February 28, 2006

No more CDs?

It is so if Steve Jobs says so. [But Apple stock went down.-ed. A diversion, part of Jobs' secret strategy.]

UPDATE: Fortune has just announced its top 50 global "most admired" companies with Apple breaking into the top 10 for the first time at number 9. In case you're interested, General Electric is 1 and Dow Chemical (in a rebound from the Vietnam era) squeaks in at 50. Google and Yahoo do not appear. (Is that the Lantos Effect?)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 12:44 PM
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The war gets bloodier

No, not the Iraq War but the war between the press and our government. The NYT has sued the Pentagon over the National Security Agency's domestic spying program. From Reuters:

The Times wants a list of documents including all internal memos and e-mails about the program of monitoring phone calls without court approval. It also seeks the names of the people or groups identified by it.

If the Times succeeds with this suit, which I doubt, it will be a whole new era in government secrecy. Intelligence work, as we know it in our country, would virtually cease. How could it work any longer if all spying were subject to press supervision?

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 12:16 PM
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An obvious thought on cultural relativism

Everyone has probably already thought of this, but something just struck me, during my morning coffee, about the post immediately below this one. Forget the bias, cultural relativism ... the "upmarket philosophy" behind multi-culturalism ... makes a wonderful excuse for laziness. If there is no truth, then there is no point in pursuing it. Since we're all creating narratives anyway, why not just make things up - it's easier and more fun and doesn't challenge any of the ideas we've had since childhood. Hence, our media gives us stories like the famous Guantanamo Koran-flushing from Newsweek, which was written apparently without inquiring how that could be done (page by page?) or even if they had flush toilets (I understand they don't). How much follow-up... work ... went into that one? Or how much went into the construction of this poll, which is currently being bandied about? So cultural relativism is a great convenience for people who don't want to bother. It might even bring back the martini lunch.

UPDATE: Another attack on "cultural relativism" with some famous names.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:49 AM
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February 27, 2006

Reactionaries of Newsweek unite!

I don't know if there is a more fuddy-duddy publication than Newsweek (unless it's Time). Now they are tut-tutting those Europeans who have the temerity - in the post-cartoon riot world - to be concerned with protecting free speech and other Enlightenment values through new immigration standards that encourage assimilation. Not surprisingly the Newsweekies title their article The End of Tolerance, meaning Europe's, of course, not those Sharia-bound Muslims whose tolerance is legendary. Here's how the authors (there are three) sum it up near the end:

Until such double standards can be abolished and a new equality established, Europe's new toughness will feel like forced integration. "It's a form of creating a second-class citizenship," says Tariq Modood, director of the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Citizenship in Bristol. "All the burden of change is placed on the immigrant."

Oh, I get it. It's time for those atheistic Dutch and Danish to meet their Islamic guests mid-way. They should be half-misogynist and half-homophobic. Is that the kind of culture Newsweek really wants? Of course not. They're just lying phonies and poseurs. They continue, slightly further on:

It's an open question whether Germans, Dutch, or Danes will ever truly accept a multiethnic, multireligious "Germanness," "Dutchness" or "Danishness."

Open question? Maybe so, but I'll tell you a closed question - whether Saudi Arabia could ever accept Germans, Dutch or Danes living among them. Or sanctimonious Newsweek writers, for that matter. Enough already.

UPDATE: Here's anothe reason never to trust the media, myself included. [You never fake polls.-ed. That's because I can't afford to hold them.]

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:13 PM
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Why I read blogs

Three words: Iraq the Model

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 3:34 PM
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Everybody thinks they know

David Corn calls out Rich Lowry this morning for not calling out William F. Buckley (who has recently declared the Iraq War a loss). I agree with David on this one, but I can't see how anyone - Buckley, Corn, Lowry, you or me - can make a final assessment of the Iraq situation right now. Not even close. I once wrote about "the politics of the last five minutes." With respect to Iraq we have now devolved into the politics of the last thirty seconds.

Take the recent bombing of the mosque in Samarra. This was supposed to have started a civil war. As of this precise second, it seems that it hasn't. In fact, it may have done precisely the opposite, waking up Sunni and Shiite factions and forcing them finally to deal with each other. But do I know that? And will it last? Anyone who thinks they know the answer to that is a pretentious twit, jockeying for a position in the punditocracy or playing a not-so-subtle game of CYA. For me, in situations like this, it's always worth reviewing that famous quotation from William Morris (not the agent):

"Men fight and lose the battle, and the thing they fought for comes about in spite of their defeat, and when it comes out not to be what they meant, other men have to fight for what they meant under another name."

BTW, yesterday, according to reports, twenty-nine died in violence in Iraq. That's ten fewer than died in traffic accidents in California last Thanksgiving Weekend. Does that mean things are good in Iraq? Of course not. But it does add a little perspective, just as does the knowledge that an estimated 620,000 American soldiers died in our Civil War.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 10:34 AM
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Boola Baloney

As another Yalie (okay, Drama School - only half counts), I have to agree with Glenn Reynolds' skepticism about the vaunted NYT magazine cover story (or should I say hagiography?) of yesterday concerning the New Haven education of former Taliban spokesman Sayed Rahmatullah Hashem. Of course, spokesman is the right term because the mega-misogynist Taliban never had any spokespeople and never will. What was most disturbing to me about the Times' piece about the Yale freshman was not the predictable mouthing off about Guantanamo, but the peculiar absence of the most obvious question. What in the hell right does this guy have to leave his wife and four and five year old children in Pakistan to go to Yale for four years? He wistfully complains that he misses them, but he could have done a thousand things to bring them with him or find an education elsewhere. His choice strikes me as the height of arrogant male chauvinism. Once a Taliban always a Taliban, it seems. Of course, that doesn't fit in with the NYT narrative.

UPDATE: John Fund writes of the twenty-two year old Rahmatullah's PR tour in early 2001:

But sometimes his humor really backfired. At a speech for the Atlantic Council, Mr. Rahmatullah was confronted by a woman in the audience who lifted the burkha she was wearing and chastised him for the Taliban's infamous treatment of women. "You have imprisoned the women--it's a horror, let me tell you," she cried. Mr. Rahmatullah responded with a sneer: "I'm really sorry to your husband. He might have a very difficult time with you."

Later Fund concludes:

I don't believe Mr. Rahmatullah had direct knowledge of the 9/11 plot, and I don't think he has ever killed anyone. I can appreciate that he is trying to rebuild his life. But he willingly and cheerfully served an evil regime in a manner that would have made Goebbels proud. That he was 22 at the time is little of an excuse. There are many poor, bright students--American and foreign alike--who would jump at the opportunity to attend Yale. Why should Mr. Rahmatullah go to the line ahead of all of them? That's a question Yale alumni should ask when their alma mater comes looking for contributions.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:04 AM
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A ports conspiracy?

Jim Geraghty thinks so. He's seemingly supported by USA Today, which points out that 80% of the Port of Los Angeles is run by foreign firms. According to the blog Sweetness and Light, berths at the ports of Baltimore, Newport News, Houston, New Orleans, Savannah, Wilmington, N.C., Port Newark, New Jersey, and Brooklyn, New York are already run by... the National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia.

Political football anyone?

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 6:53 AM
Comments (10)

February 26, 2006

Gary Busey commits career suicide

What was going on in his acid-damaged brain when he agreed to be in this execrable movie? [Well, he hasn't had a lot of parts lately.-ed. You've got a point.]

UPDATE: On a more sane, but equally ominous, note, this article from the Prague Post is worth reading.

MORE: Something Awful thinks Busey's latest is actually a "step up."

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 5:53 PM
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French Wake-Up Call

To protest a horrible racist murder, an estimated thirty-three thousand people, including ministers from opposing parties, marched in Paris today. This may not equal the crowds they muster for a transit workers strike, but let's hope this marks a new resistance to racism and anti-Semitism in France. Here's the JPost report:

Tens of thousands of demonstrators, including ministers and politicians of all stripes, joined in a show of force against racism and anti-Semitism on Sunday, marching through the French capital after the torture and killing of a Paris Jew.

Some 33,000 people took part in the march, police said. Anti-racism groups that organized the march did not immediately issue a figure. Smaller marches took place in other cities, including Lyon and Bordeaux, where Archbishop Jean-Pierre Ricard, named a cardinal this week, took part.

