The failure of intelligence
The BBC notes that the Senate's references to a global failure of intelligence implicates also the British intelligence services. The commentaries ventilate quite rightly the issue of how much of the blame should lie on their political masters. But there seems to me to be a gap. Neither now nor before the war was there any attempt to understand the Baathist regime in Iraq as composed of human beings. I remember asking on another progressive list before the war what could be Saddam Hussein's motivation for maintaining stocks of WMD and persisting in denying that he had them? No one was able to quote any source that illuminated this question. Psychologically this is about demonization of the enemy. Socially it is about contempt for non-european peoples whose regimes are just dicatorships and who torture people in a crazy way, unlike our own regimes which are models of pure democratic will. That is a failure of intelligence. And it is ideological blindness. Chris Burford London
Re: Why Does Fahrenheit 9/11 Pursue Conspiracy Theory?
Because like many radicals Moore's consciousness is at the level of moral anger. Chris Burford - Original Message - From: Yoshie Furuhashi [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, July 10, 2004 1:52 AM Subject: [PEN-L] Why Does Fahrenheit 9/11 Pursue Conspiracy Theory? Why Does Fahrenheit 9/11 Pursue Conspiracy Theory? (because 9/11 conspiracy theory protects the Democratic Party, while historical analysis would implicate it in the criminal consequences of decades of collaboration between Washington and Riyadh as well as other unsavory allies): http://montages.blogspot.com/2004/07/why-does-fahrenheit-911-pursue.h tml -- Yoshie * Critical Montages: http://montages.blogspot.com/ * Bring Them Home Now! http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/ * Calendars of Events in Columbus: http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/calendar.html, http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php, http://www.cpanews.org/ * Student International Forum: http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/ * Committee for Justice in Palestine: http://www.osudivest.org/ * Al-Awda-Ohio: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio * Solidarity: http://www.solidarity-us.org/
Re: Christian Parenti reporting from Falluja
I'm making an exception to my usual rule of ignoring Proyect, but this really pisses me off. Christian has spent a total of nearly three months in Iraq. He's been in the middle of firefights and met with insurgents who threatened to kill him. It's quite possible he was nearly kidnapped a week or two ago in Sadr City. Christian's a good friend of mine, and I'm very fond of him. I really wish he wouldn't go into war zones; I'd much rather have him alive. But how dare a toxic nut sitting in Manhattan can question his motives, veracity, or nerve? --- Paul Klebnikov, who was one of the only writers on Russia in the English language worth reading, has just been murdered, very possibly by a lovable Chechen gangster, whoops I meant to say freedom-fighter. I fully expect some people to celebrate. He was the editor of the Russian edition of Forbes, after all. http://top.rbc.ru/index.shtml?/news/incidents/2004/07/10/10035924_bod.shtml(not useful if you don't read Russian.) __ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail is new and improved - Check it out! http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail
Klebnikov
Chris Doss wrote: Paul Klebnikov, who was one of the only writers on Russia in the English language worth reading, has just been murdered, very possibly by a lovable Chechen gangster, whoops I meant to say freedom-fighter. I fully expect some people to celebrate. He was the editor of the Russian edition of Forbes, after all. http://top.rbc.ru/index.shtml?/news/incidents/2004/07/10/10035924_bod.shtml(not useful if you don't read Russian.) If you read the usually reliable Independent, you'd get the impression that it was the Russian mafia who killed him. The Independent (London) July 10, 2004, Saturday EDITOR WHO UNMASKED SUPER-RICH OF RUSSIA IS SHOT DEAD IN MOSCOW ANDREW OSBORN IN MOSCOW The Russian edition of Forbes' magazine, listed the country's super-rich, making the editor, Paul Klebnikov, an unpopular and reviled character in some circles THE MAN who told the world exactly how wealthy Russia's super- rich are and exactly what oligarchs spend their millions on has been shot dead in Moscow in a murder that has all the hallmarks of a contract killing. Pavel Klebnikov, the chief editor of the Russian edition of Forbes magazine, was shot at point- blank range in a suburb of northern Moscow near the city's botanical gardens at around 10pm last night. He died later in an ambulance having taken four bullets in the chest. Klebnikov, 41, a US citizen born in New York, was descended from White Russian emigres who fled the country when Communists seized power. He had made powerful enemies writing a damning book about Boris Berezovsky, the tycoon who has exiled himself in the UK, and another about a Chechen rebel field commander called Khoj-Akhmed Nukaev. Klebnikov alleged that Mr Berezovsky, with $ 620m (pounds 330m) to his name, was involved in the criminal underworld and became embroiled in a protracted court case that ended in an out-of-court settlement and an apology from Forbes. Some said that