would one of those things subdue a bear? is a bear’s nervous system more robust than that of a talking monkey squatting on public lands because there’s no where else to go?

Posted by: jcairo | Sep 26 2007 12:45 utc | 4

well these guys spend a lot, a lot of time alone – & well trees are not much fun – so a guy’s gotta get himself a little excitation

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Sep 26 2007 13:40 utc | 6

obviously the tasers are to be used against environmentalists, increasingly being tarred, by the imperial worldview, as terra-ists who threaten national interests. and it’ll likely up the monkeywrenching factor, as direct action replaces non-violent confrontation.

Posted by: b real | Sep 26 2007 14:38 utc | 8

…against the latest global threat, stupid — “tree-a-ists!”

Posted by: Bea | Sep 26 2007 14:47 utc | 10

Perhaps the tasers are for the
National Forest Pot Growers

Posted by: ww | Sep 26 2007 15:36 utc | 12

I like the humor here but to my mind stunning bears, even if it worked, does not account for the purchase. Bears or wild animals have not been a particular problem. I have a good friend who works for the forest service and spends about half of his summers deep in the Gila wilderness, without a firearm. He came face to face with bears on at least two different occasions this year and gently stood his ground while talking calmly and the bears sauntered away; the recommended procedure as I understand it. Forest service personnel are trained to react effectively to these situations and when was the last time you heard of a bear attack on forest service people?
I don’t think the answer is the pot growers, ww. They have been dealing with them for years and firearms would be more the tools of trade in those cases.
Your suggestion has more of a ring of credibility to me b real. Environmentalists are a threat to the powers that be and they can sometimes are quite effective in wreaking havoc on the plunderer’s projects. Consider Julia Butterfly tree sitting faced with a Taser.
YY, I appreciate your take on Tasers. I think you are right, they are a form of dastardly punishment and a good tool for keeping the masses in line.
I telephoned my friend this morning to get his take or knowledge on it but missed him. I’ll try again tonight when he should be available.
I’ll admit my paranoia runs deep these days but this one had me stumped. Maybe just much ado about nothing but I doubt it.

Posted by: Juannie | Sep 26 2007 16:04 utc | 14

170 rebels, foreign soldier killed in Afghan clashes
How many of these “Taliban” were civilians?

Posted by: b | Sep 26 2007 16:29 utc | 16

To expound on Juannie’s comments:
An awful lot of forest service land is not just remote wilderness populated by bears, tree-huggers or the occasional crackpot anarchist bomber: many are located near urban areas and are regularly overrun by a cross-section of Americans seeking recreation, which, being a cross-section of the American public, includes rowdies, revellers and people overconsuming the recreational drug of their choice.
Forest service people find themselves increasingly stuck fulfilling the role of local law enforcement in these areas.
And you never know when John Kerry might just show up in one to hold a speech…

Posted by: ralphieboy | Sep 26 2007 17:15 utc | 18

A colleague recently retired from the Forest Service points out that law enforcement on their properties is part of their work. There’s crime in forests like everywhere else. Buying new equipment doesn’t necessarily mean a change in who they bust or why. Cops shop, too.

Posted by: Browning | Sep 26 2007 17:22 utc | 20

Anatomy of an Assassination
This remarkable piece documents the story of the attempted (and disastrously bungled) assassination of Khaled Meshal, Hamas leader, by the Mossad in Jordan in 1997. It is a fascinating look at the world of undercover operations, most striking, in my mind, for the casual ease with which the taking of another human life is considered and almost executed.

Because of the sensitivity of the arena, Jordan, it was decided to carry out what in intelligence jargon is known as a “quiet operation,” without leaving “fingerprints.” The poison was supposed to bring about inexplicable death within a few hours.
The plan was to have two agents approach the victim, one holding a soft-drink can in his hand which he would open in order to divert Meshal’s attention, enabling the second agent to spray the poison on the back of Meshal’s neck. As is the custom in the Mossad, the agents carried out a number of practice runs, using a soft-drink can and a sprayer without poison, on passersby on the streets of Tel Aviv. The drills were filmed on video and studied. Yatom says, contrary to rumors spread by Mossad officials, that he observed the drills in person and also personally briefed the agents before they embarked on the mission. In any event, the planners, feeling that the assassination method was foolproof, devoted little time to drilling scenarios in which the field team encountered complications.

Posted by: Bea | Sep 26 2007 18:44 utc | 22

If you are looking for a translation of the El Pais article about the talks Bush held with Aznar bevor the Iraq invasion, Migeru and kcurie at ET have done a great job.
European Tribune – Bush words. Big Scoop.

As far as Europeans go, we knew the war was a done deal. I am not sure about Americans [editor’s note, by Migeru] I was in the US in 2002/2003 and I was fully aware of what was going on through American media, so I don’t think Americans have an excuse.

