Weblog vacation I'm in Southeast Asia until December 18th. I may prefer the warm water to an internet cafe. So excuse the intermittent postings.#
Images in a Rearview Mirror Jeez, Christopher Hitchens is having a good war. He's wielding his robust liberalism like a battle axe, and enjoying every moment. "I should perhaps confess that on September 11 last, once I had experienced all the usual mammalian gamut of emotions, from rage to nausea, I also discovered that another sensation was contending for mastery. On examination, and to my own surprise and pleasure, it turned out be exhilaration. Here was the most frightful enemy--theocratic barbarism--in plain view. Other and better people were gloomy at the prospect of confrontation. But I realized that if the battle went on until the last day of my life, I would never get bored in prosecuting it to the utmost." Take that, all you hypocrites and parasites of western liberalism, who would take from a system that you would never defend, take that.#
Hot babes are the solution Regular readers will know I like to make connections between the sexual frustration of Arab men and their prediliction for fanaticism. So here's a post from the redoubtable Ken Layne. "Here's a strange article from the Atlantic Monthly. It says the PLO got their boys off terrorism by marrying them off to hot Palestinian babes. Given a nice apartment, a decent stove and a pretty wife, all the former terrorists lost all interest in being blown up for The Cause."#
Monday, November 26
Daniel Pipes: The Muslim Claim to Jerusalem Did you know how many times the Koran mentions Jerusalem? I've always just taken as a given that Jerusalem is as holy a place for Muslims as it is for Jews and Christians. But Daniel Pipes comes out with the remarkable fact that, while the Jewish Bible mentions Jerusalem 669 times, the Koran totally ignores the place. His general point: the Muslim religious claim on Jerusalem is politically inspired. Not that there is anything wrong with that. Anyone have an alternative explanation?#
Andrew Sullivan: The pursuit of happiness "Here, happiness is an end in itself. Its content is up to each of us. Some may believe, as American Muslims or Christians do, that happiness is still only possible when allied to virtue. But just as importantly, others may not. And the important thing is that the government of the United States takes no profound interest in how any of these people define their own happiness."#
Living maps Cristian Werb, the graphics guy at El Pais, is a genius. The Spanish newspaper has consistently outshone every other online news site in presenting excellent online illustrations of the current conflict. Here's a gray splodge of Northern Alliance territory which spreads to cover northern Afghanistan, and some other living maps. Take a look. The advance of the Northern Alliance Exodus of Afghan refugees The first air bombardments#
Who is the turkey? "President George W. Bush reacts to a Turkey named "Liberty" at the annual turkey pardoning event at the White House, three days ahead of Thanksgiving, November 19, 2001."#
e-bore-ometer Okay, I know everyone is sick and tired of these online surveys, but this one is quite fun. Tells you how much of an e-bore you are. I am 85% e-boring, but I think I knew that already, thanks. I'm becoming a war-bore too. And, if by some miracle you're not already bored, here are some more tests. Transformers Horrible affliction Colorgenics Internet addict#
Tuesday, November 20
Companies Compete to Provide Saudi Internet Veil Now wasn't global capitalism supposed to open these countries up to the virtues of economic and political freedom? Whoops. "Saudi security agencies identify the political Web sites that are considered for inclusion on the blacklist. Among the banned sites are the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in the Arabian Peninsula (www.cdrhap.com) and the Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia (www.islah.org). Even some less politically charged sites, including ones that recount the history of Saudi Arabia, are blocked."#
Washington Post: Arabs on Our Side An analysis of demonstrations across the Arab world shows that anti-American sentiment may be strong, but it's not reached the level of fury. This article's conclusion: the US and its allies in Egypt and Saudi Arabia need not fear fundamentalist takeover. One flaw in the argument: the reason there are so few demonstrations in the Arab world is precisely because the regimes are so repressive. week 1: 9 week 2: 3 week 3: 1 week 4: 2 week 5: 0 week 6: 1#
Dave Walker: Of Google, Amazon and Weblogs: reputation management evolves "While Google, Epinions, Amazon and eBay have asked large numbers of people to judge reputations, another reputation tool is approaching the problem from the other direction. Blogging software from firms like Dave Winer's Userland Software and Evan Williams' Blogger.com has allowed individuals to publish their own lists of sites, complete with commentaries."#
NYT: Telecom's Pied Piper: Whose Side Was He On? As Mary Meeker and Henry Blodget were to internet stocks, so Grubman was to telecoms. And now he gets the treatment. Brought down as low as he was once high. An insider quote: "Jack Grubman? His name is mud around here."#
Doonesbury George Bush asks: "Is it still unpatriotic to criticize me?" Obviously not, because Doonesbury is having a go. This is quite a relief. I don't buy all this guff - put about by Andrew Sullivan and others - about Bush being such a great president. I admire the fact that he's working to a reasonable schedule, unlike Tony Blair, who is running himself ragged. And Bush's policies have been more thoughtful than his critics expected, though that is not hard. And he does seem to delegate well to Cheney, and cabinet members such as Rumsfelt. (Though maybe that is out of necessity.) But, when Americans are crying out for inspiration, he is still wholly uninspiring.#
