Afghanistan : Why are we there?
Obama’s War,
a lecture given in April by Tariq Ali where he talks about why the War in Afghanistan is unwinnable and can only lead to a bloody stalemate.
A four part video thanks to the LRB
An indepth lecture explaining the history of Russia in Afghanistan together with that of the good Taliban and the bad Taliban and the relationship with Pakistan, as well as the lessons which should have been learned in Vietnam.
Why does the Western war machine not only ignore both history and the facts but also opinions from persons who not only know the area and the people and speak its language ?
I had an interesting post on MetaFilter about this a few days back; posting the most excellent William Dalrymple ‘s long article from the New Statesman: - Why the Taliban is winning in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan is only understandable by knowledge of Pakistan, and who better to explain than (and I quote from the dust jacket) : -
Grandaughter to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, executed 1979
Niece to Shahnawaz Bhutto, murdered 1985
Daughter of Mir Murtaza Bhutto, assassinated 1996
Niece to Benazir Bhutto, assassinated 2007
Fatima Bhutto whose recently published Songs of Blood and Sword, a daughter’s memoir is a book I have long been awaiting and am now at last reading. Ms Bhutto is a writer, journalist and poet of whom I hope to hear more.
Medusa rises
Francisco Franco is still dead;
however The Falange is alive and well prosecuting Judge Balthasar Garzon.
The orchestration of this prosecution is Manos Limpias which has been described as a right wing pseudo trade union.
As a commenter said on the radio this morning; it is interesting that the only prosecution into the Franco atrocities is that of the investigating judge.
It is also interesting and surely not coincidence that this is happening as the Gurtel investigation hots up.
Gurtel is the largest political corruption scandal since the restoration of democracy and deeply involucrates the PP the party of Manuel Fraga
( an admitted Franco admirer ); ex prime minister and now fingered Jose Maria Aznar and; same party different scandal Jaume Matas
( who is so trusted that a judge requested Euro 3,000,000 bail).
It seems that some of the ghosts are still with us.
see Giles Tremlett author and journalist – Ghosts of Spain: Travels Through Spain and Its Silent Past
Stand Up for Democracy
Judge Baltasar Garzón faces rightwing backlash
Spain’s famed judge has run afoul of his own countrymen over an inquiry on Spanish Civil War victims. The case could end his career.
(full LA Times article below)
Within days, the Supreme Court could remove judge Garzón´s license because of his investigations about crimes against humanity in Spain. AVAAZ has an international petition to:
From blogger South of Watford Garzón’s Enemies Sharpen Their Knives; as the far right headed by the arch conservative Carlos Divar rules that Garzon may have exceeded his authority in Franco probe.
The grandaughter of the last President of the Repuplic has publically called for Carlos Divar to step down because of conflict of interest because his first sworn allegiance was to Franco. Carlos Diva is in opposition to the law of universal jurisdiction.
The LA Times editorial in full
The case against Baltasar Garzon
Spain’s famed judge has run afoul of his own countrymen over an inquiry on Spanish Civil War victims. The case could end his career.
Spain’s world-famous magistrate, Baltasar Garzon, has made many enemies over the years. He has indicted Osama bin Laden. He has gone after Spanish paramilitaries, Basque separatists and members of drug mafias. On this side of the Atlantic, Garzon is best known as the judge who pushed the frontiers of international law, trying to extradite former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet from London and launching an inquiry into the suspected torture of detainees at the U.S. prison in Guantanamo.
After all that, it is perhaps ironic that the biggest threat to Garzon right now comes not from some hit man but from his own judiciary, which alleges that the judge has overreached at home by trying to probe Spanish Civil War atrocities that were covered by an amnesty the country’s parliament passed in 1977. Many of Garzon’s adversaries on the right and the left have come together in support of the case against him. It’s possible Garzon will be suspended from his duties in the coming days. If convicted, his career as a judge would be over.
