda, positioned US military personnel in places where al Qaeda operatives can kill them occasionally, helps radicalize youth throughout the Arab and Muslim world, alienates America's most important and strongest allies – the Europeans – and squanders US military resources that otherwise might be finishing off al Qaeda in Pakistan.);
2) The Iranians (who were invaded by Saddam and who suffered massive casualties in an eight year war with Iraq.);
3) And the extremists in both Palestinian and Israeli political circles (who don't really want a peace settlement without the utter destruction of the other side, and probably believe that bogging the United States down in a war in Iraq that will surely become a war between the United States and most of the rest of Arab world gives them the time and cover to wipe out the other side.)
The wisest course for journalists might be to begin sustained investigations of why leading Democrats have failed so miserably to challenge the US occupation of Iraq. The first step, of course, is to establish as conventional wisdom the fact that the war was never in the US interest and has not become so. It is such an obvious case to make that I find it difficult to believe many pundits and political leaders have not already made it repeatedly.
So in other words there is little to be salvaged. The potential negatives aren't so bad, relatively, if they are happening already. All right, that's enough. I should go have fun and act like a reasonable person now.
Someone attacked Aqaba recently. Reminds me of a tale from Lawrence of Arabia.
In a second confrontation with Sherif Ali (Ali represented by a dark profiled image on the right of the frame, Lawrence by a blonder, paler, blue-eyed image on the left of the frame), Lawrence is accused of being stark-raving mad, or at the least, arrogant for proposing a painful, arduous trek across the beautiful but waterless, sun-drenched Nefud Desert:
Sherif: You are mad. To come to Aqaba by land, you should have to cross the Nefud Desert.
Lawrence: That's right.
Sherif: The Nefud cannot be crossed.
Lawrence: I'll cross it if you will.
Sherif: You! It takes more than a compass Englishman. The Nefud is the worst place God created.
Lawrence: I can't answer for the place, only for myself. Fifty men?
Sherif: Fifty? Against Aqaba?
Lawrence: If fifty men came out of the Nefud, there would be fifty men other men might join. The Howeitat are there I hear.
Sherif: The Howeitat are brigands. They will sell themselves to anyone.
Lawrence: Good fighters, though.
Sherif: Good...yes. There are guns at Aqaba.
Lawrence: They face the sea, Sherif Ali, and cannot be turned round. From the landward side, there are no guns at Aqaba.
Sherif: With good reason. It cannot be approached from the landward side.
Lawrence: Certainly the Turks don't dream of it. (He points in the direction of Aqaba.) Aqaba is over there. It's only a matter of going.
Sherif: You are mad.
Riding "in the name of Feisal and Mecca" and without Brighton's knowledge, Lawrence is allowed to take a small force of fifty of Feisal's men to set out for Aqaba "to work your miracle." For pragmatic reasons (and as a counterpoint to the strong-willed Lawrence), Sherif Ali joins the "Englishman" to cross the blazing Nefud Desert.
So they are doubling down on Aqaba. On a closely related subject, Nick Werth is under fire at aarongleeman.com:
Werth: aaron youre far better off losing to quad threes at "call down to the river" canterbury than you are dumping your complete bankroll online to some nyu freshman sitting there 5 hours a day on party poker. that shit plays like it is rigged, i kid you not. i play live every day, and never see more instances of 99 v KK, or TT v AA on a six handed table than i do on party. it has made me start thinking. go play the fall poker classic if you want some action against some good players, online play is for those who are either very lucky or very smart, and due to your excellent writing skills, i am prone to guess you aren't quick to learn the percentages of every hand post-flop, like the best online players/math geniuses have. 90% of players lose online, i know of one player who has consistently won long-term on party, and he knows of only one other. maybe other sites are different, but i cant afford to find out. float me into a game next week, i stopped trying to make money and found myself coming out ahead more often than i did when i thought i could play
and then it gets ugly:
wow, Nick, way to insult Aaron's intelligence by saying he's not mathematically inclined. And in fact it is possible to win money at an online poker site, but if you play too many garbage hands and play them too strongly you will get your ass kicked. Admittedly it sucks when you're playing against idiots and your KK loses to a guy who called a large bet before the flop with an unsuited 3-4 and made 4's full on you, but you just have to continue to play smartly, and take advantage of those times that you have the best hand.
Werth: i didnt say pp was fixed, i said it plays as if it were. when i lose to a runner runner bad beat in a tournament, i stand up and say nice hand. online it just pisses me off when the cards go away real fast after some idiot puts you all in pre-flop for $450, you think about it, then call with QQ and the button. the cards come down ridiculously fast and he wins with a set of threes (he had 38off). many single table tournaments, however, are most certainly hubs for collusion. why wouldnt you set up multiple computers with different IP addresses and play $30 sitngos all day?
ouch:
Nick, I'm sure you're much better at this poker thing than I am, but if the dude had 3-8 offsuit, wouldn't he have ended up with "trips," not a "set?" USAFChief | 08.19.05 - 5:11 pm | #
Werth responds to this charge for me via AIM:
three of a kind is a set
its the ones before that
now this blog just needs to start talking about tennis and it is my dream site
Indeed Nick, Indeed. I would like to play poker on a balcony in Aqaba.
PS I wish Werth hadn't taken his blog down, it was just getting good...
This is a very remarkable piece of writing from Haaretz. Cognitive structure of messianic ideology and the whole bit. Deserves its own post.
Chronicle of an end foretold
By Ari Shavit
Not far from the gate, the boys are singing "Have pity, O Lord, on your people Israel." The girls are painting final posters: "Cry, the belovedcountry." And in the synagogue Rabbi Mordechai Elon promises that if no great miracle occurs this night, the loam of the destruction will be used to build a new house. But in the secretariat they are at their wits' end: There are no hotel rooms for Shabbat. Israel is discarding us like waste. Like human waste.
It's a complex story, Gush Katif. On the one hand, it is indeed Algeria. Distinctly Algeria. A baseless settlement project of a mother-state that chose to place a low-income population in occupied territory. A closed local regime that maintains a colonialist farm economy, nourished by cheap land, cheap water and cheap labor, all originating in the military occupation. Worse: this Algeria is evangelist. An Algeria imbued with faith. And this faith, which is interwoven in the singular settlement enterprise, lends a messianic cast to the feeling of supremacy. Here the lordship is not only military, political and economic. Here the lordship is also religious. It is not aimed only at the natives across the fence; it is also aimed against the mother state. And therefore it endangers the mother state, poisons its democracy, corrupts its enlightenment and thwarts its ability to function as a rational entity.
However, there is another side to this, too. The anomalous conditions, conditions lying outside present-day reality, enabled the development of an anomalous society. A strong, cohesive and principled society. A society of tenacity, decency and mutual help. A frontier society of members of the lower middle class who found meaning in the sand-swept territory and there fashioned a narrative of meaning. They turned the territory into a place where a heart-touching spectacle was played out. A spectacle of a life of worshiping God and working the land. A life of loyalty to the homeland and a life of sacrificial devotion. A life from another world.
The first containers enter through the gate in the late afternoon. This is how it was in each of the settlements. First vehement opposition to the containers, then fear of the containers, then capitulation to the containers. The containers became the icon of the disengagement. The containers as a manifestation of government endeavor and the containers as a manifestation of government incompetence; the containers as government sensitivity and the containers as government insensitivity. But, above all, the containers carried with them the information that the moment a container was placed in the yard of a house was the moment of the death of that house. The house is emptied into the container. The house disappears into the container. It is the container that will take the house from here. It will replace the house. It will return the Jew to his wandering.
So that now, when the long line of huge yellow trucks enters through the gate, bearing the blue containers and the rust-colored containers, it is obvious that the die has been cast. And as the containers are borne slowly down the ring road past the electronic fence and past the concertina fence and past the fence of concrete blocs that seal off Khan Yunis, it is clear that this particular settlement, too, has accepted its lot. Even this settlement has reached its end.
The planners designed the place for living on its paths. The houses were separated from the plots in such a way that the area of the hothouses slightly recalls a military logistics center, whereas the residential area creates a pleasant feeling of dividing paths and internal gardens and an absence of roads. Maybe because of the far-sighted planning, Gush Katif became such an impressive community success. Or maybe it is the feeling of the frontier that united the community. Maybe the simple faith. Or this revelation, suddenly, that while the mother state of Israel is becoming secular and enlightened and corrupt, here in the daughter-Israel, different values are maintained. And whereas Israel the mother is becoming a hedonistic, reveling Paris, here in little Algeria a faith-driven version of 1960s Israel is being upheld. Nearly all the families have flourishing hothouses. And all of them together, the 8,000 settlers of Gush Katif, weave a community fabric such as exists nowhere else. They have built a kind of model of Zionism in the sand. A blind, strange Zionism. A cruel and naive Zionism. A Zionism that is beyond time and place, which protects itself with reckless abandon and buries its dead with deep devotion. And maintains on the dunes of Gaza beach a form of lost Israeli soul to which Israel itself is already foreign. Israel itself no longer wants it.
So they refused to believe. Not only because of the cognitive structure of the messianic consciousness. Not only because of the potent fusion of faith and denial. And not only because of the rabbis' promises. Not only because the drowning person grasps at every straw. But because daughter Israel cannot comprehend that mother Israel will deny it like this.
The soil-bound Israelis of Gush Katif could not believe that the digital Israelis of Tel Aviv would throw them out like an object no one wants. And would send against them the army in which they believed so much; would send into their homes the people in uniform whom they so loved; would smash their faith-driven world with a short, sharp jab.
So when the moment came, they could not struggle. When they finally got it, they collapsed without a fight. Suddenly, within hours, they shifted from a state of consciousness of faith to a state of consciousness of reality. Hurrying to pack all that came to hand. Filling the yawning container with kitchen tables and bookshelves and double beds. Towels, sheets, toys.
The story of Gush Katif is the chronicle of an end foretold. The attempt to foment colonialism at the end of the 20th century was bound to lead to destruction. The attempt to realize messianism in history was bound to lead to destruction. Nevertheless, when that destruction came, it came abruptly. In a snap. The army's ultimatum. The encirclement. The buses approaching the gate.
The intention was to die like Pompeii. To make the soldiers march into cherry-tomato-red hothouses. To make the State of Israel march into animated family homes: the soup on the stove, the table set for lunch, the children playing outside.
But the other Israeliness, which suddenly inundated Gush Katif, overcame the religious intention. The impulse to pack and save what could be saved was stronger than the ceremonial discipline. So even before the IDF arrived, the story of meaning disintegrated. The strength to revolt against reality ran out. The strength to stage an alternative reality ran out.
In the house, they lit mourning candles. They wept over the children's beds. They wept in the anarchy of the boxes that were being filled. No, the image that will be burned into the memory will not be of Pompeii. It will not be one of life suddenly frozen. The image that will be burned into the memory will be of full refugee status. Bitter, irreparable refugee status.
In the pre-dawn hours, the uprooted of the other settlement remained without a shelter for the night, because the young people who served in the elite units decided to act. Instead of a farewell ceremony, they lit a fire. So that, in the end, when the State of Israel arrived in blue uniforms at the gate of the settlement, the gate was on fire. A bad fire, black, rose up above the olive tree. A bad fire, black, rose up above those who were blowing shofars. A black fire above those who were reciting the "Shema." A black fire above the sign that the girls prepared at night: "Cry, the beloved country."