Police patrolled the crowd in Paris, where an array of ministers, including Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, joined the march. Opposition Socialists, including former Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, as well as members of other parties, were also present. They made their way from the Place de la Republique to La Place de la Nation, in eastern Paris, in a chilling cold.

Here is Nidra Poller's terrific article on the murder of Ilan Halimi, which precipitated this march.

UPDATE: Allison is putting the Paris demonstration at 100,000. JPost is reporting 200,000 across France.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 10:42 AM
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Another chapter in the Iran saga

Who knows how long this will hold, but Iran knows says it has a deal with Russia on uranium enrichment:

The head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization said Sunday that his country had agreed in principle to set up a joint uranium enrichment project with Russia, a potentially significant breakthrough in efforts to prevent an international confrontation over Iran's nuclear ambitions.

The devil, of course, is in the proverbial details. [I thought the US was the devil.-ed. Sorry. I forgot.]

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 10:13 AM
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Happy Birthday, Ariel Sharon

Ariel Sharon is 78 today. This blog salutes this great leader, even though, as we all know, he is in a coma and it is not exactly a happy occasion. More at Pajamas with a photo from better times. Sharon was a handsome man in his youth. [Weren't we all?-ed.]

UPDATE: Speaking of Pajamas, check out the latest coverage of the Philippine coup situation from Richard Fernandez/Belmont Club who knows the territory.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 9:13 AM
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February 25, 2006

Gulag Archi-what?

According to the Telegraph:

In the past decade, 200 books and films about Stalin, some eulogies, have appeared. Polls show that 18 per cent of Russians believe he was their best leader since 1917, while almost 50 per cent view him in a positive or very positive light.

In May the first major museum dedicated to Stalin in half a century will be opened in Volgograd by his three grandsons. Among the exhibits will be telegrams from Stalin to Churchill, a model of the train he lived in after the 1917 revolution and his famous cap.

Valentina Klyushina, the deputy curator of Volgograd's famous statue to Mother Russia, is an enthusiast for the project, even though her mother was jailed for seven years in Stalin's time.

Well, at least she wasn't starved to death like most people. (via Allah who is back and blogging at Alarming News. The hell with the Russians. What does this mean? Howard Dean does the Danish cartoons?)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 3:15 PM
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Poor Planning

There's been a lot of blogospheric hullabaloo about yesterday's pro-free speech/pro-Denmark demonstration in front of the Danish Embassy in Washington. It's deserved. It was a great thing to have done and I wish I had been there.

But...

Let's be honest: only a hundred people or so showed up. What's up with that? The daytime population in DC is about a million. The usual (eloquent) suspects were there, but who else? Blog coverage was good, but the mainstream media was barely present , no matter what kind of face you want to put on it. Now they may not have wanted to show for such an occasion, but greater (even decent) numbers might have forced them into it. I know it's hard work, but I remember from my old days on the left - "You've got to organize!" Next time - a little planning, please.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:42 AM
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Our Men in Iraq

Of course that's first and foremost Omar and Mohammed of Iraq the Model. This morning, at the top of PJ, you can read Omar's report on the extension of the curfew in Baghdad for three days. He also notes:

The defense minister in a press conference currently on Iraqi TV gave statistics to correct what he described as "exaggerated media reports" about civilian casualties and attacks on mosques since the attack on the Samarra shrine:

Mosques attacked/shot at without damage: 21 not 51
Moderately damaged: 6 not 23
Mosques destroyed totally: 1 not 3
Mosques occupied by militias: 1 not 2 (evacuated later).
Civilians killed: 119 not 183

Will these significantly revised figures be reported by the US press? Note widely, I would imagine. I think we have all seen regarding Iraq that things are rarely as good as they seem (massive election turn-outs) or as bad as they seem (this latest near civil war). Perhaps the adage of its being darkest before the dawn will apply here. The Iraqis have been forced to look at their worst selves. How will they react?

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:23 AM
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February 24, 2006

But what about martinis?

According to Reuters:

People who regularly drink green tea may have a lesser risk of mental decline as they grow older, researchers have found.

Their study, of more than 1,000 Japanese adults in their 70s and beyond, found that the more green tea men and women drank, the lower their odds of having cognitive impairment.

Apparently the Japanese also have a lower rate of Alzheimer's and dementia than Europeans and North Americans. [Say what?-ed. Shut up and drink your tea.]

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 2:16 PM
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No Dr. Livingstone

Well, you have to say one thing for Ken Livingstone, the trendy racist mayor of London, at least he acknowledged, or anyway implied, the existence of the Holocaust by comparing a Jewish reporter to a Nazi concentration camp guard. That's something of a plus these days, although that doesn't stop me from regarding the mayor as less than pond scum. Still, I have to agree with david t at Harry's Place that the way to deal with these maunderings is not via the guilty finding of the Adjudication Panel of England but by the ballot box. (links at Harry's) However... and it's a big HOWEVER... Mr. Livingstone has been around for quite a few years now and neither the bien-pensants over at Harry's nor their allies have done a damn thing about it via rational argument or free elections. In fact, the trend seems to be going solidly in the other direction. Ken Livingstone is the Mayor of Londonistan now and serving his constituency quite well. I'm sure they don't find him the least bit anti-Semitic, just factual (except for that silly blunder about the existence of the Holocaust). So it's all well and good to be high-minded about the Ken Livingstones and the David Irvings of the world, but where does that leave us? I wish I knew the answer to that because we have crossed the line from what the Chinese call "interesting times" to plain, ordinary bleak ones.

UPDATE: Livingston has apparently been suspended for a month.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:41 AM
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February 23, 2006

Congressman Lantos takes on the high tech big boys

A new PJM video on the subject of the Google - Yahoo - China is up at China Syndrome. I hope people like this one. Tom Lantos was quite an impressive fellow to interview and I think he's on the side of the angels on this one. We interwove our interview with some CSPAN clips of the Congressional hearing in which he grilled the Yahoo lawyer who doesn't look too happy to be there. Lantos' personal history - he is a Holocaust survivor - gives his commitment to human rights extra weight.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 9:42 PM
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Smoking the Zarqawi Wowie

The man blogging as Spook86 at the In From the Cold blog has an interesting post this evening on the violence in Iraq around the Samarra shrine bombing. Like many, he sees the hand of Zarqawi in this madness. Who am I to disagree? (And I don't.) But the more interesting part of the Spook's pronouncements are at the end:

Using information operations to connect Zarqawi to the Samarra attack--based on solid evidence--would turn his tactical success into a strategic defeat, and further undermine the insurgency.

Unfortunately, the U.S. has long-standing problems in countering enemy propaganda and information operations. I found this article in an Air Force journal, written more than five years ago, which describes some of our difficulties in overcoming Serb propaganda during Operation Allied Force. It's a bit long, but take a glance, and see if you find any similarities between what happened in 1999, and what we see in Iraq today.

Until we understand that all forms of public information are a battlespace that must be contested and defended, we will face an uphill battle in winning the struggle for hearts and minds. In football, "Hail Mary" or if you prefer, "Hail Allah" plays should have a low probability of success. Zarqawi's desperation heave in Samarra can also be deflected, if we use all the tools at our disposal, including information operations.

I know what he means. Having just returned from a few days in Washington, I have the sense that one of the areas our government is weakest in is in the construction of just such "information operations." They are frankly too square to handle it. I certainly enjoy the whiff of power and the aura of history in DC, but when it comes to thinking "outside the box," Inside the Beltway is out to lunch. (Okay, not always, but they could use a little Graham Greene and a little Sigmund Freud.)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:56 PM
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Blog Breaking Story on Pajamas Media

Possible coup in Manila.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:53 PM
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The Nomenklatura never had it so good

Did you know the chief executive of Minnesota Public Radio makes $500,000 a year?! Would you say this man, William Kling, is a liberal or a reactionary?

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 3:14 PM
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Annals of the Academy

The nominees for Best Foreign Language Film Oscar are chosen by the Foreign Language Film Committee of the Academy. This committee, on which I have served in past years, is voluntary and usually starts with a large number of members. I say starts because attrition soon sets in. In order to vote in the nominating process, you have to see a certain percentage of the movies and very few can keep up. Also, the quality of the films, picked by the countries themselves, is not always particularly good. In fact, a number are downright awful and painful to watch (Academy rules allow you to leave after seeing only the first third of the stinkers.) It usually comes down to just a handful of flicks from Western European countries with significant film industries (Spain, Czech Republic, France, Italy, Germany, etc.) dominating the competition, although Japan and China often have excellent entries. In recent years, there have been interesting films from Iran, although they seem to have dribbled off with the crackdown against dissidents in that country.

