Iran's political crisis continues to blaze. It's still impossible to say which leaders or factions will emerge victorious. However, one thing seems certain: the earthquake in the Islamic Republic that is shaking the Mideast and deeply confusing everyone, including the US government, is hardly the black and white morality drama between democracy and repression breathlessly portrayed by Western media. A prime indicator of the complexity of the Iranian crisis was provided by the head of Israel's intelligence agency, Meir Dagan. The Mossad director reportedly expressed his hope that Iran's embattled president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, would remain in office. On the surface, that sounds absurd, since Ahmadinejad is Israel's Great Satan, the man that supporters of Israel claim intends to inflict a second Holocaust on the Jewish people. According to Dagan, if Ahmadinejad's supposedly "moderate" rival, Mir Hossein Mousavi, came to power, it would be harder for Israel to keep up its intense propaganda war against Iran over its nuclear program even when prime minister, Mousavi championed Iran's nuclear development.
The Israeli army has deployed its Mirkava tanks and personnel-carriers along the Lebanese border, Lebanon's National News Agency says. The deployment took place on Thursday along the barb-wired fence which separates the Shebaa Farms from other parts of Lebanese territories. Israeli tanks were also gathering along a 5-km area, stretching from the Tallat Sobaih army post to Mount Hermon while sporadic gunfire was also heard throughout the day, the agency reported.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel was in Washington Thursday evening to receive an award for her contributions to trans-Atlantic relations. But with few politicians in attendance, she might have gotten the feeling that Germany no longer carries its former weight in the US capital. For a brief moment, the American-German relationship looked just as Germans like to imagine it. Chancellor Angela Merkel was on the stage on Thursday evening at the Library of Congress in the heart of the United States capital, where she had just received the Warburg Prize handed out by the Atlantik Brücke, an important trans-Atlantic organization. The chancellor was clearly moved, her voice full of emotion. And she spoke of a senior US politician. German Chancellor Angela Merkel was at the Library of Congress on Thursday night. He is, she said, "the personification of the partnership" between Germany and America. He took time out to meet her, she told the audience, before anyone could imagine that she might one day become chancellor, back when she was just the head of the conservative Christian Democrats. "Who takes the time these days? Who is so inquisitive?" she asked, her voice full of praise. It was a touching scene, but the man she was speaking of is not, as one might have thought, a high-ranking member of President Barack Obama's administration. Rather, it was the Republican Chuck Hagel.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel was in Washington Thursday evening to receive an award for her contributions to trans-Atlantic relations. But with few politicians in attendance, she might have gotten the feeling that Germany no longer carries its former weight in the US capital.
For a brief moment, the American-German relationship looked just as Germans like to imagine it. Chancellor Angela Merkel was on the stage on Thursday evening at the Library of Congress in the heart of the United States capital, where she had just received the Warburg Prize handed out by the Atlantik Brücke, an important trans-Atlantic organization. The chancellor was clearly moved, her voice full of emotion. And she spoke of a senior US politician.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel was at the Library of Congress on Thursday night. He is, she said, "the personification of the partnership" between Germany and America. He took time out to meet her, she told the audience, before anyone could imagine that she might one day become chancellor, back when she was just the head of the conservative Christian Democrats. "Who takes the time these days? Who is so inquisitive?" she asked, her voice full of praise.
It was a touching scene, but the man she was speaking of is not, as one might have thought, a high-ranking member of President Barack Obama's administration. Rather, it was the Republican Chuck Hagel.
With Congressional elections set for Sunday, Argentineans will pass judgment on their government's crisis management this weekend. President Cristina Kirchner has been campaigning on doctored statistics, but with the economy tanking, it is unlikely that voters will be fooled. Business is not good in El Calafate. Everything is on sale in the shops, and young locals spend their days killing time in tourist cafés. The weather is overcast, and the constant drizzle has deterred all but a few Brazilian backpackers. "The crisis has arrived in Patagonia," says Cristiano Romero, 28. Argentinian President Cristina Kirchner hugs her husband Nestor, who is running for Congress, at a campaign rally in Buenos Aires. Four years ago, Romero moved from Buenos Aires to El Calafate, deep in the south of Patagonia. He is a tour guide whose business consists of chauffeuring tourists to the Perito Moreno, the country's most famous glacier, 70 kilometers (44 miles) away. The tourists normally provide a good source of income; since the government sharply devalued the peso seven years ago, visitors from around the world have been coming in droves to the southern tip of South America. But those days are gone with European tourists now staying home. Argentina has become too expensive for them, now that inflation has wiped out the benefits of a favorable exchange rate.
With Congressional elections set for Sunday, Argentineans will pass judgment on their government's crisis management this weekend. President Cristina Kirchner has been campaigning on doctored statistics, but with the economy tanking, it is unlikely that voters will be fooled.
Business is not good in El Calafate. Everything is on sale in the shops, and young locals spend their days killing time in tourist cafés. The weather is overcast, and the constant drizzle has deterred all but a few Brazilian backpackers. "The crisis has arrived in Patagonia," says Cristiano Romero, 28.
