cave art by early modern humanity – Chauvet – France
Thinking About Evolution, Pandering to the Christian Right – which in any event seems to be losing some of its clout – Perry, Palin and Bachmann Duke It Out on Creationism…
Among his other intemperate comments pandering to the Christian right wing in his home state, Texas, Governor Rick Perry takes a shot at evolution. Knowing it plays well among the political neanderthal types that so populate the `great lonestar state’, and in an obvious effort to outflank the likes of Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann on the right, Perry stoops to joining the science bashing crowd, dismisses evolution as `just a theory’ and one that “has some gaps.”
While any scientific theory, including the theory of natural selection, has gaps, the biggest gap here seems to be not in Darwin’s hypothesis, but in the space between Perry’s ears. Furthermore, as the recent 3 part tv series on NOVA `On Becoming Human‘ suggests, our understanding of the main lines of human evolution over the past fifty years has become more and more sophisticated and down right fascinating.
How Structural Adjustment in Tunisia Contributed To The Political Explosions There…
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The Unrepentant Bretton Woods Institutions…
`Bread protester' - Tunis, January 2011
Although to date neither the World Bank (WB) nor the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have gotten much criticism for their policies in the Magreb, the structural adjustment programs that these Bretton Woods institutions essentially forced on Tunisia over the past three decades have been contributing factors in the economic and social crises culminating in the Arab Revolt of 2010-2011.
Nor has either institution engaged in any meaningful self criticism of how their policies in these countries exacerbated the overall crises. As if the explosions which have rocked the Middle East didn’t happen, the advice which the IMF is offering the afflicted countries can be summed up in one expression: stay the course!, essentially suggesting that Tunisia and other Middle Eastern countries continue with precisely the neo-liberal economic policies that contributed to the recent crisis in the first place. Read more…
Crisis in the Congo…
a new video…
Russian Peace and Democracy – an interview – quite long – done in the early 1990s with Mette Spence – Publisher of Peace Magazine, in Canada. I had forgotten all about it, but apparently just recently it was published by Spence. It is transcribed here with a few errors, but I do think it gives a good sense of what was happening in the WPC in the late 1980s.
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Note…Parts One and Two of the Ghost Ship of Lonnrotinkatu, my impressions of the collapse of the World Peace Council (WPC) which was headquartered on that street (Lonnrot Street) in Helsinki Finland, were written long ago – in 1992 if I am not mistaken. They were published in the Canadian magazine `Peace’ whose publisher is Mette Spencer. I had no intention, none at all, of writing a `Part Three’.
I hardly think about Lonnrotinkatu or the World Peace Council any more. True enough, there has been an occasional inquiry from people aware of the small archive at the University of Colorado in Boulder I put together on the WPC. They are, in the main, either writing books (that no one wants to buy) or doing graduate theses (that few want to read). That and an occasional bit of gossip, over the years becoming ever more stale, are about all that is left. I’ve long ago moved on with life
But I’ve just returned from a visit to Finland that included meeting a few former WPC contacts, friends with whom I worked at the WPC office. Piecing together the different anecdotal tales they had to tell, made me change my mind. I would imagine, that while some of the details might vary, that the collapse of the WPC – and more generally of the USSR – in some ways parallels the collapse of the different Arab regimes today, especially where it concerns the rejection and corruption of the old order, its undemocratic nature, mysterious financial transfers and the like.
Still, last I heard, the organization exists in some skeletal form, a shadow of its former self now that it is not primarily Soviet funded. It is housed – perhaps mothballed would be a more apt term – in Athens where it is hosted by the Greek Communist Party. When the Soviets pulled out of the WPC with the collapse of the USSR, a dispute broke out between the Greeks and the French C.P, over what was essentially fax machines, mailing lists and who would `win’ control of the `brand name’ as if it meant anything anymore. It seemed a case of `the lower the stakes the more bitter the feud.’
Why the need to keep the WPC afloat in the post Cold War era? Other than NATO, I can think of no other organization that is as historically obsolete. It is a pity, its participants did not have the foresight, courage to simply bury the thing – celebrate its few early contributions to peace, acknowledge its mostly skewed and cynical record and let it die in peace. Had it the political courage 20 years ago to close shop, dissolve itself, the WPC would have at least died with a bit of dignity.
