Moon of Alabama Brecht quote
Back to Main

August 27, 2011
Weekend Reads and Open Thread

Some interesting stuff to read over the weekend:

A recommendation for MoA readers:

The London Review of Books (LRB) currently offers a hurricane special which allows 7 days of free reading of the magazine and its archive after a registration here. (The registration only requires a valid email address.) I recommend to do so and to walk through the archives. A lot of good staff was and gets published in the LRB. As I am not on the U.S. east coast I'll use this opportunity to fill up my harddisk with reading material for the next hurricane here :-).

Please post your reading recommendations in the comments.

Posted by b on August 27, 2011 at 10:40 UTC | Permalink
Comments

Really wet and windy here in Va. With 5 huge oaks, I’m trying to figure out where to park my car. Can’t do much about the house… Yup, it’s a good day to read. Choosing a book is like trying to find a safe parking space though. I just got a good used copy of The Dharma Bums from abe books.

Posted by: beq | Aug 27 2011 16:21 utc | 1

I was going to link the Islamophobia report, good, here the opening:
This in-depth investigation conducted by the Center for American Progress Action Fund reveals not a vast right-wing conspiracy behind the rise of Islamophobia in our nation but rather a small, tightly net- worked group of misinformation experts guiding an effort that reaches millions of Americans through effective advocates, media partners, and grassroots organizing.
For the hurried or lazy, Common dreams has a 1 page summary:
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/08/26-8
As for Zizek – his ebullience is often engaging. However, this piece is a sorry mess. One of the reasons is that fails to distinguish protestors from rioters and only mentions looters twice, as a kind of alternative term. He mixes in the indignant in Spain, the Arab Spring, Greece, etc. as if all of these – variously called ‘uprisings’, and many other terms – are all equal, in the sense of amenable to some kind of post-Marxist analytical frame. Stealing and thievery find no place – they are normalized.
Z: The first conclusion to be drawn from the riots, therefore, is that both conservative and liberal reactions to the unrest are inadequate.
Sure. The right sees individuals as to be tagged as criminals (vandals, barbarians, etc.) and the left excuses the same behavior by referring to just one cause – lack of support from the State (housing benefits, employment, poor districts, racism, etc.) in a sort of tacit agreement, with the only difference being as to cause – internal, intrinsic, even innate, or: due to lack of support offered by the State.. Does he know anything at all about the history of the ‘underclass’ in England?
Framing the questions or debate in this way boils down to a quarrel between two factions, one of whom wants to ‘pay more’ (child benefits, U study stipends, for ex.) and the other, who would prefer to pay almost nothing, punish harsher, imprison.
Thereby leaving all important societal question – such as the role of banks, finance, energy and peak oil, industrial agriculture, education from 3 to 25, state funding for research, police/army control, population, transport, climate science, globalization, wars, territorial organization (he does mention Badiou), international law, etc. etc.
OK, one cannot in a short piece adventure that far – but the complete neglect on the part of one of the few generalist commentators is quite telling. His confusion shows.

Posted by: Noirette | Aug 27 2011 16:27 utc | 2

– Cryptome has got a good gallery of Hi-Def images from Libya in the past 24 hours (Warning some Graphic).
http://cryptome.org/info/libya-fight2/libya-fight2.htm
– China is just about to outfit there subs with a new “first strike” Nuclear system that can apparently drop multiple nukes from one rocket. (Seems kind of like dropping cluster bombs except the bombs are nukes).
http://www.businessinsider.com/pentagon-report-china-nuclear-weapons-mirv-2011-8
– Robert Fisk has an good piece on prosecuting war criminals that asks alot of interesting questions.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-prosecuting-war-crimes-be-sure-to-read-the-small-print-2344725.html
– Lastly the Beirut based newspaper Al-Akhbar has just opened an English site online @ http://english.al-akhbar.com/ this week. One good article on Iran-Turkey-Saudi fight to come out on top of the Arab Spring below.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/iran-turkey-and-saudi-regional-race-arab-spring

Posted by: Colm O’ Toole | Aug 27 2011 21:15 utc | 3

– China is just about to outfit there subs with a new “first strike” Nuclear system that can apparently drop multiple nukes from one rocket. (Seems kind of like dropping cluster bombs except the bombs are nukes).
“>http://www.businessinsider.com/pentagon-report-china-nuclear-weapons-mirv-2011-8

That’s just a ‘fear’ piece. True or not.

