Tuesday, March 30, 2004
This Isn't America
Where will it end? In his new book, "Worse Than Watergate," John Dean, of Watergate fame, says, "I've been watching all the elements fall into place for two possible political catastrophes, one that will take the air out of the Bush-Cheney balloon and the other, far more disquieting, that will take the air out of democracy."
What is happening? Who is panicking in the US?
NYT - Krugman - This Isn't America
Review of Clarke's book in the NYT
But the key allegation in the book - that the Bush team was obsessed with Iraq even when faced with overwhelming evidence that it was Al Qaeda that was attacking the United States - can't be dismissed by assertions that he was out of the loop. During those early days, Richard Clarke was the loop.
'Against All Enemies' and 'Ghost Wars': Connecting the Dots
Monday, March 29, 2004
The Clarke Controversy
Well, two different points of view. Two US partisan views on the Clarke testimony.
To me, from across the pond, Krauthammer seems to have a point about the past. I fear Daalder is partly right about the present.
+ Sept. 11, Lies and 'Mistakes' (Krauthammer: washingtonpost.com)
+ Ivo Daalder (Brookings) -Trust Clarke: He's Right About Bush
Friday, March 26, 2004
Housework sermon sparks imam boycott
One of the great forces of change in the world for the last hundred years is the women movement.
Women demanding equal rights have changed the western world on a massive scale. For us of the post war generations it is hard to imagine, but modern women are the prime force of change. No ideological block has changed the essence of societies more than the women's will for equal rights.
My guess is that the Islamic extremism of today is a sign of the tremendous change of Islam that is awaiting us in the next two decades. Women are going to take the lead and they are going to demand of their men to change to. This will not go unnoticed, no, it will look like a volcano.
"A Muslim preacher in eastern Turkey says he is being boycotted for telling local men to help their wives with the housework, Turkish media reported.
"Women do all the work in this village. All I said was men should at least carry the water (from the local well)," Mustafa Platin told Sabah newspaper.
His angry flock, who stopped attending the mosque, have asked authorities to remove the preacher.
"We can carry water, but this not up to him," village leader Adnan Karsli said.
"
BBC NEWS | Europe | Housework sermon sparks imam boycott
Tuesday, March 23, 2004
Some revealing inside story
Richard Clarke's story on what the attitude of Bush and his administration has been towards Iraq and al-Qaeda is some story.
Bush must feel as if dynamite was thrown under his chair.
BBC NEWS | Americas | Bush 'aware' of al-Qaeda threats
Newsnight interview of Richard A. Clarke
Tuesday, March 16, 2004
Is this Europe's 9/11? by Timothy Garton Ash
"The Madrid bombings should be Europe's 9/11. But do we really feel as if we have been hit? Or did we respond more spontaneously and emotionally when the victims were in New York? And if this is Europe's 9/11, what's Europe going to do about it?"
Well it is clear what the socialist leadership in Spain and Holland want. Get out of Iraq as quickly as possible.
Dutch Labour leader Wouter Bos said last night in a speech in Stadskanaal that the time is up to support the United States in Iraq.
He does not like the US military dominance in Iraq. As long as the United Nations is not in control in Iraq, the Dutch should stay out of Iraq, according to Bos. He explicitly said that he has this point of view for some weeks now.
At least it is not a sign of strenth to pull back immidiately after a bombing such as in Madrid last week. Al Qaida justified the bombing by the support given by Spain to the coalition of "Crusader-Zionist alliance" as they like to call it.
The new prime minister of Spain and the Dutch labour leader have shown who can count on them.
+ Guardian Unlimited Politics | Comment | Is this Europe's 9/11?
+ Wouter Bos in Stadskanaal
Monday, March 15, 2004
Speech by Dominique De Villepin 'LAW, JUSTICE AND INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY'
The other day I commented on Robert Kagan´s remark that the US should be able to rely on force andideologyy in its foreign policy and not so much on high principles of law.
My comment was that in Europe we share the ends but not the means he laid out in hiscolumnn.
The French Foreign minister came quickly to my aid with a speech in commemoration of the first birthday of the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
+ NRC Handelsblad - Speech De Villepin 'LAW, JUSTICE AND INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY'
+ "Le droit, la justice et la société internationale"
Saving Ourselves From (Self-)Destruction
In light of the Madrid bombing by Al Qaida the call of El Baradai, Chairman of the International Atomic Energy Agency to get serious in eliminating all nuclear weapons, seems perfectly sensible.
It is worth the fight, because imagine the Madrid bombings caried out with some nuclear bomb.
Is it realistic to think it is even remotely possible?
I am affraid not. Like many pessimist predict that sooner or later a terrorist group will use a nuclear devise to spread its regime of fear and death, I do believe we are stuck in a terrible mess.
