Liberty & Power: Group Blog
Entries by Mark Brady
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
What More Is There to Say?
A trillion-dollar catastrophe writes Simon Jenkins in today's Guardian.
"The Iraq war will be seen by history as a catastrophe that did more than anything else to alienate Atlantic powers from the rest of the world and disqualify them as global policemen. It was a wild overreaction by a paranoid, overmilitarised American state to a single spectacular, but inconsequential, act of terrorism on 9/11. As such it illustrated how little international relations have advanced since the shooting of Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo. Its exponents are still blinded by incident."
And yet some libertarians tell us it was all worth it!
The Guardian and Russ Roberts
I was pleasantly surprised to read in today's Guardian, which many of you will recognize as a broadly left-of-center newspaper published in London, an editorial praising economist Russ Roberts' weekly podcast.
"Mr Roberts has a dry wit and hostly politeness and gives his interviewees more space than they would get on any broadcast outlet. Both presenter and most guests come from various points to the right of the political spectrum and their arguments are sometimes – how shall we say this? – barmy, being far too trusting of free markets. But with EconTalk it is the journey that counts – and Mr Roberts lets the arguments unfurl at just the right pace for both non-specialists and economists. He shows listeners how economics approaches questions differently from other disciplines. And at the end of an hour, the dismal science doesn't seem so bad after all, but a fun and useful set of tools to approach some of society's biggest questions."
Friday, August 27, 2010
Playing the Genocide Card
Tara McCormack has written a thoughtful review of The Politics of Genocide, a recent book by Edward S. Herman and David Peterson that challenges the idea that external intervention can be a force for good. Sadly, far too many libertarians are all too happy to defend particular instances of U.S. and Western meddling in foreign countries. The book was published by Monthly Review Press in spring 2010.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
The Weird Fashion for Bashing Faith Schools
Brendan O'Neill is in top form.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Neal Ascherson Reviews the New Biography of Hugh Trevor-Roper
Good stories, memorable lines.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Global Warming - A Couple of Stories You May Have Missed
Newspapers Retract 'Climategate' Claims.
Climate science after the 'hockey stick' affair.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
In Defense of Permissiveness
Frank Furedi explains why he will always stand up for permissiveness in this thoughtful article defending individual freedom of thought and action.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
The Ambush of Helen Thomas
Gary Leupp explains why Helen Thomas was ambushed.
Why Some Jews Would Rather Live in Siberia than Israel
Whatever your opinion of Helen Thomas, read why some Jews would rather live in Siberia than Israel. This fascinating article describes how refugees are beginning to return from Israel to Birobidzhan, in the Jewish Autonomous Region in Russia's far east that Stalin established in 1935 for Yiddish-speaking Jews before he turned on it.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Alexander Cockburn on U.S. Government Deception
Today at Counterpunch Alexander Cockburn surveys cover-ups over Vietnam MIAs and the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty, and includes a discussion of British efforts to involve the U.S. in the World War Two and the discrediting of Charles Beard. Well worth a look.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Musical Chairs
R. W. Johnson on the World Cup in South Africa.
Monday, May 24, 2010
"Horrific and Absurd"
Senior lawyers and children's charities describe this trial as "horrific and absurd."
Pundits are outraged here, here, and here.
UPDATE: Frank Furedi calls it a showtrial of children for being naughty.
And for a more entertaining take on the continuing obsession with child sexual abuse, go here.
Patents for Synthia
Here is potentially alarming news for those of us who are opposed to, or just wary of, patents and the disturbing tendency to grant an intellectual monopoly to an ever wider range of intellectual creations and thwart independent inventors who fail to reach the Patent Office first.
"Professor Sulston, who is based at the University of Manchester, said patenting would be "extremely damaging".
"I've read through some of these patents and the claims are very, very broad indeed," Professor Sulston told BBC News.
"I hope very much these patents won't be accepted because they would bring genetic engineering under the control of the J Craig Venter Institute (JCVI). They would have a monopoly on a whole range of techniques."
Read the full story here.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Corey Robin: Garbage and Gravitas
Corey Robin provides his take on Ayn Rand in The Nation. It's sure to annoy some readers - but others may appreciate his insights.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Not Surprising
Gordon Brown quits as British prime minister - read all about it here and here.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
The Drama Continues
As readers are no doubt aware, the British general election ended with a hung parliament in which no one party has an overall majority. The Conservatives won more votes and more seats than Labour, who came second, and the Liberal Democrats trailed with less than one percent more of the popular vote and five fewer seats than they won in 2005.
If you're interested in learning more but don't have a lot of time to follow the story, I recommend What next in UK election, a sixteen-minute video chaired by Robert Shrimsley, editor of FT.com.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Today's British General Election
As my friends know, I'm an election junkie. Yet I'm not enamored with any of the three main parties - Conservative, Labour, and Liberal Democrat - all of whom are distinguished by their scarcely concealed contempt for large sections of the electorate. That said, as a veteran observer of British general elections - this is the thirteenth that I have followed closely - I shall be watching the results online. If any readers are sufficiently interested in what is happening in the UK, I suggest you go here, here, here, and here to make some sense of what is a rather complicated story. And if anyone is interested in my prognostications, I'll stick to my hunch when the election was announced that the Tories - that's the Conservatives - will win an absolute majority of seats in the House of Commons. Of course, as political theater, a hung Parliament would be more interesting. And, indeed, that is what the polls forecast.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Would John Locke Approve?
The Sun pulls out the big guns - Cowell, Locke and 16 Page 3 girls - to win the election.
And, while we're on this topic, Did the Sun Photoshop the page 3 girls' underwear?
Monday, May 3, 2010
An Interesting Video
As readers will be aware, the British general election campaign concludes with the poll on Thursday. Immigration is a key issue and one that touches on people's concerns about jobs and welfare and national identity.
What may strike American visitors in particular and foreign visitors in general is how so many members of ethnic minorities are thoroughly assimilated into British society. I suggest this truth comes through very clearly in this video about three black candidates, one from each of the three main parties: Chuka Umunna, Karen Hamilton, and Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones.