Posted by: alexno | Aug 27 2011 22:19 utc | 4

Well I read a few days ago this piece:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904787404576528512211856454.html
The US Department of Defence was mandated by Congress to present a yearly report on Chinese Military capabilities to them. The first report was presented 2 or 3 days ago. I think the Business Insider piece is more than likely linked to that report (with both the article and the report coming out on the same week).
The Wall St Journal piece does say that the report acknowledges that the new Chinese aircraft carrier would likely just be used for training purposes so unsure of whether it was a fear report. Also however China’s Foreign Ministry has rebuffed the US Department of Defence report as “groundless”.
http://www.dawn.com/2011/08/26/china-calls-us-report-on-its-military-groundless.html
So who knows? Personally I think that since the US and Russia both have that nuke capability for multiple launches from one single rocket it seems logical that China would also try and get there.

Posted by: Colm O’ Toole | Aug 28 2011 1:33 utc | 5

No useful links, I’m afraid, but I do have a question. Today at The Guardian the following was posted:

Deputy Commander of Rebel forces told @Kileysky they are considering going round Sirte & surrounding it to stop Gaddafi splitting Libya in 2

I don’t understand how the rebels can be in command of Az Zawiyah, Tripoli (95% and rising), Zlitan, Misrata, Benghazi, i.e. the coast from west to east (excluding Sirte), yet the Deputy Commander of Rebel forces is worried that govt forces might still split the country in two.
Any ideas?

Posted by: ahji | Aug 28 2011 1:40 utc | 6

ahji, they are not in command, they have been able to enter places. To be in command would mean, they can actually run a place. They cannot run Tripoli. Tripoli’s water resources are in the desert, where they are controlled by Gaddafis forces. The Transitional Council from Benghazi flies to the Nafusa mountains, then goes to Tripoli by car for a press conference (airport area is not safe), and returns for the night.
It is still the same stalemate, just the rebels are now supposed to be the official government, and Gaddafis forces can act guerilla like and stretch them.
what is meant in the statement is probably that they are trying to get supplies from Benghazi to Tripoli as they still can not free the road from Tunisia.
France – England – Italy – old powers back in Libya – from ally to devil
http://www.albawaba.com/editorchoice/gaddafi-%E2%80%94-ally-devil-390086

Posted by: somebody | Aug 28 2011 7:27 utc | 7

tweet of the day
alextomo alex thomson
I witnessed two journalists lying flat out in the live position, then dragged to safety by security guard with AK47 #c4news #libya
vor 16 Stunden

Posted by: somebody | Aug 28 2011 9:36 utc | 8

Is it Ghaddafi / govt types who switched the water off? What is the logic there?

Posted by: ahji | Aug 28 2011 9:50 utc | 9

ahj, might have been switched off intentionally, might just have happened by electricity blackout, switch seems to be in the desert, where the rebels do not wish to fight.
reading up on the history of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, it seems Gaddafi managed to get rid of them before by switching water and electricity off from Dernaa, so it would not be a new tactic.
basically it makes it very hard for the rebels to be seen as liberators, who bring a better life for all. this is a country that enjoyed a good standard of life and functioning services until February this year, in Tripoli until a couple of weeks ago.
it also stretches the rebels as they have to ensure the smooth running of a huge city now. tactics now seems that ex-government soldiers melt away when ex-rebels arrive. that Libyan coastline is huge.
I hear the rebels asked policemen and others to return for work or be fired. it will be quite a test to see how that turns out.
Basically Libya is blown to pieces. Libya can only function, if the oil is shared. To be able to do that, the country has to be united. I doubt emigres who spent 30 years in Manchester and or at US universities can do that.
This on the Tripoli NTC representative Alamin Belhadj
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13898754
“Mr Belhaj is well placed to help run the clandestine network. For 30 years he was in the opposition to Col Gaddafi, as a leading member of the once-banned Libyan Muslim Brotherhood, based first in Tripoli and then in exile in Manchester.”
Khomeini coming from France to Iran was a completely differrent thing. They actually had had a revolution there. Libya is a takeover attempt.

Posted by: somebody | Aug 28 2011 11:35 utc | 10

I understood tribal networks run across the country. How does switching off water supplies to Tripoli boost the Ghaddafi/govt. position? It may work in the western press, but the people in Tripoli are from pro-Ghaddafi clans (I thought) and are those suffering the negative effects; won’t Tripoli civilians’ support turn to the rebels – esp. if the rebels manage to get the water turned back on? Even if they don’t, doesn’t it undermine the position that “we are fighting NATO” – hospitals would collapse in hours with no water. Is it switched off then on? Do Tripoli residents get any info on this? I don’t understand how communications are undertaken intra-Libya. Are there youtubes, phone networks, messengers? People seem to move from one place to another, such as ex-Tripoli types who formed the Tripoli brigades. Very confusing for me, appreciate your input.