his book about Mr Berezovsky - Godfather of the Kremlin; The Decline of Russia in the Age of Gangster Capitalism - was anti-Semitic in tone and overly critical of the tycoon at the expense of other key characters such as Russia's former president Boris Yeltsin. In April of this year, Klebnikov ruffled feathers among Russia's super- rich when he launched the first Russian language edition of Forbes magazine, the so-called capitalist's handbook. A month later he put even more noses out of joint when the magazine published a detailed list of Russia's 100 wealthiest people, detailing exactly what assets they held and how they had made their money. Russia's elite was unimpressed. One businessman who preferred not to be named told daily Vedemosti that he was furious with Klebnikov. They couldn't have published this list at a worst place at a worse time, he told the newspaper. In our country, any discussion of personal wealth results in nothing but an increase in my blood pressure. Unnamed sources accused Klebnikov and his colleagues of vastly over-estimating their wealth and claimed that Forbes' exercise was unseemly. Some businessmen were irritated that their names were linked by association with Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Russia's richest man and number one on Forbes' list. They said the fact that Mr Khodorkovsky was in jail on fraud and embezzlement charges might reflect badly on them. Others took exception to the fact that Klebnikov's list included at least nine Jews and worried that they would be targeted by anti-Semites. Many of Russia's super-rich prefer to keep information about their real worth secret, not least to avoid the clutches of Russia's increasingly conscientious tax police. But Klebnikov, it seems, has now paid the ultimate price for ignoring these warnings. Russia is sick with envy ... Russia will (only) flourish when each Russian citizen learns to value his neighbour's success, Klebnikov wrote. An ardent pro-capitalist, he believed that the new Russia had a bright future ahead. Today Russia is on the threshold of a new era, he wrote grandly in Forbes' first Russian edition. I am convinced that we will become the witnesses of a great renaissance in Russian society. Unprecedented opportunities are opening up before the (Russian) business world and new problems at the same time. In a country where many in the media appear to be in the pockets of some of the country's super rich businessmen Klebnikov promised that Forbes would remain steadfastly independent of influence. In an overt nod to the magazine's original founder BC Forbes, he reminded the readers that money wasn't everything and that God, moral values and a sense of citizenship were also important. Klebnikov studied at the University of Berkeley in California and at the London School of Economics where he obtained a Phd in 1991. Police are investigating the killing. -- Marxism list: www.marxmail.org
Re: Klebnikov
NPR also blames it on the oligarchs. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
Re: Fw: [stop-imf] Africa should not pay its debts - Jeffrey Sachs
Sachs has always been basically a man of the left, and has been saying sensible things about sovereign default fo longer than anyone else I can remember (including me and Richard Portes). Perhaps the whole Harvard Institute thing should be viewed by revisionist historians as a brief aberration in the career of a basically good bloke. dd -Original Message- From: PEN-L list [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Perelman, Michael Sent: 09 July 2004 17:30 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Fw: [stop-imf] Africa should not pay its debts - Jeffrey Sachs I mentioned a couple days ago how much Jeffrey Sachs has moved to the left. Chris's message is further confirmation. As I said before, he has also been very strong on Haiti. Perhaps Paul A. has something to add about the relationship between Sachs and the United Nations. Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University michael at ecst.csuchico.edu Chico, CA 95929 530-898-5321 fax 530-898-5901
Re: Fw: [stop-imf] Africa should not pay its debts - Jeffrey Sachs
In a message dated 7/10/2004 12:27:28 PM Central Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Sachs has always been basically a man of the left, and has been saying sensible things about sovereign default fo longer than anyone else I can remember (including me and Richard Portes). Perhaps the whole Harvard Institute thing should be viewed by revisionist historians as a brief aberration in the career of a basically good bloke. dd Comment There is some basic economic common sense involved in exchange and debt. As long as I owe the banks and financial institutions $50,000 and a house mortgage I have a problem . . . a debt problem. When the banks allow me to run my debt up to $1,000,000 - and I am making ever humanly possible effort to attain this goal ... they have the problem. $50K . . . my problem . . . $1m . . . the banks problem. And I have forbidden the wife from us ever discussing insurance to cover our debt. Africa cannot pay its debt and the Russians are stopping payments here and there. Putin is burning the midnight oil . . . and the shift is going to hit the fan. What is taking place is the first wave of political assertions of the real social revolution. Sorry if it does not conform to the text in ones head. Melvin P.