This year another developing nation (or in this case "authority") has come to the fore with the Palestinian film "Paradise Now." I have not seen the movie. The clips did not look terrific, but it has been nominated for the Oscar. Some say the film is sympathetic to suicide bombers, although I have also heard it is a criticism of them. In any case, this does not seem like the next "8 1/2" or "Jules and Jim," but a movie whose nomination is yet another exercise in Hollywood political self-congratulation. If it is one of the five best foreign films the committee saw, I would be mighty surprised. But, as I said, I haven't seen it.

Some people who have a right to be upset are organizing a protest. You can find the links here and here.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 1:27 PM
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Aikido anyone? More ports snort

The Japanese martial art of aikido has always fascinated me in its attempt to use the energy of the opponent to defeat him. On reflection, the choice of an United Arab Emirates company for taking over "significant operations" at six US ports may contain elements of that. The UAE folks have now officially been co-opted.

Of course, if this was the strategy, Bush, who claims not to have known about the contract while it was being negotiated, cannot take credit for it. But some others can. From the AP:

The disclosure of the negotiated conditions came as the White House acknowledged that Bush was unaware of the pending sale until the deal had been already approved by his administration.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:44 AM
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Desperation move

The bombing of the shrine in Samarra has all the looks of a desperation move on the part of its perpetrators. You have to be in an extremely weak position to resort to something that will get you as much bad press as this action did among your own people.

UPDATE: BlogRevolt sees a split within Al Qaeda.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:38 AM
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February 22, 2006

Interviewing the "Prince of Darkness"

We all have our nicknames [Do you want to hear yours?-ed. No!!!] but sometimes they just don't seem to fit. Richard Perle, at least from my viewpoint, was a very pleasant fellow. Outspoken, yes. But not from the hip and not the slightest bit the "dark prince." The night after my interview, I ran into him at a party at the home of a fellow conspirator and he wasn't the least bit anti-social there either. Whether Perle is paranoid or not to be traveling with the security entourage he does, I don't know, although I suspect he was being extra cautious for the Intelligence Summit (or someone asked him to be). Anyway, it was a rare pleasure to interview someone who isn't taller than I am. I got sick of looking up (see Jack Kelly).

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 12:44 PM
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Standing up for Denmark

For all of us old Vietnam protestors (yes, that means me), here's something worth fighting for again - freedom of speech! And Hitchens will lead us:

The incredible thing about the ongoing Kristallnacht against Denmark (and in some places, against the embassies and citizens of any Scandinavian or even European Union nation) is that it has resulted in, not opprobrium for the religion that perpetrates and excuses it, but increased respectability! A small democratic country with an open society, a system of confessional pluralism, and a free press has been subjected to a fantastic, incredible, organized campaign of lies and hatred and violence, extending to one of the gravest imaginable breaches of international law and civility: the violation of diplomatic immunity. And nobody in authority can be found to state the obvious and the necessary-that we stand with the Danes against this defamation and blackmail and sabotage. Instead, all compassion and concern is apparently to be expended upon those who lit the powder trail, and who yell and scream for joy as the embassies of democracies are put to the torch in the capital cities of miserable, fly-blown dictatorships. Let's be sure we haven't hurt the vandals' feelings.

Hitch is calling for a demonstration of support in front of the Danish Embassy in Washington. I'll sing "Solidarity Forever" again for this one.

MORE: These Muslim journalists are worth our support too.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 5:43 AM
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February 21, 2006

More on Irving

Holocaust denial investigated by Shrinkwrapped and Neo-neocon. (Maybe Fukuyama can explain her name too.)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:54 PM
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Washington Videos Up

The first three videos of Pajamas coverage of the Intell Summit are now up at WMDFiles.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:29 AM
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The Doer and the Deed at the Intelligence Summit

Remember that dichotomy from Shakespeare 101? I was thinking of it often while helping make the videos on the Intelligence Summit that will shortly be appearing on the Pajamas WMDFiles site, specifically when doing my interview with Bill Tierney, the UNSCOM investigator who is at the center of the Saddam tapes controversy. I wanted to like Tierney, I mean really like him, but I have to admit that I was put off by his excessive religiosity. Byron York has his view of this in "He Shall Direct Thy Path to the Weapons of Mass Destruction." Byron was interviewing Tierney immediately before me and it was easy to see where the NRO writer was headed. By the time the former military intelligence officer opened up to our camerars, well, you will see the results shortly. (What is it about UNSCOM that made it collect such bizarre personalities - Scott Ritter... Tierney?)

Nevertheless, I suspect Tierney was telling the truth as he knew it - and not just because Christ was "whispering in his ear." The man clearly has a great command of Arabic, including the Tikriti dialect, and of the culture. His translation of the Saddam Tapes is most likely more accurate than the one offered by ABC, although I of course would have no way of knowing. It is obviously only a hunch on my part. The most interesting part of the tapes to me, however, was not the discussion of "biologicals" whose translation is under dispute. Later in the tapes, we hear an Iraqi scientist reporting to Saddam about their plasma program. Plasma is a key ingredient in the development of thermonuclear weapons. That was in the year 2000. Those who dismiss these tapes as ancient history ought to think about that.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 6:29 AM
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Port Snort

For people who spend most of their lives in the public eye, I am frequently astonished at how little basic knowledge of public relations is displayed by many government officials and politicians. A perfect example is what Drudge wittily calls the Port Storm. You would think that all those government agencies, including Homeland Security (talk about PR deficit - how about Michael Chertoff?), who came to make the decision to award such a contract to a UAE company would have anticipated this "perfect storm." The perception alone of giving partial control of our ports to an entity from a country whose citizens were involved, at least in part, with 9/11 is a real head scratcher. (I'm leaving aside the propriety of the actual decision, which I doubt to begin with.) Perhaps these yahoos should be given a short course in the life of Edward Bernays, "the father of public relations," who interestingly was a nephew-in-law to Sigmund Freud.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 4:55 AM
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February 20, 2006

David is taken aback

One-time (supposedly reformed )Holocaust denier David Irving was startled to find himself sentenced to three years in an Austrian jail for his beliefs. From the Telegraph:

"I'm shocked and I will be appealing," he said as he was led from a Vienna court by armed police.

UPDATE: To be clear, I don't think this psychopathic anti-Semite should be in jail for his ideas, in case readers thought I did. Of course, if he committed fraud, that's another matter. But that's a different statute.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 6:32 PM
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While Europe Slept - Another Review

I am not the only one to admire Bruce Bawer's While Europe Slept. This review in Sunday's Philadelphia Inquirer by Carlin Romano is highly laudatory, placing Bawer's book in the context of historical works about Islam.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 11:34 AM
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February 19, 2006

Fukuyama opts out

Francis Fukuyama gives an excellent overview - at least for me - of the history of the neoconservative movement, its various strains, in his article in Sunday's New York Times Magazine, After Neoconservatism. The larger intent of the essay, however, is not professorial, but to announce the political economist's withdrawal from the N-crowd. Those dreaded neos are, after all, responsible for the war in Iraq and that war, we all know, is a disaster. Well, maybe. Fukuyama not much more than a decade ago announced "the end of history." In this article he says he was misread on that score and he really meant liberal democracy would lead to the end of history. Again: Well, maybe. Fukuyama seems to be a man in a hurry. The Iraq War here he declares to be a failure after only three years. Nostradamus? [Don't say "Well, maybe" again-ed. Okay, I won't.] In my own way, I sympathize with Fukuyama. The opinion game is ruthless. You have no time to wait for history and must make pronouncements based on thin and fleeting evidence. Still, it seems very early to close the book on Iraq. I suspect there are many twists and turns yet to come. Even Germany and Japan took a while to settle down after WWII - and that wasn't the Middle East. Sometimes I think people like Fukuyama (I'm being mean here) write these things to get their New York Times cards back, to be welcomed home into the fold and not to have to spend the rest of their lives writing for the Weekly Standard. Or worse yet, blogging.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:36 PM
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"There will be a hudna in our time." - Hamas makes it easy

You would think that the Hamas leadership would know how to be cute - they read the papers, don't they? - and get (at least some of) what they want. But when I read the roundup of their first parliamentary decisions on Joe's Dartblog, I decided the only papers they read were Iranian. The Hamas-cides are just not interested in playing the political game to buy a little time and money. Joe Malchow has the necesssary links for this, but this one on Ynetnews - Hamas: Zionist don't scare us - is perhaps more revealing than it should be. That's the kind of remark that would raise the eyebrows of any schoolboy. Why would they feel it necessary to say that... unless the Zionists really did scare them? What will be interesting to see is who, going forward, will put pressure on Israel to provide funds to a group that doesn't recognize it. Whoever it is, I doubt they will be very successful.