Posted by: ahji | Aug 28 2011 11:46 utc | 11

ahj, Gaddafi considers himself no longer the government, he made that clear. he is now a party in a conflict wielding all the power he has.
the rebels refuse to negotiate with him, so they have to find a way to get water to Tripoli by other means or have to liberate that switch in the desert.
water is the absolute essential of life, so the humanitarian situation in Tripoli will deteriorate fast. remember, Nato went to war for protecting civilians. If you ask someone close to a desert in summer heat what he wants water or freedom, that person would say water first.
I found an answer on what is going on in Sirte:
Jonny_Hallam Jonny Hallam
The ntc army is insisting they be allowed to enter sirte and the sirte elders are saying they must go round.
vor 3 Stunden
Would you like to fight your way into a place completely hostile to you where everybody owns a gun? Where would you sleep?
the NTC is just as full of propaganda as anybody else in Libya. Water is something you cannot tell propaganda about.

Posted by: somebody | Aug 28 2011 12:10 utc | 12

Great article on Buffet’s recent pronouncements about Taxing The Rich.
http://dissentingleftist.blogspot.com/2011/08/dont-tax-rich-smash-their-privilege.html

Don’t Tax the Rich, Smash Their Privilege: A Response to Warren Buffett
The number two corporation in Warren Buffet’s stock portfolio is Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo is a major beneficiary of corporate welfare. For instance, they received $43.7 billion in federal taxpayer bailout money. But far more destructive is Wells Fargo’s investment in prison profiteers. Wells Fargo owns 4 million shares in the Geo Group, the second largest private prison corporation in America, and 50,000 shares in the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the largest private prison corporation in the country. These shares combined are valued at more than $120 million (Source: http://www.cjjc.org/en/news/50-immigrant-rights/215-wells-fargo-divest-from-prisons ).
Companies such as the Geo Group and CCA do not earn their money by providing goods or services to customers. Rather, they make their money solely from the government, and solely for locking human beings in cages, mostly for non-violent offenses. Further, these companies actively lobby for unjust laws, largely using the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a corporatist conservative political group.
These laws increase the number of peaceful people locked in cages, as well as the lengths of their sentences. Those they lock up are almost without exception members of the working class, and they are disproportionately people of color. Meanwhile, Geo Group and CCA gather obscene profits from these racist and classist laws. Wells Fargo then profits by investing in these firms, and Warren Buffett profits by investing heavily in Wells Fargo. If Warren Buffett were to pay more in taxes, at least some of those taxes would go to the prison industrial complex and then head straight back to Warren Buffett’s unfathomably large bank account…..

Posted by: Morocco Bama | Aug 28 2011 13:24 utc | 13

more on that water thing
http://www.unicef.org/media/media_59666.html

Posted by: somebody | Aug 28 2011 13:32 utc | 14

@14, Kissinger is the Cheshire Cat right about now, wouldn’t you say? It’s his Blueprint, afterall. Beware Unicef, although how can you, when you’re dying of thirst. It’s like taking water from Tuco.
http://movieclips.com/67pg-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-movie-tuco-nurses-blondie/

Posted by: Morocco Bama | Aug 28 2011 13:44 utc | 15

morocca bama life is really complicated, you know, you never know what people do for money …
alextomo alex thomson
#c4news british photo IDs are titled “Collaborator Of 32 Brigade”. Dated 2009
vor 49 Minuten
»
alex thomson
alextomo alex thomson
#c4news we have named dated photo IDs of dozen British men from Khamis base
more here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8252345.stm

Posted by: somebody | Aug 28 2011 13:50 utc | 16

Why did Gaddaffi cut off the water supply to Tripoli? Because he learned from Saddam Hussein, who himself was reported to have read up on North Vietnamese warfare tactics before the Invasion. In short you follow a stategy of making the people wish you were still in charge by sowing choas and leave the rebels in charge of a unmanageable situation.
Just before the US invasion of Iraq, Saddam gave an amnesty to all prisoners in his jails. He literally emptied out the entire nations prisons and left them to roam around free. He also destroyed huge volumes of government documents from all government departments in the knowledge that once the Americans took over they would be left with an ungovernable state, which would bog them down and make them look ineffective in the eyes of the people.
Gaddaffi is doing the same thing. The rebels control Tripoli now and under International Law are responsible for the safety of the people. If Gaddaffi cuts the water supply, instead of the rebels hunting Gaddaffi down, they are busy trying to distribute water neighbourhoods. It also makes the rebels look bad in the eyes of the people of Tripoli, they will see that under Gaddaffi water was running smoothly but under the rebels they can’t even keep the taps running. It bogs down the rebel army, drains their resources, and makes them look like they are incapable of running the government.

