At week's end
The last couple of weeks have been extremely busy. Last week I did four events connected with my Re-engage! book. The one at USIP Tuesday really involved me doing some new cogitation, and I've been thinking a lot more about that "Have foreign wars become unwinnable yet?" question ever since. (I'm trending toward Yes, but need to do more work on the matter.)
The other three events were all great. Two of them were in private homes. One of those was organized by the Women's Foreign Policy Group, and the other by an interesting new project, the "Chez Nous Salon", based in the DC exurb of Reston, Virginia, that aims mainly at bringing residents from that area together with each other for friendship and discussion... Standing room only at both those events, where I met some really interesting people-- most of them extremely supportive of the book project!
Friday, I got to talk about the book with a group of high-school teachers, in DC for a Summer Institute organized by the World Affairs Council of DC. Another great group. I truly think teachers are grossly under-valued in our society.
Learning about the recent "How to withdraw from Iraq" project, the degree to which they had ripped off some of my own longstanding work on precisely this topic, and the fact that, though they had consulted widely with alleged experts they never even deigned to contact me, all took a bit of time to deal with. But I hope we can all learn some good lessons from that about the need for better coordination and more serious, focused antiwar movement-building going forward. That's what I want to do, anyway.
But right now, I'm starting to change gears for the next ten days or so. My son's wedding is in Vermont next weekend. Bill and I will be driving up, and taking a few days to do so.
By the way, if you're anywhere near Johnstown, PA, on Tuesday afternoon, come hear me talk about my book at 1:30 p.m. at the Gathering of Friends General Conference, being held in the University of Pittsburgh, Johnstown. The book talk will be in the Gathering's bookstore.
Lots is, as always, still happening in the world. North Korea is off the US government's "terrorism list." Robert Mugabe has been acting like a real thug (though I'm trying to figure out why the US government feels it has any particular reason to say anything about that... really, who cares what Washington thinks about it?) The Israel-Hamas ceasefire is still in place, albeit shakily, given the determination of Fateh and others to torpedo it... The Quarantine Wall the Bushists have been trying to maintain against Iran, Syria, Hizbullah, and Hamas has seen yet more breaches with the news that the Hizbullah-Israel prisoner swap is even closer to being a done deal, and the news of further steps in the Israel-Syria peace talks dance. There have been new developments in Afghanistan and Pakistan...
Meanwhile, I've been reading Sy Hersch's latest piece in The New Yorker, which depicts in some detail the way the hawks in the Bush administration have been maintaining and escalating their provocative military and paramilitary activities against Iran... Their use of the term "preparing the battle space" for what they've been doing seems particularly ominous to me, as does the permission given to "defensive lethal" operations.
Well heck, aren't all the US's many wars around the world always sold to the citizenry here as being "defensive" at some remove??
Anyway, I have scores of things I wanted to post about here, but I don't have time. Over the next ten days I'll check in and post whenever I can. But no promises.
Helena
A new president will have an interesting time finding out what the spooks, special ops, and mercenaries have been up to.
A member of the House Appropriations Committee acknowledged that, even with a Democratic victory in November, “it will take another year before we get the intelligence activities under control.”
There is a Goetterdaemmerung (or Ragnarok) feel about all this.
My take on Hersch's article was that the war faction have made less progress than they would have liked, if they are planning to overturn the Iranian regime before the end of Bush in January 2009. Despite, according to him, numerous undisclosed initiatives to undermine the Tehran regime, and the known fact that Ahmedinejad is not popular, very little seems to have happened. We are not hearing of reports coming back of Iran ready to split.
In the context of both the mounting US campaign against Iran and the pressures exerted by Gates on the NATO (read the European countries) to provide more troops for Afghanistan, it is interesting to note that Henry Kissinger crossed the Atlantic in order to assist to the Euro football final last week-end in Vienna. What a case : almost all the political leaders were there informally too. So you just wonder what Kissinger was up to there. The press reports didn't uncover what was going undercover. You bet that Kissinger won't be there just for the fun.
The Telegraph informs that :
In the vip seats at the stadium the king and queen of Spain rubbed shoulders with Hollywood actor Harrison Ford, as well as America's former secretary of state, Henry Kissinger. King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia were included on a list of special guests distributed by Uefa ahead of the match at Ernst Happel Stadium, located in the Leopoldstadt district of the city. The German delegation was headed by the country's chancellor Angela Merkel who has been a regular, and enthusiastic, attendee of matches throughout the tournament, which started on June 7.
The International Herald Tribune reports that :
Alexander McQueen could be kicking it with Henry Kissinger or King Juan Carlos on Sunday at the European Championship final, a match that promises plenty of star power. McQueen, the British fashion designer, and Spain's Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia top the list of celebrities, royals and leaders expected to pack the stands at Ernst Happel Stadium to watch Germany and Spain play for the Euro 2008 title. Other prominent Spaniards include Crown Prince Felipe and Crown Princess Letizia, who cheered Spain on to victory in Thursday's 3-0 semifinal victory over Russia. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who watched Germany defeat Turkey on Wednesday in their semifinal match in Basel, Switzerland, will also be there. Not to be outdone, so will Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.
PS : Helena, congratulation for your son's wedding and best wishes for this family fest.
Henry Kissinger and Harrison Ford. Maybe it's a meeting of the "Elders of Zion"?
I wonder what Merkel and Zapatero could possibly be doing at a championship match between Germany and Spain?
Maybe Alexander McQueen is being recruited to design revealing women's fashions to drive Ahmedinejad crazy?
Christiane, you've outdone yourself!
Apparently the US has been inventing intelligence and firing people who disagree.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2008/07/20087122240417154.html
'Robert Mugabe has been acting like a real thug (though I'm trying to figure out why the US government feels it has any particular reason to say anything about that... really, who cares what Washington thinks about it?)'
Helena has spent too long with the western media. Cant she tell a demonisation campaign when she heas it? The hysterical manner should give her a clue.
I suggest she do a little independent research. Start here:
http://www.raceandhistory.com/Zimbabwe/
Keeping in mind who the real thug is:
'The Movement for Democratic Change leader told 20,000 supprters at a rally on Saturday that if Mr Mugabe did not want to step down before the next elections scheduled for 2002 "we will remove you violently".'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/952796.stm
Back when the BBC could report news.
The US view and the one that lies behind the media attacks is this:
'I don't see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist(or natuionalist) due to the irresponsibility of its people." '
www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Kissinger/HKissinger.html'