UPDATE: Countering (minutely) what I have just written, the Jerusalem Post has a "exclusive" on Hamas writing a new charter:

At closed meetings in hotel suites in Beirut and Damascus, Hamas has been developing a new charter that is designed to showcase a more moderate and non anti-Semitic face, one of those advising on its content has told The Jerusalem Post.

Yet this new document, acknowledged Dr. Azzam Tamimi, 51, the Hebron-born director of the Institute of Islamic Political Thought in London, would still call for an end to the Jewish state and the creation of a Palestinian state on all of mandatory Palestine.

It would, he said, provide for the possibility of a long-term hudna (cease-fire accommodation) with an Israel limited to its pre-1967 borders.

A long-term hudna? Just how long did they have in mind? Six weeks? Six years? How can anyone take that religious psychosis seriously?... Here's a slogan for a new Neville Chamberlain - "There will be a hudna in our time!"

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 9:07 AM
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February 18, 2006

The Google Propaganda Machine

I can't help but think that the high dudgeon being evinced by Google in response to a Department of Justice request for search information is nothing more than a distraction move by the company, which was recently called on the carpet by a subcommittee of the House International Relations Committee for the search giants' reprehensible behavior in China. The company (along with its Yahoo, Microsoft and Cisco colleagues) had not even show up when requested two weeks earlier to appear before the House Human Rights Committee (led by Holocaust survivor Tom Lantos) to be questioned on their cooperation with the Chinese totalitarians. Until Google executives make a serious change where it counts, all their free speech and privacy talk seems like no more than pathetic posturing. Sen. Pat Leahy ought to check the record when rushing to their defense; otherwise he sounds like just another reactionary hack.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 4:04 PM
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February 17, 2006

Spending the day pretending to be Dan Rather (updated)

Well, not really, but I thought the reference would get your attention because it has a certain je ne sais blogosphere quoi. What I did do is the spend the day running around Inside the Beltway with a video crew, interviewing newsmakers. It gave me a new found respect for the MSM types who have to do this on a regular basis. [Don't admit that.-ed. Right. My mistake. ] First it was former DCI James Woolsey in his office close to CIA headquarters in Langley (even closer to the shopping malls in Tysons Corner), then Rep. Tom Lantos in his offices in the Sam Raeburn Building and then fellow scribbler Richard Miniter at his house on Arlington Ridge (not far from the Pentagon). Midway through my interview with Richard I came about as close to freezing up as I ever do. My brain had turned to leftover jello. Thankfully one of our producers, Maura Flynn, pitched in and started asking questions from across the room, saving my bacon in the short run. I'm back at the hotel now, but my work is not over yet. In a few minutes I walk down to Andrew Marcus' room to pretend to help as he edits all this together on his Mac.

Tomorrow we will be at the Intelligence Summit, which will either be ridiculous folly, brilliant revelation or something in between. The essence of the developing controversy surrounding this Summit is two-fold, whether the information on their new Saddam tapes is genuinely fresh and whether the event itself is tainted by being financed by a man named Michael Cherney who is alleged to have ties to the Russian mafia. Summit organizer John Loftus says Cherney was set up. But James Woolsey and the other former DCI on the Summit's board, John Deutch, have both pulled out because of Cherney, although it is unclear why it took them so long since the Russian turned Israeli's involvement with the Summit has been known for some time. Meanwhile, pressure has apparently been put on others to disassociate themselves from the event; some of this pressure, I am told, has been coming from Director of Intelligence John Negroponte's office. (Are we deep enough into the intercine intelligence wars yet?) Meanwhile, Pajamas Media already has comments from Woolsey and Richard Miniter(who is attending) about this matter on tape and the event hasn't even started. We will continue to inquire into it tomrrow. Will this experiment in blogosphere video work? You'll be the judge on the WMDFiles.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 4:46 PM
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February 16, 2006

The French accuse Iran of making nukes

And the Iranians, of course, deny it. Meanwhile, over dinner here in DC, my buddy Freedom's Friend showed me his new article on Iran for NRO, which has two scoops in the first paragraph. But I see it's not up yet, so you'll have to wait.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:45 PM
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More Pajamas interviews from DC coming

You may have already seen Andrew Marcus' interview with Congressman Hoekstra on the new WMD tapes. Tomorrow Andrew and I will be interviewing former Director of Central Intelligence James Woolsey on the same subject. Look for the video on WMDFiles. We will also be interviewing Congressman Tom Lantos (D-San Mateo) about the Google-Yahoo-China controversy. Mr. Lantos has been quite outspoken on the matter. Look for his interview on China Syndrome. Saturday there will be more from the Intelligence Summit with some surprising names (we hope).

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:23 PM
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Off to Washington to "solve" the WMD mystery

I am up early - it's 5:25AM here in LA - because I am taking a morning flight to DC today to attend the Intelligence Summit in Arlington on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Pajamas Media will be covering it on our new WMDFiles blog with videos by Andrew Marcus who worked with us before. You might even see a familiar fedora-ed face on camera. Andrew and I will also be interviewing some well known figures (political and intelligence) who are not attending the Summit but are experts in the WMD world. Look for alerts as these come up on line. We're very excited about them. We're going to try look at this conundrum not as a political football, but as a genuine mystery to be solved. [Good luck.-ed. Did I detect a hint of sarcasm? A hint?! I understand you and David Corn may be conducting some of these interviews together? What do you mean? David and I see eye-to-eye on almost every issue. Yeah, right.]

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 5:25 AM
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February 15, 2006

Lest you forget...

This country actually has nuclear weapons.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 2:36 PM
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One of the good guys on PJ

One of the better (and brainier) bloggers around - Pejman Yousefzadeh - is profiled on the Pajamas info site today. [When he said 'bald is beautiful,' was he talking about you?-ed. I think so.]

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 2:29 PM
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Kaus Deconstructed

Although Mickey Kaus' "Return to Normalcy" argument for the Democrats has much to recommend it - it could be a winner, for example - it also contains a couple of big, logical inconsistencies in its Cold War analogy:

1. The Soviet Union, a relatively conventional state, preferred to attack us around the margins and was, logically, afraid to bomb the US in the era of "mutually assured destruction." Al Qaeda, as it has already proven sufficiently, is an aggregation of religious fanatics and could care less. They are not "normal" in any sense.

2. It was Reagan, a Republican, whose policies defeated the Soviet Union in the first place. Most people generally acknowledge that now.

But forget these "minor" points. As I said, this could be a winner, though it of course depends on nothing explosive happening between now and November '08 (I wouldn't want to take that bet). And, as Glenn points out, the moveon/Howard Dean crew may be looking for anything but normalcy.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 9:30 AM
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Totten's travels

More great coverage from Michael Totten from inside Iraq with emphasis on Kurdistan this time. Attention, publishers - sign this guy up. He's got a book here.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:20 AM
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I hope Orrin Judd is right this morning...

... in his response to a new Pentagon report envisaging a "long war" against Islamism - but I suspect he is not. Mr. Judd wrote the following: The Cold War was ultimately won by rhetoric as much as by the Soviets' inability to compete militarily. It should be even easier to defeat Islamicism [sic] because, unlike Communism, no one considers it feasible in the first place, not even Western intellectuals.

Unfortunately I think it may be precisely the opposite. It is the very irrationality of Islamism that makes it hard to defeat. Marxism ("scientific socialism") was a philosophical doctrine that could be argued, modified or refuted on a theoretical/intellectual basis. Islamism (Islam itself to great extent) is a blind faith attractive to hundreds of millions, even billions of people. Invented when most of humanity thought the world was flat, it brooks no intellectual analysis. That its adherents, for the most part, live in backwards societies is beside the point, perhaps even a positive for its survival. In a sense, it is the perfect cult. As a threat, Marxism (or communism) may pale by comparison, I'm afraid to say. (via PJ)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:10 AM
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February 14, 2006

The last word on the Danish Cartoons

From (who else?) Larry Flynt interviewed by Steve I. Weiss of the Canonist blog. Here are some excerpts but you'll want to read it all ...