Posted by: Colm O’ Toole | Aug 28 2011 14:03 utc | 17

@16, it only appears complicated, but when one takes off the blinders, and is fully awake, it’s not too complicated to see that opportunity flows from both ends of a burning candle. You just can’t be the last one holding it when it reaches the center.

Posted by: Morocco Bama | Aug 28 2011 14:18 utc | 18

@17, not so sure about that. It can just as easily make The Marvelous Mug look bad for sacrificing “his” people and making them suffer. He’s Martyring them, rather than himself. Not surprising. Like I said, there are no longer any Martyrs….Consumerism and the Power of Self saw an end to that.

Posted by: Morocco Bama | Aug 28 2011 14:22 utc | 19

LA Times – In Libya some fear post-Revolution reality will look like Iraq.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-libya-unexpected-victory-20110827,0,6178733,full.story

Although young men protect their own neighborhoods, major institutions such as banks, ministries and historic sites remain relatively unprotected. A number of banks and commercial towers have been thoroughly looted. Law enforcement is left in the hands of rebel fighters, some of whom had never been to their country’s capital. Young men continue to pillage military sites abandoned by Kadafi’s men, carting away huge stores of weapons, just as Iraqis hauled off guns and explosives later used to make car bombs and launch attacks on Iraqi and U.S.-led forces.

The Independent (UK) – Now fears of Disease rise as bodies pile up on the Streets.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/now-fears-of-disease-rise-as-bodies-pile-up-on-the-streets-2345259.html

The corpses, bloated, infested with maggots, decomposing in the heat, have become such a danger to health that removing them has become an urgent priority of the Tripoli council, which has now been officially inaugurated. It would take time to organise all the utilities, said Omar al-Abed, the head of the municipal section, but: “We have started immediate action on moving these dead people. There are obviously medical issues involved. There are other shortages and we do not want illnesses to start.”

Posted by: Colm O’ Toole | Aug 28 2011 15:02 utc | 20

the TNC is already making serious political mistakes I guess
suggesting they get Egyptian teachers for Benghazi schools, means they haven’t got the schools there running yet as they do not want to employ Gaddafi teachers.
Britain is supposed to do the job in Tripoli, “save the children” just can’t enter yet because of the security situation
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14700016
“protecting civilians” never has been part of any planning.

Posted by: somebody | Aug 28 2011 16:04 utc | 21

What I have here isn’t something to read, it’s something to watch…
I imagine that Lady Gaga chose to have Brian May, the legendary guitarist of Queen, share the stage with her last night (see first link below) because she got her stage name from the song ‘Radio Ga Ga’ by Queen (see second link below):
http://theaudioperv.com/2011/08/28/lady-gaga-wbrian-may-you-and-i-mtv-vmas/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBUr1pSWTVI
And since the video of this song contains many scenes from ‘Metropolis’, a science-fiction film released in 1927 by Fritz Lang, who was a master of German Expressionism, it seems pretty obvious to me that Lady Gaga is patterning her character after anti-Maria, the evil yet very sexy and powerful female robot in this film. But since Pink Floyd makes pretty good background music for this silent film classic (see first link below), if I were her, I’d choose to have David Gilmour (see second link below), the legendary guitarist of Pink Floyd, share the stage with me. Not only is he a better guitarist than Brian May, but he’s also better looking than him. Then again, she might not want to share the stage with a guy that’s better looking than her. Plus David Gilmour is probably too progressive for her taste, and he’s certainly not glam enough for her liking.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fXdzicP8qg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nla3WCSbaSE&feature=related

Posted by: Cynthia | Aug 30 2011 0:50 utc | 22

Interesting post on Pat Lang’s site. Would anyone care to comment…..
http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2011/08/j-ponders-upon-libya.html