But whose damn fault is the poverty? Apparently - I wasn't there - there was one common theme to the antiwar demonstration in London yesterday. Speakers from Bianca Jagger to journalist John Pilger linked the war to global poverty. You know what, I agree. But that begs the question: whose fault is the poverty? And it just isn't good enough to blame global multinationals. Try focusing some attention on Islamic family planning policy, which is some variant of: woman, it's babies back to back or you're moving into the basement. Or the fact that there are *no* Arab countries with working democracies: the region has worse government than Latin America, Eastern Europe, the Far East, even Africa, for god's sake. Could someone explain how this call all be the fault of the West, because I just don't get it.#
Guardian: Another coalition stands up to be counted A hilariously motley crew at the anti-war demonstration in London yesterday. Pacifist Quakers along with Osama bin Laden supporters, red-flag flying communists with Afghans whose relatives fought against Soviet occupation, speakers railing against global poverty along with trade unionists who support protection against cheap imports from the third world. What a mess. Having said that, the US coalition - Russia, Iran (sort of), Pakistan, India and the Uzbeks and the Tajiks - is pretty diverse itself.#
Sunday, November 18
How to Build an Atom Bomb One of the more hyperventilating stories of this last week was the discovery, by John Simpson of the BBC and other journalists, of Al-Qaeda plans for nuclear weapons. Onlythe text that we were showed on TV bore remarkable similarities to the text of an internet hoax called "How to Build an Atom Bomb". So it looks like those evil geniuses at Al-Qaeda were confused by the western sense of humor. Just like in the movies, where you can always tell a Nazi spy by their inability to understand a wry English joke. Village Voice Daily Rotten#
Self-service advertising A little initiative by Evan Williams of Blogger: text-based, self-service ads distributed across the network of weblog sites. The idea is originally Google's. Their Adwords program allows small advertisers to write short classified ads, and pay by credit card. No design, no hassle. It's popular, and others are taking up the idea. These may be the darkest days of web publishing, but with self-service advertising, and developing micropayment networks, brighter revenue models may finally be emerging. Evhead on text-based ads pyRads#
The Sunday papers The UK's Sunday Times reports Bin Laden has been tracked down to an area of 30 square miles near Kandahar. The Sunday Telegraph reports that Bin Laden supporters have executed their fickle Afghan allies. And Bob Woodward blows the CIA's trumpet with an obviously assisted story on the intelligence agency's triumphs in Afghanistan. Best scoop: the CIA has been using its own private air force of unmanned Predator attack craft. Of course, the real US Air Force, which has just won itself a new strike aircraft for its glamorous pilots, isn't happy about this CIA encroachment. So there is another story in the Washington Post complaining about poor coordination of the CIA attacks. "Despite the presence of Air Force liaison officers at CIA headquarters, Air Force officers monitoring Kabul and other sites in Afghanistan occasionally have been surprised to see an explosion, only to learn later that the CIA was firing a missile." War changes, but inter-departmental rivalries are eternal. Sunday Times: Manhunt for Bin Laden Sunday Telegraph: Al-Qa'eda massacre Taliban Woodward: Secret CIA Units Playing a Central Combat Role Observer: Al-Qaeda's trail of terror#
Saturday, November 17
History lessons I don't usually recommend print articles, because I can't link to them, but do read the latest New Yorker. In particular, The Revolt of Islam, by Bernard Lewis. He is an 85-year-old academic who actually knows his history, and therefore brings more understanding to the Islamic world than all the burbling commentators out there. His central insight: the rage of Islam is the rage of a system that has been losing the military and economic competition for more than 300 years, as far back as the failed Ottoman siege of Vienna in 1683. Of course, that doesn't explain why the Islamic reaction is one of frustrated and self-destructive rage. As opposed, for instance, to a determination to beat the West at its own game. China suffered a century of humiliation, from which it still smarts. But why does the Arab part of the Islamic world turn back to the certainties of medieval Islam, while China builds its way to respect? Although the Lewis article in the New Yorker is in print only, there is a good review of his work in Slate, an article from a decade ago in the Atlantic Monthly which makes many of the same points, a contrary view from the irritating Edward Said, a link to the latest Lewis book on sale at Amazon, some more links to Lewis articles in the NYRB, and finally some other related links which put the current crisis in a historical context. Slate: Bernard Lewis - The Islam scholar U.S. politicians listen to Bernard Lewis: The Roots of Muslim Rage Edward Said: The Clash of Ignorance Amazon.com: Bernard Lewis: The Multiple Identities of the Middle East The New York Review of Books: Bernard Lewis bibliography Foreign Affairs Magazine: Special Briefing Samuel Huntingdon: The Clash of Civilisations Prospect: Anatole Lieven#
Rubbing their noses in it The Taliban were too tough, the Northern Alliance too weak, the hatred in the Islamic world too easily provoked, the rage contagious, the bombing indiscriminate, the western public support too fickle. Sure, everyone is entitled to their views, and their predictions of doom. But they should also expect to be held accountable for their words. We should respect those who get it right, and disparage those who get it wrong. And so an audit of the acres of comment is a worthwhile exercise. One of the features I liked about Brill's Content, the media monitoring magazine, was its ranking of the talkshow pundits. Finally, Sam Donaldson, a pompous fool if ever there was one, was exposed as one of the poorest prognosticators around. I wish there was a media monitoring organization around to score all the weblog writers, and newspaper commentators. I would do it, but watchdogs rarely make good businesses. For the record, I was a bit too rude about the Northern Alliance, just before they began to advance. In the absence of apologies from George Monbiot, Robert Fisk, Seamus Milne and other opponents of the war, here is a gleeful Hitchens column, a Toynbee despairing at the left's inability to engage in honest intellectual discussion, and Andrew Sullivan's awards to those writers who got it most wrong. Christopher Hitchens: Ha ha ha to the pacifists Polly Toynbee: Why is the nihilist left unable to accept events have proved it wrong? Andrew Sullivan The Times: Media Wars: Paper warrirors take no prisoners Observer: Britain's very uncivil war nickdenton.org: I take it all back#