What do you think of the situation of the Danish cartoons?

Flynt: "Freedom of speech is only important if you're gonna offend someone; if you're not gonna offend someone, you don't need free speech."

What do you think of the media's response to the situation?

Flynt: "They're so wimp-kneed, you know, there's no point in even discussing the media."

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 2:55 PM
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How many anonymous sources can you fit on the head of a pin?

The NYT outdoes even itself this morning in the anonymous sources department - is this what they learn for fifty grand a year at J school? - with Steven Erlanger's U.S. and Israelis Are Said to Talk of Hamas Ouster. It's hard to count the unnamed sources in the article, who are listed variously as Israeli, US and "Western" officials. [Arnold Schwarzenegger?-ed. Who knows?] No one speaks for attribution, other than a Hamas spokesman.

The piece, which, needless to say, is not listed in the paper as opinion, is much talked about in the blogosphere this morning, but it's hard to say why. Besides it's meretricious journalistic techniques, it has nothing to add that has not been written about a hundred times. Everyone knows it's being debated how much aid money to pass to Hamas. Everyone knows it's being linked to Hamas' behavior. So nothing is new in this article other than the usual anonymous sources (hello, State Department!) grinding their usual axes in the pages of the ever cooperative New York Times. [That's not new either.-ed. No it's not.]

UPDATE: Far more interestingly (and factually) MEMRI has published a new full translation of the Hamas Convenant. Here's an excerpt:

The Islamic Resistance Movement maintains that the land of Palestine is Waqf land given as endowment for all generations of Muslims until the Day of Resurrection. One should not neglect it or [even] a part of it, nor should one relinquish it or [even] a part of it. No Arab state, or [even] all of the Arab states [together], have [the right] to do this; no king or president has this right nor all the kings and presidents together; no organization, or all the organizations together - be they Palestinian or Arab - [have the right to do this] because Palestine is Islamic Waqf land given to all generations of Muslims until the Day of Resurrection.
This is the legal status of the land of Palestine according to Islamic law. In this respect, it is like any other land that the Muslims have conquered by force, because the Muslims consecrated it at the time of the conquest as religious endowment for all generations of Muslims until the Day of Resurrection...

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:08 AM
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February 13, 2006

Israel in NATO?

Who'da thunk it? But Ahmadinejad and company, plus the reaction to the Danish cartoons, plus, plus, have Europe and Israel thinking the unthinkable. In fact more than just thinking, according to the WSJ:

Under the radar, Israel has deepened its relationship with NATO over the past year after Jaap de Hoop Scheffer's first visit by a NATO secretary general to Israel last February. It participated in three military exercises in 2005 and has provided valuable intelligence to Operation Active Endeavor, the aim of which is to block delivery of missiles and weapons of mass destruction to terrorist-supporting countries such as Iran, Syria and North Korea. This year, Israel will increase its participation in the operation and place a liaison officer at NATO's naval headquarters in Naples, Italy.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:45 PM
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Day, Night and Morning of the Hunter

I've never been much for hunting. I only did it once, as a Hemingway excercise in Spain when I was twenty-five. But when I saw the splattered corpse of the rabbit I shot, I felt sick and couldn't even eat the stew that night, which, as I recall, contained my favorite saffron sauce. Since then, the only hunting I have done is the kind described in Sir Thomas Wyatt's "Whoso list to hunt...." I really enjoyed that, a lot, but am a happily married man now and in retirement.

Still, as a man, like VP Cheney, whose age has the dreaded 6 in front, I can sympathize with the desire to get up and boogie, especially if you have, like the Vice President, a dubious medical history that encourages you otherwise. You have to fight time by pursuing the hobbies you enjoy, physical ones above all. But what I don't get is that a man as smart as the Veep didn't immediately report the shotgun accident. Did he actually think for a moment that it wouldn't come out? It's hard to believe that. Perhaps he was afraid the accident was more serious than it apparently is. But if it was, all the more reason to report it. Again, however, I can't get all exercised about it. What we have here is something quite predictable and normal - human cowardice. It's not pretty, but it sure is commonplace. Another way to look at it is a lack of grace under pressure. Hemingway knew about that when he wrote one of his great hunting stories - "The Short, Happy Life of Francis Macomber." Perhaps Dick Cheney should reread it before he dusts off his shotgun again.

UPDATE: Having read the comments below, I'm reconsidering my position on this. [Hey, that's how blogging's supposed to be.-ed. Well, I said I didn't know much about hunting.]

MORE: Considering the recent relevations about Mr. Whittington's heart, I'm still not sanguine about how Cheney handled this. He is Vice President, not a private citizen. At the same time, the press is ridiculous in its over reatction. No one shines here.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 6:55 PM
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The "envelope" still not full

Hollywood Reporter editor Anne Thompson's blog has an early look at a Mark Steyn National Review cover story for the Academy Awards. I still haven't decided on how (or whether) to vote, although if I don't vote in the animation category, my daughter will be very angry. And I can't forget Reese Witherspoon in Walk the Line - a classic performance (Joaquin Phoenix wasn't bad either).

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 6:07 PM
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The 'weak horse' returns to the stable

There's a lot to be said about the politics of Al Gore's badmouthing America before a mainly Saudi audience at the "Jiddah Economic Forum." But others have done that well. What interests me more is why Gore would do something like that in the bosom (apt word that) of a regime where women are not yet allowed to drive and Freedom of Religion is about as remote as Alpha Centauri (and that's only the half of it). The obvious is that he is a frustrated man who was inches away from the Presidency and now finds himself increasingly marginalized. And indeed he must say something dramatic to attract our (or anyone's) attention. Call that the 'narcissism argument." To some extent it's true.

But I think it's more than that. I think Gore has a secret wish to implode. Al is no rocket scientist (no Internet jokes, please) but he is a reasonably intelligent man. Let's assume he is aware, as most readers of this blog are, of Bin Laden's pronouncements about the strong and weak horse. At least he must sense the great gulf between our culture's response to self-analysis and theirs. For Wahhabi culture, such apology is nothing more than a display of weakness. Deep down Al must have some idea of the Saudi reaction to the statements he made. They would have contempt for him. And he probably wants them to. (I could go on with the self-loathing implicit in all this, but I'm getting way too psychoanalytic here.)

UPDATE: Perhaps next time Al should shout "Death to Denmark." Then he'll really get some support.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:48 AM
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February 12, 2006

A great blog post for our time

Several times a day Pajamas Media nominates a "Best of the Blogs." We're trying to make people feel good (we're nice guys and gals), but sometimes the best are only good. This one - from No Pasaran! - is on a different level. Don't miss it. And don't miss the video!

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 6:47 PM
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I'm with Chuck on this one

I've criticized New York Senator Charles Schumer frequently on this blog, but I support his criticism of the Bush Administration for awarding an operations contract for New York City ports to a company from the United Arab Emirates. The New York Post reports:

The city's ports, considered a major target of terrorists, are about to be taken over by a firm based in the United Arab Emirates, a country with financial links to the Sept. 11 hijackers.

Dubai Ports World is set to complete a $6.8 billion deal to purchase Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co., a London company that already runs commercial port operations in New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans and Miami.

Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer urged the Bush administration to reconsider the sale.

"We should be very careful before we outsource such sensitive homeland security duties," Schumer said.

Despite these concerns, the move has been given the stamp of approval by the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, an arm of the Treasury Department.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 9:09 AM
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Mustafa Shag rules

Mark Steyn has turned into journalism's great dark comedian, able to wring some humor out of the grimmest situations. Today's column does it particulary well:

From Europe's biggest-selling newspaper, the Sun: ''Furious Muslims have blasted adult shop [i.e., sex shop] Ann Summers for selling a blowup male doll called Mustafa Shag."

Not literally "blasted" in the Danish Embassy sense, or at least not yet. Quite how Britain's Muslim Association found out about Mustafa Shag in order to be offended by him is not clear. It may be that there was some confusion: given that "blowup males" are one of Islam's leading exports, perhaps some believers went along expecting to find Ahmed and Walid modeling the new line of Semtex belts. Instead, they were confronted by just another filthy infidel sex gag. The Muslim Association's complaint, needless to say, is that the sex toy "insults the Prophet Muhammad -- who also has the title al-Mustapha.''