So it may be useful for Americans to see the minutes. And still I think it is specially relevant to get a transcript because it gives you an idea of the kind of language, narrative and assumptions being used behind the scenes. Did they believe that Saddam Hussein had chemical weapons? It was obvious that Saddam Hussein did not have a nuclear program since that is impossible to hide… but did they believe their own rethoric… did they believe in the UN’s role… We more or less know the answer… but you need the language to get an insight. So I have thought that a proper English translation of the Spanish transcript from El Pais is absolutely essential. I also think it may be useful for our American counterparts in the blogosphere…

And you will find that some sentences are pure gold

Follow me below the fold… but I do not provide commentary, that is not the purpose of this diary. I leave that to you 🙂

Posted by: Fran | Sep 26 2007 19:05 utc | 24

Things have been so dull of late. Happily the very knowledgeable William Engdahl has something new (to me) & interesting to say about Oil & it’s origins. Doubtless he’ll get trashed. On the other hand, given the state of the biosphere, maybe it’s irrelevant – or maybe not… Stay Tuned…
The good news is that panic scenarios about the world running out of oil anytime soon are wrong. The bad news is that the price of oil is going to continue to rise. Peak Oil is not our problem. Politics is. Big Oil wants to sustain high oil prices. Dick Cheney and friends are all too willing to assist.
On a personal note, I’ve researched questions of petroleum, since the first oil shocks of the 1970’s. I was intrigued in 2003 with something called Peak Oil theory. It seemed to explain the otherwise inexplicable decision by Washington to risk all in a military move on Iraq.
Peak Oil advocates, led by former BP geologist Colin Campbell, and Texas banker Matt Simmons, argued that the world faced a new crisis, an end to cheap oil, or Absolute Peak Oil, perhaps by 2012, perhaps by 2007. Oil was supposedly on its last drops. They pointed to our soaring gasoline and oil prices, to the declines in output of North Sea and Alaska and other fields as proof they were right.
According to Campbell, the fact that no new North Sea-size fields had been discovered since the North Sea in the late 1960’s was proof. He reportedly managed to convince the International Energy Agency and the Swedish government. That, however, does not prove him correct.
…
Peak Oil theory is based on a 1956 paper done by the late Marion King Hubbert, a Texas geologist working for Shell Oil. He argued that oil wells produced in a bell curve manner, and once their “peak” was hit, inevitable decline followed. He predicted the United States oil production would peak in 1970. A modest man, he named the production curve he invented, Hubbert’s Curve, and the peak as Hubbert’s Peak. When US oil output began to decline in around 1970 Hubbert gained a certain fame.
The only problem was, it peaked not because of resource depletion in the US fields. It “peaked” because Shell, Mobil, Texaco and the other partners of Saudi Aramco were flooding the US market with dirt cheap Middle East imports, tariff free, at prices so low California and many Texas domestic producers could not compete and were forced to shut their wells in.    Confessions of an “ex” Peak Oil Believer

Posted by: jj | Sep 26 2007 19:41 utc | 26

Think Progress on the dangers of the lieberman kyl amendment (and a link to the text).

Posted by: Bea | Sep 26 2007 19:47 utc | 28

to speak of eloquence – i just watched the adress by robert mugabe & while he was not participating in self-criticism – it was a very powerful & dignified speech which had a great deal of truth in it
for all his faults he fought for the zimbabwe that exists today & unfortunately(in large part to colonial interference) he is responsible too for its failures
but on the worst day of robert mugabe it is better than it was under ian smith & no amount of bbc black propaganda can hide that

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Sep 26 2007 21:52 utc | 30

fyi. big back stab. divide ‘n you know what.
Biden’s Iraq plan sweeps Senate
Joe Biden has been betting it all on Iraq for some time now and today his horse came in. A Biden-sponsored amendment to a defense bill that calls for a significant policy change in Iraq passed the Senate today with a wide margin.
The amendment requires the United States to work to support the division of Iraq into three semi-autonomous regions,

Posted by: annie | Sep 27 2007 3:01 utc | 32

mugabe’s un speech today avail here w/ all other speeches in the ongoing gen assembly.
from mugabe’s

Clearly the history of the struggle for our own national and people’s rights is unknown to the president to the United States of America. He thinks the Declaration of Human Rights starts with his last term in office! He thinks he can introduce to us, who bore the brunt of fighting for the freedoms of our peoples, the virtues of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. What rank hypocrisy!
…
Let Mr. Bush read history correctly. Let him realize that both personally and in his representative capacity as the current President of the United States, he stands for this “civilisation” which occupied, which colonized, which incarcerated, which killed. He has much to atone for and very little to lecture us on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. His hands drip with innocent blood of many nationalities.
He still kills.
He kills in Iraq. He kills in Afghanistan. And this is supposed to be our master on human rights?
He imprisons.
He imprisons and tortures at Guantanamo. He imprisoned and tortured at Abu Ghraib. He has secret torture chambers in Europe. Yes, he imprisons ever here in the United States, with his jails carrying more blacks than his universities can ever enroll. He even suspends the provisions of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. Take Guantanamo for example; at that concentration camp international law does not apply. The national laws of the people there do not apply. Laws of the United States of America do not apply. Only Bush’s law applies. Can the international community accept being lectured by this man on the provisions of the universal declaration of human rights? Definitely not!
Mr. President,
We are alarmed that under his leadership, basic rights of his own people and those of the rest of the world have summarily been rolled back. America is primarily responsible for rewriting core tenets of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We seem all guilty for 9/11. Mr. Bush things he stands above all structures of governance, whether national or international. At home, he apparently does not need the Congress. Abroad, he does not need the UN, international law and opinion. This forum did not sanction Blair and Bush’s misadventures in Iraq. The two rode roughshod over the UN and international opinion. Almighty Bush is now coming back to the UN for a rescue package because his nose is bloodied! Yet he dares lecture us on tyranny. Indeed, he wants us to pray [for] him! We say No to him and encourage him to get out of Iraq. Indeed he should mend his ways before he clambers up the pulpt to deliver pieties of democracy.