But no, it presses on, more irrelevant and isolated than ever. The world has moved on….so what follows is little more than a footnote about a dead social movement. Indeed in retrospect, one could argue that it was already long brain dead when I arrived to work in its Helsinki office in March of 1986, but then that is another story.
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`property of M. Joliot Curie’
It sits atop a shelf of books in the same building that has been its home for almost half a century – Lonnrotinkatu 25A in Helsinki Finland, where the World Peace Council (WPC) had its headquarters on the 3rd, 5th and 6th floors for several decades. `It’ is a size-able vase or water jar, perhaps 2 foot (650 cm) tall with a series of folk themes on its outside.
If I remember correctly – I might not, as I was still suffering from jet lag when I saw it – the vase comes from Bulgaria. It is a funny looking thing to my tastes and I would, if I owned it, probably give it away to a garage sale, or more likely just toss it in the trash, except for one little detail: printed on the bottom, is the following: `the property of M. Joliot Curie’. Read more…
Quite a good video…on what is usually the unspoken factor in U.S Middle East policy, in a word, oil, which under the veil of democracy’ and ‘human rights’, still drives U.S. foreign policy decisisons. Segment on Jeffrey Feltman, U.S. Under Secretary of State, should be especially noted. Where he goes in the region, death, torture and repression often follow…
A Dream of Scott Keating
Kaivoksela, Finland
I wish I could “forward” a dream in the same way that an email is forwarded. I’d send it to my poker friends , the central figure of which was Scott Keating until he died some years ago. Maybe to one or two others, Ernesto, Carol, who cared for him much those last days.
Scott Keating and his truck. Denver, 1975
Despite the light, many dreams here in Finland have been dark, disturbing, of a kind that leaves me uneasy on awakening, so much so that I wouldn’t tell Nancy their content because they are so unsettling, nasty even.
But not last night, or this morning just before waking.
I dreamt about Scott Keating.
He was in some kind of rehabilitation center, sitting in a chair outside the facility on a sunny, warm day. The chair was large enough to hold his 500-600 pound frame. Several other people were there talking to him in a relaxed way when I happened along.
After a short time I noticed that Scott’s clothes appeared baggy-fitting on him as if he’d lost weight. I looked more closely. Yes! not only had he lost weight but he’d lost a great deal of weight, so much so that I could hardly recognize his face without doing a double take.
And then this `new Scott’, the new man, got up by himself, not without some difficulty and started to walk. Scott could walk again! I was excited, deeply happy like I hadn’t been for a long time. And as he rose from his chair he’d changed in another way. Not only was he much thinner, but he was also smaller in size. Where in `real life’ he’d been on the tall side and obese, now he was short and thin, a small midget.
But he could walk!
This he did with difficulty and after a few painful steps, what I feared would happen, did happen. He fell. Thinking he was the old obese Scott and remembering that it had once taken 9 firemen called from the Edgewater Fire Department an hour to lift him from the floor of his last apartment, I thought, on no, there aren’t enough of us to help him off the ground. But my fears were unfounded as by himself he got up off of the ground, no assistance needed.
And as he did, I said to myself, I must be dreaming, but regardless I’m happy. And it was a dream and at that moment I awoke.
One Colonial Power (Britain) takes over from another (Ottoman Empire). British troops enter Gaza in 1918
The Battle Over The Gaza Flotilla by Joseph Dana (published in the Nation Magazine On-Line)
Israel Accepts Greek Offer To Transport Flotilla’s Aid To Gaza Haaretz
Israel Battled Gaza Flotilla on Two Fronts by James Wall
French Flotilla Boat Sets Sail For Gaza article from Al Jazeera
Note:
This piece has been published on the Foreign Policy In Focus website; a somewhat revised version appeared on the European website `Open Democracy’; parts 1 and 2 published on Truthout
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Obama: The U.S. Is Bombing Libya But This Isn’t War…
Libyan Refugees Fleeing the Violence, Seeking Refuge in Tunisia
The U.S. Congress’s informal protest over Obama’s sidestepping the War Powers Act concerning U.S. participation in the NATO bombing campaign in Libya included elements of the surreal. First, the president was charged with violating the law in what could be classified as an impeachable act; then in spite of this slap in the face, Congress, showing its more genuine colors, turned around and voted to approve the funding of the U.S. military action in Libya for the next year, suggesting that when all is said and done, the protest vote didn’t amount to much. Read more…
Note: This piece – slightly edited – was published at Foreign Policy In Focus
Added note: December 11, 2011 from Tunis. This piece was written some months ago. For Iran now`the break is over’, suggesting that in the minds of those running the shows in Washington and Tel Aviv that the Arab Spring has been contained and they can refocus their energies on overthrowing the regime in Iran. Once again the rhetoric has been ratcheted skyward, the economic sanctions against Iran tightened and the military saber rattling louder. Indeed, the U.S. and Israel have painted Iran with such dark colors that should they want to change gears and NOT attack Iran, they would have difficulty explaining it to their peoples who they have worked into something approaching a frenzy, especially the case in Israel, less so but still pronounced in the USA. Once again, the mainstream media of both countries bears responsibility for war-mongering. The Republican Party presidential hopeful have taken Iran bashing to new lows, but then so has the Obama Administration with its fantasies of some kind of Iranian-Mexican Mafia – Texas used car salesman plot to assassinate Saudi ambassador to the U.S. Could only be believed by a reading population already well softened up by lies.