Why the U.S. Still Doesn't Get the Message
Gabriel Kolko on 35 years since the fall of Saigon.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Drinking and Liberty
Although the minimum drinking age is twenty-one in the U.S., it is eighteen in the UK and generally speaking its scope does not extend to private homes so adults can provide alcoholic drinks to older children. However, as you might expect, the British authorities are stepping up the war on booze. Specifically, Britain’s Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs recently attacked what it called the "culture of excessive drinking" in universities and colleges. In a report by Caroline Healy, the council called on vice-chancellors and college heads to withdraw funding for clubs and societies that organise boozy initiation ceremonies and drinking games.
Here Neil Davenport warns us against what he sees as "[a]n initiation into the culture of unfreedom" and concludes:
"The ACMD proposals to ban daft drinking games is the latest shot fired in the war against booze. Drinking and socialising has always been a key area of student life, and learning to negotiate the pleasures and pitfalls of both stands young people in good stead for a responsible adult life. By clamping down on such campus activities, officialdom sees personal autonomy and public freedom as necessary casualties in the war against drinking. In truth, the ongoing infantilisation of young people will store up far greater problems in the future than any amount of excessive campus drinking. If we want to see a robust return to adult values and behaviour, it's time officialdom called last orders on its out-of-control campaign to turn all of us into diet-cola-drinking 12-year-olds."
Monday, April 5, 2010
The Pentagon Exposed - Courtesy of the CIA?
Wikileaks reveals video showing US air crew shooting down Iraqi civilians.
"Initially the US military said that all the dead were insurgents. Then it claimed the helicopters reacted to an active firefight. Assange said that the video demonstrated that neither claim was true."
"[A] Pentagon report, reflecting the depth of paranoia about where Wikileaks is obtaining its material, speculates that the CIA may be responsible."
Monday, March 22, 2010
The Complete Private Medical Option
Fred Folvary explains that the so-called public option is not the only option.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
The Beginning of the End for Vladimir Putin?
"'Day of Wrath' brings Russians on to the streets against Vladimir Putin."
Niall Ferguson: "Rid Our Schools of Junk History"
Niall Ferguson calls for ridding British schools of junk history. And, of course, similar demands have been made about ridding U.S. schools of junk history. That said, Ferguson has his own conservative and statist agenda to sell. "Professor Colin Jones, president of the Royal Historical Society, said he applauded some of Ferguson's ideas, such as teaching history in longer, chronological blocks. But Ferguson's language was condescending and the argument ideological, he added."
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Icelanders against the State
Iceland rejects Icesave bill in referendum.
Good for them, why should they bail out Landsbanki?
For more on the heroic resistance of the Icelandic people to the state, in this case, membership of NATO, go here and here.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Recycling High-Tech Body Implants
Prehistory
How a hobbit is rewriting the history of the human race.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Why Did the British Bomb German Cities?
Discussing the British bombing of German cities during 1941-45, Leo McKinstry cites extensive archival evidence to rebut the official claim that "[t]he loss of life, which amounted to some 600,000 killed, was purely incidental."
"The British government has long denied that wartime air raids on German cities were intended to kill as many civilians as possible. In fact, the raids, led by Arthur Harris, were motivated largely by a desire to hit back and destroy indiscriminately."
"Far from being unfortunate or freak occurrences, [the raids on Hamburg and Dresden] represented the ultimate fruition of British air policy. Bomber Command's entire strategic offensive seems to have been based on the belief that the Nazi regime could be destroyed through wholesale, indiscriminate killing of Germany's urban population."
Monday, February 8, 2010
Precious: A New Kind of "Blaxploitation"
Some weeks ago I watched a trailer for the much-hyped Precious and did not care at all for what I saw. Brendan O'Neill explains why it is so awful.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Good for Her!
A "veiled" female candidate challenges the French state and mandated secularism.
Monday, January 4, 2010
How Government Grows
This is exactly the sort of story we need to hammer home. Nice job, Karen.
"A Culture That Is Utterly Incapable of Valuing Liberty"
Brendan O'Neill explains why here.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
John Crace Saves You Having to Read Next Year's Memoirs
George W Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Karl Rove have all chosen to publish their memoirs in 2010, thereby ensuring that at least three of them will be on the remainder piles by Christmas. The problem is that we already know what we are going to get: a badly written piece of fiction about how nothing went wrong and how if it did it was nothing to do with me.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Let's Hear It for Gladstone!
Today marks the bicentenary of the birth of William Ewart Gladstone, four times prime minister of a Liberal administration.
Geoffrey Wheatcroft makes the case for the Grand Old Man.
You can read more about Gladstone here and his family here.
Friday, December 25, 2009
Season's Greetings
A Very Happy Christmas to all our readers.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
How Dark Were the Dark Ages?
Pretty grim, at least in Britain, according to Bryan Ward-Perkins, historian of (particularly) Late Antiquity at Trinity College, Oxford.
Here's his recent essay on Britain after the Romans left. "It took centuries to reconstruct networks of specialisation and exchange comparable to those of the Roman period."
Here's his immensely interesting and entertaining interview about the fall of the Roman empire. And here's a review of his book, The Fall of Rome: And the End of Civilization (Oxford University Press, 2005; paperback, 2006).
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Far Worse Than Scrooge
Santa Claus is barred from giving gifts to children at detainee centre.
And Henry Porter has something to say.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Banned!
Michele Ledda explains why an examination board's ban on Carol Ann Duffy’s "Education for Leisure" is a stab in the back for liberal education.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
The Mystery of Tony Blair's Finances
Can you shed any light on them?
Sunday, November 29, 2009
An Interesting Take on Ayn Rand
Dolan Cummings discusses Ayn Rand at the self-identified libertarian Marxist website spiked-online.
A Climate of Suspicion
The always insightful Christopher Caldwell writes about the recent leaked emails from the Climatic Research Unit.
And correspondent Tom Allan calls for a more open debate about climate change.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Stand Up for the Bill of Rights!
That's the English Bill of Rights of 1689.
Read here and here how the British government has caved into the demands of the Obama administration.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
More on "Climategate"
Two interesting links that I encourage you to read.
1. Frank Furedi warns us against conspiracy-mongering.
2. Anthropogenic global warming exponent George Monbiot believes that Phil Jones, head of the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, should now resign.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
No Surprise
Why Thatcher Defended the Berlin Wall.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Superfreakonomics: The digested read
Save yourself some time. Read this summary.