Posted by: b real | Sep 27 2007 3:38 utc | 34

The standoff in New Hampshire is not getting much national coverage…
rherald.com

Posted by: korrelatr | Sep 27 2007 4:12 utc | 36

Joe Galloway opines:

If the Democrats in Congress don’t find their spines and find new leaders who aren’t confused about what’s happening and aren’t afraid of the word “impeachment”, then we all may find ourselves in an even worse mess than the one Bush and Cheney already have made. At war with Iran, for example, and throw in Syria and North Korea, too, for good measure.
While we’re at it, we need to encourage the Republican and Democratic parties to find some better candidates for the presidency. The ones out on the campaign trail now look like Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum.
If the two parties don’t find some better candidates with some new ideas, the pitiful 40 percent of Americans who bother to vote may vote for “None of the Above.” Or write in Lincoln or Truman for president. Even dead, they’re a better choice than what’s on offer now.
Consider this a last-minute wakeup call. This is your country. Take it back before it’s too late.

Posted by: b | Sep 27 2007 9:34 utc | 38

Can someone with some comprehension of the English language explain to me the meaning and logic of this paragraph out of today’s LA Times editorial?

Nearly 30 years after its revolution, Iran remains ideologically inimical to the United States. That makes it all the more vital that other world powers, notably Iran’s accommodating trading partners — China, Russia, Germany — as well as its nervous neighbors be willing through peaceful economic means to raise the costs to Khamenei of continuing Iran’s nuclear defiance.

Posted by: b | Sep 27 2007 11:44 utc | 40

@Rick – so much was clear. But if Iran doesn’t like the U.S. why should Russia, China or Germany care? Is there any ground for that?

Posted by: b | Sep 27 2007 13:01 utc | 42

Israel seeks exemption from atomic rules

Posted by: annie | Sep 27 2007 14:08 utc | 44

that shiny schoolyard on the hill

Posted by: b real | Sep 27 2007 15:05 utc | 46

Juannie at #31:
“It all (in my mind) ties in with a discussion we had a while back about all the Federal Legislative Acts that have stripped US of any basic rights of human autonomy and dignity to say nothing of the common societal protections. We are all but pawns in their psychotic games, subject to
immobilization or destruction as the elite see fit. But every once in a while a single pawn is able to advance to the transcendent privilege of becoming any entity he/she chooses. We all await that end game that inevitably must eventually occur.”
You nailed it beautifully.

Posted by: moonshadow | Sep 27 2007 15:22 utc | 48

More from “A Coup Has Occurred”:

That brings me to the second point. This Executive Branch, under specifically Bush and Cheney, despite opposition from most of the rest of the branch, even of the cabinet, clearly intends a war against Iran which even by imperialist standards, standards in other words which were accepted not only by nearly everyone in the Executive Branch but most of the leaders in Congress. The interests of the empire, the need for hegemony, our right to control and our need to control the oil of the Middle East and many other places. That is consensual in our establishment. …
But even by those standards, an attack on Iran is insane. And I say that quietly, I don’t mean it to be heard as rhetoric. Of course it’s not only aggression and a violation of international law, a supreme international crime, but it is by imperial standards, insane in terms of the consequences.
Does that make it impossible? No, it obviously doesn’t, it doesn’t even make it unlikely.
That is because two things come together that with the acceptance for various reasons of the Congress – Democrats and Republicans – and the public and the media, we have freed the White House – the president and the vice president – from virtually any restraint by Congress, courts, media, public, whatever.
And on the other hand, the people who have this unrestrained power are crazy. Not entirely, but they have crazy beliefs.

Posted by: Bea | Sep 27 2007 15:39 utc | 50

Jonathan Cook: Why Did Israel Attack Syria?

The attack on Syria is part of a clever hustle, one designed to vanquish or bypass the doubters in the Bush Administration, both by proving Syria’s culpability and by provoking it to respond.
Condoleezza Rice, it emerged at the weekend, wants to invite Syria to attend the regional peace conference that has been called by President Bush for November. There can be no doubt that such an act of détente is deeply opposed by both Israel and the neocons. It reverses their strategy of implicating Damascus in the “Shia arc of extremism” and of paving the way to an attack on the real target: Iran.
Syria, meanwhile, is fighting back, as it has been for some time, with the only means available: the diplomatic offensive. For two years Bashar al-Assad has been offering a generous peace deal to Israel on the Golan Heights that Tel Aviv has refused to consider. This week, Syria made a further gesture towards peace with an offer on another piece of territory occupied by Israel, the Shebaa Farms. Under the plan, the Farms — which the United Nations now agrees belongs to Lebanon, but which Israel still claims is Syrian and cannot be returned until there is a deal on the Golan Heights — would be transferred to UN custody until the dispute over its sovereignty can be resolved.
Were either of Damascus’ initiatives to be pursued, the region might be looking forward to a period of relative calm and security. Which is reason enough why Israel and the neocons are so bitterly opposed. Instead they must establish a new reality — one in which the forces of “creative destruction” so beloved of the neocons engulf yet more of the region. For the rest of us, a simpler vocabulary suffices. What is being sold is catastrophe.