Tens of thousands of Spaniards died or disappeared in the civil war, which ushered in the dictatorship of Gen. Francisco Franco in 1939. When Franco died in 1975, the amnesty was widely seen as essential for a transition to democracy. But many of the victims have never been accounted for, and the country has not fully come to terms with its violent past. Garzon opened the case on behalf of relatives who sought to exhume and identify the dead. After right-wing groups filed a complaint, an investigative judge concluded that Garzon “consciously decided to ignore” the will of parliament in pursuing the case, and now a five-judge panel must decide whether to put him on trial for criminal intent. Garzon denies wrongdoing; the disappearances, he says, were crimes against humanity and, therefore, cannot be covered by an amnesty.
We admire Garzon for a lifetime of pursuing criminals without regard to ideology or political bent, often at great personal risk. We also recognize that his outsized ego and appetite for attention have antagonized colleagues and politicians. Though we are in no position to judge the legal challenge against him, we worry about politicization of the Spanish legal system with this divisive case, and the haste with which events are unfolding: An administrative panel is considering Garzon’s suspension even before judges decide whether to allow charges to be filed.
We sincerely hope that the Spanish courts will put aside personal animosities and political vendettas, and that Garzon’s enemies will not use this case to bring down a judge they dislike. Love him or hate him, he deserves a fair hearing. And a democratic Spain deserves an upstanding judiciary
Maybe it’s time to put on my tinfoil hat again
It may seem odd that Spain, and not the United States, is undertaking a criminal investigation of US government officials for torture.
The question is:
Are right wing american conservatives applying pressure on the Spanish conservative neo franco judicary to smear Garzon.
It’s a Brave New World
In Praise of…………….
THE KINDLE
Yes. Yes and Yes again.
I finally purchased one a month ago and now wonder what all my reticence was about.
Pros: -
It’s handy
It’s portable ie travel
It’s portable ie waiting rooms, hanging around in general
Free content available
Supports pdf.
Cons: -
Not enough “serious” ie history books, and non US publications available as yet. I presume this will change.
I would also like to see my home page book listings by Author: Last name; first name,
Free and purchasable content (not confined to Amazon) can be easily found by searching Inkmesh
(thank you stbalbach) which has a conglomerate search over multiple sites.
Here is an example of free content, which can be easily uploaded as can pdfs.
I have yet to try the subscription content but as I am going away for three weeks in the new year I will probably give myself some free trials to the likes of Foreign Affairs or The Atlantic; (both have a free 14 day trial).
Unfortunately the Economist does’t yet figure on Amazon’s magazine list but presumably it’s only a matter of time.
Pak(i)stan – Land of the Pure
Pakistan continues to wobble.
It’s Another Colonial Failure
As the hybrid state of Pakistan wobbles between dangerous to anarchic and threatens to plunge the world into even more horror;
it is probably worth while trying to understand its history.
Two Pakistani authors; Tariq Ali & Ahmed Rashid with their respective books “The Duel” & “Descent into Chaos”
help expain the background and lead up to todays events; among them the continuation of the Great Game; Inheritance of Colonialism; and the Rise of the Mullah.
Nicholas Schmidle is a young US journalist who spent two years from 2006 living and traveling in Pakistan. He has written an excellent book “To Live or to Perish Forever” which also helps throw light on what is presently happening.
Pakistan has long had a reputation for venal and corrupt politicians since its inception. Pakistan was arrived at by a compromise with boundaries drawn on a map across traditional tribal homelands by diplomats and cartographers far away. It is only surprising that it has lasted as long as it has. In fact it hasn’t as the bloody successionist war of 1971 resulted in the state of Bangladesh.
The paranoia of the military with its hatred of its larger more sucessful eastern neighbour has helped keep Pakistan in an state of permanent undeclared war with India.On the Western border lies the lawless tribal region bordering Afghanistan. Once again Western political and armed forces are meddling. You would think the British would know better after their unsuccesful Afghan ventures of the C19th. and the Americans should have also learnt from the Russian morass in Afghanistan.