An Ingenious Argument Why Tony Blair Should Be EU President
Monday, October 19, 2009
IDF Did Commit War Crimes
No doubt we'll be told that Judge Richard J. Goldstone, author of the report, is a self-hating Jew.
Phooey.
In fact, as his daughter Nicole points out, Judge Richard J. Goldstone is "a Zionist and loves Israel".
And as the heroic Uri Avnery explains, Goldstone is the victim of a slime campaign to discredit him and his report.
SuperFreakonomics
Go here and here to read two extracts from Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner's new book SuperFreakonomics. And don't miss the story about the monkeys in the first extract. Tim Harford, who as the "Undercover Economist" writes a weekly column for the Financial Times, believes this is a better book than their bestseller Freakonomics (2005). I wasn't the only person to think that book seriously trivialized economics.
Monday, September 14, 2009
An Interesting Website
Here is a useful resource on Sex Offender Laws. And here is a short history that explains how in mid-twentieth century California they were used to harrass gay men minding their own business.
And if you scroll down, you'll read how in 1951 Governor Earl Warren, later Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, vetoed a bill that would have created a way for sex offenders, most of whom were gay men convicted of consensual sexual conduct with other gay men, to avoid going to prison. Go here for the contemporary report from the Los Angeles Times (pdf file).
Sunday, September 13, 2009
This Shouldn't Surprise You!
Wall Street Goes to Washington.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Censorship in Weimar Germany
Yet another example of the unintended consequences of state intervention.
Who Said This?
Who called Stalin in 1926 "the gravedigger of the revolution" to his face and lived to tell the tale? He died in 1970 aged 81.
Go here for the answer. An interesting life. And observe what radicalized him in 1911. And what was that campaign notable for? The first aerial bombing in history.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
And It's a Lot More Likely If Your Country Loses the War
Nazi deserter hails long-awaited triumph.
Monday, September 7, 2009
The Myth of Afghan Terrorism
Patrick Hayes explains that, contrary to Gordon Brown's claims, no Afghan has been involved in the terror attacks of the past 10 years.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Obama the Liberal Neocon
"Ferris Bueller famously said, 'Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.' In the twenty-first century the U.S. foreign policy has moved pretty fast: from conservatism to neo-conservatism to liberal neoconservatism. To keep up, we need to look around, or we will miss the big picture: that U.S. foreign policy is moving toward colonialism."
Michael Schwartz writes about the paradox of liberal foreign policy here.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
The Berlin Wall: My Part in Its Downfall
Friday, August 28, 2009
Transatlantic Ties
Is this what they mean by the Special Relationship?
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
He Died in His Bed
I wouldn't wish it otherwise. After all, Ted Kennedy didn't achieve the presidency so he was never a war criminal. And he helped deregulate interstate trucking and airlines and liberalize immigration.
That said, younger readers might like to get up to speed on his youthful misadventures by reading Zad Rust's best seller from 1971, the Tedrows' expose from 1976, or Leo Damore's indictment from 1988.
Well Worth Reading
David Goldhill, a business executive and Democrat, has written a thoughtful essay about American health care.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Heroic Airplane Bombers
In a manner of speaking. All is explained here.
Gabriel Kolko on the Future of Israel
Some libertarians know of the historian Gabriel Kolko for his work on American economic history, namely, The Triumph of Conservatism: A Re-interpretation of American History, 1900-1916 (1963) and Railroads and Regulation, 1877-1916 (1965). His most recent book, World in Crisis: The End of the American Century (London: Pluto Press, 2009, distributed in the U.S. by Palgrave Macmillan) is a collection of essays written between 2004 and 2008, one of which offers an informed and insightful commentary on the future of Israel.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Inconvenient Truths
Hugh Miles asks Who put the bomb on Pan Am 103?.
Although this essay was published in June 2007, it is well worth reading and very pertinent to the current controversy.
Friday, August 21, 2009
The Other Side of the Story
Monday, August 10, 2009
Cops Arrest Blogger for Identifying a Police Officer
Virginia cops arrest blogger Elisha Strom for identifying a police officer.
Bill Boushka has the story here.
The Washington Post speaks up here.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
The Case for Drug Legalization (Again!)
Matthew Engel explains why it's time to end the war on drugs.
Below Engel's article you'll find Tom Feiling's take on drug prohibition and legalization. Feiling is author of The Candy Machine: How Cocaine Took over the World (Penguin, 2009).
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Good and Bad Arguments against the War in Afghanistan
It isn't just a question of being against the war in Afghanistan. Real liberals should be against the war for the right reasons.
Go here to read Brendan O'Neill's insightful analysis of the war. "[T]here has been no serious debate, no serious analysis, no concern with the rights and liberty of the Afghan people. Instead, 130 years after the British Empire first began to unravel in Afghanistan, now the very British state unravels there too. All of this should remind us of the importance of making the principled anti-interventionist argument in relation to Western militarism overseas – not in order to save 'our boys' or hide at home out of fear and defeatism, but in the name of the democratic rights of foreign peoples and of tackling domestic political crises head-on rather than projecting them 'over there'." That's exactly right. It's too bad that so much "anti-war" opinion is not founded on a principled argument against the war.
Tim Black makes a similar argument here.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Canada Gets It Right (Sort Of)
Simon Jenkins writes that Brown can salvage the diplomatic disgrace of Afghanistan if he acts as he is known to believe, and sets a withdrawal date.
"The Canadians, who have suffered terrible losses, have shown their sovereignty by signalling their intention to leave [Afghanistan] in 2011. Why not Britain?"
"Like the Canadians, they should give a date for withdrawal, to stop wasting British lives and to isolate Obama in his wrong-headed policy."
Monday, July 13, 2009
The Rise and Fall of the British Aristocracy
That is to say, the British sporting aristocracy. Simon Kuper explains how British toffs sometimes succeed in clinging to power in a changing world.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
A Small Tale That Spells Defeat
Matthew Parris explains that sometimes you have to listen to the mountains.
Does anyone really believe the U.S. and its allies will succeed in achieving their stated goals in Afghanistan?
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Ralph Milliband Must Be Turning in His Grave
Not for the first time. Milliband was a leading Marxist intellectual, editor of Socialist Register, friend of C. Wright Mills, and passionate opponent of the American war in Vietnam. Now his son seeks to deflect allegations that MI5 has been colluding in the torture of British citizens.