Under the smoke stood a strong man with a long beard, leaning on a big hammer. Twenty-four years had passed since he settled on this sand, and 42 years since his parents thrust him aboard a ship in the port of Algiers. Does this day resemble that one? It is not the same thing, he says. Here, it is mine. In this sand lies my soul.
What will they bring with them on their return to the other state? Not self-criticism, not a faith-driven stocktaking, not a new insight. What they will bring is great rage. What they will bring is the story of Joseph. The feeling that their brothers threw then into a pit of snakes and scorpions. And the determination to climb out of the pit and become the rulers of the land. The determination to create dozens of new Gush Katifs out of the death of this one. The determination to transform the whole State of Israel into a Katif state.
انك جامع اطلاعات مديران صنعت نفت جمهوري اسلامي ايران
he is a
سيد امير احقر
معاون مهندسى واجراى طرحها در شركت گاز استان همدان
I was just pondering the state of things in Iran. The Iranian Ministry of Petroleum website. WHO is WHO? Ah yes, the CIA has quite a story to go with that one.
How can Iran be radical? The Ministry of Petroleum of the Islamic Republic has an excellent, quite satisfactory Christmas-tree shape that any vanilla midwestern accounts Manager would feel snuggly with.
And then there are those weapons facilities. This Bam map is interesting.
But perhaps this is the best of all: A nice Iran ethnographic map. Are there rumors that those Baluchis in the corner ("Baluchistan") are being used to Start Something??? Although DEBKA says the Baluchis are helping to smuggle Osama bin Laden around.
A misc blog post from back in January about US Air Force missions over Iran, attempting to goad the Iranians into activating their radar. Hmmmm. Also a bit about the MEK: Are they using the Baluchi area of Pakistan to launch things against Iran? Oh Sy Hersh, what now?
After the U.S. invasion of Iraq in March 2003, U.S. forces seized and destroyed MEK munitions and weapons, and about 4,000 MEK operatives were "consolidated, detained, disarmed, and screened for any past terrorist acts, the report said. Shortly afterwards, the Bush administration began to use them in its covert operations against Iran, former senior U.S. intelligence officials said. "They've been active in the south for some time," said former CIA counterterrorism chief, Vince Cannistraro. The MEK are said to be currently launching raids from Camp Habib in Basra, but recently Pakistan President Pervez Musharaff granted permission for the MEK to operate from Pakistan's Baluchi area, U.S. officials said.
See also the UPI press report about "cat and mouse" military flights over Iran. Special Forces operating in Afghan Baluchistan. But this is fairly old news:
A secret new US Special Forces mission to hunt down Al Qaeda along Afghanistan's border with Iran is triggering cross-border accusations of espionage, amid persistent suspicions that Iran is harboring terrorists.
The Green Berets have based themselves in a desert compound three miles from the Iranian frontier.
[.....]
Interviews in Zaranj with Afghans expelled – and sometimes beaten – by Iranian authorities suggest that Tehran is treating the new US presence as a threat to its national integrity. The Iranian military is blaming the threat on local Afghans, whom they accuse of spying for the Americans.
While the US soldiers have been probing border areas where Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan meet, it is unclear if the teams will cross over into Iran, Western military analysts say. They add that US special operations commanders in their home bases are still formulating rules and guidelines for new "snatch squads" to nab Al Qaeda suspects at large across the globe.
Meanwhile, Iranian border troops, their ranks bolstered since the arrival of the three dozen American soldiers, have been digging fresh trenches in the sands here and setting up new gun positions.
We are also amused that the Minister of Water in Lebanon these days is an officer of Hezbollah, which apparently means that we are not allowed to discuss water with the Lebanese. Tells you how strategic H20 really is.
A mercilessly geeky tale: I am recording this so that myself and others may deal with similar problems better in the future. I will soon forget the details of how I fixed it, so it is best to write it down now.
It took a couple days, but the Linux server (Tarfin), a reliable Dell Dimension 4400 running Gentoo Linux, is back from its brush with Hardware Hell. The problems began after I found out about my new mysterious Politics in Minnesota project... The work at this stage would best happen using MediaWiki, I reckoned. MediaWiki has performed well as the HongWiki platform, and has reliably served wiki pages that have done Real Well on Google, although with the service problems it's gone south a bit.
So my new WordPress-powered HongPong website (under development) takes a lot more RAM to serve PHP files than this current MovableType-powered HongPong.com, and as I sat down to get the Politics in Minnesota project going, I noticed that Tarfin was basically maxed out for RAM. It only had 128 MB, which is really way too low for this. It only had a few megs of RAM available and had 80 MB in the swap partition (which is the same as Virtual Memory on a PC or Mac). Gridlock.
So in other words the stress of serving had totally maxed out the RAM, which I noticed when the site -- which is usually lickety-split quick over the LAN here -- was going much slower. More RAM, always a good solution. I looked up my usual suspects, namely Tran Micro and General Nanosystems on University, whose prices will pretty much always beat Best Buy type places. Only Nano had the type of RAM for Tarfin, PC2100 SDRAM. So I got two 256 chips (though I'd have liked a 512, they didn't have).
The Dell only has 2 slots, thanks Dell, so I pulled the old 128 and put these in. Turned it on, it booted fine, and I ran 'emerge sync', the nice Gentoo command that permits me to update all the various Linux software packs I have running. This streamlines one of the bitchiest problems in systems administration - tracking down the damn software packs and keeping up with their security patches.
It ran alright until suddenly it hit a Segmentation Fault, followed shortly by a Kernel Panic, the hardest Crash that Linux can Go Down with - it's real ugly, gibberish and Hex codes spilling all over.
So I have to reboot. The file system checker program, fsck, auto-scanned the main partition and found all sorts of horrible errors. I tried to have it fix, but then it hit another Segmentation Fault:
A segmentation fault occurs when your program tries to access memory locations that haven't been allocated for the program's use.
Therefore I should have thought that maybe it was the damn new chips. I had a flashback to the death of the first Hongpong.com (the one that got me suspended from MPA) - which was an old PowerPC 6100/60 running a hacked old Linux, whose hard drive abruptly refused to come back from a nasty death right around when I graduated from high school. And I had no backups. In other words, the first HongPong server died almost exactly four years ago, and took with it the great contributions of everyone in that strange season of 2000-2001. It couldn't happen again, could it?
So I started looking around the various forums for a solution to a sudden filesystem corruption, one of the true hells of computing. To compound this, I hadn't backed up all the new HongPong site stuff, nor the Mysql databases that run the sites, in quite a while. Fortunately I had just exported this entire site a few days ago to put it into WordPress (as it is now - mostly purged of the spam), so if it truly crashed, the Bulk would be safe.
After reboots, I could come back to the low-level emergency maintenance fsck (file system check) shell, and from there I could READ the messed up drive, but not write to it without risking more damage. And I could see that most files seemed ok. But I couldn't get the file sharing, or Apache webserver, or MYSQL database running again, without risking wrecking it. And I couldn't figure out what was really wrong. The solution?
Install a brand new Gentoo Linux setup on another old hard drive I had sitting around, and then pull the old stuff of the messed-up drive in Read-Only mode. After I put the drive in, the handy BIOS error light told me something was dreadfully wrong and it wouldn't boot at all. I found that on a Dell you have to only set the 'cable select' ATA hard drive jumper pins - the machine automatically takes the last drive on the ATA cable to be the Master drive. So I did that but it was still stuck.
I had pulled out the new RAM earlier, but I'd put it back in by this point. Then I tried taking out one of them. It booted! I pulled that one out, and put the other in. It halted! When I put both in, it would boot, but if I switched them, it would halt. In other words, the Dell could detect the bad RAM when it's by itself, but NOT necessarily when it's with others, BUT this depended on their order.
So I returned the bad RAM to Tran Micro the next day, and they nicely exchanged for another one and tested it there in the store. It was OK, so I was on my way, and everything went smoothly afterwards. (Other than this incident of random bad RAM, Tran Micro are fine folks - this could happen anywhere - their service was all right)
I used the memtest86 memory checker on the Gentoo Linux install CD to Make Very Sure they were ok - i wish I'd done it earlier. So it took a few more hours, especially since when I installed Gentoo on this machine a year ago, I hardly took any notes about it. There are some weird things about the Dell machine - in particular, (some/all?) Dells have a strange first boot partition or /dev/hda1 in Linux parlance, which makes the Dell screen and some BIOS stuff happen. I think I destroyed this partition last time, and it's a huge pain in the ass to repair with floppy disks and stuff.
The problem is that Gentoo Linux install instructions tell you to put GRUB, the bootloader, on /dev/hda or /dev/hda1 , and this time I almost commanded grub-install /dev/hda before I caught myself. That would have taken hours to fix. Instead it must be on /dev/hda2 or /dev/hdb1. hda2 is I think automatically loaded up after the Dell thing is done. But I did it right, and so I was able to reboot Linux and finish installing the system.
Downloading & installing the key web programs was easily done with 'emerge apache php mod_php' and the correct USE flags. Other various things were properly updated and recompiled.
I was able to get back into the messed-up drive using read-only mode, which doesn't touch the filesystem. All the elements of the site easily copied to the new drive. Happily, the Mysql database -- which can really be a bitch to put together from a crashed system, if you don't export it cleanly first -- went over VERY easily. All I had to do was 'cp -av * /var/lib/mysql' from the old /var/lib/mysql. Then a reboot, plugging it back where it belongs in my bedroom, and All Systems [ OK ].
So now, in short, I have a TON of Actual Real Professional Work for both Politics in Minnesota and Computer Zone. I don't have time to say much else about the Gaza situation and so forth. sry!
Sorry we are temporarily offline. I purchased some more RAM to speed up the server and one of the chips was bad. But I didn't realize this right away, and then fsck got involved.... Please Stand by.
Best news of the day, Christopher Walken for President. "If you want to learn how to build a house, build a house. Don't ask anybody, just build a house." There you go. Clearly the best thing ever.
New York - Early today [August 9], actor Christopher Walken, 62, held a private conference at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York in which he announced his intentions to run for the Presidency of the United States in the 2008 Election.
Said the Queens native, “I have always been a follower of politics. My father was friends with the mayor of Schodack (NY) back in the 1940’s. We would walk the streets of Schodack and the people, they would wave to him. The children adored him. That is what I love to be, a man of respect and love.”
Sweet pwnage: "The Wrath of Khan's Spoiler". What happens when Captain Kirk just wants to read the new Harry Potter in peace? [spoiler warning: don't watch this if you want to read the new book] See also lindsaylohannekkid.ytmnd.com (Safe for work)
It's Gaza Time! What will the US do next with Israel?? This is full of interesting inside tidbits about how Rice is taking the leading role in presenting some kind of accomplishment, and now the Israelis & the US are eager to give Abbas some kind of goods so that he can
Stuff from Haaretz about Monday's tumultuous pullout events. Yoel Marcus reflects on Sharon's move, and his Farewell to the concept of Greater Israel (eretz Israel). Analysis: In speech of his life, Sharon looks to convey hope. "Sharon to nation: I had hoped to hold onto Netzarim forever." Two alternative scenarios of Radical Jewish or Palestinian attacks & what might happen. Most settler families in Northern Gaza agree to leave. They will not treat remaining protesters with 'kid gloves' if the residents actually get out of the way. 100 extremists attempt to march on Jerusalem's Temple Mount, as I predicted. "Still the same old Arik".
