Potpourri:
1) This is the level of discourse for many Americans. On this “Amerisrael” posting University of Mary Washington ‘Stealth Jihadist’ Faculty, a completely anonymous person (10-1 he’s male) goes after me and my colleagues at Mary Washington following a fairly placid interview with the Fredericksburg Free-Lance Star, for an article entitled: Violence Exposes Mubarak’s Real Intent, UMW Expert Says. What’s particularly annoying here is that someone carries out a semi-coherent internet attack piece without so much as identifying himself — yet refers to us who argue within the public domain as “stealth jihadists.” What’s slightly scary is the possibility that this actor and his followers are local, because the local Fredericksburg paper is not that widely circulated, we’ve seen some of this rhetoric before, and one demographic you find plenty of in Fredericksburg are folks fitting this political profile. All his opinions are fair enough — if he dares tell us who he is.
2) Apparently, Saddam Hussein’s tomb is now a full “turbe,” or mausoleum. Nobody should really be surprised, and the next time any of you happen to be in Tikrit, you now have somewhere to visit. Here are some pictures and an article, from Turkey’s NTV website.
3) This little gem of an article, is proof positive that you can live somewhere and not have the first idea what’s going on around you, as you’re too busy running with fools and haven’t an ounce of empathy or self-awareness. Clearly, not everyone learns something by traveling and living abroad. For those who don’t understand why this is so objectionable, go back and read the introduction to Edward Said’s “Orientalism,” which this is a very crude version of. And by the way, what is this “World Affairs Journal,” and what are they striving for?
4) Now, for something completely different. The Guardian has posted an article analyzing how al-Jazeera English has had an explosion of interest in its broadcasts — especially in the U.S. — since the Egypt revolution began: al-Jazeera’s Coverage of Egypt Protests. May Hasten Revolution in World News
One interesting point in the article grabbed my attention — the Chinese government is investing $7 billion in its media outreach. That seems like an awful lot of money. What will they be able to do with that? How does it compare with U.S. government investment in state media?
5) This from George Monbiot, whom I think of as the geek’s revolutionary. As usual, he’s taken an obscure tax policy shift and shown us how much it matters. According to the article, large UK corporations, particularly banks, will soon be able to both deduct their expenses from doing business abroad while no longer paying the difference between foreign tax rates and the normally higher UK corporate tax rate. Sounds obscure, but it’s going to blow a huge hole in the UK national budget, while encouraging their corporations to move operations abroad — and other countries to match the UK’s “race to the bottom” (to borrow a term from U.S. municipality politics). What Monbiot doesn’t get into is how over the past decade it’s gotten progressively harder for international proles to shelter money here and there as they consult outside of their home territory. So, while BP and RBS can make boatloads of cash with operations worldwide, we’ve got to pony up no matter where we make our money. They’re out to get us all: To us, it’s an obscure shift of tax law. To the City, it’s the heist of the century.
Nice excerpt: “I used to think of such processes as regulatory capture: government agencies being taken over by the companies they were supposed to restrain. But I’ve just read Nicholas Shaxson’s Treasure Islands – perhaps the most important book published in the UK so far this year – and now I’m not so sure. Shaxson shows how the world’s tax havens have not, as the OECD claims, been eliminated, but legitimised; how the City of London is itself a giant tax haven, which passes much of its business through its subsidiary havens in British dependencies, overseas territories and former colonies; how its operations mesh with and are often indistinguishable from the laundering of the proceeds of crime; and how the Corporation of the City of London in effect dictates to the government, while remaining exempt from democratic control. If Hosni Mubarak has passed his alleged $70bn through British banks, the Egyptians won’t see a piastre of it.
Reading Treasure Islands, I have realised that injustice of the kind described in this column is no perversion of the system; it is the system. Tony Blair came to power after assuring the City of his benign intentions. He then deregulated it and cut its taxes. Cameron didn’t have to assure it of anything: his party exists to turn its demands into public policy. Our ministers are not public servants. They work for the people who fund their parties, run the banks and own the newspapers, shielding them from their obligations to society, insulating them from democratic challenge.
Our political system protects and enriches a fantastically wealthy elite, much of whose money is, as a result of their interesting tax and transfer arrangements, in effect stolen from poorer countries, and poorer citizens of their own countries. Ours is a semi-criminal money-laundering economy, legitimised by the pomp of the lord mayor’s show and multiple layers of defence in government. Politically irrelevant, economically invisible, the rest of us inhabit the margins of the system. Governments ensure that we are thrown enough scraps to keep us quiet, while the ultra-rich get on with the serious business of looting the global economy and crushing attempts to hold them to account…”
6) This is literary criticism at its best. Excerpt: “Remember: Thomas Friedman is the Carrie Bradshaw of current events. Think Sex and the City , write “Sects and Tikriti.”: Write Your Own Thomas Friedman Column!
7) Rumsfeld tries to clear his record — and I’m not buying what he’s selling: Donald Rumsfeld Book Admits ‘Misstatements’ on WMD Sites
Egypt Postings:
8 ) For those who want an eyewitness perspective from someone watching it closely, here’s a diary of the revolution up to now, by anthropologist Samuli Schielke: Hurry, You’ll be Late for the Revolution.
9) “There is no doubt that the post-Mubarak era is afoot, but it is not necessarily a democratic one. The Egyptian military leaders that are governing the country seem content to leave Mubarak in his place so Suleiman can act as the sitting president.”: Egypt’s Democratic Mirage.
10) Here’s a potentially important statement in support of the movement from Faculty of Law at Cairo University. It includes an English translation.
11) Omar Suleiman wanted Israel to fight Palestinians from Egypt. Wikileaks “documents disclose that Mr Suleiman was stung by Israeli criticism of Egypt’s inability to stop arms smugglers transporting weapons to Palestinian militants in Gaza. At one point he suggested that Israel send troops into the Egyptian border region of Philadelphi…to “stop the smuggling.” This article does not exactly make Suleiman look like someone ready to defend Egyptian sovereignty: WikiLeaks: Israel’s secret hotline to the man tipped to replace Mubarak
12) This interview with Omar Suleiman has been panned by a lot of people whose opinion I trust — but I can’t watch it on my slow internet connection. Comments include that he’s out of teach, she’s clueless as to what’s really going on, etc.
13) Remember that New Year’s bombing of a Coptic Church in Alexandria? Now they’re opening a probe fingering the recently resigned Egyptian Interior Minister, Mr. Adly: Ex-Minister Suspected behind Alex church bombing.
14) Here is a “zar” (propitiation, whatever that is) encourage the expulsion of the bad spirits attached to the Mubarak regime: Zar on Tahrir. Egyptian “popular religion” at its best.
15) Here’s an analysis by “friend of the show” Khaled Fahmy, who argues that the Muslim Brotherhood should be part of the negotiation process. Khaled is about as secular as they come, incidentally: Muslim Brotherhood Should Get Seat at the Table
