I must not think bad thoughts
Blogging the rise of American Empire.

me

Saturday, April 12, 2003

You aren't doing well if UNICEF begins to critize you. (For those of you who don't know, the Bush administration promised that necessary aid would travel side-by-side with the army's advances. Rumsfeld ditched that promise.)

UNICEF page for Iraq
The taking of a child's life is never an acceptable cost of war



Posted by: Nathanael / 12:03 PM : (0) comments
Le Monde has an article on Murdoch's news enterpises. In the US he directs all his papers and networks to uphold the policies of the Bush administration. Elsewhere they tend to reflect, rather than influence, the popular sentiment.

Le Monde article on Murdoch

Posted by: Nathanael / 1:13 AM : (0) comments

Friday, April 11, 2003

Here it comes again. The call to retreat of the Republicans for the 1990s: "The US is not the policeman for the world." This call came out whenever Republican senators refused to allow American soldiers to participate in UN operations, weakening that organization. It happened in the Great Lakes where the UN was undermanned, allowing the genocide to take place in Rwanda. That led to several Central African wars that have been responsible, directly and indirectly, for over 3 million deaths. Now it is being used to justify non-interference with looting. According to the Geneva convention, the invading force must provide security for the rest of the population. Or is the Geneva convention another international agreement to which B(r)ush no longer ascribes? HRW reports that Ba'ath party archives have been looted. These contain records of crimes committed against the Iraqi people, and would be invaluable to future prosecutions for crimes against humanity (no matter what nationality they are.) (It will also frustrate future grad students. ;) )

Bad reporting from FOX News
HRW on looting of archives
US repsonsibilities to public safety
Red Cross on Geneva Convention and Safety

I also feel that I must be judgemental, even if I am insensitive to differences in cultural experience: this is not how a "liberated people" should act. This bodes poorly for future democratic society.

Go France!

Posted by: Nathanael / 2:30 PM : (0) comments
I started tinkering around with the format of the site, and I started losing all my entries, etc. I had to reset the template.

Yesterday I read through Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities. It is a short book, but very interesting. It is fiction, but it is neither a novel or short stories. It takes the form of a series of reports from Marco Polo to Kublai Kahn over the different cities in the empire. The Great Kahn is trying to understand what makes up his realm. The reports he gets cannot be synthesized into a coherent image of the empires territoriality. Cities, in general, are elusive. People mistaken the city for its institutions (churches, schools, palaces, etc.), or for its historicity (does it preserve the past or is it in flux), or its energy (is it a place where people live or where they act), for their ability to satisfy human desires, etc. They are many wonderful reflection in this book. I would recommend that all travellers read it.

Quotes:
"Your gaze scans the streets as if they were written pages: the city says everything that you must think, makes you repeat her discourse, and while you believe you are visiting Tamara [name of fictional city] you are only recording the names with which she defines herself and her parts. However the city may really be, beneath this thick coat of signs, whatever it may contain or conceal, you leave Tamara without having discovered it." (page 14)

Kublai Kahn: "From now on I will describe the cities and you will tell me if they exist and are as I conceive them."
Marco Polo: "Cities also believe that they are the work of the mind or of chance, but neither the one nor the other suffices to hold up their walls. You take delight not in a city's seven or seventy wonders, but in the answer it gives to a question of yours. (pages 43-4)

Posted by: Nathanael / 12:48 PM : (0) comments
Still having problems

Posted by: Nathanael / 11:15 AM : (0) comments
Having temporary problems.

Posted by: Nathanael / 10:55 AM : (0) comments
Great look at how well the media has been reporting the war:

www.informationclearinghouse.info/article2842.htm

Posted by: Nathanael / 10:44 AM : (0) comments
Questions about the occupation of Iraq (that few want to ask):

1. Will old contracts for oil be torn up because they were concluded by a "corrupt" regime that did not represent the interests of the people? What about so-called "odious" debt? Will we revisit similar actions taken by Third World countries, like the agricultural reforms taken by Castro in the 1960s, and legitimize them? Did not the umbrella of "oil for food" (which really allowed more basic goods to flow into the country) work for the average Iraqis?