Dallas law cracks down on feeding homeless. If there's one thing we've got too much of today, it's clearly Compassion for the poor. Dammit!
Awesome bronze head of Bush!! (via Atrios)
Washington Post dramatically indicates that the U.S. is officially giving up on the high and mighty rhetoric on Iraq and just wants out: "U.S. Lowers Sights On What Can Be Achieved in Iraq" An interesting tidbit from Juan Cole on the state of affairs in Sunni country... It is very difficult to tell how things are shifting around at this level right now:
The Washington Post reports that the Sunni tribal leaders and the remnants of the Baath Party (Jaish Muhammad or Muhammad's Army) in Ramadi have decided to protect the city's small Shiite minority from a planned pogrom by the Sunni Salafis allied with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. I suspect the issue of protecting the Shiites has crystalized a power dispute in the city between the Salafis and the old tribal/Baath elite. I would not put a lot of hope in the split becoming permanent, since both groups would still cooperate against US troops. I wonder if the rumors of the shelling of a mosque reported by al-Zaman yesterday are Salafi propaganda to cover the fact that Sunnis are fighting each other?
DailyKos had stuff about this article about Democratic change these days: "The 'Netroots' Versus The Establishment".
Murray Waas is coming up with the goods on Rove:
Justice Department officials made the crucial decision in late 2003 to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the leak of the identity of undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame in large part because investigators had begun to specifically question the veracity of accounts provided to them by White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove, according to senior law enforcement officials.
Several of the federal investigators were also deeply concerned that then attorney general John Ashcroft was personally briefed regarding the details of at least one FBI interview with Rove, despite Ashcroft's own longstanding personal and political ties to Rove, the Voice has also learned. The same sources said Ashcroft was also told that investigators firmly believed that Rove had withheld important information from them during that FBI interview.
Waas also had a story that the FBI cleared Felt of the watergate leaks, proving that he couldn't have done the Deep Throat stuff alone.
Air Force colonel accused of defacing cars bearing pro-Bush bumper stickers. Man airlifted out of gorse bushes. "A man has been rescued by helicopter after being trapped in prickly gorse for two days." The Blogometer: looking at Cindy Sheehan coverage...
CHINA journey: In other news, Arthur Cheng is now headed for at the Neusoft Institute of 'Infomation' Technology in Chengdu, Sichuan province of China. Look at these excellent photos of the campus.
The government officially ordered Jewish settlers to leave Gaza today, and thousands refused to budge. Within 48 hours the forcible removal of everyone who hasn't yet left will begin, and it's anybody's guess as to what will happen. The following looks at some of the intersecting tactical, religious and sociological problems for Israel, including the very real threat of rebellion within the Israeli Defense Forces. It's a long post, but damn, this situation is complicated.
Right now, a confrontation with eight distinct militant sides or command groupings is about to materialize, and I can only guess at how the complex operation will play out among these forces: the Gazan Palestinian Authority and its paramilitaries [in particular Dahlan's people]; HAMAS; smaller militant organizations; hardline settlers and the YESHA Council of Settlements [YESHA an acronym for Judea Samaria Gaza]; radical Jewish militants [Kach/Kahanists] and possibly rebel IDF units from hesder yeshivas; the national Israel Defense Forces; the Israeli police; the more passive [generally more secular] Gaza settlers. Prime spots for English updates across the spectrum include ynet (Yedioth Ahronoth), Haaretz, Arutz Sheva, Jerusalem Post, israelinsider, DEBKA, IMRA, WAFA, Palestine Post, Palestine Report (PMC), JMCC, Palestine Chronicle, Indymedia Israel (open wire).
Northern West Bank is a closed military zone. Haaretz: Gaza sealed as disengagement begins:
Israel Defense Forces troops sealed off the Gaza Strip at midnight Sunday, marking the start of the withdrawal, the first time Israel will pull out of land Palestinians want for a future state. Forty-eight hours later, soldiers will begin forcibly removing those settlers remaining in the settlements.
Israeli authorities set up roadblocks across southern Israel and cut off bus service to the Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip on Sunday as they began final preparations to begin dismantling all 21 settlements inside Gaza.
As of Sunday, thousands of residents remained inside the settlements, vowing to resist their eviction. Other opponents of the pullout have threatened to hold massive demonstrations against the plan and to run the roadblock on the Gaza border to create chaos and torpedo the plan. Settler leaders were to lock the gates of some Gaza settlements Sunday to keep out the soldiers and police officers who are charged with handing out the eviction orders to residents.
In a parallel protest, dozens of police officers received telephone calls from people in the United States who identified themselves as members of the Chabad movement, asking the police to refuse to carry out evacuations, and to influence fellow officers to refuse, the radio reported. It said the police were outraged that their personal phone numbers were distributed to disengagement opponents abroad. [indicates rebellious forces are using key intelligence]
Harel is to command a force of more than 20,000 police and soldiers in the disengagement operation beginning this week. He turned aside media reports that soldiers at checkpoints had turned a blind eye to infiltrating protesters.
There are six tactical 'rings' of Israeli forces: "Yesha trying to foil pullout by keeping troops away from Gaza:"
Yesha Council settler leaders are instructing pullout opponents to drive in convoys to the Kissufim crossing, at the entrance to the Gaza Strip, and prevent security forces from reaching the settlements slated for evacuation.
[.....]The disengagement forces will be divided into six "rings." The first ring (combining both army and police) will deal with removing the settlers from their homes. The second ring, of Israel Defense Forces soldiers only, is charged with blocking the surrounding roads to prevent anti-withdrawal activists from reaching the settlement being evacuated. The third and fourth rings, all army, will defend both civilian and security forces from Palestinian attack. The fifth ring, mostly IDF soldiers, will patrol the Green Line to prevent activists from infiltrating the Strip from Israel. The sixth ring, consisting of police officers, will control traffic on Israeli roads in the western Negev near the Gaza border. And there is another ring, which no one wants to discuss. It is the "zero ring," which will deal with any violent standoff situations that arise. Brigadier General Amos Ben-Avraham, who is the commander of the division unit for this force, avoids the cameras. Senior officers who were willing to talk about it hope it will not be needed, but they know that is an unreasonable expectation.
Kfar Darom is packed with protesters, ready to resist. A settler with 15 supporters announced the establishment of a 'Jewish Authority' in Gaza independent of Israel and has forthcoming 'tactical secrets.' Just another ranting guy, but the rebellious/seditious political current is firmly entrenched. An excellent interactive graphic on the New York Times site indicates along one block of Neve Dekalim, which started when I did (1983), the long-term residents of its first block are mostly planning to stay put until the soldiers come around, although some have shipping containers set up. "Gush Katif settlers to lock gates to stop IDF entering"(earlier today) but more secular northern Gaza settlements are mostly empty already. Plans of resistance:
In the more hard-line settlements, people are reportedly planning to lock their doors and windows and chain themselves to heavy objects. People are being advised to continue resisting even after they have been put aboard buses, and to damage the bus and even set it on fire in order to put it out of commission.
The YESHA Council is orchestrating an outer ring of settler resistance, with settlers operating two more inner rings of defense to impede and possibly battle the IDF:
Residents have been told by leaders to store as much dry food as possible. According to plans issued by the various struggle headquarters, there will be three rings of opposition. The outer ring, under the charge of the Yesha Council of settlers, is to block the main arteries leading to the Kissufim crossing with tens of thousands of activists, who will face thousands of police and soldiers. The second group of activists intends to deploy between the settlements, and send as many people as possible to a settlement being evacuated. The headquarters of one organization, the National Home, has told members to bring wire-cutters to get through fences and move toward a settlement being evacuated, to avoid soldiers blocking the roads. "The goal is to create 20,000 fronts," a leaflet distributed in the Gush stated. Inside the settlements, illegal residents and settlers will reportedly attempt to sabotage vehicles and block roads. Detailed recommendations on how to deal with mounted police were posted at synagogues, including a suggestion to inject horses with the atropine syringe that comes in the gas-mask kit issued to Israelis, which would lead to its death.
It seems to me that the leadership of Tanzim, HAMAS, Islamic Jihad & the other militant organizations has every incentive to keep things tamped down during the process, but HAMAS will probably try to prove its potency by firing a few rockets and mortars. The police are already blaming the army for the massive infiltrations:
A combination of two main factors led to the failure: the army's overly generous policy of issuing visitor passes that allowed thousands to enter, hundreds of whom had come to stay; and soldiers manning the roadblocks who were soft on enforcement. False documents, hiding in car trunks or pestering the soldiers until they gave in all took their toll. The large number of infiltrators raises suspicions that soldiers sympathetic to settler ideology looked the other way as people illegally crossed the roadblocks.
By the middle of last week, increasing numbers of containers stood next to homes, especially in the secular settlements. Still, there are impressive numbers still there: social pressure in the Gush, honed over four and a half years of rocket fire, will not buckle to the Disengagement Administration until the last minute. [....] Hard-core resistance is expected in Kfar Darom, parts of Neveh Dekalim, Kerem Atzmona, Shirat Hayam and possibly Morag, where the largest number of infiltrators has settled in.
The army is expected to react especially harshly to resistance from this quarter, possibly as early as tomorrow, and will apparently be spearheaded by a Border Police brigade. The troops will approach the protesters unarmed, but they will be followed by trucks with clubs. [......]A particularly worrisome scenario involves possible extremist action, with security around Prime Minister Ariel Sharon particularly tight. But one settler climbing on a roof in Neveh Dekalim and shooting at Khan Yunis is enough to start a chain reaction, which will mean a withdrawal under Palestinian fire.
As long as this does not happen, the unknown in the equation is the Palestinian side. With the prize so close, the Palestinians seem to be restraining the terror organizations. The IDF hopes this will be the chance for Mahmoud Abbas' government to prove it is serious about preventing terror.
Haaretz editorializes that the settlers are preparing for war with the IDF:
Entire yeshivas have recently moved to Gush Katif, openly, with a permit, because of the weakness of the army and police. [....] The settlers are not the enemy, and the army is not preparing for war against them, said the chief of staff without understanding that that this equation is true in only one direction. The army is not preparing for war against the settlers, but the settlers are preparing and how.
This is the approach that Gush Emunim used for years, with great success: tears and pleas for mercy on one hand, adherence to the goal and willingness to cut through fences on the other, all while cultivating the belief that they are right, whereas the evacuating forces are merely doing the dirty work.
This frighteningly empathetic approach has led to repeated failures against the settlers throughout the decades since Sebastia [in Sinai], and it is liable to do so this time as well. Too many meetings between commanders and evacuees, too much coordination and too many heart-to-heart talks have weakened the army and strengthened the settlers. Thus while hundreds of permanent residents of Gush Katif are preparing to leave quietly, they are being replaced by thousands of opponents of the evacuation for whom the IDF is the avowed enemy. [.....] President Moshe Katsav's request for the evacuees' forgiveness and his statement that he has been impressed by their struggle also demonstrates that so far, the settlers have the upper hand.