If you can't beat them Even supporters of the war have always assumed that action was necessary, in order to address a clear and present danger to Western cities. But at a cost: yet more virulent Muslim hostility to the Western system. But here's a great article by Anatole Kaletsky which makes the opposing point. "The defeat of the Taleban has shown to the entire Muslim world that the mullahs’ vision of an ultra-orthodox Islamic Utopia is a catastrophic delusion. Not only does returning to medievalism lead to economic catastrophe. Even worse, it produces political humiliation and military disgrace. In a battle between religion and technology, between medievalism and modernity, between theocracy and democracy, the West has long known which side was bound to win. The collapse of the Taleban may now teach the Islamic world the same lesson." If you can't beat the West, join it. China, Japan, Soviet Russia, Nazi Germany have all stumbled into that conclusion. After occupation, cultural revolution, famine, world war, economic stagnation, territorial loss. I'm sure the Islamic world will eventually learn that Koranic law cannot govern a modern and successful society, that reactionary Islam is as much a dead end as were reactionary German and Japanese nationalism. The question is this: How much humiliation does the Islamic world have to experience before it comes to that conclusion? The Arab part of the Islamic world has already experienced 300 years of failure. There is no reason to believe that the defeat of the Taleban will prove the decisive lesson. Anatole Kaletsky: A war that has served notice on all terrorists#
Thursday, November 15
The Flame War Now you don't have to wait until Al-Jazeera - the influential Arabic satellite news station - puts out an English-language website. An NPR affiliate is carrying transcripts. Al-Jazeera is about as moderate and factual as Arabic media gets. Unfortunately, most of the Arab online sources prompt frustration more than understanding. For a discussion of the rabid Arabic media, here's my latest column in the Guardian, an excerpt with a link to the full article below. "In the first online discussion forums, the hippy hopes for mutual understanding were often soured by “flame wars” – online arguments which would career out of control because there was none of the reassurance of face-to-face contact. In this current conflict, we are witnessing a flame war, in which the ease of online communication first promotes bitterness. We can only hope that the understanding comes later." Guardian: The Flame War Al-Jazeera in English Matt Welch: Does the House of Saud Consider Giuliani a 'Jewish Homosexual'? Department of State: Foreign Commentary on the U.S. Ajeeb Translation Site Newsrack Slate: A Middle East Media Primer#
Bluff or threat? Mullah Omar, leader of the Taliban: "The current situation in Afghanistan is related to a bigger cause - that is the destruction of America... The plan is going ahead and God willing it is being implemented, but it is a huge task beyond the will and comprehension of human beings. If God's help is with us this will happen within a short period of time. Keep in mind this prediction." Also... Bin Laden's nuclear secrets found#
Tuesday, November 13
Nelson Mandela press conference "The United States of America lost 5,000 people, innocent people, and it is quite correct for the President to ensure that the terrorists, those masterminds, as well as those who have executed the action and survived, are to be punished heavily." And this is a guy who knows a terrorist from a freedom fighter.#
The many faces of Mohammed Atta I'm getting confused. First, there is the gay Atta theory. Sparked mainly by a throwaway remark by the terrorist's father. Then Atta, thought to be the leader of the September 11th attacks, gets lumped in with the other attackers as a porn-video-renting, lapdancer-watching hypocrite. Although, actually, he wasn't personally identified by the strippers. Now, Atta is revealed to have had a warm online correspondence with a 58-year-old woman he met in a chat room. Nothing yet on whether she disclosed her true age. No wonder he was lusting after all those virgins in paradise. Woman Says She Befriended Hijacker Online Signorile: The Mohamed Atta Files Plastic: Atta, Hitler and Dahmer: If Evil People Are Gay Too, Does It Matter?#
Scorched earth Bamiyan, the city where Buddhist monuments were destroyed last year, has been razed by departing Taleban forces. BBC: Bamiyan destroyed by Taleban#
I take it all back Okay, I take it back. A couple of weeks ago, I had the Northern Alliance pegged as a bunch of armchair generals, collecting rent from the Western press and military, giving advice, and commentating on the US air strikes. Okay, so they do fight. I should also take back the assumption that the Taliban are diehard fanatics. They may indeed put up more resistance once they retreat to their home territory. But, when faced with overwhelming force, they run. BBC: Who are the Northern Alliance?#
More Arab media monitoring Reading the Arab media is a dangerous pursuit. It can turn even the most multicultural of us into unforgiving hawks. Look at poor Matt Welch. He used to be such a gentle young man, until he started reading the more outrageous reaches of the Saudi press, and learned how to froth at the mouth. See for yourself. Department of State: Foreign Commentary on the U.S. Ajeeb Translation Site Newsrack#