2. Who are the Iraqis who are partying? Where are the rest of them? Why do they express themselves with such (symbolic) violence? Are the scene really comparable to Berlin in 1989? (The crowds around the wall were hundred of people deep on both sides; people hugged each other rather than beat up pictures of Honecker; they did not fly the equivalent of the "rebel flag" (as are the Kurds.))

3. Are exiles legitimate leaders for Iraq? What capabilities do they have? Can they act independently of the American regime? How could they be more legitimate than the people who experienced the regime the most (if everyone suffered under Hussein, does not doing more time count for more)?

4. What are the other commodities that Iraqi possesses besides oil? Will US allow construction of real industries that are capable of competing on the world marker (including with US firms)? How will they move beyond the economic backwardness of an oil economy?

5. Without Hussein, is Iraq really a nation? On what basis can its political culture be understood?


Posted by: Nathanael / 10:21 AM : (0) comments

Thursday, April 10, 2003

My illness is keeping me from doing the extra study of policy necessary to make this blog interesting for the moment. However, I sketched out the history article that I am working on (concerning Franco-German relations in the 1920's) and I think it is going to be awesome. I also finished Njal's Saga. It wasn't quite as good as Egil or some of the others. Njal is a really interesting figure: the lawgiver who employed the courts in order to keep peace in Iceland and cement bonds between the strong families. It is less interesting after Njal is burned alive in his home: the legal procedures and described in too much detail. Njal appreciated the use of law and its limitations.

Posted by: Nathanael / 2:47 PM : (0) comments

Wednesday, April 09, 2003

The war is (nearly) over. No WMD were used in the conflict. I guess Hussein was not a threat to employ such types of weapons. Wrong again, George jr.

Posted by: Nathanael / 6:31 PM : (0) comments
What is a war without meaningless dancing in the streets and looting? That is was greeted me on the television at 3.30 am today (my illness kept me awake.) Every news network carried the same footage of Iraqi men "celebrating" the demise of the Hussein regime. Most networks analyzed the footage as legitimate joy over the end of the regime. However, they failed to go any deeper than that.

World War I ended in much the same way as this war. In fact, the US would have preferred that the Iraqis revolted against their leadership more in the way that the Germans did. In November 1919 the sailors in Kehl started the revolution, spreading it throughout the entire country within one week. The Kaiser was forced to flee; the ruling social democrats proclaimed a democratic republic. The allied armies had barely crossed into Germany when the empire collapsed.

Is there a lesson to be learned by comparing the fall of the two regimes? Germans felt that they could protect themselves from harsh treatment under the allied occupation and peace treaty by distancing themselves from the empire: if the war was Germany's fault, wasn't it the old Germany of Bismarck and Wilhelm II and not the one of parliamentary democracy? In truth, the Germans regretted losing. They showed as much as they protested the loss of the army, the navy, and the implementation or reparations payments.

One question that had not been adequately answered by the media is how complicit Iraqis were with the Hussein regime. While I was watching, a reported described how Iraqis lived in fear of being denounced. What was left unsaid, and perhaps implied, was that Iraqis denounced each other.


Posted by: Nathanael / 10:05 AM : (0) comments

Tuesday, April 08, 2003

A few quick additions:

1. I found a copy of Leviathan 3 last night. I am interested in finding fantasy that is more historically informed, and I was happy to find something--anything--of Jeff Vandermeer's. Everyone should check out the site he hosts:

www.fantasticmetropolis.com/


2. International Crisis Group has a new report on Angola. I'll have to read it tonight. These reports are great and tend to inspire me. Also, there appears to be evidence of new massacres in DR Congo, in the Ituru provinces. I had hoped that things would have settled down. I am anxious (and worried) to see what other info will follow.

Posted by: Nathanael / 11:54 AM : (0) comments
Today I am very disorganized with my thoughts. I am sick (the cold, not SARS) and I did not get home until late.

Nationalism trumps democracy, even in Ameriraq.