Posted by: Bea | Sep 27 2007 16:20 utc | 52

Not Irag – Iraq! Seriously rattled by the freepers, apparently…

Posted by: Tantalus | Sep 27 2007 16:22 utc | 54

@r’giap
Morales was on Jon Stewart, a late-night comedy show here in the US, two days ago and I meant to mention here how incredible he was. It was brief, through a translator, and as you describe very human and very quiet — and very very effective. Brilliant in fact.
Please watch it: Morales on Jon Stewart

Posted by: Bea | Sep 27 2007 19:21 utc | 56

Debs is dead:
Thanks for pointing me @ Fat Freddy’s Drop

“While other bands might lay claim to funk, reggae, jazz, and techno influences, Mu, long time collaborator singer/lyricist Joe Dukie aka Dallas Tamaira and a star-studded line-up of musical talent filling out the rest of the seven-piece band combine those styles seamlessly – ending up with a cohesive sound all of their own.”

– local review
Not what I expected, but a welcome surprise and addition to the playlist

Posted by: jcairo | Sep 27 2007 21:14 utc | 58

b real & b
i’m still not able to work here until i have a ‘test of force’ for the heart so i am wandering wildly over the internet researching for when i hopefully return to work after that test in mid october
so i have been watching a great deal of the speeches of the general assembly – morales stands heads & shoulder above many others – it is not the simplicity though that is obviously not feigned & it is immediately apparent that he is a complex man – it is his apparent softness – i think gromyko once sd of gorbachev – “he has a beautiful smile but teeth of steel” – there is something very, very tough
when he spoke of the attack on capital it was stunningly done – as if an obvious afterthought & on the issue of both nationalisation of resources & on tax & on the i m f – he spoke clearly & economically – the toughness is a kind of relentlessness in him
watching ortega – quited different – he has tasted the whip of u s power & there is something beautiful but broken in him. when he spoke of the 18 years between his general assemblies of the u n – you felt the bitterness in him – he soke like a man whose illussions are broken – which they are clearly not because he is leading nicaragua again after experiencing everything from u s armed force to slime campaigns that have become the habitude of the empire in the way it deals with its enemies
mugabe something else – for the first time in a long time – you could see the freedom fighter in him – what it cost – 11 years in jail – 15 years of the war against the bloody ian smith & yet he spoke today of how that man lived freely in zimbabwe – when other societies would have liquidated him
& listening, you reflect on how many of these unaligned nations, ‘developing’ nations have been systematically undermined & destabilised when they threaten the interests of the empire & its allies & how their reality & political situation is warped by that – it becomes too internal & that is what is different with latin america at the moment – there are allies & it has helped to nourish a real politics
for all my life, for the 50 years of my existance – the u s state dept has described every new threat as the new hitler – never understanding that they are his natural inheritors. tthe world is tired of it – even though there are enough to buy murdoch media with their wretched words – but i sincerely think we have not believed them for a long long time. we are bored with their invoking of their ‘enemies’
one of their old enemies nelson mandela who they imagine already dead has given them a term of reference they use in every second sentence of nation reconciliation, nation conciliation & even tho i think white south africa should have paid more dearly for their crimes – i admire the ethic & processus that the a n c tried to put in place. it did not work because people do not give up power it has to be taken from them through struggle sometimes armed struggle. i essentially agree that the anc has become warped through not having made the changes that were required – that would have got a bad press in the west – but it is the poor of south africa who have had to pay & who are paying still
i adore mandela & think there are few leaders who come within whispering distance of his greatness – but when i watch evo morales – i become very hopeful indeed. because like chavez – he has understood the lesson of empire – & he knows where the real power exists – in their people

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Sep 27 2007 22:00 utc | 60

I had planned to spend some time this morning mulling over the battle of Paschendale, part of the Ypres campaign of 1916-17 and about to reach it’s 90th anniversary, but preparatory to doing so I took my morning skim through Counterpunch in the hope that I may find some news of resistance suceeding, humans defeating the machinery of steel and oil, a story to make one’s day a more optimistic endeavour.
The lead article; about the almost total destruction of Florida by greed, aided and abetted by stupidity, wasn’t per requirements.
Although as an aside I hope those amerikans who were despairing because their home was in a less fashionable part of amerika and consequently they had no access to the grossly inflated valuations bankers were placing on cardboard boxes in Florida and Phoenix, have held on to their trusty homesteads which now are not only worth more than the sun bleached Visyboard and Saran wrap homes, they are going to last a lot longer and appreciate to a realistic value far beyond anything a box will ever achieve again.
The next article I had the misfortune to read, concerned the setbacks which the innocents incarcerated at Guantanamo have recently encountered. Since all the whitefellas (eg David Hicks) along with most of the unwhitefellas with any way of connecting to a whitefella adminstration (eg British residents) have been freed, there has been considerably less media interest in the fate of the inmates of Guantanamo. That is of course why amerika, albeit reluctantly, let those few innocents go free.
The latest news, that Guantánamo inmates are to be denied access to legal counsel, either in person or by mail, or telephone etc., appears a direct result of the enabling legislation passed with assistance from the democrats last year. Despite reluctant acknowledgement from the conservative Supreme Court that Guantánamo inmates were indeed protected by habeas corpus precendents and conventions, District Court Judge Ricardo Urbina dismissed 16 lawsuits, challenging the indefinite imprisonment of at least 40 detainees in Guantánamo.
It will be appealed and in all likelihood the appeals will be successful, but according to Worthington this will be about Spring 2008. In the meantime child inmates have grown into men and further injustices are perpetrated as selected embarassments are repatriated to face torture and further imprisonment in their homelands.
The Iraqi invasion will be defeated in Iraq, but Guantánamo must be defeated in amerika. Any other method will take too long as well as being bloody and best left to last resort.
The dems have had a pretty easy run on Guantánamo, not to mention the other less visible concentration camps and torture centres they so willingly enabled. They need be held to account on this issue, and before the next election. Otherwise the new gang will simply rubberstamp the excesses of the old gang.
At the moment the fight has pretty much fallen on the shoulders of a few principled lawyers. Since principle and lawyer don’t easily trip off the tongue of any human in 2007 that means a lot of what these guys such as Lt. Cmdr. Kuebler say falls on deaf ears.
Something Kuebler said which should give every amerikan a great deal to think about:

Canadian terror suspect Omar Khadr turned 21 in the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay yesterday, but his American lawyer says he functions as a boy of 13 or 14 and does not have a full grasp of his situation.
Five years of incarceration in Cuba have stunted Mr. Khadr’s development at a late-adolescent level, said Lt.-Cmdr. Bill Kuebler, appointed by the U.S. military last June to defend Mr. Khadr.
“He has not received the social interaction,” Lt.-Cmdr. Kuebler said in an interview yesterday. “He has not received an education. He has not received any of the things that a person would need at that age to become a functional adult.”

This business of jailing children leaves me gobsmacked at the best of times but when the child has been apprehended by bounty hunters or kidnappers and has never been granted a fair hearing in a properly constituted court, I am fucking appalled to the point of feeling that flying jet fuel awash airplanes into amerikan population centres seems far too mild.

Posted by: Debs is dead | Sep 27 2007 22:25 utc | 62

Mr. Kuebler, Thank you for your decency.

Posted by: jony_b_cool | Sep 27 2007 22:49 utc | 64

Yes Bea, I think the Rosen piece proves beyond any reasonable doubt that the sectarian friction in Iraq is more a function of conditions there, as opposed to any innate, or inherent hatered they have (for each other). Otherwise those sectarian animosities would have followed with them, and they have not – especially since the largest refugee group, the Sunni’s, have also suffered the most at the hands of the Shia in Iraq, and make no retribution on them in exile. Where one might assume they have even more reason to do so.
Rosen also makes quite clear just how pathetic and hopeless things have become in Iraq, and seems barely able to contain his incredulous disbelief that the Petreaus hearings were able to carve a turkey out of the rotting corpse of Iraq and call it thanksgiving.

Posted by: anna missed | Sep 28 2007 1:10 utc | 66

jj Doesn’t Israel understand that they’re committing suicide by this?
Yes, that is exactly what Israel is doing. One would think the Israeli leaders would be able to look more objectively and look at the bigger picture. But then, look at our U.S. leaders – like two cheeks of the same ass.

Posted by: Rick | Sep 28 2007 2:16 utc | 68

Report: The weird displaced “nukes” incident in the US was in fact an intended attack on Iran aborted by the US airforce.

Command and control breakdowns involving U.S. nuclear weapons are unprecedented, except for that fact that the U.S. military is now waging an internal war against neo-cons who are embedded in the U.S. government and military chain of command who are intent on using nuclear weapons in a pre-emptive war with Iran.

Revolt.
Wow, this piece is wild… is it remotely possible that it is true???

Posted by: Bea | Sep 28 2007 3:44 utc | 70

Bea, sure. We’ve been reading much about mil. opposition, as it should be. Recall the converse situation – when Carter said during campaign that he’d withdraw troops from Korea. AF staged an incident to nix that – plane shot down,or something, details vague.

Posted by: jj | Sep 28 2007 4:28 utc | 72

@tantalus my great-uncle Len, gassed I think at Ypres. a broken man the rest of his days. and the lesson he and his generation learnt, forgotten almost overnight (on a historical scale). renewable amnesia, our only really infinite resource.
romanticising war ought to be at least as punishable as denying the Holocaust — maybe more so — and for similar reasons. people should not be allowed to forget what it really means. as you so vividly say a featureless porridge of mud and pulverised humans, a landscape from which human meaning has been obliterated, the realisation of Hell in the mortal world. Achilles’ Shield.

Posted by: DeAnander | Sep 28 2007 6:23 utc | 74

DeAnander – romanticising war ought to be at least as punishable as denying the Holocaust — maybe more so – so true. Memorials like the Menin Gate, with the names of 54,896 Commonwealth men who disappeared without a trace in the battles of Ypres, not including Passchendaele, should be enough, you’d have thought – for perspective, 58,209 Americans were killed in the Vietnam War. The names on the Menin Gate are just those people who were never found, and doesn’t include Austraian or New Zealand deaths. Another 42,000 Commonwealth soldiers vanished during Passchendaele, part of a Commonwealth death toll of 300,000 in a single battle. It was calculated that a million shells had fallen in a single square mile of the battlefield. The notion that there is any way modern warfare can be mythologized in a way that sidesteps those bare statistics is at the very least a grotesque betrayal of the millions who died, and died for the greater part with no illusions. Instead we’re back to the notion of war as mystery play, conferring things like heroism, pride and glorious sacrifice, and neatly coffined heroes. Wilfred Owen, Henri Barbusse, Erich Remarque should be mandatory reading for everyone.