In the Service of the State
That is to say, the British state.
What's with Iran?
What can the opposition win?. Worth reading, not least for the links.
UPDATE: Mick Hume asks here whether protesters in Tehran will win real change - or be used as a stage army for conservative opposition leaders who only want another palace coup? "One thing for sure is that the people of Iran will have to decide their own destiny, and if they want real change, make their own revolution."
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Sounds Good to Me
"Huge job cuts" for the British public sector.
Mind you, I'll believe it when I see it.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
We've Been Here Before
The Thick of It--Spinners and Losers.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Spontaneous Orders?
John Vidal on the revival of crop circles.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
West Still Miscasts 1989 Protestors
James Kynge has written an insightful article on the Tiananmen anniversary in today's Financial Times.
"The truth is that the students in the square had only the haziest understanding of western-style democracy. To the extent that the protests were directed at abuses of an existing system by an emerging elite, they were motivated more by outrage at the betrayal of socialist ideals than by aspirations for a new system. The mood in the square was at least as much conservative as it was activist."
I encourage you to read the entire article here. It's well worth the effort.
UPDATE: Brendan O'Neill explains here how both China and the West have distorted the truth about the Tiananmen Square protests and the massacre that followed.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
What Obama Doesn't Want You to See
Here are sixteen graphic photographs of alleged prisoner abuse, thought to be among up to 2,000 images Barack Obama is trying to prevent from being released.
Warning: this slideshow contains graphic and disturbing images to anyone who loves liberty.
Torture and the American Conscience
Today at Counterpunch Paul Craig Roberts praises Ron Paul and George Hunsinger, professor at Princeton Theological Seminary, for calling their fellow Americans to account over the federal government's use of torture.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Where Did It All Go Wrong?
Stephen Berry of the Libertarian Alliance provides an informed and insightful review of Pat Buchanan's recent book.
Berry explains how as the twentieth century unfolded successive British administrations embarked upon unwise policies that led to disastrous consequences for Britain and the West. He explains how they ignored Lord Salisbury's dictum that "Isolation is much less dangerous than the danger of being dragged into wars which do not concern us." And how, after the First World War, much of the British elite was (1) "obsessed, then as now, by the 'special relationship' with their American cousins," and (2) enthralled with Wilsonian internationalism.
Berry concludes: "Great play is still made of the UK resisting Germany and Continental Europe alone in 1940. This book explains how Britain had come to such a position and Buchanan makes it clear that the German military victories of 1940 were only part of the story. Pursuing a League of Nations agenda, antagonising Japan and Italy, keeping the Soviet Union at arms length were all a prelude to the disaster of 1940. Against a more astute German leader than Hitler these policies would certainly have led to the loss of the war. As it was, they merely led to the loss of the British Empire. Pat Buchanan has done a tremendous service by pointing all this out in his frank and well written book."
You can read the review in pdf format here.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
JFK Scores Again
Michael Munn's memoir of David Niven continues in today's Sunday Times (London).
Niven's second wife Hjördis explains how "Jack Kennedy wanted a quickie, and I gave him a quickie. He gave me a disease. Chlamydia." I guess this disease was an occupational hazard of being intimate with this particular president. The sorry affair happened, apparently, when the Nivens went to the White House for President Kennedy’s 46th birthday celebrations in May 1963. Then six months later Lee Harvey Oswald's (or was it someone else's?) prophylactic put paid to this particular epidemic at its source.
The story of the Nivens' marriage is in fact very sad, as you would learn if you read Munn's account.
Craigslist
I guess most readers are aware Craigslist have dropped their erotic services section. In fact, that's not quite true. They haven't dropped this section from the London (UK) list. All is explained here. Readers may remember that the Puritans left England for Massachusetts. Of course, some stayed behind.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
"Abolish the Monarchy!"
226 years after the Treaty of Paris which formally ended the American Revolutionary War, it seems that a heckle of "Abolish the Monarchy!" still upsets the British establishment. I guess that's why Parliament has yet to repeal the Treason Felony Act 1848.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Doing Well by Doing Good
In a manner of speaking. Meet The Climate Change Lobby.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Alexander Cockburn Slams Morris Dees
Alexander Cockburn on the King of the Hate Business and his outfit the Southern Poverty Law Center that runs programs like Teaching Tolerance.
"Dees and his hate-seekers scour the landscape for hate like the arms manufacturers inventing new threats and for the same reason: it's their staple."
Cockburn recommends his readers send their checks to the Southern Center for Human Rights that "is basically dedicated to two things: prison litigation and the death penalty. [President and senior counsel Stephen Bright] fights the system, case by case. Not the phony targets mostly tilted at by Dees but the effective, bipartisan, functional system of oppression, far more deadly and determined than the SPLC's tin-pot hate groups."
Liberty & Power readers will appreciate Frederick Douglass' justly celebrated quotation that is prominently displayed on the home page of the website of Bright's organization.
"Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation are people who want crops without plowing the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning; they want the ocean without the roar of its many waters. The struggle may be a moral one or it may be a physical one, or it may be both. But it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand; it never has and it never will."
David Niven Bursts His Own Balloon
Michael Munn's David Niven: The Man Behind the Balloon is published next month by JR Books.
The most interesting part for me was how Niven's experiences during World War II haunted him for the rest of his life.
"There was a policy of keeping famous film star soldiers away from the action. In August 1942, Niven's unit fought in the disastrous allied attack on the French port of Dieppe. It has always been assumed he didn't take part, but he told me he disobeyed orders and went, risking court martial. 'Yes, I was there,' he'. I can't bear to remember Dieppe. The loss of life was unpardonable.'
"Of 6,000 men taking part, 1,027 were killed and 2,340 captured. David had to write letters to the wives and girlfriends of the men lost in his unit. He told me: 'The mental scars of war stay with you. My mental scars are more than I can handle. I leave them alone when I can. The horror of actual battle is more than I can stand.'"
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Israel Wipes Palestine off the Map!
Check this out. It's par for the course.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Where Has the Spirit of Watergate Gone?
Roy Greenslade asks why does the Washington Post refuse to label waterboarding as torture.