The rat-trap Warning: a politically incorrect thought. I hope the Taliban don't surrender. We have all bemoaned the fact that the enemy in this war is invisible, in our neighbourhoods, melts into the background. But that is not entirely true. The jihad in Afghanistan has lured extreme fundamentalists from Arab countries and Pakistan. The enemy is concentrated in Afghanistan, and now concentrated in an ever-smaller enclave in southern Afghanistan. I would rather the Islamic international brigade stay there, and die there, rather than leach out full of revenge into the wider world. Now is the time to seal the Pakistan border, and gradually close the noose. I only wish there had been more time for Islamic extremists from the UK and other western countries to get to Afghanistan first. Among the articles below, I'd highlight the Washington Post discussion on bombing the columns of Taliban troops retreating from Kabul. Whatever qualms U.S. commanders had at the end of the Gulf War about appearing to pile on, Elliot Cohen of Johns Hopkins said, do not apply this time. “This is a more ruthless war." New York Times: Two Wars, Many Fears Washington Post: Rebel gains shift U.S. focus to south Guardian: Hundreds of Pakistanis believed massacred Charles Krauthammer: Take Kabul BBC: Arab bodies in Kabul#
The latest Thomas Friedman column: In Pakistan, It's Jihad 101 "The real war for peace in this region, though, is in the schools. Which is why we must do our military operation against bin Laden quickly and then get out of here. When we return, and we must, we have to be armed with modern books and schools — not tanks."#
Monday, November 12
How to dump the Saudis I am taking as a given that most of us - conservatives and liberals included - would like to see the end of the Saudi regime. Conservatives because the House of Saud has betrayed US support, tacitly backing Islamic fundamentalism across the Middle East. Liberals because Saudi Arabia is one of the world's more obnoxious societies. Medieval, without even the excuse of poverty. My own feeling is that the Middle East's political development has been held up by US support for stale regimes such as the House of Saud. Even if Saudi Arabia goes fundamentalist, as it well may, its people need to make their own mistakes if they are to take responsibility, and learn that the Koran cannot govern the complexities of a modern society. I found this wonderful letter, written before September, from an anti-American Saudi prince who warned the two countries might finally have to go their separate ways. Crown Prince Abdullah wrote: "a time comes when peoples and nations part... It is time for the U.S. and Saudi Arabia to look at their separate interests." Uncanny: just what I was thinking. But what about the oil? Tempting though it might be to throw the Saudi princes to the bloodthirsty fundamentalist crowds, Saudi Arabia is the world's swing producer of crude oil. It is not so much a matter of the US depending directly on Saudi supplies. Saudi Arabia actually exports less than Mexico and Venezuela to the US. But cut Saudi production by half, and the oil price shoots past $30 per barrel, compounding the West's current economic problems. So, what to do? Unfortunately, for the moment, we just have to bite our tongues, suffer the nauseating blandishments of Saudi Arabia's new public relations agencies, and keep Saudi Arabia intact. But Russia is ever more surely moving into the Western orbit. Its oil production is already increasing, and neighbouring Kazakhstan has unexploited reserves at least as large as Saudi Arabia's. Wait five years, expand the pipeline network through Russia, persuade Turkey to allow the tankers through the Bosphorus, create a buffer of oil production outside the Middle East, and then let Saudi Arabia go. You want Islamic government, go ahead, and don't blame us if it all goes horribly wrong. Here is some background. A few rants by Matt Welch against the Saudis. An interview by Jim Hoagland with a leading Saudi prince who blames the press for anti-Saudi agitation. Jewish press, I presume he means. There's a useful BBC fact sheet on the oil business, which shows where Russia and Saudi Arabia stack up in the oil charts. An analysis from this week's Economist of the current state of the oil market: prices going down, rather than up, as the West slides into recession. An article from Newsweek about the US dependence on Saudi oil, which kind of misses the point, because it focuses on direct imports, rather than the impact of Saudi production on the market as a whole. And, finally, an excellent piece from the Weekly Standard which argues that the US can't do without Saudi oil just yet. Matt Welch: The case against Saudi Arabia Matt Welch: Does the House of Saud Consider Giuliani a 'Jewish Homosexual'? Funny slogans for Saudi PR campaign Hoagland: On a Precipice With the Saudis BBC: Q&A: The oil business Economist.com: Oil price war Newsweek: The Saudi Game Newsweek: Driving Toward Independence Weekly Standard: Can We Do Without Saudi Oil?#
Sunday, November 11
The soothsayer I've just found this gob-smacking article from Peggy Noonan, written in 1998. It catalogues the wealth and complacency of the US, and pretty much predicts an attack on New York. A reminder: Noonan was Reagan's speechwriter, the one spoke of doomed astronauts touching the face of God. A quote from article. Remember, this is from three years ago. "When you consider who is gifted and crazed with rage . . . when you think of the terrorist places and the terrorist countries . . . who do they hate most? The Great Satan, the United States. What is its most important place? Some would say Washington. I would say the great city of the United States is the great city of the world, the dense, ten-mile-long island called Manhattan, where the economic and media power of the nation resides, the city that is the psychological centre of our modernity, our hedonism, our creativity, our hardshouldered hipness, our unthinking arrogance." Peggy Noonan: Stay God's hand#