Posted by: Tantalus | Sep 28 2007 13:27 utc | 76

two items of note from nigerian paper, leadership, today
an interesting news rpt
Niger Delta: SSS Smashes American Syndicate

A top American society woman, Dr Judith Burdin Asuni, and two Germans, Florian Alexander Optiz and Andy Lehmann, are now cooling off at the Yellow House of the State Security Service in Abuja for allegedly running an espionage cartel and acts of terrorism in the Niger Delta.
Asuni, who is married to a Nigerian, runs an NGO, the Academic Associates Peace Works, with head office in Abuja and is well known and connected to top government functionaries in the country, who are said to provide cover for her.
A top official of the SSS told our correspondent yesterday that unknown to Asuni, “The agency has been monitoring her activities for long, which finally led to the discovery that she is using the NGO to undermine the security and national interest of the country.”
She is said to have invited the two Germans into the country who flew in on the September 8, 2007 and met Asuni in Warri, Delta State, without certifying the protocol of their arrival with the German Embassy in Nigeria.
According to the source, Asuni provided guides to the Germans, who took them to Port Harcourt to spy on oil and gas production facilities and the development status of the host communities, after taking away the original copies of their passports.
“That is sabotage, they were doing that without clearance and yet interviewing people on camera,” said the security operative, adding, “Asuni and her collaborators have unrestricted access to top government functionaries and embassy officials under the cover of her NGO.”
According to the source, “Asuni uses the NGO to penetrate the Niger Delta area. Her network is wider than what it looks. She is exploiting the situation in the Niger Delta to spy and possibly promote terrorism in the restive region.”
The foreign nationals are presently answering questions regarding their suspected mission as investigation continues.
When contacted, the head of public affairs of the SSS, Mr Ado Muazu, confirmed the development, saying, “Asuni and her network are out to embarrass the country by seeking to cause damage to the national interest.”
Muazu said the agency is now investigating the activities of all NGOs in the country, with a view to assessing and ascertaining their true objectives and purposes.

and an editorial
Stop AFRICOM

Yesterday, the US Senate Committee on Armed Services opened confirmation hearings that would include the nomination of Army General William E. Ward as commander of the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM). This is in spite of the stiff opposition to the project by most African countries. The Command is scheduled to begin operation by October 1.
When launched, AFRICOM will become a permanent military base in Africa, thus completing a long-desired strategic plan by the US. The stated reason was that it would check the spread of terrorism and smoothen the path of aid to the continent, but the real reason is to secure the continent’s resources and safeguard US military interests in the region. However, many African and American pressure groups are vehemently opposed to this project, seen largely as a neocolonial expansionism. TransAfrica Forum, America’s premier African-American foreign policy organisation, has said AFRICOM “represents a policy of US military-driven expansionism that will only enhance political instability, conflict, and the deterioration of state security.”
The US has tried to effect illegal regime change in over 50 countries in addition to invading 35 others in 56 years. African countries should reject AFRICOM in its entirety. Our National Assembly should therefore be on the look-out for any effort by Uncle Sam to impose it on us. The US Senate Committee on Armed Services should also not give in to President Bush’s expansionist policy under the guise of humanitarianism, knowing he is only making the world a much more dangerous place in which to live.

Posted by: b real | Sep 28 2007 15:18 utc | 78

Those who would have us hit Iran right away have received another important pushback (in addition to that already coming from the US military):
Six key nations agreed Friday to delay until November a new United Nations resolution that would toughen sanctions against Iran in efforts to prevent the Islamic republic from enriching uranium.
A joint statement from the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany said they would finalize the new resolution and bring it to a vote unless reports in November from the chief UN nuclear official and the European Union’s foreign policy chief show a positive outcome of their efforts.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told reporters after foreign ministers of the six countries met Friday morning that “we have to wait to take into account the two reports.”
Before the meeting Friday morning, Russia’s foreign minister made clear that Moscow demands to see a report from the UN nuclear agency on Tehran’s past suspicious nuclear work before considering new sanctions.
And check out this gem:

The French minister [Kouchner] said that when he used the word war recently, it was to prevent not to impose war over Iran’s nuclear program.

Here’s how he used the word:

“We have to prepare for the worst, and the worst is war,” he said in an interview broadcast on television and radio.

Doesn’t sound so preventive to me but who knows…
He continued:

This is life and death, Kouchner said, explaining that if Iran gets nuclear weapons it will be the start of proliferation in the region, and that is absolutely dangerous, more than dangerous.

The start?????
And finally, note the threatening noises from Khalizad at the end of the article:

The U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Zalmay Khalilzad, on Thursday used similar language, telling reporters that the agreement with the IAEA cannot be used as a shield to protect Iran from its violation, lack of cooperation, lack of implementation of the demands of the Security Council on the nuclear issue.
Khalilzad said that Iran’s ability to enrich uranium to a level usable for weapons is a threat to international security and stability. It is one of the most important, perhaps one of the defining issues of our time.
A united diplomatic front, he said, increases the chances that diplomacy will succeed. Those who will not cooperate on the diplomacy of this, with regard to pressure on Iran, sanctions on Iran, bear some responsibility should diplomacy, God forbid, fail.

More defining than, say, global warming? or the state of the global economy? or universal health care? or AIDs? or US hegemony?…or… or… or… how many other issues can you name that are more gravely urgent and “defining” ?