Also they editorialize, "Beware the zealots," connecting the escalating internal conflict with the baseless anger that destroyed the Second Temple:
Now, less than 60 years after the land was won by the small band of people who broke into dance after the UN vote and then went off to fight a war of survival, the young country is repeating the event that long ago sealed its fate: The destruction of the Second Temple was not only the ruin of the physical Temple in Jerusalem, it was also the ruin of the national home. The actual destruction was carried out by foreigners, but it was the blind zealots, saturated with a megalomaniacal hunger for power, who presumed to lead the tiny Jewish state on their own stubborn path, turning their back on political reality and speaking in the name of a single principle: religion, according to their interpretation.
The zealotry of those who destroyed the Temple and the national home sprouted from the fundamentalist flower beds of the religious hierarchy, which cloaked itself in eternal power in the name of a jealous God, deaf to the world and refusing all compromise. In the struggle over the image and existence of that Jewish state, the zealots bested the yearners for peace. The former chose suicide, slaughter and exile, and sealed the fate of the entire Jewish people. Much to our horror, the third Jewish commonwealth now faces a challenge which draws its inspiration from similar sources.
The location is identical, and the balance of power between the state and the international community is similar. Once again, the fragile sovereignty of a state fighting for survival can be perceived. Once again, a stubborn, irresponsible, megalomaniacal group of zealous rabbis has arisen, kicking indiscriminately at the sovereignty of the state and at the chances for a normal, just life within the family of nations, and threatening to bring down the house if it does not get its way.
At first glance, Israel seems to be dealing with a problem similar to that of the Western democracies, who are deporting the religious extremists who threaten their sovereignty. But these countries, whether Christian or secular, are fighting Islam, while Israel is attempting to make its way in the world while threatened from within by the zealous leaders of Judaism - the root of the nation from which the state itself sprouted.
Tisha B'Av this year is therefore a day of deep spiritual reckoning. In light of the historical lesson that it evokes, the Jewish State must steel itself for the struggle it now faces, for the sake of its sovereignty and to prevent a third destruction of its home.
IDF chief of staff estimates 5000 thousand rightwing protesters have infiltrated the settlements, many of them young fellow settlers raised in the West Bank and indoctrinated in radical yeshivas. It is hard to say how violent the more extreme settlers may become, possibly including attacking nearby Palestinians to provoke an escalation, as they reportedly attacked Palestinian officials in January.
Israeli security organizations consider some IDF units organized from Hesder yeshivas in the West Bank as possibly seditious and likely to obey radical rabbi leadership over military orders. "Hesder yeshivas under fire":
IDF commanders are worried about the possibility of receiving hesder yeshiva soldiers because they may refuse orders,” said the head of IDF Personnel Directorate, major general Elazar Stern. Stern was addressing ultra-Orthodox soldiers who had just been drafted into the army.
Times profile on the settlers:
The Gaza settlers are made up largely of middle-class families with children, and their resistance is expected to be mostly passive. Soldiers and police may have to drag them from their homes, but clashes are considered unlikely.
But some settlers could resist more actively. And the infiltrators, many of them deeply religious teenagers or young adults from the West Bank, are seen as wild cards and could be more aggressive in confronting the security forces. In the Rafiah Yam settlement in southern Gaza, a resident torched his house, a minibus and a warehouse, Reuters reported. "I don't want to leave anything for the Palestinians," the resident, Yaakov Mazal-Tari, said. "They do not deserve it. I'm going to burn everything, and what I can't burn I will destroy."
There have been a lot of protests near the Al Aqsa/Temple Mount site lately. Also there will only be about 8,000 police available in the entire rest of Israel, down from the normal level of 28,000. This means a lot of potential mischief from thieves and everyday criminals, fanatics who might go after the Temple Mount/Al Aqsa site or other holy sites. Another confrontation at the Temple site like this one (or this little one) between young Muslims and the Israeli police, possibly egged on by Jewish or Christian fundamentalists, could easily escalate, and hardcore settlers have a strong incentive to do so.
The social/class component should be considered, as this Times update today describes how people sought better quality of life thru incentives, trapping them in a war zone:
Many of Neve Dekalim's residents came from neighboring working-class towns in southern Israel, seeing the move here as a step up the economic and social ladder. Government financial incentives meant they could buy more affordable and larger homes than inside Israel. The move also allowed them to build a community of religious Jews.
The community grew into the main commercial and municipal center for Gaza settlers. It has a gas station, a grocery store, four synagogues, health clinics, two seminaries and several schools and day care centers. The settlement borders the Palestinian town of Khan Yunis, where scores of mortar shells have been launched at Neve Dekalim.
Further betraying the sense of suburban calm, a hulking cement wall separates Khan Yunis from Neve Dekalim. The settlement is ringed by electric fencing and guarded by soldiers. At a recent prayer rally, about 2,000 people prayed and sang, asking God to intervene to help halt the government's plan to evacuate their town along with the 20 other Jewish settlements in Gaza. The mood here swings between despair and the hope that an 11th-hour miracle might yet occur.
The leadership of hesder yeshivas, an integral element of West Bank settlement strategy, have inserted whole groups of radicalized young teenagers into the Israeli military as fully organized units. Zeev Schiff in Haaretz on the danger of yeshiva unit rebellion inside the IDF:
The problem is that over the years other rabbis-civilians-have acquired a status that enables them to intervene in purely military matters. At the same time, there is a growing influence of civilian rabbis on the actions of extremist settlers. For example, when the theft of olives from Palestinian farmers became widespread, there were rabbis who gave a "religious green light" for these criminal acts. The infiltration of civilian rabbis into the IDF has been slow but steady. In the past, the settler leaders tried to influence the appointment of the head of Central Command, in whose territory most of the settlements are located. When they weren't happy with a head of Central Command, they tried to dictate to the defense minister when this commanding officer should not be invited to a joint meeting with them. Minister Moshe Arens was the one who rejected that demand.
The infiltration of the rabbis into the IDF has been carried out mainly by means of the hesder yeshivas (which combine Torah study and military service). There are 14 such yeshivas, and their students perform compulsory military service for a total of 16-18 months in all the rest of the time they study. For about two and a half years, their commanding officer is in effect the rabbi of the yeshiva. In addition, the rabbis of the hesder yeshivas established a "yeshiva committee" for themselves, which has been recognized by the IDF. The problem is that the committee is involved in making decisions such as which yeshiva should be recognized, who will be recognized as a yeshiva student, and where he will serve. This is not only intervention in the army on an organizational level it is also an attempt to determine its values.
This path has led to the phenomenon of refusal to serve. But even without the disengagement from the Gaza Strip, these rabbis are for the most part on a collision course with the military system. ..... The chief of staff and the rabbis are not in a situation where they have to conduct a dialogue. This dangerous phenomenon must be wiped out. Just as the generals should not interfere with what is happening in the rabbinical world, so the rabbis should not interfere with what is happening in the IDF. Had the opponents of the disengagement, which was approved by the Knesset, won their struggle, in the end we would have witnessed the rabbis' domination of the IDF agenda.
It's hard to say how the outcome of the withdrawal will be measured by the leadership of the eight forces above. The hardcore settlers and YESHA Council will find it a galvanizing event that will produce a more radicalized cadre of youngsters who will return to their West Bank settlements and redouble their efforts to prevent the Israeli people from withdrawing further. They will probably attack Palestinians in Hebron and near Tapuah, a hardcore settlement of neo-Kahanists outside Nablus in the northern West Bank. However, many less radical settlers would also like to 'cash out' of their entrapping West Bank mortgages like their Gaza brethren, and leaving Gaza will increase pressure to help West Bank moderate settlers finance their departure.
The Israeli Defense Forces and the Israeli Border Police will finally be relieved of the onerous task of defending pointless irregular settlement positions under constant Palestinian bombardment, a key reason that Israel's settlement policy is detrimental to its security, as a former Meretz MK Prof. Galia Golan once explained to me. However this means they could be more free to conduct scorched-earth Defensive Shield type operations, while bulldozing new swaths around West Bank settlements such as Ariel and Maale Adumim, that Sharon has promised to hang on to (in keeping with his long-term implementation of the 'Allon Plan,' nearby the Orwellian 'separation' fence line - please look at fence satellite images for cognitive dissonance between geography and morality)
The Likud party is probably going to splinter in some way, with Netanyahu challenging Sharon. Polls show that Netanyahu has the advantage in a primary over Sharon, but a "big bang" realignment, with Sharon leading a bloc combined with Josef Lapid of the secular centrist Shinui Party and Shimon Peres of Labor could take a commanding swath of the Knesset, strongly defeating a Likud led by Netanyahu.
The PA and HAMAS are competing to claim credit for the Israeli move, like any other politicians would. The people at DEBKA are claiming that Al-Qaeda style militants will move into Gaza (take them with a grain of salt) and also, if Lebanon is truly demilitarized the militants based there might shift into Gaza. HAMAS would dearly like to turn settlement sites into their own enclaves, but wealthy Gulf Arabs also want to put together large development projects.
I'd like to wish the Palestinians and Israelis with the best of luck in crushing the wills of their violent and recalcitrant internal rivals, in the hopes that this withdrawal can stabilize and eventually reverse the complex and violent process of the Israeli occupation and gradual annexation of the Palestinian occupied territories. It's one hell of a brave step, without a peace treaty. It's too important to fail.
Ok so Andrew has me doing a couple websites now - the front end of a party supply company site, and more complex sort of social services type site. So there's a lot to do for the next few days. Also Arthur Cheng is going off to China tomorrow, so we have to kick it before he returns to the Great Red Middle Kingdom. So I need to clear out these links to free the RAM for web stuff... Enjoy.
Outer Space. Real sweet M8/Lagoon Nebula photograph. From NASA. Congrats to the shuttle folks on patching their stuff and using the International Space Station. Even though the recent affair looked like a mess, they'll learn quite a bit about how to do space patching missions in the future. "How to hack yr craft in space" is something the human race will have to figure out sooner or later. It's a pity, I used to take such an interest in Out There, until this ball suddenly seemed like a much larger problem.