Argentinian President Cristina Kirchner hugs her husband Nestor, who is running for Congress, at a campaign rally in Buenos Aires. Four years ago, Romero moved from Buenos Aires to El Calafate, deep in the south of Patagonia. He is a tour guide whose business consists of chauffeuring tourists to the Perito Moreno, the country's most famous glacier, 70 kilometers (44 miles) away. The tourists normally provide a good source of income; since the government sharply devalued the peso seven years ago, visitors from around the world have been coming in droves to the southern tip of South America. But those days are gone with European tourists now staying home. Argentina has become too expensive for them, now that inflation has wiped out the benefits of a favorable exchange rate.
Peru's prime minister has said he will resign in the coming weeks as the government of President Alan Garcia struggles to overcome deadly clashes between police and indigenous groups. Yehude Simon has been at the centre of a confrontation between state and indigenous leaders over the government's plans to open the Amazon rain forest to foreign development. Mr Simon's announcement came after opposition leaders called for Mr Garcia to fire the prime minister for failing to avert deadly clashes between police and indigenous groups.
Yehude Simon has been at the centre of a confrontation between state and indigenous leaders over the government's plans to open the Amazon rain forest to foreign development.
Mr Simon's announcement came after opposition leaders called for Mr Garcia to fire the prime minister for failing to avert deadly clashes between police and indigenous groups.
The latest installment in the Obama administration's tendency to mimic the Bushies on war on terror tactics: The Washington Post and Pro Publica report: The Obama administration, fearing a battle with Congress that could stall plans to close Guantanamo, has drafted an executive order that would reassert presidential authority to incarcerate terrorism suspects indefinitely, according to three senior government officials with knowledge of White House deliberations. Such an order would embrace claims by former president George W. Bush that certain people can be detained without trial for long periods under the laws of war. Obama advisers are concerned that bypassing Congress could place the president on weaker footing before the courts and anger key supporters, the officials said.
The latest installment in the Obama administration's tendency to mimic the Bushies on war on terror tactics:
The Washington Post and Pro Publica report:
The Obama administration, fearing a battle with Congress that could stall plans to close Guantanamo, has drafted an executive order that would reassert presidential authority to incarcerate terrorism suspects indefinitely, according to three senior government officials with knowledge of White House deliberations. Such an order would embrace claims by former president George W. Bush that certain people can be detained without trial for long periods under the laws of war. Obama advisers are concerned that bypassing Congress could place the president on weaker footing before the courts and anger key supporters, the officials said.
Such an order would embrace claims by former president George W. Bush that certain people can be detained without trial for long periods under the laws of war. Obama advisers are concerned that bypassing Congress could place the president on weaker footing before the courts and anger key supporters, the officials said.
Just because the bullies on talk radio or national "public" radio frame this discussion or that discussion or all discussion as if it were the eleventh hour doesn't mean we have to submit to it. The fact that we're asked to decide frenetically on content rather than carefully on form--think fast rapist in room whatareyou gonna do?oops too late--doesn't mean we have to accept the form. The form of the empire is to pretend there's no form and it's all content. As if the broadcasting bullies--the form--didn't get there in the first place from their willingness to suck at the right teat. As if there's no back story on the lips giving us the content. No One asks (and we're with No One on this one): which is easier, to give a piece of silver to the children of Ishmael or to stop giving the ten pieces of silver to the children of Israel who are forcing Ishmael to strip and be searched every day to get to his olive grove? To give money to bankers and Detroit or cut them adrift? To have expensive transportation bureaus and plans and bike lanes, or just stop paying car welfare? To have seven hundred Battle-Star-Galactica-sized military installations around the world antagonizing everybody and his brother and then pay for the backturn of charity to try to undo the damage, or just stop antagonizing people in the first place? The history of the empire's attacks is complex but we should reserve the right to remain skeptical when The Economist or NPR tell us that the solutions are complex. Kicking a man repeatedly and in a manner deft enough to keep him alive may be complex. But getting out is as simple as falling forward and, just before you tip over, thrusting one leg forward. Then doing that over and over till it becomes a habit.
Just because the bullies on talk radio or national "public" radio frame this discussion or that discussion or all discussion as if it were the eleventh hour doesn't mean we have to submit to it. The fact that we're asked to decide frenetically on content rather than carefully on form--think fast rapist in room whatareyou gonna do?oops too late--doesn't mean we have to accept the form.
The form of the empire is to pretend there's no form and it's all content. As if the broadcasting bullies--the form--didn't get there in the first place from their willingness to suck at the right teat. As if there's no back story on the lips giving us the content.
No One asks (and we're with No One on this one): which is easier, to give a piece of silver to the children of Ishmael or to stop giving the ten pieces of silver to the children of Israel who are forcing Ishmael to strip and be searched every day to get to his olive grove? To give money to bankers and Detroit or cut them adrift? To have expensive transportation bureaus and plans and bike lanes, or just stop paying car welfare? To have seven hundred Battle-Star-Galactica-sized military installations around the world antagonizing everybody and his brother and then pay for the backturn of charity to try to undo the damage, or just stop antagonizing people in the first place?
The history of the empire's attacks is complex but we should reserve the right to remain skeptical when The Economist or NPR tell us that the solutions are complex. Kicking a man repeatedly and in a manner deft enough to keep him alive may be complex. But getting out is as simple as falling forward and, just before you tip over, thrusting one leg forward. Then doing that over and over till it becomes a habit.