Last night I drove home from Boston (in a light snow shower, very pretty) after visiting several friends. My primitive car only has an AM/FM radio, and my listening choices were few. The public radio station played smooth jazz (which I can't stand.) Several rock stations were broadcasting a Godsmack interview (yuck!) And then there was the FM talk station. Radio is the haven for political stupidity and un-referenced comments. Last night (I wish I knew the name of the radio show) the two hosts were talking about those people detained in the US who came here by illegal mean. The hosts argued that these people, being here illegally, have no rights. Many people probably believe this is true. This is a major fallacy. No matter how they got here or where they are from, they have rights in the US so long as the nation from which they came has an embassy in Washington. The Bush administration is just good at trampling over those rights. (Late last year, Texas (my favorite whipping boy) executed a Mexican citizen without informing that government as per treaty stipulation. The diplomatic fall out may just be too subtle to detect.)

However, there is a larger error in the logic of illegal alien=no rights: the assumption is that you have rights only because of your nationality. This is not true. The United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, which IS PART OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES AS ARE ALL TREATIES (THE VIOLATION OF TREATIES BEING A VIOLATION OF THE US CONSTITUTION), provides rights for all regardless of where they are located. Among them:


"Article 7. All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

"Article 8. Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.

"Article 9. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

"Article 10. Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.

"Article 11. (1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defense.
(2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.

"Article 12. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honor and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks."

http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html
see also:
http://hrw.org/press/2003/04/us040403.htm

The types of preventative detention practiced by the US are universally illegal, something which we would normally associate with dictatorships.

On Music: I have been listing to the new White Stripes. I am underwhelmed. I really thought that they were a great band. I remember finding the picture disc single for Jolene with its imitation of De Stijl, the Dutch art movement that inspired the Bauhaus movement in architecture and set the tone for twentieth century design. The music was primitive, obviously bluesy, but not in a way that was counterfeit. The new album is weak. All the reviews point in the opposite direction, but the music does not stand up as well. It even sounds like "White Blood Cells II." Granted that one song employs the same chords as Dead Leaves, which I don't mind (how many blues progressions, I-IV-V, turnaround, rhythm changes are there in the world of pop music?). The saving grace: Jack White's wide-eyed boy in love lyrics that can be both innocent and genuine. It has been a long time since I have been a teenager trying to date, but I remember the same sorts of trepidation that are expressed in his lyrics.

BTW, the title of this site come from a song by X, whom I saw play way too many times when I was myself a teen. Was there anyone cooler than Billy Zoom?

Posted by: Nathanael / 11:38 AM : (0) comments

Sunday, April 06, 2003

Saturday was a great night for music. I saw the Nu Band (Roy Campbell, Joe Fonda, Mark Whitecage, Lou Grassi) play. It was more composed, and slightly more sedate, than most free/modern creative jazz shows. However, they were still really good. I had never seen Whitecage nor Grassi before, but I was suitably impressed. Campbell was cool as always. However, one suite of his did not go the way he wanted. The band played a piece that he composed for a friend who had died, bassist Wilbur Morris. Campbell had problems with his mute; he kept trying to manipulate it, presumably because it wasn't on correctly. At one point he dropped the mute. He looked disappointed, but his solo and the suite were still good. The best part of the show was Fonda. There is nothing like watching this short man singing at his upright bass, sometimes climbing on top of it to get the notes he wants. He has one of the best visual performances in jazz.

During the show I was comparing Fonda's performance to my other favorite jazz bassist, William Parker. After the show, I started to wonder why all the great instrumentalists are no longer to be found in rock. In the eighties there were many great bass players who combined some proficiency with lyricism and imagination: Peter Hook, Mick Karn, and Mike Watt. I can't think of any one who plays to their level. There are bassists who stick to the basics of roots and pulse. There are proficient bassists who can solo for half the night. Neither of these carry songs; they are drown out in a sea of Creed-like guitars. They are frustrated guitar players themselves, be it rhythm or lead.

This show was taped and may appear later on CD. Check out this records company:

www.eremite.com

Quick thoughts on politics: the "creators" of the interim Iraqi administration should consider that most Iraqis supported the "Arabization" of the Kurds. Yes, we will still fight nationalism in the twenty-first century, both at broad and at home.

In France, the Raffarin reforms, which were long overdue, are causing some problems in the regions that have been neglected by their residents.

Posted by: Nathanael / 11:45 AM : (0) comments