The Next War. "War Plans Drafted to Counter Terror Attacks in U.S." "No Sympathy for the Neocons" by Raimondo, good stuff. Again, here's that creepy report about Cheney requesting nuclear war plans to nuke Iran after a random terror attack, committed by someone, anyone. I recommend this Federation of American Scientists site with all kinds of cool docs about Iran's nuclear program, including the COOLEST BIBLIOGRAPHY EVER:
Journal of Science of the University of Tehran, 1998, Vol. 3, p21-37, A. Pazirandeh
Research Reactor Fuel Element Leak Testing Using Delayed Neutron Counting
Annals of Nuclear Energy, 1999, Vol. 26, p1601-10, H. Khalafi
Calculational Tools to Conduct Experimental Optimization in Tehran Research Reactor
Nuclear Science Journal, 1999, Vol. 36, p42-50, M.Roshan Zamir
Design of the Tehran Research Reactor Spent Fuel Storage
Annals of Nuclear Energy, 2002, Vol. 29, p1591-96, M. Zaker
Effective Delayed Neutron Fraction and Prompt Neutron Lifetime of Tehran Research Reactor
Annals of Nuclear Energy, 2002, Vol. 29, p1989-2000, M.B. Ghofrani and S.A. Damghani
Determination of the Safety Importance of Systems of the Tehran Research Reactor Using a PSA Method
Annals of Nuclear Energy, 2003, Vol. 30, p63-80, M. Boroushaki, M.B. Ghofrani, C. Lucas and M.J. Yazdanpanah
An Intelligent Reactor Core Controller for Load Following Operations, Using Recurrent Neural Networks and Fuzzy Systems
Iranian Journal of Physics Research, 2004, Vol. 4, p13-31, R.I. Najafabadi, R.K. Faegh and H. Afrideh
Measurment and Calculation of High Energy Neutron Flux in Aluminum, Graphite, Water and Paraffin Assembly
Annals of Nuclear Energy, 2005, Vol. 32, p588-605, H. Arab-Alibek and S. Setayeshi
Adaptive Control of a PWR Core Power Using Neural Networks
Scientific Bulletin of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, 1998, Vol. 18, p9-17, A.A. Hosseini, H. Mansuri and R. Mahmudi
Casting and Irradiation Studies of 8001 Series of Aluminum Alloys for Nuclear Research Reactor Structural Applications
Progress in Nuclear Energy, 2004, Vol. 44, p331-45, P. Parvin, B. Sajad, K. Silakhori, M. Hooshvar and Z. Zamanipour
Molecular Laser Isotope Separation vervus Atomic Vapor Laser Isotope Separation
I think we harbor the fantasy that all these people have no right to do their research, but hopefully something as prosaic as these journal articles helps illustrate that they are well integrated with the global nuclear research community and it can't be wished away. Come on, wouldn't it be Totally Badass to design neural networks to manage an Iranian nuclear power plant?
Ledeen and his uncle Izzy: A lot of neocons were Trotskyists, dontcha know?
Think Tankery: "Rich Liberals Vow to Fund Think Tanks." Also "Bear 'expert' devoured by bears." roughly the same stuff. "Britney 'oblivious' to shooting."
Iraq. I am really appalled that Bush is taking a FIVE WEEK VACATION while everything is going to hell. Fortunately, the appearance of pissed off mom of a deceased soldier Casey Sheehan threatens to turn the entire vacation into a PR disaster for Bush. She has every right to do this, she's giving out dozens of interviews and reframing the whole situation. Top Notch. A whole little tent city of angry veterans families might materialize, and wouldn't that be excellent? Spending August on Caesar's Doorstep, not bad at all.
A weird sort of coup dislodged the US-appointed mayor of Baghdad with a SCIRI guy. how many insurgents?
Going to court yesterday made this report from Raed Jarrar's brother, Khalid, about getting arrested by the New Mukhabarat (Iraqi secret police) all the more vivid. Khalid basically got picked up after surfing a couple websites at a university Internet cafe, and got tossed in the dungeons of the Interior Ministry, now of the refurbished Mean Shiite sort, and his family didn't know where he was for several days. All sorts of guys, mostly Sunnis, are sitting around, getting tortured, accused of having terrorist infrastructures, while in reality they don't know what the hell is going on. Harsh.
They started by asking me: “What’s the connection between you and the London Bombs?” !!!
And I was like: “haaaaa???!!.”. I said: “London Bombs???! Nothing!”
BANG!!
A heavy hand landed on my neck, my brain was too busy to feel the pain, I felt my neck numbing for a while.
“SPEAAAK” he shouted.
“Turn around” he yelled.
I turned, facing the room now, but not seeing anything other than my nose and the shoes of the person who was interrogating me, standing so close.
“Why do you have a beard?” he asked.
“Because the prophet...” (I was trying to tell him that prophet Mohammad had one, and that I have one because I love to look like him...)
BANG
He slapped me on the face. It made a loud noise that the room became dead-silent for some seconds….
“May the prophet curse you” he shouted.
Again, my brain didn’t respond to the pain signals, I didn’t feel it.
For the next few hours, they asked me questions like “who are the other members of our terrorist cell, where does your fund come from? What operations did you have?”
“What do you have against Shia?”
I said: “nothing, my mother is Shia!”
He said” what do you have against Kurds? Why don’t you go blow yourself up and kill Kurds?”
I said: “Because God says in Quran…” (I was trying to tell him a part of Quran where God orders us not to kill any innocent soul) he interrupted me shouting, “We know Quran better than you”.
“My best friend is Kurdish!” I said.
“Of course he is, so that you can get information about Kurds from him, right?” he answered.
Nothing I said seemed to make sense to them. And nothing they said makes sense to anyone in the world.
Then finally I understood why I was there, after few hours. Security guards at the university had printed out all the websites I was reading while I was online there. They were accusing me of “reading terrorism sites” and “having communications with foreign terrorists”.
“Do you know what these pages are?”
I looked at them and figured out they were the comment section of Raed in the Middle!!
[.......]
I was so lucky that I was taken to the Mokhabarat directly. Usually you have to go through a police station or a center of the national guards to get there, where the standard procedure of torturing is hanging people upside down and beating them with cables for hours, pinching their bodies with electrical drills, burning them with hot water, ripping out their finger nails, breaking bones, using acids on the wounds after whipping them, the dead bodies that are found in the dumpsters in Baghdad even had their eyes taken out of them, and a lot of these things happened with people that I know, or with people that were detained with the people that were with me in this jail, before they were brought here, and the list of torturing techniques is long, and you don’t want to hear them or know about them if you want to sleep at night.
In one of the floors in the same building, there is another prison, a bigger one called “The Palace of Hospitality” (doesn’t this remind you of 1984? The ministry of love and stuff?) Where recently a father and his son were arrested, and the son died at night because his rips were broken after they beat him, and then they spelled hot water on his body, he kept moaning of pain for the whole night, said Abo Ayid, who slept right beside him, and then he died. I’ll tell you more about Abu Ayid in the end.
The one thing in common between all the people that were there is that almost all of them were Sunnis. Interrogators told one of the prisoners during an interrogation session “you Sunnis are all terrorists” and during my interrogation, I heard a lot of racist remarks and questions. The Shia Iraqis who were there were mostly accused of non-terrorism crimes, like stealing, carjacking, etc…
It goes on and on, very intense. Glad he's ok, but it's hard to hear about the security apparatus shearing the state into pieces.
Also Riverbend from Baghdad hasn't had any entries since July 15. There are often big gaps in Riverbend's blog, but you always wonder if something horrible hasn't happened, as it regularly does. I would recommend spending awhile both Khalid Jarrar's 'secrets in Baghdad' and Riverbend's 'Baghdad Burning'. I don't have the words to describe the depth of the writing...
Juan Cole on the problems of the Japanese mission in Iraq, where it would appear that the Sadr supporters in their bit of the south are pissed off with the SCIRI/Badr Corps people. Also Hakim of SCIRI officially wants a 'Sumer' super-province in the south, which would negotiate as a bloc with the central government, keeping a lot of the revenue from the southern oil fields, and as a regional counterweight to 'Kurdistan.' This would appear to be a formal manifestation of the fracturing of the country. The question is, can we get a catchy title for Sunni Anbar and other bits? How about "Arabian Texas"?
The great Bush Vacation Conspiracy and the 1999 Russian Apartment building bombings: nathan x over at 911fraud.blogspot.com suggests that whenever Bush takes his August vacations, terror attacks are likely to follow. But he believes that there was a 9/11 coverup and so forth, roughly along the lines of the 9/11 conspiracy theory laid out by the Prison Planet people. I think it's more likely that Bush just doesn't feel like reading goddamn memos like "Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in U.S." because he needs to Cut the Brush!! nathan also some other tales/stories/whatever label you want about governments performing terror strikes to manipulate the political situation. One particular site, terror99.ru, chronicles the very suspicious 1999 Russian apartment building bombings and the strange investigation that followed. I think that particular case is especially weird.
However I will take a moment to clarify that I don't believe there was a Grand 9/11 coverup/'false flag' conspiracy (although 50% of New Yorkers are kinda suspicious about it), nor do I think that the London bombing was like that, despite what the conspiracy folks (let's say tinfoilhatvolken) are saying now. On the other hand, very often governments generate terrorist-paramilitary style organizations for various ends, such as the international Islamic front in late 1970s Afghanistan, Israel's bastard child, Hamas, as well as fortifying more concrete organizations like the heroin-laden Kosovo Liberation Army. Would Russia's FSB blow up some stuff to galvanize the withering Russian public to support crushing separatists at Russia's crumbling edges? (I'm still curious about the 9/11 insider trading, but who knows?)
I just don't know. (and far be it from me to risk antagonizing the New KGB, the New Mukhabarat, and the Chinese People's Liberation Army in one mere post). But I'll always enjoy a good yarn. I always try to pass things like this through by John Le Carre/'Absolute Friends' filter before I consider them as Truth. Anyway, there is far too much crazy stuff in the Mundane World to require me to dwell on the more Grand Esoteric Plots.
The 9/11 Israeli Art Student mystery: Speaking of Grand Plots, the weirdly conspiratorial journalist Wayne Madsen has a really enormous story about the strange tale of the Israelis arrested selling art around secure installations in the U.S. and Canada, possibly acting as Mossad agents and shadowing the 9/11 hijackers in several cities. I have trouble judging Madsen's credibility, considering stories like his exciting claims that secret Saudi funds and BCCI-linked offshore cash financed fixing the vote in Ohio last year. Real hard to believe. But still, at the least people like Madsen offer a different kind of prism to evaluate the world. But I was kind of surprised to see a more mainstream guy like James Wolcott announced that he added Madsen's site to his blogroll. So maybe he's a little more credible. Madsen has lots about the AIPAC thing, and definitely accuses Michael Ledeen of being involved.
AIPAC Fun! So now we may add Mossad to the list of intel agencies that should be annoyed today. Perhaps they would like to read Dreyfuss' report on the AIPAC scandal as well. Naughty, everyone's talking about it. Corn says it's Bad News for Rove.
Likud ready to split? With Netanyahu out, former Jerusalem Mayor and Sharon loyalist Ehud Olmert is relatively more important, and has said that Israel is not trying to trade Gaza in order to keep West Bank settlements. I don't know how far that will stick, but it is pretty much the opposite of what Netanyahu says all the time. "Gaza Pullout threatens to split Israel's ruling party."
Interesting stuff from Norman Solomon: War Made Easy, methods of propaganda, etc. Also a Solomon bit about a jailed soldier, Kevin Benderman, who refused to go to Iraq. Although I can't say if this sentiment is legal in such a day and age, (especially in Britannia) I also believe that it is very legitimate for a soldier to fight hard to stay home, if for no other justification than that we invaded that country because of knowingly fabricated intelligence, and those implicated in the Pentagon are still in charge of setting the disastrous policies that the military's Bendermans would have to carry out.
Random: Also check out inside Bush's weird Global Democracy movement. Coldtype.net had a lot of sweet essays about the war and such from Chomsky, Tariq Ali, Solomon, Jim Lobe and others. The Lobe one, in particular, outlines the neocon intelligence fabricating (PDF) with excellent detail.
