Hail to Democracy (US prescribed type)
U.S. Is Suggesting Prominent Posts for Iraq’s Sunnis
The Bush administration is talking to Iraqi leaders about guaranteeing Sunni Arabs a certain number of ministries or high-level jobs in the future Iraqi government if, as is widely predicted, Sunni candidates fail to do well in Iraq’s elections.
An even more radical step, one that a Western diplomat said was raised already with an aide to Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s most revered Shiite cleric, is the possibility of adding some of the top vote-getters among the Sunni candidates to the 275-member legislature, even if they lose to non-Sunni candidates.
…
“There’s some flexibility in approaching this problem,” said an administration official. “There’s a willingness to play with the end result – not changing the numbers, but maybe guaranteeing that a certain number of seats go to Sunni areas even if their candidates did not receive a certain percentage of the vote.”
…
Guaranteeing a certain number of positions in government for certain ethnic groups is not without precedent, though. Lebanon, for example, has a power-sharing arrangement among its main sectarian groups. The Parliament in Iran has seats reserved for religious minorities.
Iran, the model of Middle East democracy!
Posted by: b | Dec 25 2004 19:31 utc | 1
Pepe Escobar on the elections
First we vote, then we kick you out
Posted by: Cloned Poster | Dec 25 2004 20:53 utc | 2
Argentina vs. IMF
Argentina’s recovery has been undeniable, and it has been achieved at least in part by ignoring and even defying economic and political orthodoxy. Rather than moving to immediately satisfy bondholders, private banks and the I.M.F., as other developing countries have done in less severe crises, the Peronist-led government chose to stimulate internal consumption first and told creditors to get in line with everyone else.
Posted by: biklett | Dec 26 2004 4:20 utc | 5
Here’s a nice story… I don’t know if it’s true.
The Christmas Truce of 1914.
There’s a similar story from the Korean War (scroll to episode 3).
Are the “Christmas Truce” stories urban legend or what. I guess we want to believe that there’s something stronger that our desire to kill each other, but it makes me wonder: if you could see the fellow across the trench as a human being yesterday, how can you go back to the slaughter today?
Posted by: kat | Dec 26 2004 6:21 utc | 6
@biklett
Thanks – a very good tale about the IMF’s dictatorship (and how to beat it).
Posted by: b | Dec 26 2004 8:49 utc | 7
The 1914 Christmas Truce is said to be true. It is annoying however that they have to drag it out and show it off every season … see human beings really are “okay”… sigh.
I’d sign on to that if the same soldiers, and those in subsequent generations would simply refuse to participate in the violence of their governments. I would take that as evidence of something good about the species … something worth carrying on for.
Posted by: Kate_Storm | Dec 26 2004 11:14 utc | 8
TODAY ON DEMOCRACY NOW (LISTEN ON KPFA.ORG)
Bill Moyers: “Our Democracy is in Danger of Being Paralyzed”
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Dec 26 2004 12:58 utc | 9
Uncle Scam;
That wasn’t just a tasty bar snack,
but a Chicago deep dish pizza with all the trimmings and extra cheese,
with side orders of sauteed mushrooms coupled with Phillie cheese steaks and beer-battered fries!
I not only read the transcript,but
played the video as well.
One of the greatest accolades a person who tells a good joke can receive is the knowledge that the recipient of the joke is already thinking of who to tell it to in turn. Likewise, a piece of stirring commentary that left me already planning whom I should illumine it with.
Thanks!
Posted by: possum | Dec 27 2004 1:01 utc | 10
Elaine Cassel has pretty much captured my Christmas mood this year.
If Americans have no health care, no jobs, well, so be it. They gave it up for their King. Like the French revolution in reverse, idiotic Americans said, “Here, take our children to war and kill them, blow off their limbs. Take my job and send it to China. Take my health care and we will rely on your healing power to make us well. Let the pharmaceutical industry run the FDA. Let that smirk-face Michael Powell be the guardian of media morals. Take away our rights to sue corrupt corporations and negligent doctors and do not allow us to hold anyone accountable for all the harm you, your administration, and the big guns that elected you, are doing to our air, our water, and our bodies. Continue to leave all children behind with your stupid No Child Left Behind Law, and pollute our air with the authority Congress gave you under the CLEAR Act.