That said, the Washington Post has always been rather selective in its reporting of the news.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
A Different Narrative
Last year, as the financial crisis gathered pace, free market commentators, both conservative and libertarian, would emphasize how federal law and federal agencies had pressured banks and other mortgage lenders into making loans to subprime borrowers who then defaulted as house prices collapsed so causing many banks to go bankrupt.
Today's Financial Times reports here and here that an investigation has shown "[t]he top 25 US originators of subprime mortgages - the risky assets that sparked the global financial crisis - spent almost $370m in Washington over the past decade on lobbying and campaign donations as they tried to ward off tighter regulation of their industry." If true, this doesn't surprise me nor, I suspect, will it astonish many of our readers who are well aware of how big business is usually, perhaps always, in bed with the state and is rarely, if ever, simply the victim of government intervention.
Of course, the two stories are by no means mutually exclusive. Nonetheless, if today's study by the Center for Public Integrity is accurate, it suggests that the narrative free market commentators like to tell fails to provide a full explanation of the subprime mess.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Free John Walker Lindh!
Remember John Walker Lindh, the young American captured by U.S. forces in Afghanistan in the fall of 2001? Dave Lindorff explains why it's time for the government to release him from prison.
Monday, April 27, 2009
A Spokesman for Managed Money
Last Thursday Jagadeesh Gokhale, Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute, had a letter published in the Financial Times under the headline "Higher inflation may be essential for pulling the economy out of recession."
Readers should pay particular attention to his concluding paragraph that read as follows:
"Recent massive injections of bank reserves by the Fed are probably intended to reverse expectations of price declines. Under current conditions, slightly higher inflation and inflationary expectations could be the very balm essential for pulling the economy out of recession. Of course, it remains true that the Fed must later ensure that demand-driven inflation does not spin out of control. But that's a balancing act for the future, the need for which would not arise unless the economy recovers. Currently, price increase expectations appear to be a precondition rather than a hindrance to achieving an economic recovery."
I guess some of the folks over at the Mises Institute were apoplectic when they read this letter. Indeed, for my part I'm more than a little perturbed by this policy recommendation. And although it's not as awful as the prescriptions of a Paul Krugman or a Brad DeLong, it's a disturbing reminder of how so many self-identified free market economists have long advocated managed money.
No Honor among Pirates
At least, that's what Christopher Caldwell claims in his review of Peter T. Leeson's The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates (Princeton University Press, 2009).
Although Caldwell believes that piracy both as a form of larceny and as a form of war will always endure, "piracy as a form of governance ... is something that exists only in brief moments of government indifference, and soon ends in Davy Jones's locker." In other words, he's claiming that the historical record doesn't support the sort of conclusions that Leeson and others seek to draw.
Would anyone who has read The Invisible Hook wish to comment on Caldwell's review? Indeed, would Pete himself care to respond?
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Simon Jenkins on the War on Terror
Simon Jenkins, a former editor of The Times who now writes for the Guardian, is not a libertarian but he does have a strong libertarian streak on many important issues. Today he explains why the apologists of the War on Terror are far more dangerous than deranged fanatics who commit atrocities.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
The Slippery Slope to Freedom in Iran
Jessica Mudditt reports from Iran’s little-known skiing resorts, where young Iranians escape the petty restrictions of the Islamic theocracy.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Bombing Civilians: An American Tradition
You can read an extract from Yuki Tanaka and Marilyn B. Young's new book here on HNN.
I wish libertarians were both more cognizant of, and more interested in, these events. However, so often I find libertarians exhibit ignorance of, and apathy towards, these aspects of American history. In the past, libertarians didn't leave these matters to Freda Kirchwey and her ilk. Now, sadly, it seems people of every persuasion are as likely to support aerial bombing as oppose it.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
A Criminally Stupid War on Drugs
Clive Crook of the Financial Times asks "How much misery can a policy cause before it is acknowledged as a failure and reversed?" and cites a 2004 study by Jeffrey Miron for the Independent Institute and a new study by Glenn Greenwald for the Cato Institute.
Monday, April 13, 2009
The Age of Might Is Over
"There are few more startling illustrations of this impotence of might than the pirates, or the country they come from. A hundred years ago, any one of half a dozen imperial powers could have conquered Somalia in a matter of weeks with a couple of gunboats and a few battalions.
"Today Somalia has been a collapsed state for nearly 20 years, in lawless confusion that no outside power can or will subdue. It harbours bands of men in light craft armed with rifles who can seize 50,000-tonne tankers flying the flags of western states. And there is almost nothing anyone can do, despite Sunday's escapade."
Geoffrey Wheatcroft explains why the Age of Might is over.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Thought for the Day
Atheist Brendan O'Neill explains why he "would far rather go back to the little church in north London this weekend and listen to the priest talk about 'love' and 'redemption' than watch or read or listen to any more shrill New Atheist propaganda."
Two Cheers for the Somali Pirates?
Johann Hari's You Are Being Lied to About Pirates provides a salutary corrective to government propaganda on this subject.
Major Farran's Hat
The British empire has pretty much vanished from the face of the earth but the bitter legacy of British rule continues to this day, not least in Palestine and Kashmir.
David Cesarani's Major Farran's Hat: Murder, Scandal and Britain's War Against Jewish Terrorism, 1945-1948 (William Heinemann) has already generated considerable interest in the British press. You can read reviews here, here, here, and here, and watch Joshua Rozenberg's extensive interview with the author here.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Tap-dancing Nazis Ready to Take Berlin by Storm
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Another Chapter in the "Good War"
The liberation of Paris.
Meanwhile, some of the "Greatest Generation" were enjoying the spoils of war.
Transform Makes the Case for Drug Policy Reform
Today Transform Drug Policy Foundation in the UK publishes Tools for the Debate, a 76-page guide to making the case for the legalization and regulation of all drugs.
Although its authors seek to distance themselves from what they call a "libertarian" solution, the report makes for interesting reading.
The Guardian carries a summary here and Danny Kushlick, who works for Transform, explains more here.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Anatole Kaletsky on Austrian Economics
This is noteworthy, not for its insights (it has none) but for the simple fact that the Editor-at-large of The Times newspaper of London deigns to dismiss the "liquidationist" Austrian theory of the business cycle while taking a swipe at Murray Rothbard and "the libertarian market fundamentalism" of Ayn Rand.