Guardian: a wonderful broadside against the Islamically correct "Said not only taught an entire generation of Arabs the wonderful art of self-pity (if only those wicked Zionists, imperialists and colonialists would leave us alone, we would be great, we would not have been humiliated, we would not be backward) but intimidated feeble western academics, and even weaker, invariably leftish, intellectuals into accepting that any criticism of Islam was to be dismissed as orientalism, and hence invalid."#
Sunday Telegraph: Bin Laden: Yes, I did it UK newspaper finds a Bin Laden video in which he seems to admit to the twin towers attack. I suppose he *has* to claim responsibility. It is his reputation as the scourge of America which has made him the focus for Islamic radicalism.#
Saturday, November 10
William Saletan - Afghanistan Hijacked "We didn't put the lives of Afghan civilians at risk. Afghanistan's hijackers did. The killing of Afghan civilians, followed by worldwide outrage against the United States for those killings, is central to Osama Bin Laden's long-term strategy."#
New York Times: Disappearing in America I'm not a paid-up member of the ACLU. I believe in compulsory ID cards and universal fingerprint records, for god's sake. But I'm getting nervous about the Department of Justice's disregard for basic liberties, such as the right to legal counsel, habeus corpus, and disclosure. Did you know that 11,000 people have been arrested and detained as part of the government's investigation into the September 11th event, and the majority of them remain in detention. This is going to be as embarrassing as interning Japanese-Americans during the Second World War. I never liked Ashcroft, anyhow, and now he is off his trolley. Another good reason to put Rudy Giuliani in there.#
Mazar-e-Sharif’s bloody history “Some of the Taliban troops were taken to the desert and shot, while others were thrown down wells and then blown up with grenades,” according to Human Rights Watch. Not from yesterday's capture of Mazar, but from previous changeover in 1997.#
New York Times: For Tech Workers, Promised Land No Longer Dotcommers in San Francisco start to admit that they're not on vacation, or between jobs, but out of work. I had not realized that unemployment in Santa Clara County, which covers much of Silicon Valley, has *quadrupled* in the last year.#
Friday, November 9
Jobs Likes Gates' New Office I haven't had Apple pangs for several years now. Okay, the Titanium was painfully beautiful. And the pearly iBook. And that cinema screen. Okay, so I have had Apple pangs. But I still feel good about the decision. After all, Windows software is so much better. And now I read that Microsoft Office for the Mac is a thing of beauty. Damn.#
Clinton on the collective immaturity of undemocratic societies "It's no accident that most of these terrorists come from non-democratic countries. If you live in a country where you're never required to take responsibility for yourself, where you never even have to ask whether there's something you should be doing to solve your own problems, then people are kept in kind of a permanent state of collective immaturity and it becomes quite easy for them to believe that someone else's success is the cause of their distress." Sometimes, it's refreshing to have a president who can think. Or is it only ex-presidents who are allowed to think?#
Slate: The National ID Card - If they build it, will it work? With the US government intent on curtailing basic freedoms, such as the right of a defendent to speak to an attorney in confidence, a national ID card seems quite innocent by comparison. What's holding thigns up? This article, which examines ID cards from a practical standpoint, has some questions about expense and reliability. But expense is irrelevant among the military expenditure of the moment. And I just do not understand the obsession with reliability. Even if a system were not foolproof, it would be much more reliable than current identification procedures, which result in innocents being detained, and watchlist individuals getting onto aircraft without a warning being triggered.#
Thursday, November 8
Made in Pakistan I don't accept the West's responsibility for bad government in the Middle East, or Islamic paranoia, or deforestation in Southeast Asia, or poverty in Africa, or ethnic conflict in Rwanda, or the unfocused anger that we're supposed to be sensitive to. But there is one area in which the US and Europe have pursued an entirely indefensible policy. Poor countries, with low wages and land costs, have a competitive advantage in just two main sectors: textiles and food. And those are precisely the sectors to which the US and the EU apply the highest tariffs. Pakistan, a country in which there is obviously a connection between urban poverty and Islamic radicalism, depends on textiles and apparel for 60% of industrial employment. And the US and EU throw up tariffs and quotas. So let me get this straight. We stifle the few industries these countries have, grant aid to salve our conscience and line the pockets of the local elites, and then support military dictatorships when the natives get restless. How do the US and EU dare to lecture the world on the virtues of the free market while hampering developing world imports? Hypocrites, and they know it. If globalization is to be defended with any conviction, the US and EU must defy their domestic lobbies and unilaterally open up textiles and agriculture to tariff-free imports from Pakistan and the developing world. And, if the protesters of Seattle and Genoa really care about sustainable economic development in the developing world, they should be campaigning for globalization, real globalization, and buying cheap slogan teeshirts Made in Pakistan. Hell, that is a cause for which I'd readily throw stones. Pakistanis Urge U.S. to Suspend Textile Tariffs Trade and Development Center: tariff reductions in the Uruguay round WTO Watch: A Sorry Tale of American Arrogance, European Hypocrisy and Developing Countries in Disarray WTOWatch.org: Payback Time as Countries Protest U.S. Trade Policies Oxfam: Loaded Against the Poor Peter Maass: Emroz Khan is having a bad day#