Re: Fw: [stop-imf] Africa should not pay its debts - Jeffrey Sachs
From: Daniel Davies [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sachs has always been basically a man of the left, and has been saying sensible things about sovereign default fo longer than anyone else I can remember (including me and Richard Portes). Perhaps the whole Harvard Institute thing should be viewed by revisionist historians as a brief aberration in the career of a basically good bloke. dd Like Paul Krugman's honorarium from Enron? Carl _ MSN Toolbar provides one-click access to Hotmail from any Web page FREE download! http://toolbar.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200413ave/direct/01/
Re: Fw: [stop-imf] Africa should not pay its debts - Jeffrey Sachs
Really? That's quite an aberration-- participating in the dismantling of the Russian Revolution, transforming the remnants of socialized property into private fortunes. And now Sachs got religion? Yeah right, him and O'Neil. Save us from the basically good blokes and we can handle the rest. - Original Message - From: Daniel Davies [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, July 10, 2004 10:27 AM Subject: Re: [PEN-L] Fw: [stop-imf] Africa should not pay its debts - Jeffrey Sachs Sachs has always been basically a man of the left, and has been saying sensible things about sovereign default fo longer than anyone else I can remember (including me and Richard Portes). Perhaps the whole Harvard Institute thing should be viewed by revisionist historians as a brief aberration in the career of a basically good bloke. dd
Re: Fw: [stop-imf] Africa should not pay its debts - Jeffrey Sachs
From: sartesian [EMAIL PROTECTED] Really? That's quite an aberration-- participating in the dismantling of the Russian Revolution, transforming the remnants of socialized property into private fortunes. Bingo. As with, Apart from that, how did you enjoy the play, Mrs. Lincoln? Carl _ FREE pop-up blocking with the new MSN Toolbar get it now! http://toolbar.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200415ave/direct/01/
Re: Fw: [stop-imf] Africa should not pay its debts - Jeffrey Sachs
In a message dated 7/10/2004 1:11:33 PM Central Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Really? That's quite an aberration-- participating in the dismantling ofthe Russian Revolution, transforming the remnants of socialized propertyinto private fortunes. And now Sachs got religion? Yeah right, him andO'Neil. Save us from the basically good blokes and we can handle the rest. Comment Correct again . . . to suggest that my debt be suspended because I have proven that I cannot and will not pay it is hardly radical . . . which was my real point. Africa really does not have a debt problem . . . the financial institutions - capital,have a debt problem. This "thing" about the absolute general law of capitalist accumulation is . . . interesting. We are facing perhaps the greatest polarization between wealth and poverty in human history as the absolute _expression_ of the absoluteness of capital accumulation . . . in America . . . not overseas or somewhere else and apparently this is not understood. The industrial reserve army of unemployed belongs to another period of history - when the industrial system is in ascendency and the population is being converted into modern proletarians. The population of America is not being converted into modern proletarians but facing an absolute reduction in real wages that has been taking place for a solid thirty years. They were already proletarians. Perhaps it will take another ten years or so to understand that we are dealing with a different set of factors generated as the absolute _expression_ of the absoluteness of capital accumulation in America . . . not overseas or somewhere else. Seems to me that two sets of factors obscure what should be obvious. Monetary policy as US dominated exchange and debt structure . . . the printing of worthless money and the low wage structure in areas like China that allows that labor embodied in their commodities to fall faster than the real wages of the American consumer. This is not to say . . . it is China's fault . . . but rather the absolute _expression_ of the absoluteness of capital accumulation. And of course the low wages of the workers in China do not appear in the pay envelop of the American workers. What the American workers get is Wal Mart while their wages drift to the bottom or towards zero and not away from zero. And yes . . . China is currently hitting the wall as the absolute _expression_ of the absoluteness of capital accumulation . . . not the scrabble for "natural resources" and population matters. Securing oil reserves will save no one . . . which is why Putin is burning the midnight oil. Nothing short