In theory, this should have been the perfect moment for Albert Brooks to release his new film ''Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World.'' Instead, life is effortlessly outpacing art. Brooks had an excellent premise and, somewhere between studio equivocation and his sense of self-preservation, it all got watered down, beginning with the decision to focus the plot on a trip to India. Which is a, er, mostly Hindu country.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:47 AM
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February 11, 2006

What's a "Digitial Solidarity Fund"? -The New UN Scandal

Oil-for-Food (popularly known as UNSCUM) and the Peacekeeper Sexual Harrassment Scandal (doesn't seem to have an acronym) may ultimately be minor league compared to a greater danger from the United Nations - the international organization's attempt to take over the Internet. Claudia Rosett wrote a a summary of this problem for Pajamas Media back in November. Needless to say, however, as fine a journalist as Rosett is, her work by itself cannot hold back the ambitions of Kofi & Company. Not long ago, while most of us, including (alas) yours truly, were looking the other way, they slipped another fast one past the General Assembly. Global technology attorney John A. Klein explains:

The United Nations is known for double-speak. In the UN's vocabulary, for example, the phrase "innovative sources of financing" really means global taxes. But the General Assembly outdid its usual Orwellian prose at the 2005 World Summit in New York, when it officially endorsed what it called "voluntary contributions" to an Internet kitty for developing countries known as the Digital Solidarity Fund. This is false labeling.

Read all of Mr. Klein's article - it's a must - but this portion will not surprise readers of this blog:

Kofi Annan is all for end-running the standard UN budget process that requires member nation approval because doing so gives the UN more money for its pet programs with less accountability. He certainly would prefer to deal with the mayor of San Francisco than with George Bush. In fact, he does not like the UN Charter's model of the United Nations as a world organization of member states. As he expounded at this year's World Economic Forum in Davos in a talk he entitled "A New Mindset for the United Nations", Kofi Annan said that his objective as Secretary General "has been to persuade both the Member States and my colleagues in the Secretariat that the United Nations needs to engage not only with Governments but with people."

Uh-oh.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 4:29 PM
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Mr. Smith Goes to Washington again (just in time for the Academy Awards)

Google, Cisco, Microsoft, Yahoo and the entire China enabling Internet crew are headed for some interesting hearings in Washington, thanks, in part, to a new Mr. Smith:

The hearing will likely produce more embarrassing publicity for the companies, and it may drive legislative momentum among lawmakers concerned about China's influence on the U.S. economy. Congressional aides are expecting a standing-room-only crowd, and the reception from politicians may be chilly.

"I was asked the question the other day, do U.S. corporations have the obligation to promote democracy? That's the wrong question," says Rep. Chris Smith, the New Jersey Republican and chairman of the House human-rights subcommittee that is holding the hearing. "It would be great if they would promote democracy. But they do have a moral imperative and a duty not to promote dictatorship."

Well said, Mr. Smith. The short article in the WSJ further tell us he:

... plans to introduce legislation next week that would impose restrictions on Internet companies seeking to expand into China but also provide some legal protection from Chinese demands.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:17 AM
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Putin Ball

The only games being played these days are not in Torino but also in Moscow, where Vladimir Putin has invited Hamas leaders later this month for meetings, according to Reuters.

Planned talks in Russia with a delegation from Palestinian group Hamas may take place before the end of this month, a Russian official was quoted as saying on Saturday by Interfax news agency.

"It is quite possible," Interfax quoted Middle East envoy Alexander Kalugin as saying when asked if the Moscow talks would happen this month.

He said contact had already been made with Hamas to agree details of the visit.

Khaled Meshaal, Hamas' top leader who lives in exile in Damascus, would most likely lead the delegation to Moscow, Kalugin said.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:01 AM
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February 10, 2006

Coffey Break

Okay, bad joke but good blogger. Mark Coffey, a business analyst who blogs at Decision '08, is our newest Pajamas Media profile. Check that out and also have a look at Gold Rush, our new blog for the Olympic Games. And don't miss Pavarotti tonight at the opening ceremonies. It may be your last chance. He's on his "farewell tour" (cough, cough).

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 6:30 PM
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1984

That's an Orwellian title for an Olympic post, but the fact is that was the only year I ever saw the Games live. They were the Summer ones in Los Angeles and the great hero was the legendary (in this case it's not hyperbole) Carl Lewis. That was the year the Russians boycotted and it wasn't difficult to get seats, so I was up close to see Lewis win two of his four gold medals, the long jump and 4X100 relay, which is a spectacular event. I will always remember it as one my two great fan moments - the other being seeing Joe Dimaggio hit his last home run when I was a kid. (Watching the Magic Johnson eighties Lakers battle the Celtics in the NBA finals is up there too, not to mention seeing Jimmy Connors play Pancho Gonzales.)

So I'm glad the Russians boycotted that year, because it helped me get those seats. But this year I feel like boycotting them. It's also a year when, as an Academy member, I'm offered the opportunity to vote for a meretricious movie set against the 1972 Olympics for Best Picture. Not fun and games. But like most folks I will be glued to the tube eyeballing these games from Torino. I think these Olympics may be remembered as the first many of us were watching them at home on HDTV (in my case EDTV, but at ten feet I can't tell the difference). Up close and personal for sure.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 3:56 PM
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The European Street?

We've been hearing about the "Arab Street" all our lives and been instructed to fear the reaction of that aggregation of enraged four-year olds who sometimes appear as predicted, but sometimes not... But what about the "European Street." It's easy to learn what European elites think (they are about as uniform a group as exists among homo sapiens) but the Euro man and woman on the street are a different matter. I would be curious to know where they're at in the wake of the recent events this Australian writer aptly terms a "Battle of values."

UPDATE: From Zacht Ei, here's some good news about the Dutch street.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:00 AM
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February 9, 2006

The envelope, please

My "Official Final Ballot" arrived at my house today and is due back at PriceWaterhouseCoopers before the end of business on February 28, 2006. The following words from Sid Ganis (our president) are written on the front of the accompanying instructions.

The Academy Board of Governors urges that you not reveal to ANYONE how you vote on the Academy Awards. Forecasts of our awards winners reduce the impact of our presentation program and are unfair to our nominees.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 9:32 PM
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It's the mullahs, fella...

Why is it I'm not surprised that Howard Dean is not up-to-speed on the basics of foreign affairs that would be common knowledge to most readers of this blog? Today, in high dudgeon on ABC's Good Morning America, the doctor informed us:

All we ask is that we not turn into a country like Iran where the President of Iran can do anything they want at any time.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 2:57 PM
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I agree with Cindy Sheehan

According to Reuters, the "activist" stated today:

"If I thought that running for Senate would bring our young people home more quickly I would do it in a minute, but I am not convinced that that would do so," Sheehan said.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 2:35 PM
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Civilization and Its Discontents

In The New Republic (subscription only, lo siento) Peter Beinart has written an oh-so-moderate piece on the cartoon controversy that contains a great obfuscation or perhaps wishful thinking:

And, since the cartoon wars broke out, some conservatives have suggested that, since Islam is not a peaceful religion like Judaism or Christianity, there's nothing wrong with depicting Mohammed as a terrorist. As one article in National Review put it, the violent protests in the Islamic world proved that the "cartoons depicting Muhammed as a dangerous man of arms ... had a good point." On Fox News, Fred Barnes declared that many "Muslims all over the world are certainly enemies of Western civilization." Fox and conservative bloggers have been more willing to show the cartoons than their liberal counterparts.

Indeed, despite Bush's universalism, clash-of-civilizations thinking is deeply ingrained on the American right.

Leaving aside that it isn't only conservatives who feel this way (unless Beinart wishes to lump this blogger who is pro-gay marriage, pro-choice, anti-death penalty and an agnostic with conservatives - fine, then), there really is a "clash-of-civilizations" going on, even if it makes Beinart uncomfortable (as well it might - it makes us all uncomfortable). And the clash is about something very simple and very clear: Jesus said "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's." Mohammed said and acted precisely the opposite. If this isn't a clash, Mr. Beinart, what is? Even with the natural caveats - not all Muslims feel this way, etc., etc. - it is the heart of the matter. We have to look at it with a clear eye and go on from there.

UPDATE: No surprise at who really wants to avoid a clash at all costs.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 11:58 AM
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Luddites of "liberalism"

Dan Froomkin has rushed into the fray with one of the sillier columns I've seen in mainstream media recently, especially in the normally more balanced WaPo, regarding Bush and the NSA situation. He accuses the President of employing "Bait and Switch" tactics by listing failed terror attacks in a speech to the National Guard today.