Not the first traitors The tabloids, and some conservative politicians, have been getting worked up about British Muslims who say they would fight for the Taliban. Traitors. Send them to the Tower. Don't let them back in. Even liberal commentators such as Hugo Young of the Guardian have said that loyalty to national ideals trumps multiculturalism, which is quite something. Yes, British Muslims should be forced to choose. But let's not pretend they are the first group to be so conflicted. Back in 1967, in the run-up to the Six Day War, my mother, Jewish but a British citizen, volunteered for Israel. Dual loyalty? And when the Stern Gang, the Jewish version of Hamas, blew up the King David Hotel in 1946, what did British Jews think behind their ritual denunciations of the terrorist attack? And what can one say about the loyalties of the Israel lobby in the US? (Don't tell me that the interests of the US and Israel are entirely coincident.) Hugo Young: A corrosive national danger in our multicultural model Daniel Pipes: The Danger Within: Militant Islam in America Guardian: Try British Taliban fighters for treason, says Widdecombe Boris Johnson: Treason, yes, but it's not their fault#
Bin Laden, in his own words Just found this transcript of Bin Laden's latest pronouncement. Okay, I'm late, but this hasn't appeared anywhere in the US media. Andrew Sullivan picked it up. Would everyone pontificating about the causes of the conflict please just read it. "This war is fundamentally religious. The people of the East are Muslims. They sympathized with Muslims against the people of the West, who are the crusaders. Under no circumstances should we forget this enmity between us and the infidels. For, the enmity is based on creed. God says: "Never will the Jews or the Christians be satisfied with thee unless thou follow their form of religion." It is a question of faith, not a war against terrorism, as Bush and Blair try to depict it... we should view events not as separate links, but as links in a long series of conspiracies, a war of annihilation in the true sense of the word... These battles cannot be viewed in any case whatsoever as isolated battles, but rather, as part of a chain of the long, fierce, and ugly crusader war." Anyone still want to blame US opposition to the Kyoto agreement? Oh, and one other thing: the US administration should really grow up and realize that Osama bin Laden's own language is the West's greatest in the world public relations campaign. Let him speak!#
Wednesday, November 7
Straight from the source Now you don't have to wait until Al-Jazeera - the influential Arabic satellite news station - puts out an English-language website. An NPR affiliate is carrying transcripts. Al-Jazeera is about as moderate and factual as Arabic media gets. For a discussion of the rabid Arabic media, here's a sneak preview of an article I'm writing. "In the first online discussion forums, the hippy hopes for mutual understanding were often soured by “flame wars” – online arguments which would career out of control because there was none of the reassurance of face-to-face contact. In this current conflict, we are witnessing a flame war, in which the ease of online communication first promotes bitterness. We can only hope that the understanding comes later." Al-Jazeera in English Flame war on nickdenton.org#
Demystification of Delta Force One Delta Force soldier said: "The planners "think we can perform fucking magic. We can't." Belatedly, here's Seymour Hersh's investigation into the October 20th attack on Mullah Omar's compound. Hersh has been wrong before. But this has the ring of truth. So, let's go through the list. Cruise missiles, as Bush acknowledges, are only going to hit camels. B-52 will pound the rubble. The moderate Talibans are an illusion. The Northern Alliance are too busy milking the Western military and press to fight seriously. And, now, the special forces aren't quite as special as we thought. It's wobble time. I still think there is no option but to fight this war. And, taking the broad sweep of history, the West will win. The Taliban may still crumble, just as suddenly as did the Milosevic regime. But the Afghanistan phase is going to be messier and more expensive than anyone thought. And let's hope that the conflict does not protect the US military from the thorough overhaul that Donald Rumsfeld had planned for it. The signs aren't good. Already, a $200bn order for manned strike aircraft that will be obsolete by the time they are built. And, judging by the Bush economic stimulus program, the Republicans will take advantage of the crisis to bring funds to favored corporations and pork-barrel army bases. Is there still time to get in some campaign finance reform, before the war on terrorism gets seriously underway. BBC: US military strategy: The need for innovation Salon: King Sy's Mistakes - What Seymour Hersh got wrong Janes: Special forces and the reality of military operations in Afghanistan#
Salon.com: "The Phantom Edit" So, it begins. The music industry has been rejuvenated by the remix. Now it is the movie industry's turn.#
Send in the condoms Women's rights and terrorism: what's the connection? Women are child-bearing machines in countries such as Saudi Arabia. Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq. Women in these countries give birth to more than seven children each, on average. "In the Islamic world, opportunities for women are strictly limited by "purdah", the custom of keeping women out of the public eye and often confined to the home. As a result, the only sure way for a woman to gain status is through the birth of a child--preferably a son." Half the population is under the age of 25. The jobs are all sewn up. So the Middle East's baby boomers sit around in bloody cafes all day, and complain. Is it any wonder they're angry? Hey, Saudis, when are you going to start a family planning policy? The House of Saud - which produces 30 new princes a month - should start with itself.#
Tuesday, November 6
A stealth bomber doing a flypast at the World Series. "Thank goodness you're here, Batman!"#
