September 25th 2006 03:27
The Grey Lady swings its grim reaper again. In case you don’t know yet, that’s a nice and suitable moniker for The New York Times which leaked an “intelligence memo”, purportedly saying that the war in terror increased the numbers of terrorists by radicalising Islamists further. As if they needed any more radicalising.
The report if it existed is pure political gold and one can expect a lot of use will be made of it. But how serious is it? On the one hand the conclusion is so blasé, one wonders why it was made at all. After all the radicals are going to seize every available excuse to further their cause. The fundamental dynamic of any cause is to demonise the factor that resists it and use this portrayal for its furtherance. So, if the war has radicalised more people, that was the risk taken and an expected one at that. What the war is supposed to do was to dismember the networks and infrastructure and on this the same report says that the war has done that rather well. It was not supposed to prevent morbid fantasising of idle people.
Many people today try to discredit the war on terror by saying that it produces more terrorists than before and therefore is self-defeating. Let’s see. Would we raise the same moral objection, let us say, when a young kid is sexually assaulted? Most rapists would allege that their victims invited it upon themselves and therefore deserved it. After all that’s their line of defence. Without it they wouldn’t have any protection to hide behind.
The same goes for terrorists. Without the ready excuse of the war, they wouldn’t have an excuse to hide behind, to blur moral parameters.
But for the rest of us a question remains. Would we accuse a young victim who might speak against an aggressor for provoking all those would-be child molesters and whetting their appetite? Curiously enough, I have seen this done in traditional societies to suppress knowledge of rape, and not that of children alone. Well, we’re doing the same thing when we say that the War on Terror or the Iraq War enable terrorism to flourish.
Sure, there are parties who will make political buck out of such reports. That’s their living. But should we let terrorists to make a moral buck out of it?
September 25th 2006 02:30
Take me through this pile of corpses.
I see a lot of blood and my jaw dropses.
I see a child's young body trapped in the rubble,
The boys is tired? Go get the double.
This street is paved with congealed blood,
Will the paint show up well? This is good.
Take us through your feelings, what you're going through
Do you think anyone can withstand this carnage duh?
The number's not right? "Carnage" is too strong?
Don't bother about that now, some "impact" is not wrong.
What do I see? I see eyes full of tears, hearts full of rage;
One can expect a thousand terrors to rise after this barrage.
I am not embedded and I wear no army jacket
I tell the truth proudly, fake but accurate.
September 24th 2006 03:12
Osama Bin Laden is reportedly dead. From typhoid. I protest! Where are the bombs, the guns to the head and the helicopter chases? Although there is a certain cold satisfaction that he’d die of typhoid, miserably, like a wet dog on the streets, without access to even basic medical care. But that’s not enough for catharsis, is it?
But hold your horses. This report was released in France. Which got its information from Saudis. Osama dead? Don’t think so. Just wait for a month or two and Al-Jazeera will broadcast a video saying, “Fellow martyrs and Hungry lions, these reports that I’m dead are nothing but a Zionist conspiracy. They are vicious lies spread by the infidels. Don’t lose heart. I am alive and well and feeding on rats daily. Typhoid is an infidel disease. How dare they spread such lies about me! Don’t fall for this debased infidel propaganda and go on about making your plans for more bombings and beheadings.”
Or else he could be really dead or dying. In which case....
The Sydney Morning Herald writes that “there is a genuine outpouring and affection for this man who has brought a superpower down to its knees. True, his methods may not have been generally well-liked but his is a struggle that resonates with the hearts and minds of people across the world.”
The Socialist Worker writes that the imminent death of Osama Bin Laden “has deprived the worker’s revolution from a glorious ally. Which of us has not hoped that there would a great alliance between Radical Islam and Social Revolution? Which of us has not hoped that the dark days of global capitalism are numbered? But, all such hopes are on the death bed as is this great revolutionary figure of our times.”
The Guardian writes that Osama was like “a David who had punctured the towering hubris of a Goliath. The tragedy of our times is that the David has succumbed and we still have to live with dross called America.”
The New York Times reported the fact that the streets of world capitals from Madrid to Paris were reeling with people unable to process the shock and were glued to the television. Streets were overflowing with bouquets of flowers and messages left to Osams. “We love you Osama” was the banner that hung outside EU headquarters in Brussles. In UN, a minute’s silence was observed to pray for the soul of Osama Bin Laden. Scenes of jubilation that broke in some parts of Middle America were roundly condemned. “Americans are uncultured and barbaric,” says Segolene Royale, the new President of French Republic. The Times of London reported that such scenes of grief and general outpouring were not seen since the death of Princess of Wales.
President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has said that “the death of Osama was a great loss to world community and will embolden the imperialist aggressor to strike Iran.” President Chavez has said from his sick bed that this news has saddened him and he would immediately order a beautiful tribute to be erected in the honour of our great amigo. Nobel Prize winners Arundhati Roy and Kofi Annan have appealed to the U.S. not to turn this tragedy into an opportunity and desist from any plans of attacking Iran.
Either or. One of these this is going to happen. Either way he's on his way to apotheosis.
September 12th 2006 08:15
After reading The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl I became a Pearl Shadow myself. I searched for Matthew’s first book The Dante Club in three libraries none of which amazingly stocked the book. So, as a last resort I bought it myself.
I have not finished the book yet. I don’t want to write a review here, just describe how it feels to read a book that speaks to you.
You buy the book and put it in your bag and board a busy train, all the while your thoughts are on the weight that’s burning like a brand in you bag. As soon as you get a suitable seat, you tear open the covers and touch the book longingly. Ahead of you, is a journey and an adventure like no other. You want to start reading it but you are too excited. You give it a try but you can’t do it, so you watch cows strolling past the window.
You are home and do all the little things that you have to do with a touch of impatience. Now you are all set and after giving a few imaginary whoops, you settle down into your book.
You are in a heightened state of consciousness. “Preternatural” is the word those Boston Brahmins or Matthew himself would use. Preternatural. Every word falls on your consciousness like a drop of hard rain. You are drawn into the maze and your sympathies are evoked, admiration oozes through your bloodstream and wonder shoots up your adrenaline. You also watch the performance with a tic of anxiety; after all, your life depends on it. And you spend the night reading, without food, without sleep until it is mid-noon and you can’t take it anymore and have to drop off into a sleep noisy with dreams.
In the end, it doesn’t matter whether the book lives up to your expectations or exceeds it. It is an experience like no other.
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