of proletarian revolution in Russiapromises even a glimmer of hope no matter how many "gangster capitalists "Putin steps on. I simply enjoy seeing capitalists jailed under any pretext. Why we always have to be the only ones in jail . . . although I enjoy your jail house rap. Billionaires in Russia . . . China . . . America is of course the absolute _expression_ of the absoluteness of capital accumulation . . . while the soup kitchens grow in America, and theseare working families . . . not the industrial army of reserve of one hundred . . . no . . . fifty . . . years ago. Social revolution does not require our working class to be reduced to the level of the India peasant of the past. "What is taking place is the first wave of political assertions of the real social revolution," means the bourgeoisie response to debt. Liquidating debt means you have a chance to accumulate it again . . . as the absolute . . . . Melvin P
The Unnamable: The Kerry Factor in the Platform Index
The Unnamable: The Kerry Factor in the Platform Index (explaining why the Anybody But Bush crowd may succeed in allowing Bush to snatch victory out of the jaws of defeat): http://montages.blogspot.com/2004/07/unnamable-kerry-factor-in-platform.html -- Yoshie * Critical Montages: http://montages.blogspot.com/ * Bring Them Home Now! http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/ * Calendars of Events in Columbus: http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/calendar.html, http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php, http://www.cpanews.org/ * Student International Forum: http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/ * Committee for Justice in Palestine: http://www.osudivest.org/ * Al-Awda-Ohio: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio * Solidarity: http://www.solidarity-us.org/
Africa should not pay its debts - Jeffrey Sachs
I have not followed Sachs closely in most recent times but I think he would strongly object to being called a 'man of the left'. I have heard him point out that his macroeconomic views are thoroughly mainstream (akin to his Harvard ex-colleagues) and that indeed starting in Bolivia and Poland he argues that liberalization and market reforms had to proceed *faster* and more comprehensively than the IMF or the WB had thought possible (hence the appellation 'shock therapy'). One place Sachs has differed from his ex-colleagues is his willingness to also criticize the donor countries/IFI's strongly and publicly for not providing the financing and market access that would fund these free market reforms. Also, unlike many of his colleagues, he has not held a post in these governments or institutions nor received a large part or his financing from them (he has only a recent part-time advisor/commentator role at the U.N.). Most of the time he has been brought in as a consultant to a government that supports greater free market policies (the Haiti case is more complicated) but seeks to have an advocate in negotiating a better financed deal, with more debt relief. So the Africa statement is not a departure from his past record. Sachs also differs in his preparedness to delve into U.S. congressional insider politics (his late father, a prominent lawyer, was a significant figure in Chicago democratic politics, including I believe a role in support of the Civil Rights movement in the '50s which Jeffrey cites as an influence in his support for social services in the 3rd world). Paul Sachs has always been basically a man of the left, and has been saying sensible things about sovereign default fo longer than anyone else I can remember (including me and Richard Portes). Perhaps the whole Harvard Institute thing should be viewed by revisionist historians as a brief aberration in the career of a basically good bloke. dd
Re: Africa should not pay its debts - Jeffrey Sachs
I wonder how many economists come to their work through political families. Paul Romer Sam Bowles come to mind. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
The Haves and the Have Mores
The Haves and the Have Mores (one of the priceless scenes in Fahrenheit 9/11): http://montages.blogspot.com/2004/07/haves-and-have-mores.html -- Yoshie * Critical Montages: http://montages.blogspot.com/ * Bring Them Home Now! http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/ * Calendars of Events in Columbus: http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/calendar.html, http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php, http://www.cpanews.org/ * Student International Forum: http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/ * Committee for Justice in Palestine: http://www.osudivest.org/ * Al-Awda-Ohio: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio * Solidarity: http://www.solidarity-us.org/