As Gandhi is reported to have said, "First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." I guess Austrians have now made it as far as ridicule.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
A Life in Armor
Henry the Eighth, I am, I am. Dressed to Kill, an exhibition of close-fitting combat dress at the Tower of London shows Henry VIII's ballooning figure. And David Starkey, author of Henry, Virtuous Prince, curates Henry VIII: Man and Monarch at the British Library. All this and more to mark the five hundredth anniversary of Henry's accession to the English throne. More power and less liberty. Sounds familiar?
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Taking Themselves Far Too Seriously
Here is an account of the extraordinarily expensive backup for just one of the circus acts appearing at the G20 "summit" in London. This guy doesn't hold a candle to the bozos pictured here.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Common Sense
Not one but two articles in today's Sunday Times (London) exude common sense.
Kenan Malik explains how an obsession with race harms those it is meant to help.
And India Knight explains that a drunken romp isn't rape.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Metropolitan France Is About to Grow
In Sunday's referendum Mayotte, a tiny Indian ocean island off the east coast of Africa, is expected to vote to become the 101st department of France.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
The Case for Legalizing Brothels
"We get so pissed off when politicians portray us as victims," says Anna Read of the New Zealand Prostitutes Collective.
Read here how legalizing brothels in 2003 worked out.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Welcome Aboard a Brand New Country
That's the title of a story in today's Sunday Times (London) about the Seasteading Institute, the project of Patri Friedman, who will be speaking in London at the Adam Smith Institute.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Simon Jenkins: This Thatcher Mythology
There is a widespread belief among libertarians in particular and advocates of the free market in general that Margaret Thatcher may be adequately described as a classical liberal, if not a libertarian. She was not. She implemented some reforms that took Britain in a classically liberal direction and other reforms that took Britain in a decidedly non-libertarian direction.
Simon Jenkins provides an insightful analysis of Mrs. Thatcher's time in office.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
What Would It Take for Obama to Quit Afghanistan?
Obama Ponders Outreach to Elements of the Taliban.
"Asked if the United States was winning in Afghanistan, a war he effectively adopted as his own last month by ordering an additional 17,000 troops sent there, Mr. Obama replied flatly, 'No.'"
Monday, March 2, 2009
That's [Expletive Deleted] Telling Them!
Lazy Iraqi police get motivational speech.
Is this what they call "winning hearts and minds"?
And under the command of President Obama.
Friday, February 27, 2009
An Atlas Shrugged Moment?
A boom in sales of Ayn Rand's novel.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Without Comment
Merrill Lynch understates losses by $500m.
"The first and most effective line of defence against fraud and insolvency is counterparties' surveillance. For example, JPMorgan thoroughly scrutinises the balance sheet of Merrill Lynch before it lends. It does not look to the Securities and Exchange Commission to verify Merrill's solvency." -- Alan Greenspan, The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World (New York: Penguin Press, 2007).
Now read John Kay on how Greenspan could have found a cure at the pharmacy.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
More on Bankers' Bonuses
Jamie Whyte explains why it is wrong to target bankers' bonuses.
"The financial crisis was caused not by bankers' incentive plans but by a systematic failure to price risk correctly. Without accurately priced risk, there is no way of giving bankers the right incentives, however long the period over which their performance is measured. And with accurately priced risk, there is no incentive problem to be solved."
Friday, February 20, 2009
Out and About in London
Warning! These photos may be useful to terrorists.
Meanwhile Stella Rimington, the former head of MI5, the counter-intelligence agency, warns that the fear of terrorism is being exploited by the British government to erode civil liberties and risks creating a police state. A migrant community in Mexico is offering one of the country's quirkiest tourist attractions: for $15, anyone can get a taste of what it's like to sneak into the United States by simulating the experience in a weekend adventure. Which one is the starter, which one is the desert?. It seems to have worked. According to reports, Sir Richard Branson telephoned the author of the letter and had thanked him for his "constructive if tongue-in-cheek" email. Richard Seymour, author of The Liberal Defence of Murder (Verso, 2008), explains how Barack Obama is the most recent exponent of a long and dishonorable tradition. "Wiped off the map." Watch Jonathan Miller's report. I was completely unaware there are at least 15,000 Koreans living in New Malden in south-west London until I read this fascinating article about a middle-class invasion of a middle-class London suburb. I found the story all the more interesting because for five years, back in the 1970s, I lived in Surbiton, just two stations south of New Malden, at a time when there were no Koreans there at all. It's not just about whips and leather. Peter Gowan, Professor of International Relations at London Metropolitan University, provides a fascinating perspective on the financial and economic crisis here and here (pdf). If you’re interested in these issues, I think you’ll find his essay interesting and well written. His approach is informed by some Marxist insights, but don’t let that put you off reading it. Like Niall Ferguson, Simon Schama, and David Starkey, David Reynolds, Professor of International History and a Fellow of Christ’s College at the University of Cambridge, has made a reputation -- and good money -- for himself in broadcasting. I've long thought of Prince Harry as a spoilt brat. After watching the video embedded here, he's more of a regular guy than I thought. Let's suppose you run a business that trades with firms in Israel that do business with the state of Israel. And let's suppose you are outraged by Israel's actions in Gaza and wish to express your concern by severing your links with those firms. Go here to learn the full consequences of your decision. Historian Correlli Barnett explains that "Israel imagined it could defeat Hamas though aerial bombardment. It shows it hasn't learnt the lessons of history." In arguably his silliest article to date, economic journalist Anatole Kaletsky recommends that the state should "[p]unish savers and make them spend money." Clean, on time and empty. IDF strike levels US-style Gaza school. Goodnight, sweet prince: Shakespearean farewell to Pinter. President of the Czech Republic and Mont Pelerin Society celebrity Vaclav Klaus has used his Christmas message to attack Sarkozy as his state assumes the presidency of the European Union. Popeye the Sailor copyright free 70 years after Elzie Segar's death. Read this story about food and the "underclass" in today's Britain. Are the people's lives it describes the consequence of a dependency culture funded by state handouts? Are they a function of poor education? Of dysfunctional families? Of a lack of money? Do libertarians have insights to offer that thoughtful individuals in the wider world would welcome but which are consistent with the paradigm of individual liberty, private property, and free markets? Last year