“And, while you’re at it, take our social security and give it to Wall Street. Make the head of the EPA, the agency that wants more arsenic in our water and greater mercury in our air, in charge of the country’s health. Make the man who believes in no law except what serves him and his leader the Attorney General.
“Appoint the worst National Security Advisor in history as head of the State Department, an agency for which she has openly expressed disdain. Reappoint the leader of this debacle of a war for another term. Support him in his disdain for the troops. Appoint ideological judges to carry out your mandate. We are with you Mr. President for you, alone, know best. After all, you are the voice of God on earth. Forget Jesus! You, George Bush, are the 21st century Messiah.”
I wonder if he’ll wear ermine and a crown for the parade in January.
siempre la revolucion es no solucion….solo democracia es possivel para la paz….
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Dec 27 2004 2:48 utc | 13
Yes, you must pull out – but also pay for the damage – The US isn’t protecting or feeding Iraqis, it’s stoking violence and hardship
Naomi Klein in The Guardian
Posted by: b | Dec 27 2004 9:49 utc | 15
Calling Animal Planet RICO squad, and Elliott Spitzer Too
Posted by: Anonymous | Dec 27 2004 15:16 utc | 16
Chicago-school neoliberalism/libertarianism showcased now in Iraq:
The sanctions lasted for 12 years. A study by the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and Iraq’s Ministry of Health found that 500,000 more Iraqi children died under sanctions, from 1991 to 1998, than would have otherwise perished, but they stressed that not all the deaths could be directly blamed on the provisions.
It is believed that many more Iraqis would have died if not for a strong subsidies system that gave food rations to Iraqi families.
Under its October agreement with the IMF, Baghdad’s interim leaders agreed to cut the support, among many other conditions. Officials defended the move during their Washington visit.
Posted by: slothrop | Dec 27 2004 20:07 utc | 18
“It is precisely the unexpected resistance of the Iraqi people which lies at the heart of the US dismay. War against terrorism? This is a war promoting terrorism.”
Link
Posted by: Cloned Poster | Dec 27 2004 20:43 utc | 19
cloned poster
fantastic. where do you find all these links. you promenade the internet like a wild beast.. i would never have thought in a million years of researching the ‘himalayan times’ – but by your diligence you force me to see other necessities
thank you
(kate storm – wherever you are – some angel academic ami in america sent me both peter goodchild books on oppenheimer & edward teller – lovely surprise in these darkest of times – books have got me out of holes in the past & they will in the future)
Posted by: remembereringgiap | Dec 27 2004 23:16 utc | 20
@remembereringgiap
I post the News………. I will always read your editorials.
Here is pandora’s box btw
Posted by: Cloned Poster | Dec 27 2004 23:45 utc | 21
Posted by: DM | Dec 28 2004 1:13 utc | 22
cp
not at all. i understand that the coherence of your links presents a viewpoint & knowing as others do here – the time it takes – this is not nothing – & i am as informed by your work here – more than perhaps you imagine
for me, & for a long time – in terms of new my ports of call begin here or le speakeasy, then common dreams, counterpunch, & truth out – i absolutely need that filter
your work here maintains the general toughness of approach that is necessary when being flooded by bullshit of the lackey of the empire
still steel
Posted by: remembereringgiap | Dec 28 2004 1:33 utc | 23
A Devil’s Island for Our Times
Robert Scheeer makes the case for invading Cuba. Political prisoners and disregard of human rights.
Posted by: b | Dec 28 2004 10:19 utc | 24
rememberinggiap: some angel academic ami in america sent me both peter goodchild books on oppenheimer & edward teller – lovely surprise in these darkest of times – books have got me out of holes in the past & they will in the future
How very cool, rg. I think we all need angels academic. 😉 The Goodchild book on Teller I got from the public library is now overdue. I got distracted with other books in the last ten days, and must finish it.
So many books, so little time.
Posted by: Kate_Storm | Dec 28 2004 11:27 utc | 25
Liberal Hawk Editor of The New Republic(an) Falls Out of the War Party Aviary, and Bumps Beak; Maybe the Cat Upthread Will Eat Him!
Interesting self-criticism.
Requires short registration process.