Under pressure to justify his warrantless domestic spying program, President Bush today with much fanfare disclosed new details about the thwarting of a terrorist hijacking plot four years ago. But what it had to do with eavesdropping, Bush didn't say.

Well, of course, he didn't say precisely, because that would be revealing intelligence methods in public, something that would be essentially moronic (but that doesn't stop Froomkin for criticizing him for not doing it.) What we are reading in this column is a classic case of projection, because the real "bait and switch" going on is by Froomkin and his co-religionists (I say this because he is engaging in a form of fundamentalist thought). Like born-again Luddites who never used a cell phone or a wireless Internet connection, they attack Bush for not getting warrants for wiretaps without bothering to answer the most obvious question: How could these warrants be obtained speedily enough to act to prevent terror attacks in a high tech world? This is the essence of the problem, but it is completely ignored.

Later in his column, Froomkin criticizes Bush for revealing secret intellligence information, after he began his column by, in essence, criticizing him for not revealing enough. What tendentious crap!

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 11:08 AM
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Explain this to me...

Like many of you, I read the AP's article this morning - White House Gives Details on Surveillance - on the report given by the administration, revealing to a congressional committee more of the NSA secret program on calls from overseas to the USA. It seems some Congresspeople were assuaged, others still doubtful. No surprise there. But then I read this:

Said California Rep. Jane Harman, the panel's top Democrat, "The ice is melting, and we are making progress."

While Harman continues to support the program, she said she remains uncomfortable with the administration's legal justification. Harman said she believes the administration should have used the court processes set up under the FISA law and gotten warrants before eavesdropping on Americans.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:41 AM
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February 8, 2006

Still more Pajamas bios

Remember those bios we were publishing a while back of Pajamas Media contributors? Well, we're still doing it, albeit it at a somewhat slower pace. The latest one is Orrin Judd of the Judd Brothers Blog - one of the best places on the 'net (maybe the best, really) to look for book reviews. [It's not bad for recipes either.-ed. For a non-Singaporean.]

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 6:10 PM
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China Syndrome revisited

There's a reason that Pajamas Media is keeping its China Syndrome blog open. This controvery is not going away, not by a long shot. This time it's not Google, but Yahoo playing footsie with the Chinese totalitarians. According to this post from the ever-vigilant Rebecca MacKinnon, another dissident is headed for the hoosegow, thanks to our good friends at Yahoo. (via Glenn)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 4:12 PM
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Solidarity Forever!

When someone tries to slap (or SLAPP) a lawsuit on a buddy of mine, particularly a buddy who was exercising his Constitutionally-protected right of free speech, I want to take care of those litigious suckers quick as you can say "Duke Wayne!" And in this case it's not even a bunch of whacko Islamists who are trying to suppress criticism, it's the United Farm Workers union, fercryinoutloud. They're after my amigo Marc for what he wrote in the LA Weekly. That's a "no go" where I come from. Weez guys at Pajamas Media got your back, brother. Free Speech in Denmark! Free Speech in LA!

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 2:12 PM
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If I ran the zoo...

A NYT thumbsucker this morning - Some Democrats Are Sensing Missed Opportunities - is generating a fair amount of discussion about strategy disarray in the Democratic Party. It's hard to figure out why it's so difficult, given that these are professional politicians and what should be their strategy is evident to anyone with common sense. Start with this: health care, health care, health care. Then add a dollop of the environment, a soupcon of "the deficit" (not too much of the latter, because most Dems have spender reputations) and maybe something about "rebuilding the infrastructure" ("potholes" always play). Do not, repeat do not, waste ten seconds on the NSA surveillance issue and similar nonsense. Anyone with an IQ in triple digits (except Sen. Kennedy) knows we have to monitor Al Qaeda phone calls to the USA. In fact most Americans undoubtedly assumed we already were. With Islamist lunatics rioting in the streets over cartoons, everyone knows this is a loser. Also, drop Howard Dean as party chairman (he stinks as a fundraiser anyway, which is ninety-five percent of the job). Beyond that, get a few new faces. Kerry, Gore, et al, have lost too many times. Wrong association and they sound desperate.

Okay, that's it. Now you're a party again. Simple, isn't it?

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 11:37 AM
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Not your grandfather's Voltaire

Leave it to not-so-Frère Jacques to wind up on the wrong side of the free speech debate, condemning those who published the Mohammed cartoons at the very moment a French satire magazine is asserting those rights so associated with the Enlightenment. [Why would Chirac be for free speech?-ed. That kind of thing could get him in jail for corruption. Good point for once.] Meanwhile, a potential US presidential candidate is speaking out. But nothing from her probable opponent. So far a "Hillary cartoons" search at Google News comes with up nothing substantive on the cartoons/free speech issue. In fact, there's nothing much from the Democratic side of the aisle on what should be prime liberal subject matter. Is this yet another case of liberals and conservatives having switched rolesin our society?

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 10:39 AM
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"Th-th-that's All, Folks!" (Not)

Is this violence about cartoons or is it about rage? Claudia says the latter. I couldn't agree more.

"Rage over cartoons" has been the gist of many a headline over the past week describing the violence with which masked gunmen and arsonist mobs in Islamic world have been protesting the publication in Denmark five months ago of political cartoons caricaturing Mohammed. Rage, yes. But let's please get over the idea that this latest violence has anything much to do with the cartoons.

Meanwhile, flummoxed politicians, Bush and Jordan's Abdullah are condemning the cartoons and condemning the violent reaction. I condemn the cartoons aesthetically. Can you imagine the reaction to someone good - like a Daumier or a Goya? [Anti-Semitic cartoonists already pirated Goya.-ed. Right. I forgot.]

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:20 AM
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The Internet never forgets

Soccer Dad remembers some absurd statements made not long ago by OLAF (the European Anti-Fraud Office).

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:16 AM
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February 7, 2006

Literacy as the enemy of religion

A man named "Spengler" writes opinion pieces for the Asia Times. Many of them feature what is now often called "out of the box" thinking. His article taking off from the cartoon controversy is particularly worth reading. He reminds us how gingerly we in the West treat Islam, as if freedom of speech weren't even part of our tradition:

More revealing than the refusal of the mainstream American media to repost the Mohammed cartoons is the disappearance of more dangerous material previously available. Newsweek's "Challenging the Koran" story of July 28, 2003, has vanished from the magazine's website. The government of Pakistan had banned that issue, which among other things reported a German philologist's contention that the Koran was written in Syriac rather than classical Arabic, translating the "virgins" of Paradise as "raisins". As I observed before, the topic of Koranic criticism has disappeared from the mainstream media. Since the suppression of the Newsweek story the Western media have steered clear of the subject.

Well, we all know that, don't we? Being the slighest bit offensive to delicate Islamic sensibilities trumps free speech anytime. ("Spengler" dryly channels Professor Henry Higgns, "What can't a Muslim be more like a Jew?") But the essayist is on to yet bigger game, connecting up literacy rates with religious belief ("Spengler" is apparently himself a believer):

Once the literacy rate reaches 90%, the percentage of non-religious jumps into two digits. That is as true for Muslim countries as well as for non-Muslim countries. Because the Muslim literacy rate is so far below the average, though, few Muslim countries have a high proportion of non-religious people.

But this is under threat. He continues later:

Of all the large Muslim countries, Iran is most at risk, with a literacy rate of 71% and a population growth rate of 1.3%, projected to decline to zero within a generation. I have elaborated elsewhere on the devastating implications of a large population of dependent aged for a poor country (Demographics and Iran's imperial design, September 13, 2005). These considerations prompted me to predict early on that Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad no more would shrink from confrontation with the West than did Adolf Hitler. But the rest of the Muslim world faces the same pressures.

Read it all for yourself, obviously. (ht: Michael Reynolds) And have a look at ShrinkWrapped. He too has interesting things to say today about our radioactive world.

UPDATE: Newsweek evidently still has that story on line. Spengler is not correct on that.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 1:32 PM
Comments (16)

Al Jazeera LIVE!

Soon enough Al Jazeera will be on American television screens with its English-language arm, so it is worth reviewing this link (via MEMRI TV) showing AJ's rather "up close and personal" coverage of the torching of the Norwegian Embassy in Damascus. Their cameraman could have been lighting the match himself. Maybe he was.