Safari Crashed so I am dumping in the headlines I wanted to put: "Abu Mazen quietly plans a revolution: He wants to be president, too." The bus shooter case is now a lynching, says Haaretz, and a TV station showed footage of it. And so it's a nasty situation. Talk of the connections between Palestinian security forces, corrupt officials, the Israelis and militants/terrorists, in other words the Robin Hoods of Gaza. Netanyahu is plotting something. So would leaving Gaza truly equal the End of the Occupation? what does that say about efforts to make the West Bank arrangement seem "Normal"?
And that is all.
A most unusual day. I went to the St. Paul City Hall/Ramsey County Courthouse, a building with incredible, Gotham-like style in the lobby. But our adventure with the Robed branch of government was on the 14th floor.
As most people reading this probably know, I was arrested along with a number of other Macalester students on the evening of my 22nd birthday, May 11, 2005, outside one of the cottages at Mac, in a weird and improbable incident with police from St. Paul, Minneapolis and the freakin airport. I was charged with Obstructing a Legal Process with Force, and my police report is an exciting work of fiction, although for entertainment the report of Mike Dannenburg's 'threatening' clipboard-wielding is a laugh Riot (in the 3rd degree).
I believe these reports are a matter of the public record, and down the line I'll probably post them here on the site.
I can't really get into main details of the incident & our current situation. So now we have three lawyers, and are trying to get the case dismissed. Today we arranged to have another hearing called a Florence hearing, with witnesses (some seniors, for us, and possibly cops, for the city), sometime in early September. Also the judge ordered the prosecution to produce the digital pictures I was taking as I was arrested a week before the hearing. I am eagerly looking forward to getting them back.
That was pretty much all that happened downtown today. After things wrapped up, Andrew from Computer Zone Consulting called me up, and it sounds like I have finally got some more web developing projects to do.
I went out to see the family in Hudson this afternoon, because my dad got the job he was after at Blue Cross Blue Shield of MN today. My sister Sasha just started at the Hudson Target store. My brother Johnny 'Cakes' is a counselor at YMCA Camp Warren right now, and my mom looks after a space at Abigail Page Antiques in downtown Hudson.
As far as I can tell, this is the first time that the entire Feidt family has been employed at once. Suddenly that horrible Abyss we call the Bush Economy seems a little further off.
So when I get back from this evening with the family I discover that Sarah Janecek of the ol' Politics in Minnesota gig has left me an exciting message that I've got some work to do. In one day I shift from itinerant Selby dweller to dual employment, and my dad is set with a salary again (and a bit of a raise). It has been a most excellent day, and I must sign off to get some rest, because it seems like things may gear up Real Well tomorrow.
So apparently former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds processed some wiretaps that indicated House Speaker Dennis Hastert was getting huge sums of money from shadowy Turks to implement pro-Turkish policies. That's not the sort of thing that simplifies your day, assuming it's true. There's a big story in Vanity Fair about it, and a summarization via Corporate Crime Reporter. It seems exciting but I don't have any way to know if it's truly going to pan out.
Corporate Crime Reporter: "Vanity Fair: Turks Boasted of Payments to Hastert:"
Turkish officials boasted of giving “tens of thousands of dollars in surreptious payments” to House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Illinois) in exchange for political favors.
That allegation is contained a profile of Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) whistleblower Sibel Edmonds in the current issue of Vanity Fair magazine.
The article, “An Inconvenient Patriot,” by British writer David Rose, reports that Edmonds was asked to listen to wiretaps as part of what appeared to be an FBI public corruption probe into bribes paid to members of Congress – both Democrat and Republican.
Rose, citing “some of the wiretaps,” reports that “the FBI’s targets had arranged for tens of thousands of dollars to be paid to Hastert’s campaign funds in small checks.”
The article notes that under Federal Election Commission rules, “donations of less than $200 are not required to be itemized in public filings.”
The article reports that Edmonds has given confidential testimony on several occasions – to congressional staffers, to the Inspector General, and to staff from the 9/11 commission.
“Edmonds reportedly added that the recordings also contained repeated references to Hastert’s flip-flop, in the fall of 2000" to “the continuing campaign to have Congress designate the killings of Armenians in Turkey between 1915 and 1923 as genocide.”
Worth following. The ACLU, who has been helping Edmonds out, point out that this case has major ramifications for people trying to blow the whistle on crappy government practices and general nastiness (crimes?), and urges the Supreme Court to look at it:
Edmonds' case is not an isolated incident," said ACLU Associate Legal Director Ann Beeson. "The federal government is routinely retaliating against government employees who uncover weaknesses in our ability to prevent terrorist attacks or protect public safety."
[....]The ACLU is also asking the Supreme Court to reverse the D.C. appeals court's decision to exclude the press and public from the court hearing of Edmonds' case in April. The appeals court closed the hearing at the eleventh hour without any specific findings that secrecy was necessary. In fact, the government had agreed to argue the case in public. A media consortium that included The New York Times , The Washington Post , and CNN intervened in the case to object to the closure.
Edmonds, a former Middle Eastern language specialist hired by the FBI shortly after 9/11, was fired in 2002 and filed a lawsuit later that year challenging the retaliatory dismissal.
Her ordeal is highlighted in a 10-page article about whistleblowers in the September 2005 issue of Vanity Fair which links Edmonds' allegations and the subsequent retaliation to possible "illicit activity involving Turkish nationals" and a high-level member of Congress. The ACLU said the article, titled "An Inconvenient Patriot," further undercuts the government's claim that the case can't be litigated because certain information is secret.
In addition, a report by the Inspector General, made public in January 2005, contains a tremendous amount of detail about Edmonds' job, the structure of the FBI translation unit , and the substance of her allegations. The report concluded that Edmonds' whistleblower allegations were "the most significant factor" in the FBI's decision to terminate her.
The outcome in Edmonds' case could significantly impact the government's ability to rely on secrecy to avoid accountability in future cases, the ACLU said, including one pending case charging the government with "rendering" detainees to be tortured.
(more ACLU stuff about the course of the case here)
"Bombs Becoming Biggest Killers in Iraq." "Insurgents in western Iraq town prove an elusive enemy for Marines". "Syria rejects US blame for Iraq's unrest." Someone kills Chalabi's cousin. More about the growing sense of Kurdish separatism, which leads us to the problem that Kirkuk is Really a Tinderbox:
Tension was rising Saturday in the oil-rich Iraqi city of Kirkuk as residents say they fear an outbreak of civil war among the Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen.
Local officials in the northern city said a crisis erupted when hundreds of Kurds, accompanied by National Guards, began distributing residential lands to ethnic Kurds who were allegedly expelled from the area under the former regime of Saddam Hussein.
Turkmen sources in Kirkuk said these lands belonged to their own ethnic people before the former regime pushed them out or executed their members, after which the lands were excavated with bulldozers.
The story of murdered reporter Steven Vincent in Iraq is quite sad, but it has been suggested in the Telegraph that he was not killed merely for criticizing hardcore Shiite police behavior. Apparently no one claimed responsibility for his killing, which possibly had something to do with sleeping with his slain Iraqi interpreter, perhaps some kind of honor killing.
It would appear that Blair has decided to cut off some undesirable chunks of free speech in Britannia and push for treason against uppity Muslim clerics. Also, apparently you can't protest within a half-mile of Parliament without a license anymore due to the Serious Organized Crime and Police Act. Protesters have gotten arrested. However, Brian Haw, a dude I personally encountered outside Parliament last spring, has been sitting there since June 2001, and apparently his post has been grandfathered in. As he tartly put it within his unyielding stream-of-consciousness yowling at the government:
As the arrests were being made he shouted to police: "Officer address your heart, officer why are you here?"
Speaking about the protest on Sunday, he said: "I'm the last of the Mohicans, I'm the last of the Great British.
"My fellow compatriots have been denied a voice. I'm outraged by this, I'm outraged that the police are busy chasing old ladies with peace signs down Whitehall when there are bombs going off in London."
How depressing, I really expected better from the folks that brought us such fine traditions of free speech.
"Europe plays nuclear poker with Iran," some pretty good stuff from an Iranian based in India.
Mozilla Foundation is metastasizing into Mozilla (for-profit) Corporation. This is not necessarily bad, so I hope they stay smart. They are still on the open source path, but perhaps now they have ideas for making more money, which can be turned back into development. People ought to keep open minds about the various evolving ways to join open source software and capitalism together.
On a totally unrelated subject, Joel Stein's comparison of the trendiness index for Scientology and Kabbalah is pretty funny. He's very much after the K-Hotties...
It's really only a few days until the pullout (and hell, I'm going to court on Wednesday, too) so the next few days will surely be interesting. Finance Minister Netanyahu ditched out of Sharon's cabinet, pandering to the nasty rightwing of the Likud, as he's a disturbing racist who wants to gain a great many West Bank settlements, as he's proven.
An Israeli website posted an article claiming that Israeli Arabs killed the Shfaram bus shooter, Eden Natan-Zada, after he had been handcuffed by the Israeli police, but now the Arab community wishes to conceal an impromptu mob killing. The evidence for this is apparently that Natan-Zada was handcuffed, as photos seem to indicate.
[Hadash MK Muhammad] Barakeh claimed that the soldier was hit to prevent him from killing more people and denied that he was murdered after being handcuffed. "We're speaking about self-defense. The man tried to exchange his ammunition cartridge and these were the seconds given to overpower him. People tried to neutralize him. That's it."
However, Shfaram's security officer, Jamal Aliam, told Army Radio that Zada had been attacked by dozens after he had been handcuffed and subdued by police. Photographs from the scene show the body of Natan-Zada with his hand manacled. Unless he was handcuffed after death, he could have posed no threat. The photographic evidence indicates that Barakeh was lying and demands further investigation.
Channel Two screened still photos of Natan-Zada on the bus with his hands manacled and bound by his shirt, still alive, and then several minutes later, dead, after "dozens" of local Arabs overwhelmed the few policemen on the bus assaulted the defenseless prisoners with blows and objects.
This would be the perspective from 'israelinsider,' which we could more accurately term 'israelinciter' based on the inflammatory ramblings of their far right opinion section. For example, the spokesman of the hardcore Hebron settlement has a regular slot, and he claims that Sharon is the real terrorist for trying to pull out:
Such an act [the bus shooting] definitely cannot be condoned. Shooting people is not a solution to the problems faced by Israeli society, whether they be the conflicts between Israelis and Israelis, or the conflict between Jews and Arabs, between Israel and the Arabs. In fact, despite the fact that thousands of Israelis are legally armed, (including most residents of Judea, Samaria and Gaza), the number of Jews who have taken the law into their own hands is miniscule. And this, despite the thousands of Jews attacked, wounded, maimed and murdered by Arabs, year after year.
[.....]
These events -- Natan-Zada, Gush Katif and the Northern Shomron [withdrawals], Cytrin, and other such atrocities -- are all symptoms of the sickness which has invaded our collective body, and is eating at us from the inside. Eden Natan-Zada was not a terrorist -- he was a victim of real terror -- terror initiated by Ariel Sharon and his cronies. They are responsible for the last week's attack -- they are the essence of the cancer destroying the State of Israel. They are the real terrorists.
