Thursday, June 16, 2005
Links & notes. posted by Richard Seymour
I think a standing ovation is due the new Aaronovitch Watch which has opened up for business with a series of prickly, satirical posts on the Hampstead bruschetta-boy.Sonic has caught an untidy little Eric of the Decent Left out in a spot of McCarthyism. Eric wants to mimic Orwell's list of 'crypto-communists' and fellow travellers' (yes, Eric, that last syllable has an 'e'), asking: "So, in a modern list of crypto-Islamists & fellow-travellors, who would you list and why?" Has the Decent Left finally, at long last, no decency?
Still, while we're talking about frivolous matters of no consequence, now must be the time to mention that hunger kills 8,760,000 every year . That's not a news story, just a chronic ailment, the result of what Amartya Sen calls 'a failure of entitlements', or what we might describe in less circumspect language as 'most of the world being fucked over relentlessly for centuries by European imperialism and its progeny'.
Speaking of imperialism, remember when Basra was a haven of civil peace and harmony with the occupiers? Remember when we Brits knew how to do it better than the dumb, testosterone-charged Yanks? Not any more . Meanwhile, it seems that the Iraqi resistance is becoming more sophisticated. The article states that 'foreign fighters' make up 5% of the resistance, although it goes on to note that these are responsible for the most brutal suicide attacks etc. Their aim, it is said, is to spark a civil war between Sunni and Shi'ite. So, if their aim isn't to unite Iraqis against their occupiers and drive the troops out, in what sense are they part of the resistance? In the sense, presumably, that so classifying them makes it easier for a brutal occupying army to dismiss its opponents as terrorists.
In a tiny bit of good news the US Congress has voted to curb the PATRIOT Act so that old dears can borrow library books without having the FBI all over their asses.
Finally, Hugo Chavez has accused the US of being behind the crisis in Bolivia . That'll teach them to throw empty accusations around.