Armed force results in nothing except grief unless there is a greater political force to repair and rebuild the wreckage.
This is argued coherently and brilliantly by Thomas Barnett in his presentation:
The Pentagon’s new map for war and peace.
The noble sentiments expressed as excuses for stabilizing Afghanistan; democracy; human rights; education; release of women from purdah have degenreated into an unwanted occupation. Peace in Afghanistan rests on peace between India and Pakistan; As Graham Usher points out in The LRB in his article Taliban vs. Taliban The road out of Kabul goes through Kashmir.
Reviews for “The Duel” : Tariq Ali
The Independent
India Today
The Spectator
Guardian
Reviews for “Descent into Chaos” : Ahmed Rashid
Independent
New York Times
Atlantic Free Press
Reviews for “To Live or to Perish Forever” : Nicholas Schmidle
New York Times
Five Rupees blogspot
Medieval Magic
The Time Traveller’s Guide to Medieval England – A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century;
is a delight of a book which is reviewed here.
It’s a fascinating book which can also be judged by its cover:
This led me to search a little more about the Luttrell Psalter and Marginalia and all things medieval, which ended in the following post over at Metafiter.
Prosecution of Bush Six Back On
Scott Horton from Daily Beast reports that a judge in Spain decided today that an investigation of Bush officials involved in torture policy will go forward and can lead to prosecution. HuffPo has more. Human Rights orginisations applaud.
Garzón’s ruling today marks a decision to begin a formal criminal inquiry into the allegations of torture and inhumane treatment he has been collecting for several years now.
So the pressure is on again for the US to open its own inquiry or Truth Commission to stop being embarassed by a foreign nation.
Spanish lawyers close to the case state that under applicable Spanish law, the Obama administration has the power to bring the proceedings in Spain against former Bush administration officials to a standstill. “All it has to do is launch its own criminal investigation through the Justice Department,” said one lawyer working on the case, “that would immediately stop the case in Spain.”
Tamara de Lempicka
Tamara de Lempicka. Metafilter post about one of the lesser known Art Deco painters: -
barrett caulk Comments: -
A beautiful marriage of classical and modern sensibilities. I dig how she uses and renders light. There is this nice tension: the figures seem massive and solid, but there is also a feeling of grace and what? Let’s say, uh, buoyancy. And of course, there is a serious sexiness going on here. Every once in a while I still meet one of those people who think that abstraction in art is antithetical to humanness. (I know! But it’s true.) This would be a nice body of work for them to contemplate.
Swine Flu: updating Map
So who was Colon / Columbus / Colombo?
In 1492 Columbus sailed the Ocean Blue…
My Genovese friend and I were having a discussion about Christopher Columbus aka Cristóbal Colón, aka Cristoforo Colombo;
The names Christopher Columbus (Latin), Cristoforo Colombo (Italian), Cristóbal Colón (Spanish), Cristóvão Colombo (Portuguese), all try to refer to the same person who set sail in 1492 to rediscover the Americas and claim them for the Europeans.
Who exactly was this man? Italian, Catalan, Portugese or a bit of them all. One researcher even claims he was Ibicencan; and Mallorca of course claims him as their own.
Wiki posits various theories; from the crazy to the acceptable. That he was mercenary there is no doubt. But his origins are cloudy. His life was probably not quite that which has been portrayed in traditional histories.
I look forward to the new “evidence” soon to be published, and I hope that these Portugese authors soon find an English translator given their reviews so far.
I doubt that we will get the whole truth, but we might get a little bit nearer to knowing who this mercenary adventurer actually was. Possibly a converso or with a converso mother; possibly an illegitimate royal; whose DNA possibly reflects a mallorquian heritage; and whose statue gazes across the harbour of Barcelona possibly trying to work out who he really was.