Of course, as a leading settler he knows full well that the settler movement has been taking the law into its own hands, employing direct violence to steal chunks of land such as downtown Hebron at a regular pace. (a couple maps)
On a very opposing view, Haaretz editorializes harshly against the settlers whose radical ideologies gave rise to the bus shooter:
All these "rotten apples," whom their rabbis and leaders call "quality youth," were brought up on extreme national religious fundamentalism, which, with the support of the state, honed the Torah of Israel into an evil and vengeful sword. The attempt to describe the murderer as "newly religious," and therefore lacking understanding, reflects more than anything else the racist arrogance of the rabbis. All who are familiar with their sermons, their one- dimensional interpretation of halakha, cannot help but be infuriated by this ugly position.
For more than 30 years now, the incitement of the Yesha rabbis has been frothing from the weekly Torah portion commentaries distributed in synagogues, from public classes, yeshiva high schools and hesder yeshivas (whose students combine Torah study with army service) and in bar mitzvah and wedding sermons. They, who turned the zealous biblical murderer Phineas into a cultural hero, turned the removal and destruction of the people of conquered Canaan into a paragon and the construction of the Temple into the sanctification of the divine name in our time, cannot now wash their hands. The hatred of Arabs and their identification with the biblical arch-enemy Amalek, the aspiration to expel them "voluntarily" from the land that is sacred to the Jews, or even to destroy them, is regularly coded in their sermons and writings. The preachers are not marginal or lunatic; they are the pillars of the settlement communities, conducting an ostensibly restrained dialogue with the police and the army that is full of the "love of Israel," as if they themselves had not led the incited masses to a violent clash. The murder in Shfaram made clear, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that the final line has been crossed. The government of Israel must now start applying the law to those who have mocked it for so many years. Kach and Kahane Hai, the settlement of Tapuah and other dangerous centers are not negotiating partners; they, their rabbis and the outer circles that nourish them must be dealt with with a strong hand.
Theres another rightwing israelinsider bit about how Britain will erode because of the Muslim fifth column, and of course currents of antisemitism cause the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to be portrayed Totally Wrong in the UK. Sharon intends to lock up Jewish extremists without trial in 'administrative detentions.'
On the flip side, Electronic Intifada's Hasan Abu Nimah suggests that the whole truce is just a tool for the Israelis to legitimize further annexation/colonization plans.
Israel never wanted to be a party to any discussion leading to a truce that would tie its hands. It considered the matter a purely internal Palestinian affair, because the media had already saturated the airwaves with the notion that any violence was solely the responsibility of the Palestinians. A truce, therefore, was only required from them. The Israelis also wanted the truce to delegitimize any Palestinian opposition, not only to the deepening occupation, but also to any Israeli plans for further expansion and colonisation. The truce, which Israel never recognized and never promised to observe -- a promise which it strictly kept -- was needed to give it the time to complete its plans of annexation, the creation of new facts on the ground, and the consolidation of its war gains. In simple terms, the truce gave Israel freedom of action at no cost, and certainly at no risk.
[.....]The truce was bound to collapse sooner or later, although all efforts will now be made to save it, first because it was meant to hide the problem rather than resolve it, and second because it was superimposed on top of a minefield of atrocities, aggression and injustice. None of those powers who struggled for the truce did one meaningful thing to make it into what it should be, the prerequisite for political discussions to end the Israeli occupation in its entirety, not just the bits Israel has grown tired of.
The Presbyterian Church intends to pressure some major US corporations into ceasing their work profiting from supporting the Israeli military and the myriad processes of the occupation. (Haaretz on it)
The companies include ITT Industries and United Technologies, which supply communication equipment and helicopters to the Israeli military; Caterpillar, whose equipment is used in Palestinian home demolition and the building of settlements; and Motorola, which provides military wireless communications and invests in Israeli cellphone firms, which are alleged to be sidestepping license requirements and undermining Palestinian businesses.
Back to the weirder segment of Israeli news sources, the mysterious people at Debkafile believe that al Qaeda will sweep into the Sinai and Gaza after the withdrawal, setting the stage for a Grand Confrontation:
In the article in the opposite column, DEBKA-Net-Weekly and DEBKAfile’s terrorism experts offer new information on how al Qaeda is getting organized for action in the Middle East. The world Islamist organization is now active not only in Sinai south of Israel, but also in Jordan across from the Jewish state’s heartland, in the north in the Levant and among the Palestinians who live cheek to jowl with Israelis.
Israeli officials are so busy second-guessing Hamas and trying to decide whether the radical Muslim group will shoot or hold its fire during the pull-backs that no one thinks of asking what will happen after it is over, when Al Qaeda’s bombers move over from Iraq – and from Sinai - to join forces with the Hamas and likeminded Palestinian terror groups sworn to destroy Israel - the Jihad Islami, and the radical Palestinian fronts.
[.....]Now, in July 2005, DEBKAfile’s counter-terror analysts believe that, as soon as the last Israeli leaves the Gaza Strip towards the end of the year, and the northern West Bank in early 2006, al Qaeda’s networks will move in.
Also interesting from DEBKA: "How Much Will Sharon Fork out for a Favorable Security Council Resolution?" and "Al Qaeda's Appearance in Gaza is a Dangerous New Terrorist Manifestation." I am inclined to see this as a lot of hot air. You have to take DEBKA with a grain of salt, to be sure, such as this exciting report that "Osama bin Laden Looks Like Heading for Iraq."
Ok, a couple more things from israelinsider: Aaron Lerner describes how disengagement is so very bad. Some settler rabbi from Cleveland articulates a (metaphorical) conspiracy theory about how the Yesha Council is a puppet of the Israeli government. Crazy, as well as this odd remark from some Golan Heights mom regarding the bus shooter:
Could it also be that the highly politicized General Security Services was, once again, up to their shenanigans, and their plans either succeeded or backfired (one never really knows)?
A Gaza settler teacher/spokeswoman calls for more to join her for the Gush Katif showdown:
To my fellow Jews? Move, move towards Gush Katif. Do not let Gush Katif fall. Do not throw in the towel. If your leaders let Gush Katif fall, Yehuda and Shomron [West Bank settlements] will fall. All of Israel will fall. We need you by the thousands. Get here.
And of course "Orange Orit" says this is really another Pogrom:
I wonder what kind of peace can transpire from such cruelty and insensitivity. The expulsion is almost worse than your standard Jewish pogrom because in this case the expulsion is being carried out by people who are purported to love you, to take care of you, to protect you. Only a cynical, hateful, merciless world -- Jewish and non -- can watch and sanction such a subtle, sly yet deadening horror.
The story has quickly made the rounds that the incredibly lame lead singer of Creed (Scott Stapp is his name, I forgot) was tricked by some kids into going to a Denny's in Gainesville, Florida, in a desperate attempt to fulfill an airport bar booty call.
Anyway, so the guy who was so spiritually affected by The Passion of the Christ is now hightailing it to Gainesville to tag a piece of ass he met in an airport bar. And he's having his ghettotastic hootchie skanky Jersey girl sleaze of a sister drive him. Yes, Creed is making his sister drive him to the Gainesville Denny's for a booty call.
So this group from the party makes it over to Denny's, strategically choosing places all around the Denny's so that we can watch what goes down. It's 3am on a Friday, so of course the place is packed with drunk kids getting out of the bars, who have no idea what they're about to be in for. Jeanine, Heather, and I all have prime seating-- we're directly next to the booth with the girl who has been talking to Creed, as well as her 5 friends who are all in on the joke and have been planning extra embarrassing things to do to him. The girl who is keeping track of him via cell phone convos lets me know that Creed has been in fine form so far tonight. Here is how one of the conversations went:
Creed: "Do you have an acoustic guitar with you in Gainesville?"
Her: "Um, yeah."
Creed: "Good, maybe you can help me write my new hit single!"
Me, after hearing the story: "I applaud your ability not to vomit at that."
The photos are here, and we have a few further details about receipts for a GF's boob job, his fondness for cocaine, and drunken behavior on the plane.
1. He met my friend in an airport bar IN Orlando. He was kicked out of the bar for drinking too much and later kicked off of his plane for being disorderly. He, being completely self absorbed, didn't stop to think that the girl he met in the airport bar might, just might, have boarded a plane already. When he called my cell phone, thinking it was her, he couldn't understand why "she" was not still in Orlando. That's where the fun began.
2. He did not leave after being punk'd at Denny's. It was not until the following morning did he realize he had been tricked. He made me and my friend drive him to where the girl supposedly lived to look for her (his ego was hurt THAT badly.)
3. Someone followed us from Denny's (an ACTUAL fan of his) and Scott had him make purchase of some cocaine for him. I, thinking I could rob him, invited him back up to my apartment. His sister got a hotel room after being angry all night...apparently she was much smarter than he. All I got the chance to take was his boarding pass from his Miami to Orlando flight, some of his klonopin, three copies of checks his girlfriend had written from his account -2 for plastic surgery centers in South Florida and one for their Cingular Wireless account, and a song book he had scribbled some instrumental instructions in.
He ended up staying up all night doing coke, making up listening to his fucking HORRIBLE cd, and walking around in his underware claiming that coke makes him "so horny".
4. He had a prescription to Lexapro (an antidepressant) in his bag.
5. He was the most annoying self centered troll man I have ever met in my life.
6. My friend (my roommate) is actually mad at me for punking him. Everyone on this list should reply here stating why she has no reason in the world to be mad. Scott Stapp is a fucking bitch.
I don't usually get into celebrity gossip blather, but an ad hoc Creed entrapment is just too damn good to pass up. Amazing.
First of all, the gory details. A video released by the Ansar al-Sunna militant organization in Iraq, associated with an attack that killed several Marines, apparently shows their members firing mortar shells, a dead US soldier getting stripped of his dog tag, and a wide variety of weapons and equipment looted from the American forces. The disturbing & graphic insurgent video, and several stills, are available via ogrish.com. Former CIA guy Larry Johnson describes how the video indicates the futility of our current situation:
A friend of mine who has spoken to members of the unit indicates that the Marines were talking via radio to their base and trying to arrange an exfiltration. While they were talking the sound of gunfire erupted over the radio, then the radio went silent. One possibility is that the insurgents snuck up on the team. In any event, they were wiped out.
[.....]
It is important to view the videos to gain an idea of how awry our current strategy on the ground is. Despite happy talk that we are winning the war, we lost this skirmish and the images portray a happy, confident group of insurgents who are operating virtually unmolested.
One particularly disturbing image shows an insurgent inspecting the body of a partially stripped dead Marine. The insurgent bends down and cuts away the dog tag from the soldier's neck. The insurgent appears to conduct himself in a professional manner to the extent that he does not desecrate the Marine's body. What is so shocking is that this Marine has been left abandoned, albeit temporarily, on the battlefield while an insurgent leisurely and methodically strips him of uniform and weapons.
A second video shows two insurgents with a collection of captured U.S. Marine weapons. Again, with an air of non-chalance, the insurgents provide an impressive equipment display. The fact that they have time to lay weapons out on the ground and pose with them is a reminder that they are operating in territory where they feel comfortable and protected.
A third image from the videos shows two insurgents firing a mortar at an unknown target. The mortar, I'm told, appears to be and 82mm mortar. The individuals operating the weapon appear unconcerned about being discovered or being attacked by a counter battery of some sort. While it is not clear whether or not the mortar was being fired during this operation, it is certain that the insurgents intend to deliver the message that they can do what they want, where they want, when they want.