Posted by: georgeg | Aug 30 2011 20:40 utc | 23

georgeg @23
The “j-ponders” link is similar to one current of opinion amply expressed and debated here at MOA. At the same site F.B. Ali offers his take on the Abbottabad raid .
Much of his analysis (cool, rational, and informed, as usual) is based on sources amply discussed here.
His discussion of how the mechanics of the operation were influenced by and had consequences for U.S.-Pakistani “collaboration” is, in my opinion, very good.
I find his concluding remarks to be the most salient:

As for the fallout from the operation, it was, as expected, mainly on US-Pakistan relations. If the US had the intention of making it easier for the Pakistanis by fudging the site of the raid, the crashed helicopter’s tail sticking up from bin Laden’s Abbottabad compound ended that option. This stark evidence of the US incursion left the US with no option but to (in Hillhouse’s apt phrase) throw the Pakistanis under the bus. Panetta couldn’t let the opportunity pass without adding an extra kick of his own (“ they were either complicit or incompetent”). The Pakistan military lost a lot of ‘face’ internally, but had a tolerable alibi for the Saudis. Most importantly, the raid and its aftermath ended all chances of them working as allies with the US in the future; the relationship became once again purely transactional, with no trust on either side.
The United States certainly got their man but, in the process, lost Pakistan. Time will tell whether that was a good deal.

I have great respect for FB Ali’s views on anything relating to Pakistan’s policies, armed forces, or diplomacy, but must confess to a predilection for full-bore conspiracy theories, especially when Al Qaeda is purportedly in play. The critiques of the Schmidle and Hillhouse versions which he dismisses (perhaps rightly so, from his point of view, that is, insofar as U.S.-Pakistani relations are concerned) seem to me to be quite cogent in the context, say, of “conjectural” psyops against the American people as a prelude to the 2012 presidential electoral marathon.

Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | Aug 31 2011 8:27 utc | 24

Juan Cole is officially outed:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/08/30/meet-professor-juan-cole-consultant-to-the-cia/

Posted by: georgeg | Aug 31 2011 15:13 utc | 25

WikiLeaks: Iraqi children in U.S. raid shot in head, U.N. says

A U.S. diplomatic cable made public by WikiLeaks provides evidence that U.S. troops executed at least 10 Iraqi civilians, including a woman in her 70s and a 5-month-old infant, then called in an airstrike to destroy the evidence, during a controversial 2006 incident in the central Iraqi town of Ishaqi.

Posted by: b | Sep 1 2011 9:02 utc | 26

b, I can provide you with a letter to the editor (from my daughter’s mother-in-law) in our local paper stating that war is hell and if children have to die, well that is too bad. I still cry thinking back about my experiences back in the late 60’s in that other now forgotten by most war episode. We Americans don’t care about deaths in far off lands, we are preparing for a month long celebration of 9/11. I do mean celebration as we do not know how to quietly commemorate.

Posted by: georgeg | Sep 1 2011 11:02 utc | 27

WikiLeaks Springs a Leak: Full Database of Diplomatic Cables Appears Online
If anyone here is interested in the unencrypted file cables.cvs contact me and I can drop you a private torrent to it.

Posted by: b | Sep 2 2011 5:56 utc | 28

Yet another twist in the Hariri sr. saga. Now (or again ?) some claims about al-qaida involvement. Gareth Porter: Tribunal Concealed Evidence Al-Qaeda Cell Killed Hariri on the IPS website.

Posted by: philippe | Sep 2 2011 5:57 utc | 29

To philippe @26: The Hariri assassination wouldn’t be typical of levantine maneuvering if it were transparent, especially if one takes “Al Qaeda” to mean a cat’s paw for interested intelligence agencies. The major question remaining is “who was most interested” in securing Hariri’s assassination. By now it is also clear that official U.N. pronouncements are no more reliable then those by various national governments, that is to say, essentially worthless except to see what is being officially disavowed or who is being set up as a villain.
On a (geographically) related point, it seems according to Haaretz that Turkey is about to break (or at least reduce the level of its) diplomatic relations with Israel as a consequence of not only the Mavi Marmara incident, but also the soon to be released U.N. report on it. In the Turkish view that report is slanted against Turkey and in favor of Israel.
One must concede, however, that the Israeli’s seem to have learned the lesson of the Mavi Marmara: the way it handled the Freedom Flotilla was a textbook case of coordinated diplomatic and spooky initiatives leading to a successful disruption of what could have been a major public relations fiasco.

Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | Sep 2 2011 9:57 utc | 30

Back to Main