Islam quiz Test your knowledge of Islam, by answering these ten multiple choice questions. I'm not going to say how I did. Better than I would have two months ago, that is for sure. Now, how about a secular West awareness test? Some questions... · Which is the more profound commentary on America today? 1. The Sopranos 2. The West Wing 3. Sex and the City · Is America controlled by... 1. Jews? 2. Episcopalians? 3. Oprah? · Why is the US in Afghanistan? 1. Because it wants to kill as many Muslim children as possible. 2. Because of Afghanistan's strategic importance as an oil pipeline route. 3. Because it wants to toughen up its Nintendo-playing soldiers.#
Christian Science Monitor: Listening for Islam's silent majority "Tariq Ramadan, based in Geneva, argues in his books and lectures that Muslims must condemn the use of force, and embark on theological reforms to encourage a less literal reading of the Koran than fundamentalist Muslims advocate. Only that kind of "Islamic Reformation," he says, can modernize his religion so that it embraces the scientific and social changes that have transformed the world since Islam's holy texts were written, but which extremists reject as haram, or forbidden."#
Kottke sells out Jason Kottke, celebrated weblog author and scourge of modern marketers, has sold out. He's going to sell advertising on his spartan website. His soul, for the price of an Apple iBook. It would almost be worth sponsoring the site, so long as one could mar the perfection of his design with a really ugly banner ad. Am I being mean? (Disclosure: this nickdenton.org site is based on Kottke html code.)#
$118m from online porn scam Crescent ran the traditional internet sex site scam. Get a credit card number, bill confusingly, and rely on users' embarrassment and discretion. But $118m in takings over three years. Amazing. I've been in the wrong business.#
New York Times: Fighting bin Ladenism Thomas Friedman, always excellent: "What these Arab regimes still don't get is that Sept. 11 has exposed their game. They think America is on trial now, but in fact it is stale regimes like Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which produced the hijackers, that are on trial."#
Guardian: Nile blues An interesting travelogue by Ahdaf Soueif, an Egyptian novelist, returning to Cairo to take the pulse of Arab opinion. The main claim: the Islam v the West theory is simplistic. Cairo culture for example is far more diverse, and westernized, to allow for such a stark divide. This is a good point, well made, but in the end it's just a better-than-average summary of the classic mantra: you have to respect the depth of feeling in the Middle East; it is all about US geopolitics; and the US is responsible for economic misery and political repression. As usual, no self-criticism.#
Emmys, after the fall Host Ellen DeGeneres - she of Ellen and Anne Heche fame - makes a rather good joke: "What would bug the Taliban more than seeing a gay woman in a suit surrounded by Jews?" Cue patriotic commentary. With B-52 bombers, the Sopranos on television, and a sense of humor in the darkest of times, how can America lose?#
Tips for entrepreneurs raising money I remember writing, about a year back, a guide to raising venture capital. Mainly involving setting deadlines for investor responses, ensuring a competitive environment. Be mean, keep them keen. Embarrassing now, really. The VCs hold all the cards. But there are still some valid techniques, according to Red Herring. Most of these suggestions seem sensible. RedHerring: The Smart VC: Don't get jerked around Sep 2000: Management Today#
The Turkey Card Richard Nixon, from the grave, advises the US to skip the war in Afghanistan in favor of some brutal realpolitik. Help Turkey take control of northern Iraq. A clever idea. While we're redrawing borders here, how about giving Iran control of the Shiite south of Iraq. That would certainly keep the Saudis on their toes. And forget about reconstituting Afghanistan. Allow its dismemberment. That would be the one way to ensure the Tajiks, Uzbeks, Hazaras and Pushtun tribes had a reason to fight, and give neighbouring states a reason to throw in their resources. An ethnically inclusive Afghanistan is a western war goal. No local is going to lay down his life for that objective. Salon.com: The Turkey card#
Arab anti-semitism Exploring explicit anti-semitism in the Arab world, and implicit anti-semitism in the West. Everyone always blames the Jews: the column overdoes the wailing. Israel is incidental to the current conflict. However, there are some interesting connections that could be made between the fascist persecution of the Jews, and the hatred of Islamic fundamentalists for Jewish America. To be sure, there is the little matter of the occupation of Palestine, which complicates the matter. But there is something else. Jews have always represented modernity, disrespect, change, confusion, miscegenation. Like a red rag to fascists of the German and Islamic varieties. New York Times: The Uncomfortable Question of Anti-Semitism Matt Welch on Saudi anti-semitism#
Sunday, November 4
Microsoft software development An interesting presentation on Microsoft's management of software development. Microsoft took years to perfect its process. Other companies can at least learn from its experience.#
So we're expecting the Northern Alliance to do the fighting. Yeah, right. "We want America to send 100 planes a day, 200 planes a day," said Mahmood, who is in charge of about 50 troops at Chagatai on the northern front. "Then we will attack." A story I have been waiting for: the Northern Alliance will fleece the US, for arms and bribes, and still complain that they're not getting enough support. First, the US put its hope in Pushtun tribal leaders, only to be disappointed. Now they're backing the Northern Alliance, but may find that relationship just as unsatisfactory. New York Times: Afghan Rebels Seem a Reluctant Force So Far Guardian: Ragtag soldiers betray flaws in Northern Alliance arsenal#
Saturday, November 3
Danger In other news, Danger are getting ready to launch their HipTop handheld. This combines the features of a Blackberry - email on the go - with a cellphone. The industrial design looks slicker than either the Blackberry or the Palm. But Danger, which is venture-backed, looks small as a company. I don't want to get caught out again with stillborn hardware.#
