British Ambassador to Afghanistan suggests Dictatorship

From the NYT:
""Within 5 to 10 years, the only “realistic” way to unite Afghanistan would be for it to be “governed by an acceptable dictator,” the cable said, adding, “We should think of preparing our public opinion” for such an outcome."

Cameron in Afghanistan / Pakistan

David Cameron choses Islamabad to make a major Conservative foreign policy speech.
"Liberal Conservatism" speech here.
Press coverage here.

Should the American Left Support Obama?

I don't know, but here is an interesting debate on it:
"Holding Obama’s feet to the fire"

Charlie Wilson's Chair

The University of Texas at Austin has announced that they are about to establish a faculty chair in Pakistan Studies named after Charlie Wilson.
I kid you not!
But wait, there's more. Some academics have complained. Wilson does not deserve a chair named after him because (wait for it)...of his "central involvement in the cold war". They sense this may not be reason enough so they've thrown in some pseudo-history for support:
"The mujahideen, while advocating a narrow and extreme version of Islam, were also brutal killers who preyed upon the Afghan people and trafficked heroin to finance their activities."

Historical Lessons on Global Hegemony

"The Roman model suggests that it is possible for the United States to maintain its military advantage for centuries if it remains capable of transforming its forces before an opponent can develop counter-capabilities."
Yet America's strengths are also its greatest weaknesses: "For the United State, strategic institutions (e.g., its democratic institutions, personal liberties, and market and financial institutions) represent both the source of its military advantage and its largest vulnerability."

These are the stunning conclusions of a recently released 2002 Pentagon commissioned report on how the United States could learn from the the experiences of four previous empires ("pivotal hegemonic powers in history").
The Report, titled "Military Advantage in History" is available for download here. Informative comment available here.

A.C. Grayling and the Overthrow of Democracy

"...even one mile in the direction of any of their various paradises-on-earth would be a hell for all but those running the journey."

Philosopher A.C. Graying recently supported the recent right-wing nationalist attempt to overthrow the democratically elected government of Turkey through a legal challenge. Not surprising I suppose, he is a liberal defender of "moral values" and author of a 400 page book which asks "Was the Allied Bombing of Civilians in WWII a Necessity or a Crime?"

Guantanamo Bay Trials

"It would be as if the Nuremberg Trials opened with the prosecution of Hitler's driver, someone who by the way was never charged, and who died of old age in his own bed."

Some time ago the Pentagon agreed to human rights group sending their observers to the Guantanamo Bay trials. Here is an informative account by one of them, Ben Wizner.

Hearteningly, the vast majority of commentators to the New York Times article covering this sorry affair are appalled by it.

Sen versus Ferguson

Amartya Sen has recently given us his judgment on British rule in India. Its a rather miserable piece, for a reasonable critique see this.
Niall Ferguson has responded to Sen's article here, and Sen has responded to Ferguson's response here.

Frozen Grand Central Station

Great performance art:

George Habash (1926-2008)

For many people, Al-Hakeem embodied the Palestinian struggle. If you’d like to know more:
As'ad AbuKhalil provides the best informed and rather personal remembrance.
Lamis Andoni on aljazeera.net and David Hirst for the Guardian provide reasonable ‘standard’ English language obituaries.
It is also worth looking at this article in Le Monde.

"La lutte palestinienne a besoin, pour triompher, d'un Hanoï arabe"

Newspapers and their Blogs...update 1

Damian Thompson of the Telegraph has posted a retraction of sorts. His previous post on Muslims laying siege to a Sydney hospital was, he admits, “counterknowledge”, an “urban legend”. I am reminded of the Pentagon’s retraction (see these Washington Post and New York Times articles) of their earlier and much publicised claim of small Iranian speedboats threatening three U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf. In both cases, grave concerns about the ongoing threat were expressed alongside the (rather muted) retractions.

Newspapers and their Blogs

A recent blog article on a newspaper website reminded me of a comment often made by Americans visiting or settled in Britain: that the British press is, politically, much more varied than the press back home. Whether that is true or not (I suspect it might be, comments?), it is certainly true that the British press displays a wide range of Right and Left wing agendas, which, however, are often hidden from the casual reader. The advent of newspaper-associated blogs may well be making these agendas clearer.

The blog article in question has just been published on the website of the Telegraph group of newspapers (the Daily Telegraph is one of the best-selling non-tabloid newspapers in Britain) by the leader writer Damian Thompson. “Muslims Lay Siege to Australian Hospital” he claims, and goes on to quote, verbatim, a ‘news’ report on how 150 Muslims recently threatened to over-run the Liverpool Hospital in Sydney, and how the authorities 'capitulated'. Thompson does not cite any primary sources for this report, and some quick googling reveals that report of this incident can only be found on right-wing blogs in Britain and Australia. There is no mention of it in any other mainstream news channel – indeed the Telegraph is probably the most mainstream outing this particular event has garnered. Coupled with a picture implying the effects of Shariah law, Thompson’s assertion that “if the report is true, then this is another example of a global campaign by fundamentalist Muslims to replace civil law by Sharia”, and the slew of vitriolic readers comments which follow, this blog reveals much about an extremely popular British newspaper and its readership. This report could not, ofcourse, have ever been published in the paper edition of the Telegraph; its publication in an associated blog suggests that such blogs allow newspapers to pursue their agendas more explicitly than they would have been able to otherwise. They also allow readers a greater insight into the politics of their nation's greatest news rags.

For Telegraph blog see: muslimslaysiege