One of the famous limits on free speech is about yelling fire in a crowded theatre. How about igniting one?

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 10:00 AM
Comments (7)

Rewriting history

What would have happened if the LAPD had had GPS gum balls before the OJ chase?

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 9:20 AM
Comments (2)

Pajamas Video Continues!

Our second (more extended) video coverage of yesterday's NSA Hearings is now up. Pajamas Media intends to be doing much more of our own coverage of similar events in the future. Our special thanks go to Power Line's Paul Mirengoff - who again demonstrated the superiority of citizen journalists with real expertise (this time legal) to conventional journalists - and of course to blog documentarian Andrew Marcus - who has already become one of Pajamas' greatest assets.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:47 AM
Comments (2)

Calling Mel Brooks

Mel's been getting a little long in the tooth lately ... I'm not especially keen on his endless recycling of "The Producers" ... but I think he's just the guy for the mullahs' new Holocaust Cartoon Contest. He could even give them a Busby Berkeley routine (all boys, of course, nothing unseemly).

But I don't want to intrude. Maybe the mullahs want to do this themselves. Though sometimes you wonder if there's been a serious "brain drain" over in Iran. Some of their most talented people have emigrated. Some folks claim it's even going to take them another ten years to do things others were able to do in a year or two over sixty years ago. But I'm optimistic. I think the mullahs are going to get their wish sooner than that. A lot sooner.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:50 AM
Comments (7)

February 6, 2006

Two ways to analyze the cartoon controversy

Drivel ... Not drivel. Also not drivel, though not on the same subject. This last link (about Iran) is definitely worth your attention.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 9:09 PM
Comments (4)

Suppose the Mullahs gave a demonstration and nobody came...

Well, according to this report, that's exactly what happened when they tried to fan the flames of the GMCC (Great Mohammed Cartoon Controversy):

The organized rallies were intending to show, what was supposed to be, the massive indignation of Iranians over the publication of cartoons depicting the Islamic Prophet Mohammad. But despite all supports from governmental circles and advertisements made by Mosques related to the theocratic regime, which had called for a massive participation, the demonstrators stayed under 400 individuals while the Iranian Capital has over 12 millions of inhabitants.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:17 PM
Comments (6)

Pajamas Media and Power Line meet Senator Dick Durbin at the NSA Hearings

UPDATE: VIdeo now playing. (In Quicktime or Windows)

The following is a rough transcript of an interchange between Paul Mirengoff (covering the hearings for PJ and Power Line) and Senator Durbin at a press conference outside the NSA hearings. This was also apparently on CSPAN and videoed by our man on the scene, Andrew Marcus, so a more accurate transcript will be forthcoming soon. The interchange began after Mirengoff, an attorney, evidently asked a difficult question of the Senator.

Durbin: What outfit are you with?
Mirengoff: Power Line and Pajamas Media.
Durbin: 'Jamas Media?
Mirengoff: No. Pajamas Media.
Durgin: Oh, Pajamas Media. I'm not familiar with that publication.

[More exchange about Mirengoff's question. Apparently Durbin didn't want to answer]

Durbin: I don't know who you are.
Mirengoff: Well, Dan Rather knows who we are.

[LAUGHTER from the crowd.]

More to follow with video.

UPDATE: Some inaccuracies in the above. As has been noted, Durbin did answer. Full video of this will be available at NSAFiles shortly. [Did I hear Durbin say "Pajamaline"?-ed. Well, it's a collaboration.]

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 10:11 AM
Comments (23)

Leakosuction

In his "hearings preview" oped in the WSJ this morning - "America Expects Surveillance" - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales asks us to consider the facts [of the NSA controversy] "from both a legal and a commonsense perspective." I have no expertise in the former and barely any in the latter (according to people who know me), but I will venture forth to say this is one of the great "duhs" of our time.

If we're going to use common sense, let's imagine this. Someone is talking on a disposable cellphone for five minutes from, say, Yemen to, say, Boulder Dam. The phone is thrown away in Sanaa. Do we instantly tap the one in the USA or do we duly mosey over to the courthouse to get an order first?

Well, I leave that to you. But when I first read the James Risen reports in the NYT that the White House was ordering such taps, my initial reaction was: this is news? The NSA has a budget the size of South America. What are they supposed to be doing? Indeed what were they doing during the entire Echolon program under other administrations? (Same thing, essentially.)

I waited for the other shoe to drop - to wit, innocent citizens whose privacy was invaded would be coming forward. Never happened. Where are these people? [Burning the Danish Embassy?-ed. Coud be.] So until I understand this better, I am putting this controvery down to three principle causes: 1. Politics. 2. Internal dissension in intelligence ranks. 3. Lower newspaper circulation numbers.

Oh, yes, I guess it would be nice to have more specific laws on this type of activity. But would that stop "controversies" like this from occurring? Not bloody likely.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:06 AM
Comments (72)

Spies in Pajamas

Pajamas Media has set up in a new blog entitled NSAFiles, about the NSA controversy obviously. Later in the day it will include videos from the hearings in Washington from Andrew Marcus (some interesting interviews, we hope).

UPDATE: Regarding those interviews, some of them will be conductted for PJ by Power Line's Paul Mirengoff, an attorney. We will will be talking with Debra Burlingame and Senator John Cornyn, among others.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 6:55 AM
Comments (0)

February 5, 2006

Suspend Syria

In the wake of Oil-for-Food and myriad other scandals, the UN's reputation is pretty tarnished these days. And it hasn't done the greatest job of cleaning itself up. But here's an idea - why not start suspending member states that mistreat other member states? Apparently Syria has a lot to answer for in the torching of the Danish and Norwegian embassies (not to mention the assassination of Hariri, etc.). Whether the Syrians instigated the burnings, looked the other way, or something in between, the response by the United Nations to Syria's behavior should be simple - suspension. Syria should not be allowed to participate in any way in the United Nations until their government makes drastic alterations in their totalitarian behavior.

Of course, this would be a big change of behavior for the UN, which often puts places like Libya in charge of human rights, but if the organization is even remotely serious about reform, this is a good place to start.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:47 PM
Comments (25)

Ransacked!

I don't know what this mean precisely, but according to Ireland On-Line, a Christian neighborhood in Beirut has been "ransacked" in response to the Danish cartoons. This same article informs us Iran has recalled its Danish ambassador.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 10:59 AM
Comments (7)

The Fire This Time

Excuse me for not thinking it's entirely accidental that Beirut is the second city, after Damascus, to have its Danish Embassy torched. As we all know, the murderous Syrian secret police still have a presence in Lebanon and are anxious to do anything to distract from the Hariri investigation that has already led straight to the door of Bashar Assad. Nothing better than stirring up the deluded masses over some rinky-dink cartoons to cover up incinerating your fellow human beings.

Where next? If I were a resident of Solvang, California (our little Danish tourist town in the Santa Ynez Valley), I'd be watching my back. Defenders of the Faith could be burning down their pastry shops next.

But this is no joke. We're already living in a rerun of the Middle Ages with religious-motivated hordes streaming through the streets, loaded for bear and screaming for the end of democracy. Only back in the Middle Ages people had an excuse. Most back then thought the world was flat. What do we do now? Many still think the way to deal with these lunatics is to apologize for these obscure cartoons, say "nice doggy," pat them on the head and hope they will go away. Similar techniques were tried in the 1930s when there were nowhere near as many Nazis as there are followers of radical Islam today (no matter how you count them) . Frightening thought that, isn't it?

UPDATE: This gallery of images of Mohammed throughout the ages of course places this issue in an entirely different context. If the mainstream media does not show this, they are not even beginning to tell the story.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 6:54 AM
Comments (28)

February 4, 2006

To the Security Council we will go

The US dropped its oppostion to the Egyptian proposal that the Middle East be a nuclear-free zone (an obvious, but largely irrelevant, jab at Israel) and off Iran goes, kicking and screaming , to the Security Council. Well, in five weeks anyway. What does all this add up to? Not much, in the short run. In the long run, who knows?

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 9:21 AM
Comments (8)

Damascus Follies

The level of cultural insanity necessary for thousand of protestors to set fire to the Danish Embassy in Damascus over a cartoon is quite mind-boggling, but not, alas, surprising. (Of course, this is a "culture" that calls Jews the "sons of monkeys and pigs" on a daily basis, but we all know that, don't we?) The war of civilizations underway is currently spinning out of control. It will be interesting to see how the Danish go