Posted by: Anonymous | Dec 28 2004 12:15 utc | 26
The end of this year is almost here and Dave Barry does a nice job looking back. It even evoces a few smiles, great job if you consider how the year really was.
No Thanks for the Memories – Dispatches from a year that was lower than a snake
LOOKING BACK ON 2004, we have to conclude that it could have been worse.
“How??” you ask, spitting out your coffee.
Well, okay, a giant asteroid could have smashed into the Earth and destroyed all human life except Paris Hilton and William Hung. Or Florida could have been hit by 20 hurricanes, instead of just 17.
Or the Yankees could have won the World Series.
But, no question, 2004 was bad. Consider:
— We somehow managed to hold a presidential election campaign that for several months was devoted almost entirely to the burning issue of: Vietnam.
— Our Iraq policy, which was discussed, debated and agreed upon right up to the very highest levels of the White House, did not always seem to be wildly popular over there in Iraq.
— Osama bin Laden remained at large for yet another year (although we did manage, at long last, to put Martha Stewart behind bars).
…
January
In lifestyle news, the hot trend is “metrosexuals” — young males who are not gay but are seriously into grooming and dressing well. There are only eight documented cases of males like this, all living in two Manhattan blocks, but they are featured in an estimated 17,000 newspaper and magazine articles over the course of about a week, after which this trend, like a minor character vaporized by aliens in a “Star Trek” episode, disappears and is never heard from again.
…
March
. . . John Kerry sews up the Democratic nomination with primary victories in California, Florida, Illinois, Canada, France, Germany and Sweden. Kerry’s closest rival, John Edwards, drops out of the race, but Dennis Kucinich stays in, saying that he intends to keep his idealistic grass-roots campaign going until either all U.S. troops leave Iraq, or Dennis finds a girlfriend.
…
August
. . . Greece hosts a highly successful Olympics, with the United States winning all the gold medals, at least the ones shown on TV. Fears of terrorist attacks prove unjustified, most likely because the terrorists, like everybody else, are watching women’s beach volleyball. The only major controversy involves the men’s gymnastics gold medal, which is won by American Paul Hamm, despite exit polls showing it should have gone to a South Korean.
…
September
Bush states that being president is really, really hard for him, anyway. Kerry states that he is really, really smart and has, like, 185 specific plans. It is agreed there will be two more debates, although nobody can explain why.
Posted by: Fran | Dec 28 2004 18:59 utc | 27
kate
all i know is that i have seen the abyss vey closely & i can describe to you in detail the contours of that formation – i know it as i know my own skin
i am not a good man but i know what goodness means
what has been what is & what will remain essential to me is reading – i sd to my nephew over wires & distances – that though it can be mocked – not least by my friends here – i have a debt to marxism -leninism because it was the mean not only of my survival but also of the rejuvenation (slothrop, i know will detest the religious implications)of a self that all but dissapeared into capital’s selfish smile & the impoverishment it gives the oppressed like a gift & essential to that project – was not only its humanity & its compassion but also the duty to read & now in the midst of life – reading gives me the same excitement it did when i was ten – maybe more sometimes – i refuse to be absorbed (not quite as disciplined as deanander)in the reproduction of butchery in our times. reading has always provided the context. always.
& as a good m-l i got to know the enemy very well indeed. my first real teacher was a russian with polio – who demanded that i read with a rigour that made university when it arrived a soft option. i was never to know that rigour anywhere else. but in teaching rigour he also taught humility & surprisingly but no so surprisingly for me – pleasure
i still have the same pleasure – someone also sent me the great two tome biography of melville – two enormous books – & the pleasure i knew in just opening these beautiful books – i do not worship them over reality but to say that they do not play a significant part in my life would be a fiction
when the other day – slothrop & i think someone else sd they were afraid of being clumsy – maladroit – i wanted to say then – that i trust only that – paradoxically enough i have no trust in clarity. i think clarity is just a lie well told. i imagine that communication is like it is here – multiple discourses operating at multiple levels – often operating between breaths – between silences – epenthesis i think it is called – that for me is a communication – where reader & writer both have to work – both have to risk both absorption & filters but never comprimise
when someone here mentions an enemy like ayn rand – i want to be vain – to say to that person – i read that as a teenager – & even as a teenager i understood the rottenness between the words. the evil that men & in this case that women do. that they torture the beauty of creation with their sordid & puny construction. that their hatred of the ‘mass’ the ‘herd’ the ‘crowd’ is clear & why do they not leave it at that – why do they have to make pornography of the idea less ideas – & even when it meets its refinement in the work of a e m cioran – what is the worth of what they do – really
i have known the abyss & it has their names graffitied on its walls
if there are angels – they can serve me no better – than by sending me books & for that i will always give thanks & try to transform my fragility into a stronger form
still steel
Posted by: remembereringgiap | Dec 29 2004 1:14 utc | 29
The Econnomist – US on the way back to 1860 Meritocracy in America – Ever higher society, ever harder to ascend
Posted by: b | Dec 29 2004 20:35 utc | 30
Its getting hot in Saudi Arabia Two large explosions shake Interior Ministry, recruitment center in central Riyadh
Next year the Saudi dynasty will fall.