Taken as a whole the implications of this action are disturbing. The US Marine reservists were not backed up by a Quick Reaction Force that could respond quickly and decisively to the attack. The reservists appear to have inadequate artillery and air support to cover their operations. Unfortunately, reservists have been treated as the red headed step child as far as the regular military is concerned. Add to this that reservists normally do not operate at the same level of efficiency as regular military units. This is, as we see from the latest action, a lethal combination. The more fundamental, long term problem, is that our force levels on the ground in Iraq are not sufficient to ensure control and command of the battlefield.
In the mythical mountainside confrontation known as the Tora Bora incident during the (first) anti-Taliban campaign, people have disputed whether the military and the CIA knew that Bin Laden was inside the cave complex. This became a proxy idea for Bush's general incompetence in the 2004 elections, as Kerry accused Bush of screwing things up at Tora Bora 476 times, every one a scintillating rhetorical jewel. Bush claimed that they didn't know Bin Laden was there. But now Newsweek reports that a CIA field commander, with forthcoming new book, asserts that they knew Bin Laden was very much in the area, and the Pentagon failed to deploy a cordon to catch the various militants running around:
During the 2004 presidential campaign, George W. Bush and John Kerry battled about whether Osama bin Laden had escaped from Tora Bora in the final days of the war in Afghanistan. Bush, Kerry charged, "didn't choose to use American forces to hunt down and kill" the leader of Al Qaeda. The president called his opponent's allegation "the worst kind of Monday-morning quarterbacking." Bush asserted that U.S. commanders on the ground did not know if bin Laden was at the mountain hideaway along the Afghan border.
But in a forthcoming book, the CIA field commander for the agency's Jawbreaker team at Tora Bora, Gary Berntsen, says he and other U.S. commanders did know that bin Laden was among the hundreds of fleeing Qaeda and Taliban members. Berntsen says he had definitive intelligence that bin Laden was holed up at Tora Bora—intelligence operatives had tracked him—and could have been caught. "He was there," Berntsen tells NEWSWEEK. Asked to comment on Berntsen's remarks, National Security Council spokesman Frederick Jones passed on 2004 statements from former CENTCOM commander Gen. Tommy Franks. "We don't know to this day whether Mr. bin Laden was at Tora Bora in December 2001," Franks wrote in an Oct. 19 New York Times op-ed. "Bin Laden was never within our grasp." Berntsen says Franks is "a great American. But he was not on the ground out there. I was."
Also the CIA agent, Gary Berntsen, has sued the agency for taking too damn long to vet his book. As I've noted here before, Scooter Libby was always a leading suspect in the Valerie Plame affair. And now indeed we learn that Judith Miller and 'Scoot' met only days before the famous Novak column:
I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, the chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, has told federal investigators that he met with New York Times reporter Judith Miller on July 8, 2003, and discussed CIA operative Valerie Plame, according to legal sources familiar with Libby's account.
That story is by Murray Waas, who is keeping a blog with much more ongoing stuff @ whateveralready.blogspot.com.
TalkLeft has an absurdly detailed dissection of an important aspect of the Niger-uranium scandal: ongoing efforts in the Senate to cover up things about the forgeries, such as the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence report that carefully obfuscated the connection between the forgeries and their aggressive claims about WMD. There are just buckets of minutia to pore over, if yr. so inclined.
Some basic points about the WMD disinformation, in more crude terms than perhaps necessary: "Judith Miller's Dirty Little Secret":
So, the question of the hour is what does everyone in Washington know as of today? They know the administration lied about WMDs with the help of media operatives like Judith Miller. They know that there was no “intelligence failure” and that Joseph Wilson was punished for exposing the post-war cover-up. They also know that the administration and its media partners in crime continue to twist the facts about the situation in Iraq. Add to the mix the recent indictments of AIPAC officials in the Pentagon spy case, which might expose the culprits as the very same senior administration officials who outed Valerie Plame.
In Washington, they all know Judith Miller’s dirty little secret. Miller is a senior neo-con propagandist. If she goes down, she won’t go down alone. She will take the paper of record and Sulzberger with her. Her intimate relationships with Ahmed Chalabi, Paul Wolfowitz, Douglas Feith, AIPAC, and the American Enterprise Institute are all part of the public record. Miller coordinated her work with the Office of Special Plans in the Pentagon, an outfit set up by Wolfowitz and Feith and tasked with fixing intelligence to make a case for war. Judith Miller is pleading the fifth to avoid confessing to the prominent role she played in launching weapons of mass deception at the American people.
The neo-con cabal and the Israeli lobby are an instrumental force in framing the foreign policy of the United States towards the Middle East. Other political forces had considerable influence in charting the path to war – including the equally formidable Saudi lobby and the usual suspects in the military industrial complex. But only the neo-cons had access to the media muscle necessary for implementing a massive propaganda campaign to sell the war. Judith Miller was by far the most lethal weapon in the war party’s media arsenal – if only because she wrote for The New York Times.
Ok whatever, that's all for now. I have been working very hard on getting the new website going, be patient and it will soon happen very nicely...
At a great meowment in the history of the brief Selby venture, at 2:30 Peter Gartrell suddenly broke into the kitchen, sober as a dove, holding before him the fugitive Jane-the-male-cat. Jane had been missing for about a day. This weighed heavily on Colin's mind; posters were planned for tomorrow. Fortunately I had some cat photos. WTF? I'm allergic to it anyway.
The downstairs neighbors said that it seemed to circle around all day, probably never went that far, then. The bait of food on the back porch probably helped, then...
Colin has just arrived, things are in balance. Next week, a new agenda.
[Fortunately this entry will become Peter's top Google result haha yes!!]
Another blast from the past came today as Peter Gartrell materialized in town, on his way to a cub reporter gig at a newspaper in Gillette, Wyoming, covering the natural gas industry. I've got to run over & say Hi in a sec...
So then, the Gaza withdrawal is less than two weeks away. A 19-year-old AWOL Israeli soldier-turned-settler got on a bus and shot four Israeli Arabs, wounded more, and was in turn killed by those he hadn't shot. He spent a while in the settlement of Tapuah, which is dominated by Kach followers or Kahanists, one of the most dangerous radical Jewish groups, which believes in the widespread ethnic cleansing of Arabs from both the West Bank and Israel.
Such groups are now pitted against the Israeli government, the courts, law enforcement and the military as the Gaza action gets underway. Of course, Sharon is wary of such radical groups, seeing as how a very similar assassin to the bus assailant killed Yitzak Rabin those years ago.
I don't have time to toss in the links now. Damn
Home Front: (not that I am fond of such terms) "Mass casualties push war sentiments back to forefront".
As I noted earlier, the Pentagon is trying to forestall releasing even more horrible Abu Ghraib photos. Military lawyers argued against harsher interrogation methods in early 2003 (NYT).
Iran has the upper hand perpetually, it seems.
China: It's never too late to gear up some more enemies. Max Neocon Max Boot has the latest paranoia about China's research into Earthquake Weapons to make us quiver...
Max Boot: China's Challenge
In 1998, an official People's Liberation Army publishing house brought out a treatise called Unrestricted Warfare, written by two senior army colonels, Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui. This book, which is available in English translation, is well known to the U.S. national-security establishment but remains practically unheard of among the public.
Unrestricted Warfare recognizes that it is practically impossible to challenge the U.S. on its own terms. No one else can afford to build mega-expensive weapons systems such as the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which will cost more than $200 billion to develop. "The way to extricate oneself from this predicament," the authors write, "is to develop a different approach."
Their different approaches include financial warfare (subverting banking systems and stock markets), drug warfare (attacking the fabric of society by flooding it with illicit drugs), psychological and media warfare (manipulating perceptions to break down enemy will), international-law warfare (blocking enemy actions using multinational organizations), resource warfare (seizing control of vital natural resources), even ecological warfare (creating man-made earthquakes or other natural disasters).
The two write approvingly of al-Qaeda, Colombian drug lords and computer hackers who operate outside the "bandwidths understood by the American military." They envision a scenario in which a "network attack against the enemy" would be carried out "so that the civilian electricity network, traffic dispatching network, financial transaction network, telephone communications network and mass media network are completely paralyzed." Only then would conventional military force be deployed "until the enemy is forced to sign a dishonorable peace treaty."
Who are these 21st Century acolytes of Sun Tzu? I'm sure they have interesting lives deep in the Chinese military. This review said "Colonel Qiao Liang, for instance, received his B.A. degree in Chinese literature, and has published several notable novels. He is employed in the Creative Writing Departament of the Air Force..." If you wish to read "CHAOXIANZHAN" or "Unrestricted Warfare" it may be found in HTML (via Cryptome) or PDF (via Terrorism.com). It's around 200 pages so get ready for fun.
Well that's all I've got time for tonight. Time to kick it with Peter, and also Will Rothschild, who is leaving town Real Soon Like.
Well, I am drastically under-employed but that didn't stop me from donating $25 to the critically important effort at the tip of the Peace Spear, the long-running site Antiwar.com direly needs to raise a total of $60,000 for operations over the next year.
With a wide variety of voices about Iraq, Israel, globalization and all the rest, a tasty blog, and the iconoclastic editorial direction of Justin Raimondo, antiwar.com has definitely played an important role keeping stories like the Plame case and the AIPAC scandal (and their exciting cross-connections) somewhere in the public eye.
It's all going down this summer, and we need Antiwar to keep up the good fight. They only need a few thousand more, so go for it!!
Our feline housemate, Jane, vaulted through my busted bedroom screen sometime this morning, and went off the back porch into the great Merriam Park Unknown.
We put food on the back porch, in the hopes it will eventually return. How weird, I had a vision of an escaping cat yesterday... it's been plotting around that busted screen for a while, I can't say I'm surprised.
I only hope that the cat learned enough about cars from watching Selby Avenue from the porch. Oh Jane, where art thou, meow?
When things seem like they are drifting beyond control, time and again I've gone back to SimCity, and the last couple days has been no exception. I think I've worked it out of my system now, while expanding the good ol' metro area of Eschatology up to 650,000 Sims.
Two of the gool ol boys got in touch with me yesterday, Bobby Hartzell and the long-lost Nashville Rambler Nate Foote. They're both doing all right. Bobby is taking classes at Northland College in Ashland, while Nate manages a Ben & Jerry's down in Nashville. Nate wants to come up to the twin cities soon, as well he should.
In other news... well King Fahd died, as we all know. That wasn't a huge surprise and succession wasn't a problem, but it will be soon enough. Things between the Sudairis and the Faisals will probably go horribly wrong, as the rest of Saudi Arabia wishes they had a better slice of the oil revenue.
Iraq is a twisted disaster, shocking. The deadline for the constitution drafting is supposed to be August 15, but we'll see how well that goes.
So for me, the SimCity's pretty much done, and I've got to get back on developing the new Hongpong.com. It really is getting pretty close, but now I've got to focus on finishing it. In turn, the new website will be very important for finding a job as a web designer.
I'll have more news stuff later, today or tomorrow. But now I've got to go work out at the Y and perhaps shoot pool with Bobby and Arthur like the old days.