Related updated link:
Shifting Targets: Iran Back In the Crosshairs
Democracy Now! Debate March 5, 2012 (mostly on Iran) between Rashid Khalidi and JonathanTobin
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Section One: Invasion of Iran Put On Hold…
Some (not all) of the US military bases surrounding Iran...
I’ve been mistaken about predicting war in the past although my past predictive failures are not necessarily an indication of future ones! Still, I should begin by explaining what hasn’t happened: Despite a major military build up in the Gulf that included open threats, neither the United States nor Israel has of yet invaded Iran with ground forces (although they have done everything else but that).
Several years ago, looking at the alignment of forces in the world – and the continued exaggerated role of the neo-conservatives in U.S. foreign policy combined with Netanyahu’s obsession with `taking out’ of Teheran – I feared a US led military offensive against Iran was in the making, and predicted as much on several occasions.
At times the past few years the rhetoric became more heated, the U.S. naval presence in the Gulf increased and the political deadlock over Iran’s nuclear program seemed to all converge towards war. To the above, add the near open admission of U.S. Special Forces missions in Iran and funding of the Iran opposition. Bring them all together with the usual pre-war vilification (part merited, part not) of the Iranian domestic situation and there isn’t much of a conceptual jump to war. The Iranian government’s crushing the Iranian reform movement of 2009 – a prelude to the 2010-2011 Arab Revolt – only made matters worse, weakening domestic US opposition here to military action. Read more…
Note: The public seems more interested in the private sexual habits of its leading politicans rather than their attitudes towards social policy. Anthony Weiner is case in point. In some ways he is a classic study – socially liberal on domestic issues, flaming Zionist when it comes to Middle East policy, a combination that wins votes, regardless of its opportunism.
It is notable that Weiner was brought down, in part, from pressure within his own party, including from President Obama and House Speaker Pelosi for engaging in `sextexts’ with women with whom he never met nor actually had sex. Nor, even if he showed himself to be a first class schmuck, did he break any law.
It might be the height of stupidity to rattle on with an unknown women one meets on Facebook about how her texts excites the ex-Congressman to near ejaculation,…but as Mr. Abbas (one of my daughter’s former high school social studies teachers) put it so well – there’s no law against being stupid!
Let’s keep in mind that while Weiner was pressured out, the Bush Administration leading figures – President Bush, VP Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, all signed off and actively supported the extensive use of torture yet none were forced to leave office.
It says something about the national priorities or lack there of.
I am more concerned with Weiner’s slavish toeing of AIPAC’s line, his gleeful cheering on of every Israeli act of oppression against the Palestinians than with his obsessive compulsive tendencies to share his hard-ons with women he never met over cell phones…
Below, Juan Cole reflects upon Weiner’s recent Middle East record. The entry is made on his blog `Informed Comment’ on June 9, 2011, reprinted in full below.