Posted by: Bea | Sep 28 2007 16:58 utc | 80

@b real – 78
Florian Opitz and Andy Lehman are certainly not spys. Check their movie: The Big Sellout. They worked a lot about globalization and likely stepped on the feet of someone with big monetary interest …

Posted by: b | Sep 28 2007 17:43 utc | 82

goodness. so much “he said-she said” reporting on this story.
bbc rpts
Nigeria arrests foreign ‘spies’

The Germans had been filming masked youths from the Ijaw community in Delta State, allegedly without clearance.
Delta militants have been conducting a violent campaign for the oil-rich area to get a larger share of the oil money.
The BBC’s Alex Last in Lagos says the two German nationals had come to Nigeria to do a preliminary research for a possible TV documentary about the Niger Delta.
Our correspondent says the Niger Delta is a sore subject for the Nigerian authorities, particularly the international attention given to militant groups.
…
The Germans were detained last week by members of the State Security Service (SSS) after filming the masked youths.
A few days later, the SSS also arrested Mrs Asuni whose organisation had provided some assistance to the two Germans.
According to a security service official who spoke to the BBC, they suspected the three of an attempt to carry out an act of terrorism.
“The lady is suspected of espionage by exploiting the situation in the Niger Delta,” Addo Mwazu said.
Other reports suggest the arrests were because their actions intended to embarrass Nigeria.

(fwiw, the pic of asuni in the bbc article is lifted from here)
allheadline news rpts

According to BBC News, Asuni was arrested because she demanded the release of two German citizens who were caught filming masked youths from the Ijaw community in Delta State.

bloomberg rpts
Nigeria Holds American, Germans in Niger Delta, Guardian Says

Sept. 28 (Bloomberg) — Nigeria’s State Security Service arrested a U.S. citizen and two Germans for stage-managing acts of terrorism by militants in the Niger Delta, the Guardian reported, citing Ado Muazu, a spokesman for the service.
Judith Asuni, an American who heads a local non-government organization known as Academic Associates Peace Works, was arrested two days ago for attempting to secure the release of the Germans, detained on Sept. 21, the Lagos-based newspaper said. The German citizens, who arrived in Nigeria on Sept. 8, were arrested while filming masked men in the oil-producing city of Warri without official permission, it said.

cannot find any online guardian rpt on the story
the accusation that they were “stage-managing” shoots of “militants”, if true, is a sensitive issue, given the fabricated footage on MEND early this yr that was staged by a reporter for cnn for outside political purposes. at the same time, the nigerian govt is trying to handle the situation in the delta in-house, both diplomatically & w/ increased JTF focus in the region, and likely aren’t too keen on letting their opposition gain more leverage before the upcoming conference/negotiations.
have to wait for more clear information. i gave up on the conflicting coverage earlier this week of the arrest of maybe/maybe not jomo from MEND as practically every article said something different. ughh.

Posted by: b real | Sep 28 2007 19:08 utc | 84

found the original guardian article
SSS arrests U.S., German citizens for espionage

The trio are accused of “stage-managing acts of terrorism by Niger Delta militants. They have been using the operations of the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) for espionage activities.”
The Guardian learnt that the two Germans, Florian Alexander Opitz and Andy Lehmann, who arrived in Nigeria through Lagos on September 8, were arrested on September 21 at the Ogbe-Ijoh community, Warri, Delta State while filming masked Ijaw youths.
The source said that their trip was facilitated by a group, Academic Associates Peace Works, whose Executive Director, Dr. Judith Burdin Asuni, an American, was arrested two days ago by the (SSS).
Asuni, who is also the Secretary of Civil Society Partnership for Democracy, was arrested after her fruitless pressure to release her two partners.
The source confirmed that the two Germans admitted “filming and interviewing people on the issue of militancy in the Niger Delta without clearance or notification of sort from any authority in Nigeria. And the contents of the tapes they had show they were being made with intent to embarrass Nigeria and cause damage to her national interest.”
…
SSS spokesman, Mr. Ado Muazu, who confirmed the arrests, told The Guardian last night on telephone that “yes, the said Dr. Asuni and the two German nationals are in the custody of the service. But we are still investigating. We want to confirm that the network which the said NGOs were part of was not wider than has been uncovered so far. Based on our investigations, it is clear the lady in question is involved in espionage activities by exploiting the problem in the Niger Delta.”

Posted by: b real | Sep 28 2007 19:25 utc | 86

More about Opitz:

Florian Opitz, born in 1973 in Saarbruecken, is a freelance documentary filmmaker, author and journalist. After studies in History, Psychology and English in Cologne and Heidelberg, he started working for several European broadcasters. Currently working on his PhD in History, he also instructs Documentary Film classes at different German universities.
His films include: “Jack Kerouac – The Life of the Writer” (1999), “Women in Hitler’s Army” (1999), “Tibet – Myth and Reality” (2001), “Goliath’s Nightmare – Protest Against Globalism Since Genua 2001” (2002), “Blood for Oil. The Wars for the Black Gold” (2003), “The Hunt for the Killer Virus” (2005), “The Last Days on the Western Front” (2005), and “The Big Sellout” (2006), among others.

He is well known here and public TV has supported/shown lots of his stuff. I doubt he stage-manages things – not his style. He just “embarresses” the Nigerian government for showing issues they don’t want to be seen. Andy Lehman is his cameraman – also a professional, though usually making critical short movies.

Posted by: b | Sep 28 2007 19:56 utc | 88

@87,
USA interests have enjoyed a highly priviledged role in Nigeria for the last 20 or 30 years. Because Nigerians do have a strong affinity for the USA & the UK too. France, Germany, Russia, China, Japan … are minor in comparison. However, South Africa is rapidly becoming more visible.
but Africoms tactics are making the case that the affinity may be one-way. So the outcome is either the Nigerians shut up & do as they are told or they might say — “wait a minute, we’ve been so nice to these guys & this is what we get”
as for the carrot, hate to say this but the Nigerians know they are not going to get a UNSC seat, not from this lame-duck adminnistration, and not anytime soon, and not as long as USA & Russia/China veto powers dominate the UNSC. My guess is that by bringing up the UNSC seat matter, the Nigerians are playing a game with the Africom planners. Remember the uncle you would ask for a pony when you were a kid. Well the kid is not supposed to know Uncle really does’nt have a pony.