Posted by: b | Dec 29 2004 20:41 utc | 31
@B on Meritocracy in America:
Since you enjoy the dismal science, I will recommend a book: Wealth and Democracy, author Kevin Phillips.
I had to read it 2-3 times to catch all the details.
If a person wants to understand what is happening in America, today, socially, economically, and structurally, there is no better guide than Phillips.
You can buy it in used hardback for under $8 @ Abe Books:LINK
Hell, you can probably buy everything Phillips has ever written, in hard back, for under $35.
Disclaimer: I am not responsible for sore eyes and other ocular maladies that might occur as a result of my recommendations. Further, I do not currently receive any financial remuneration whatsoever from Abe Books for recommending their service.
@Abe Books–HINT;HINT!
Posted by: FlashHarry | Dec 29 2004 23:07 utc | 32
Here is something that popped up over at rense. I haven’t read it through but at first glance it seems to blow away the whole AlQaida myth.
http://207.44.245.159/video1040.htm
The link includes a transcript.
Posted by: rapt | Dec 30 2004 19:14 utc | 33
Interview with Desmond Tutu:
Religion is Morally Neutral’- Desmond Tutu discusses the tsunami tragedy, God, Iraq and the re-election of George W. Bush
You said George Bush should admit that he made a mistake. Were you surprised at his re-election?
[Laughs] I still can’t believe that it really could have happened. Just look at the facts on the table: He’d gone into a war having misled people—whether deliberately or not—about why he went to war. You would think that would have knocked him out [of the race.] It didn’t. Look at the number of American soldiers who have died since he claimed that the war had ended. And yet it seems this doesn’t make most Americans worry too much. I was teaching in Jacksonville, Fla., [during the election campaign] and I was shocked, because I had naively believed all these many years that Americans genuinely believed in freedom of speech. [But I] discovered there that when you made an utterance that was remotely contrary to what the White House was saying, then they attacked you. For a South African the déjà vu was frightening. They behaved exactly the same way that used to happen here [during apartheid]—vilifying those who are putting forward a slightly different view.
Do you see any other parallels with white-ruled South Africa?
Look at the [detentions in] Guantanamo Bay. You say, why do you detain people without trial in the fashion that you have done? And when they give the answer security, you say no, no, no, this can’t be America. This is what we used to hear in South Africa. It’s unbelievable that a country that many of us have looked to as the bastion of true freedom could now have eroded so many of the liberties we believed were upheld almost religiously. [But] feeling as devastated in many ways as I am, it is wonderful to find that there are [also] Americans who have felt very strongly [about administration policies]—the people who turned out for rallies against the war. One always has to be very careful not to do what we used to do here, where you generalize very facilely, and one has to remember that there are very many Americans who are feeling deeply distressed about what has taken place in their country. We take our hats off to them.
Ok. this is it for this year. I am spending new years eve in Northern Italy and will not have access to the Internet.
For know I just want to say HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all, and may it be a better year for all than 2004.
Posted by: Fran | Dec 30 2004 20:16 utc | 34
Oh, Fran. Thank you for the Desmond Tutu piece. You stay well. And I hope that Tutu avoid air travel and particularly light aircraft in the future.
Posted by: Kate_Storm | Dec 31 2004 4:33 utc | 35
How about a “Predictions for 2005” thread, so that at the end of the year we can empirically verify how dumb we are?
Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | Dec 31 2004 9:41 utc | 36