Yes, this is about Islam Enough of all these statements by Tony Blair that this is not about Islam. Enough, too, of blaming all the troubles of the Middle East on outside forces, primarily the US. The westerners who believe that are just political masochists; the Arabs who believe that have no self-respect or sense of responsibility. They are still cringing, 40 years after most of the countries in the region achieved independence, from western colonial power. Western responsibility has expired. It is time these countries grew up: their people need to take responsibility for their own hopeless governments, and their political leaderships have to take responsibility for the creation of a bitter and frustrated urban mob. Thankfully, the politically correct respect for Islam as an ancient and tolerant religion is giving way to some unvarnished analysis. Here's an excellent article by Salman Rushdie on the Islamic world's own responsibility for the current conflict. Salman Rushdie: Yes, This Is About Islam Andrew Sullivan: This is a religious war#
Thursday, November 1
Canon PowerShot S110 This digital camera is *really* tiny and unobtrusive. But - and there is always a but - it relies on a USB interface rather than a faster i.Link cable. Damn.#
War fatigue I have to confess to a degree of war fatigue. I really can't be bothered any more to give the anti-war left a hard time. They are marginal enough. And all too often, the discussion spirals into convolutions of war liberals defending their right to lambast the pacifists who complain they are being criticized for their criticism, while the rest of the world looks on with bemusement, or just ignores the squabbling of the western intelligentsia. I am sure there is some purpose to all this discussion, but I am tired of it. Above all, so much of the discussion is ill-informed. I had a conversation yesterday with a friend who believes that the United States is reaping the death and destruction it has sown over the last fifty years. This was a conclusion about arrived at without, apparently, any knowledge of Osama bin Laden's public statements. She did not think his publicly stated motives were relevant. It is hard to engage with people for whom facts are an afterthought to argument. So, I am giving by pacificist-bashing a rest. I'm still interested in the facts, and the whole clash-of-civilizations debate, but I am swearing off the oped pages of the Guardian, and conversations with certain people. You know who you are. And, as proof of my good intentions, a post below about a cool new Sony laptop. Nothing controversial about that.#
Sony PCG-SRX7 This is what I'd like for Christmas, please. A lightweight Sony laptop with built in 802.11b aerial. Now, if it only had a reflective LCD screen like the new NEC.#
Postcard from North Africa Well, I wasn't as diligent as I had planned in posting from North Africa. The keyboards were all mixed up and, in any case, I was on holiday. But I did talk lots of politics, and we did go inland, away from the main tourist zones. And, herewith, some observations. 1. They drink a lot. To be sure, Tunisia is more liberal than most Arab countries, and the majority of people still don't drink, but those that drink, do so with conviction. Every major town has a bar, usually serving the local Celtia beer, and nothing else, and it is full of glassy-eyed drinkers, and smoke. Conclusions: the Arab world is less monolithic than we imagine. There are things about western culture - alcohol and sexual liberation - that are attractive, and often repellent, at the same time. 2. It's always someone else's fault. This seems to be a theme, both of everyday dealings in a country such as Tunisia, and in the political dialogue. If a bus is late, or a scuba tank is faulty, or a hotel room is filthy, no one will ever take responsibility. It is always someone else's fault. Same with politics. The shortage of water in the Sahara oases? Ah, that is the fault of France, the colonial power, which bequeathed the irrigation systems. The dictatorial regime, in Tunisia and other countries? Ah, that's the United States, which props up dictatatorships, and squelches democratic sentiment. The attack on the twin towers? The Israelis, of course. Yes, the Arab street does really believe that particular myth. 3. It is not surprising that the average person in the Arab world is frustrated. Even in Tunisia, with one of the most successful economies in the region, the wage for a waiter or laborer is only 250 dinars per month, less than $200. There are few jobs for the ever growing number of university graduates. Those that exist are allocated according to connections. Support for the dictator, Ben Ali, is widely assumed to be a precondition of success. It is hard for a man to marry unless he has a good income. Most of the frustrated underemployed just hang out in cafes all day. I have more respect for those that try to overturn their governments, even if they are Islamic fundamentalists. 4. My conclusion: the West must withdraw support for the authoritarian regimes that govern most of the Middle East, even if that risks disorder. Not as part of an ethical foreign policy, but because it is only way that these countries will mature economically and politically. It is only by allowing the fundamentalists to take power, as they have in Iran, that people will learn that sharia law is not the answer to all modern problems. It is only by making independent choices, even bad choices, that Middle Eastern countries will shake off this debilitating post-colonial assumption that it is always someone else's fault. And it is only by the removal of the stifling kleptocracies in Tunisia and other countries that ordinary people will have some productive outlet for their energies.#
How to Build an Atom Bomb
History lessons
The Flame War
The many faces of Mohammed Atta
Scorched earth
Dotcommers in San Francisco start to admit that they're not on vacation, or between jobs, but out of work. I had not realized that unemployment in Santa Clara County, which covers much of Silicon Valley, has *quadrupled* in the last year.