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Top Ten Things Anthony Weiner Has Said Which Are Worse Than Sextexting by Juan Cole
Israeli soldiers stopping Palestinian youths in Nablus
The real scandal surrounding Anthony Weiner is that he is bigoted against Palestinians and has misused his position in Congress to support punitive policies against them. Americans appear to be bored by policy, titillated by private peccadilloes. But it is the policies that are important. Mahatma Gandhi was once kicked out of a brothel in South Africa. No one judges him by his lapses. Weiner, in contrast to Gandhi, has not worked for peace but has rather given knee-jerk support to the worst policies of the most far rightwing parties in Israel toward Palestinians. A social liberal in American terms, Weiner is so blinded by his allegiance to Israel and so studied in his ignorance of the Middle East that he has played a uniformly sinister role in that aspect of foreign policy. If he were replaced by, say, an up an up-and-coming Dominican-American politician from Queens who had some sympathy with Arabs, that would be all to the good.
For the rest of the article, click here
Bibi and the Yo-Yos (The U.S. Congress)
An old joke:
Q. Why doesn’t Israel want to become the 51st state?
A. Because then it would only have 2 senators instead of 100
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Rae Abileah, who disrupted Netanyahu's speech to Congress. Thank you Rae
IT WAS all rather disgusting.
Tunisia: Election Democracy Blues….
1. Tunisian Malaise…
Refugees escaping the Libyan violence pouring into Tunisia.
Four months after Zine Ben Ali and his wife, Leila Trabelsi were forced by angry protests to flee Tunisia on January 14, a complex struggle is unfolding over the country’s future, a focus of which is the upcoming election. The election is to vote for a constituent assembly which will be charged with writing a new constitution and deciding the parameters of the political system that will replace the decades of Ben Ali’s single party rule.
Some are asking: Has Tunisia’s march towards democracy `gone sour’? Is there, as some youth protesters claim, `a counter revolution’ taking place in the run up to the country’s July 24 elections with a `shadow government’ made up of members of Ben Ali’s old guard, `the clique of Sahelians’ , stage managing the process in a bid to retain power? That there is a power struggle shaping up over the country’s future and the extent to which the old system might be dismantled is clear enough.
Is there, as some youth protesters claim, `a counter revolution’ taking place in the run up to the country’s July 24 elections with a `shadow government’ made up of members of Ben Ali’s old guard, `the clique of Sahelians’ , stage managing the process in a bid to retain power? Read more…
Noam Chomsky, University of Denver, April 21, 2011 – Comments and Reflections..
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What follows are a mix of general reactions received by email, phone and in person over the past few days. They reflect a wide range of views, not all by any means complimentary to Chomsky. But they suggest what I consider to be the most important consequence of his talks – his ability to trigger dialogue, `for’, `against’ – whatever. It is likely that some of the themes he touched on will be discussed at the University of Denver for some time into the future. And in the end, isn’t that exactly what a university should do? Stimulate civil thought, dialogue, including dissent on the campus Read more…
Despite Pressure From Tel Aviv, Tunisian Jews Have Little Interest In Emigrating To Israel
Among the fathers of Tunisian independence: Mohammed Masmoudi, Mongi Slim, Albert Bessis
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(In Egypt, the remnants of Mubarek’s security force blew up a coptic church and attempted to blame it on Islamic fundamentalists. But the truth came out in the Egyptian press after Mubarek fell. So the old guard is not above wiping up ethnic tensions to divert the Egyptian Revolution.
In a like manner, in Tunisia, lumpen elements organized by the remnants of Ben Ali’s security force targeted the main synagogue in Tunis hoping to discredit the Tunisian uprising. It’s the latest in a long tale of scapegoating the country’s small Jewish population…..)
Writing in his journal on June 7, 1967, in the aftermath of anti-Jewish vandalism in Tunis following the outbreak of the Arab-Israeli Middle East War, Albert Bessis, a Jewish community leader and collaborator with Habib Bourguiba in Tunisia’s anti-colonial pro-independence movement, wondered, “What is the future of Tunisia’s Jewish Community? The old ones are dying off, our youth is leaving” (1), (2)
When Bessis was writing in his diary, the Jewish population of Tunisia had already plummeted from perhaps 120,000 on the eve of independence in 1956 to a modest 5000. (3) Today it has shrunk to 1500, among an overall population of 10.5 million. Despite the drop in Jewish numbers, the historically relaxed nature of Jewish-Muslim- relations that has characterized Tunisian society before the outbreak of the 1967 war comes through vividly in Ferid Boughedir’s film `A Summer In La Goulette.’ Read more…
Sarah Leah Whitson: Human Rights Watch Middle East Director at D.U. on Thursday, April 7
click here: thur event
View from the Left Bank: Rob Prince's Blog 