Posted by: jony_b_cool | Sep 28 2007 21:11 utc | 90

b@88,
my gut feeling is that Opitz & Lehman are tough seasoned journalists. And journalists get accused of espionage very often. It comes with the turf. They will probably be treated well and will go home soon to a heroes welcome & maybe a fat book contract.
hopefully they will not be water-boarded or forced to wear orange Gitmo jumpsuits

Posted by: jony_b_cool | Sep 28 2007 21:42 utc | 92

Intriguing…
Who owned drug plane that crashed in Mexico?

(snip)
Some news reports have linked the plane to the transport of terrorist suspects to the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but those reports cite logs that indicate only that the plane flew twice between Washington, D.C., and Guantanamo and once between Oxford, Conn., and Guantanamo. No terrorist suspects are known to have been transferred to Guantanamo directly from the United States.
(snip)

Posted by: Alamet | Sep 28 2007 23:02 utc | 94

for b, but above all for rick
i was watching this night, john pilger’s magnificent documentary this night , ‘the war on democracy’ – & i was reflecting how marked, even poisoned i was by the experience of the u s empire’s coup against the people & government of chile in september 11 1973
as a young maoist i had participated directly in the defeat of the empire in vietnam & the wonder of the vietnamese people opened up veins of hope for those without power, for those who did not rule from the roll of dollars. even the way the vietnamese fought the americans was a thing of beauty – everything in the struggle in vietnam was constructed from the beauty & force of ordinary people. the world had never witnessed a struggle of such proportions. & the vietnamese possessed a heroism that made this little maoist ashamed of the small effort he had made on their behalf
but before the fall of saigon – this bloody coup in chile entered the hostory of us all & especially of militants everywhere because chile was the only example of a real socialism being elected through parliamentary politics. it was inconcievable to my comrades that such a reality could come to pass but it would be true to say we watched it in wonder
the music – the popular song movement which also had its links in greece & portugal – was something that made us see through to the heart of the people & to the heart of the question. it was implacable
it would be fair to say – at this moment, being 20 or something, i was a little doctrinaire – a stalinist of the old school – numbercruncher & all that & possessed a hardness that should not have been there in someone so young even though teenagers had fought just as courageously in the fields of vietnam – their maturity being won on the battlefield
i was too hard, all the same & thie movement in chile softened me & people like me – especially because of it cultural character & i suppose an inherent racism – the vietnamese were exotic etc – & the chileans were not so different from us – this other was us. the poetry of neruda told us so – the songs of the family parra – violetta & all of them, the songs of victor jara & mercedes sosa – these were our songs. these were songs that spoke of desire of erotic desire & of erotic desire within politics. it was human, extremely human
& then the bombs fell & allende fell & the people of chile were under siege & torture & murder & the americans had their man in santiago & he welcomed the ss economists from the chicago school who would turn that beautiful country inside out so that it would become empty – would be dominated by fear & violence. & the fear & violence manufactured & produced by americans. of that there can be no question. none of the hoods in latin or central america sd a word without a whisper from washington. nothing moved that had not already been decided at the state department or within the cia/nsa. pinochet like fujimori was empty without the organs of force & violence. nothing. empty.
but what happened in chile broke my hear – i think fatally broke my heart & slothrop was right to point out to a certain nihilism in my words which have their roots in that time. that time of seeing under successive administrations in america – the wounding of countries – sometimes it seemed, irretrievablly like guatemala or honduras. how they wreaked havoc & murder all across africa. & how the men & women i loved & respected in america were killed or jailed for eternity. that my generation had taken a king hit from the empire & disintegrated into drugs mysticism or false certitudes. & to some nihilism – a practical nihilism
what had happened was what should never happen to anybody but certainly not this marxist – i lost faith in the people. i was embittered also how the united states staged its coup in australia & of how the people in fear acceeded to it. & the then young american christopher boyce being one of the few voices in the world that called what was happening in australia by its real name & he is still sitting in an american prison for saying it
but i lost faith in the people. it was something i had no right to do. after all they were my teachers. they were the ones who had constructed a poet in the body of young man of impoverished circumstances. i did not see histroy as it should be seen. to see that what we witnessed in these years would end. that the tyrannies that the united states created would fall & the empire itself would fall
& we have arrived there & perhaps that is why i am deeply moved by hugo chavez & the people of his country who fought for what they have, this very day & who know who their enemy is
these have been terrible years this last decade with rampant & completely deranged u s power exhibiting its essentiual character – that of violence, of fear & of repression. & its hatred of the people. even & perhaps especially of its own people but for all the darkness i feel i have been humanised by the history that we are living though because i imagine bush was correct if you aren’t with him then you become the enemy
& yes i am the enemy & i am proud it

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Sep 28 2007 23:56 utc | 96

beautiful r’giap

Posted by: annie | Sep 29 2007 0:51 utc | 98

87..It’s the criteria that matters,”
wtf! the US gov (gop)is constantly slamming the UN while dangling the prize
“We affirm that there should be geographic balance but responsible states. So we have never said anything to suggest that an African country shouldn’t be on the Security Council. We haven’t said that it should be either.
what arrogance. what is ‘united’ about the US using the security council membership as a carrot when the alternative to meeting criteria is the stick?

Posted by: annie | Sep 29 2007 1:17 utc | 100