Saving Ourselves From Self-Destruction
Thursday, March 11, 2004
Spy Unit Skirted CIA on Iraq
"A special intelligence unit at the Pentagon privately briefed senior officials at the White House on alleged ties between Iraq and Al Qaeda without the knowledge of CIA Director George J. Tenet, according to new information presented at a Senate hearing Tuesday.
The disclosure suggests that the controversial Pentagon office played a greater role than previously understood in shaping the administration's views on Iraq's alleged ties to the terrorist network behind the Sept. 11 attacks, and bypassed usual channels to make a case that conflicted with the conclusions of CIA analysts.
Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Tenet said he was unaware until recently that the Pentagon unit had presented its findings to the offices of Vice President Dick Cheney and national security advisor Condoleezza Rice. It is not clear whether Cheney or Rice were present for the briefing, which was mentioned in a Defense Department letter released by the Armed Services Committee on Tuesday.
It was under questioning from Levin that Tenet acknowledged that he did not know until within the last few weeks that a special Pentagon intelligence analysis unit had briefed the White House on ties between Iraq and Al Qaeda.
The Pentagon unit was created by Douglas J. Feith, undersecretary of Defense for policy, after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon. The unit was a handful of intelligence analysts, Feith has said, and was established to examine state sponsorship of terrorism, but is principally known for its efforts to assemble evidence linking Iraq to Al Qaeda."
Yahoo! News - Spy Unit Skirted CIA on Iraq
Wednesday, March 10, 2004
The politics of the lonely crowd
A very nice essay by Frank Furedi, known from his recent book "Therapy Culture: Cultivating Vulnerability in an Uncertain Age".
His view on the social psychology of the present day citizen and its attitude towards influencing politics.
"The crowds that thronged the streets of Madrid, like the protesters that wish to vent their anger against George W Bush, are no more engaged with society than the people who watch their activities at home on TV. They are making a personal statement. It is their lifestyle choice. Such crowds echo with the voices of the disengaged. They are above all motivated by the impulse of finding meaning by taking to the streets, and do not think very much about how to influence others. It is a lonely crowd indeed."
spiked-essays | Essay | The politics of the lonely crowd
A Decent Regard by Robert Kagan
Kagan on the problems facing US foreign policy. Main problem is that of legitimacy. Do other states (Europeans) regard the US policy, as the most powerful nation, legitimate.
A relevant question, according to Kagan, because without the more or less approval of allied 'liberal' nations as the Europeans US administrations will get into trouble justifying their foreign (war) policy towards its own citizens.
The fear of Europeans is, as Kagan rightly analyses, that the US will handle their (military) power only to the benefit of themselves.
In his analysis he forgets the distinction between means and ends. If asked, most Europeans will agree to all fundamental ends of the US foreign policy. It is the means that cast so much doubt. And when the means mean the preemptive strike, brutal force and sending trigger happy soldiers, a lot of people start doubting the ends as well.
The solution offered by Kagan that the US must put its (military) actions more in the lime light of liberal democratic principals is to easy. Europeans agree to the ends of liberal and democratic world. They only have more confidence in a slow process that is pushed forward by strengthening the international legal order.
If the US abandons the legal path, the gap remains and will deepen.
A Decent Regard (washingtonpost.com)
Tuesday, March 09, 2004
De goede kanten van de oorlog in Irak
Goed stuk van Frans Verhagen over de "goede" gevolgen van de oorlog.
Ook hij worstelt net als ik kennelijk met het idee dat de Bush regering weliswaar rechts is, maar dat de bedoelingen, doelen en manier van handelen tenminste oprecht is. Deze oprechtheid en daarmee het vertrouwen hebben een geduchte knauw gekregen.
De goede kanten van de oorlog in Irak
Blix details his 'mission impossible'
"If there was one man who could have stopped the war in Iraq last year, it probably was not Hans Blix.
He faced a mission almost impossible. He was looking for something which did not exist.
When he duly found nothing, the Americans and British would not accept that absence of evidence meant evidence of absence.
And he was dealing with an Iraqi leader who did not understand that the only thing which could save him was total co-operation.
But, even then, it might not have worked. "
Hans Blix wrote a book about his failed task, just before the invasion of Iraq. BBC's Paul Reynolds reviews it.
BBC NEWS | UK | Politics | Blix details his 'mission impossible'
Friday, March 05, 2004
Blair speech on Iraq and the threat of international terrorism
Speech on Iraq and the threat of international terrorism
Tuesday, March 02, 2004
Clingendael International Energy Programme (CIEP)
The flow of energy is of strategic importance. To study and write about it is most important. In Holland there is the CIEP (International Energy Programme.
Clingendael International Energy Programme (CIEP)
Op dit werk is een Creative Commons Licentie van toepassing.