José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, prime minister of Spain and leader of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, pushed through parliament a liberalizing measure that will greatly enhance some Cubans' and many others' freedom to travel. Over at Volokh.com Randy Barnett links to two bloggers cheering on the IDF's assault on Gaza. Here at Liberty & Power I prefer to link to an understandably Angry Arab for a somewhat different take on events. Nice post, David. Eartha Kitt was a fine lady, a great actress, and a wonderful singer. And neither should we forget Harold Pinter, who came in for a fair bit of criticism at least some of it undeserved by folks who call themselves libertarian. It's worth remembering his principled stand against the U.S. invasion of Iraq. According to Reason, that is. Steve Chapman attempts to explain why rising prices will help the economy. "Stampede for 'Bush shoe' creates 100 new jobs." Okay, so it's Turkey and not the U.S. Still, it's all part of the global economy. "Russian riot police have forcibly broken up a rally being held in the eastern city of Vladivostok. No. 2 of an occasional series. Cockburn's is in fine form as he explores the fallout from Madoff's gigantic swindle and how he sailed through the charges that were made against him over the years. And don't miss Laura's closing remarks. Financial crisis? A failure of the free market that calls for more and better regulation. Bernie Madoff swindles investors out of $50 billion! A failure of regulation that calls for . . . more and better regulation. It would seem that everyone who identifies as a libertarian is agreed that the proposed bailout of the Big Three is a bad idea. Given what has happened over the past eight years -- terrorism and rumors of terrorism, wars and rumors of wars, a major financial crisis and proposed and actual bailouts -- those who call themselves libertarian have taken one or other of pretty much every possible position on each of these issues. Is it noteworthy that libertarians finally face a question on which everyone is agreed on what government should / should not do. Or do they? And the role of Winston Churchill in the creation of the postwar Greek state. Brendan O'Neill has the scoop. "But there really are economies of scale in political lobbying. The cost of presenting your case is independent of the size of the benefit you seek. The larger the business, the more likely that legislators will see constituency interest or political advantage in being helpful. Big companies have government affairs departments but for small groups the cost of access is prohibitive. Only large companies have access to the sharpest shooters." Ignore the whining of realtors and mortgage brokers, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, investment bankers and carmakers. Here is a story of success to gladden the hearts of all who celebrate commerce and its benign role in raising living standards. Poundland is booming. A kinder, gentler imperialism. Waldemar Januszczak reviews a current exhibition on war photography at the Barbican Art Gallery in London. "The US government rode to the rescue of Citigroup late Sunday, entering an agreement to backstop up to $306bn in problematic assets and injecting $20bn in capital to restore confidence in a bank that defines the term 'too big to fail.' "That big players in global energy should be in cahoots with environmentalists and climate change alarmists came as something of a shock to Horner. 'Though I was a fully grown man, I had yet to understand the concept of "rent seeking" or even these "baptist and bootlegger" coalitions.' Just as prohibitionists and drink smugglers had a common interest in maintaining a ban on alcohol, so big companies that want massive subsidies for renewable energy schemes and the right to sell emissions permits – the nearest thing yet to selling thin air – can find common ground with those who want us all to reduce our 'carbon footprints'." Tim Black explains that the present reticence transcends the dictates of etiquette about America's first black president. Tara McCormack, explains how the myth of a plucky republic being "ethnically cleansed" by an evil Russian regime was just that: a myth. Off with the old, on with the new. Chris Floyd offers a prism for the new paradigm. Hart's Location, New Hampshire, votes. Ron Paul two, Barack Obama 17, and John McCain 10. If repeated across the United States, this would mean . . . This is one of the most interesting and insightful articles on the present financial turmoil that I have read. Lest anyone might think the election of Obama would jeopardize the interests of the national security state and the unfolding of its manifest destiny, Arno Mayer assures his readers the U.S. empire will survive Bush. Two parties, one imperial mission. Perhaps in the spring of next year? Every cloud has a silver lining. The economy may be in recession but Tony's earnings jump over £12m, more than six times his previous lifetime income. Donald MacKenzie on the importance of Libor. Simon Jenkins makes his farewell plea to British MPs. A foreign policy for Obama. I pretty much agree. This week a new German movie opens in Berlin. It is based on the diary of the journalist Marta Hillers, who began writing on Friday, April 20, 1945, as the Red Army advanced on Berlin. The movie reminds us of events that Germans have chosen to forget for more than sixty years. Whatever else they may have experienced at that time, American and British women were spared that fate. Michael Hudson explains the ABCs of Paulson's bailout and provides an interesting comparison with how European governments have bailed out their banks. "This is the worst column I've written since 1929. According to Clive Crook, who is no fan of McCain, McCain is failing to make his case on taxation. It sometimes seems it's a full-time job keeping up with the economic/financial crisis. Here are a few articles that readers would likely miss but which I found interesting and/or insightful for whatever reason. You’re welcome to comment but please don’t expect me to find time to justify my selection. Frank Ward glimpses a better world in the mirror of a wine glass and provides a very informative history of how the Swedish state sought to control the consumption of alcohol. The Times (of London) has a list. No. 10 is Ron Paul. These days I don't much care for Timothy Garton Ash but this is worth reading. Today he presents the case for freedom of historical debate and links to a French website, Liberty for History. John Cleese on Sarah Palin. What more is there to say? In more ways than one. Read the obituary of Boris Yefimov (1900-2008), the celebrated Soviet cartoonist who outlived his patron Stalin and the Soviet Union itself to die at 108. An interesting life story. President George W. Bush's remarks as he signed the American Dream Downpayment Act of 2003. "Fed under pressure to do more on credit crunch." So says Hugh Hendry, co-founder of London hedge fund Eclectica. This and a great deal more in a very informative article on short selling in Monday's Financial Times. "London Banker" explains Paulson's plan. Employment opportunities in today's economy. Rep. Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.) wraps himself in the flag and votes for the bill. The ruling class can sleep comfortably tonight, knowing that its efforts were not in vain. The U.S. embassy in London plans to move to a former industrial site south of the Thames. If, like me, you missed the "debate," or even if you didn't, check out Oliver Burkeman's blog here. He's very funny and quite perceptive. "Isn't it time for fundamental change to our debt-based monetary system so we can free ourselves from the manipulation of the Federal Reserve and the banks? Is this the US Congress or the Board of Directors of Goldman Sachs?" This past weekend I recommended Glenn Greenwald's superb article against the Paulson plan. Luigi Zingales, Robert C. Mc Cormack Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance at the Graduate School of Business in the University of Chicago, explains why Paulson is wrong even on the assumption that some sort of Federal government action is desirable. Glenn Greenwald is spot on. The complete (though ever-changing) elite consensus over the financial collapse. Christopher Caldwell, who writes a weekly column for the Financial Times, has a characteristically insightful article this weekend. He is no libertarian but I think he understands the significance of what is going on better than most commentators. Winners like Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs and losers like the American taxpayer. Have the short-sellers correctly called that Goldman Sachs is bankrupt? Is this why the Financial Services Authority has clamped down on short-selling in publicly listed financial companies until January 16, 2009? Did Goldman Sachs have a word with the British Treasury? Isn't crony capitalism wonderful? Pleeeze! This is priceless. You probably won't care for his conclusion but his analysis of the bailout of AIG is spot on. Go here and scroll down to the find out how much market capitalization the banks have lost...so far. If you're confused by what's going on, or you just enjoy new words, go here. John Gray, of whom at one time some libertarians had a high opinion and even higher hopes, but with whom in recent years some of those same, and other, libertarians have become progressively disillusioned, has written an interesting article about Putin's Russia in the Guardian. With the obvious caveat that I'm not endorsing all that he says, it strikes me as containing a large dose of common sense that deserves wide circulation. Welcome to The PalinDrome. It's really quite funny. And don't miss the wedding registry for Bristol and Levi. Ben Goldacre is a British physician and journalist, and the author of the The Guardian newspaper's weekly Bad Science column. He describes himself as "a junior doctor in London and a shameless geek". You can read past columns here at his website. His first book, Bad Science, is published today in the UK (London: Fourth Estate). Melissa Checker, assistant professor of Urban Studies at Queens College, The City University of New York, makes a strong case against carbon offsets. "Commentators' glee at the closure of 700 coffee shops, and the loss of more than 12,000 jobs, exposes the inhumanity of anti-globalisation." Marxist Brendan O'Neill has had quite enough of contemporary anti-capitalist sentiment. Well, that's a relief! Finally, a presumptive presidential candidate has played it or, at least, McCain is accusing Obama of playing it. No election would be the same without it! Professor Johnston does the math. Rob Lyons has written an excellent article here. "All drugs should be decriminalised and people should be free to choose what they ingest." If I had written the article, I should have chosen to call for the legalization of all drugs. That said, it seems to me that that is what Lyons advocates. Geoffrey Wheatcroft provides the historical context to the British reputation for drunkenness. He concludes with the celebrated words of William Connor Magee, Bishop of Peterborough and, for four months before his death, Archbishop of York, that he would rather see England free than England sober, and suggests that today Magee might think again. Yet Magee's actual words were, "It would be better that England should be free than that England should be compulsorily sober." An admirable and impeccably liberal sentiment. Here's a seriously interesting story from Thailand: Thai school offers transsexual toilet. Although some of you may be aware of Jesse Larner's recent essay about F. A. Hayek's The Road to Serfdom, I was unaware of his article until this morning when a friend sent me the link. Today’s news headlines announce that Radovan Karadzic has been arrested in Serbia and will stand trial at the UN Tribunal in The Hague on fifteen counts of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and other atrocities, most notably for organizing the siege of Sarajevo and for his role in the massacre of Muslims at Srebrenica (1995). Joshua Rosner has written a fine defense of free capital markets here. An informative and insightful analysis. Speaking before a backdrop of two huge American flags and invoking the names of Harry S Truman and George Marshall, presidential hopeful Barack Obama yesterday explained his foreign policy. He called for "America -- once again -- to lead", to be "ready to engage the world", "to lead the world anew." Recently I read a favorable review of Kate Summerscale's new book. Now it has won the Samuel Johnson prize for nonfiction. Her book is the story of a real-life murder that inspired the birth of modern detective fiction. Think Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone (1868). Well worth reading. Michael Hudson explains how the bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will reward the bubble's enablers. It's too bad commentators like Gerald O'Driscoll, Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok see fit to accept (albeit reluctantly) the bailout and leave sound class analysis (predators versus producers) to Professor Hudson, who was Dennis Kucinich's economic guru. Max Deveson reports on Bob Barr and the Nader effect. At least 69 flights were cancelled and 40,000 passengers had their travel plans disrupted. And that's all because George Bush flew into and out of Heathrow airport on his recent visit. The presidential entourage included two Boeing 747 jets and four helicopters! You can read the full story here. USA Today carries a story about Randall S. Kroszner, who finds it hard to shed his reputation as a free market economist. "Kroszner hasn't assuaged Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., who has refused to schedule a vote on his nomination to a full 14-year Fed term. Kroszner, initially approved to fill out a partial term that expired Jan. 31, can remain at the Fed until a successor is named." Ten thousand people protest the ban on drinking alcohol on London's buses and tubes. In yesterday’s Republican primary in Idaho Ron Paul won 24% of the vote and six delegates. There’s an historical context for this, of course. The noted anti-interventionist Senator Borah represented Idaho from 1907 until his death in 1940. Although his economics were far removed from those of Ron Paul and he supported FDR’s confiscation of privately-held gold by executive order in 1933, he favored a low tariff and was opposed to much New Deal legislation. To this day Borah remains the longest-serving member of the United States Congress in Idaho history. Pakistani Muslim American Wajahat Ali interviews Ron Paul here. "Paris during Nazi occupation was 'one big romp'". Patrick Buisson's new book 1940-1945 Années érotiques: Vichy ou les infortunes de la vertu (Paris: Albin Michel, 2008) and a recent photographic exhibition challenge the conventional wisdom about occupied Paris. This is from Las Vegas! This is the Associated Press report posted at the New York Times website. The market has delivered in months what the Treasury failed to force on us, a better husbanding of scarce resources. Can you claim expenses like these? I doubt it somehow. "Sacking a person who is doing a good job because you disapprove of what he does in the privacy of his own dungeon is the first step on the road to serfdom." Brendan O'Neill explains why the new Conservative mayor's ban on drinking alcohol anywhere on London public transport suggests we can expect more loss of liberty under his regime. Amateur Photographer, which bills itself as "The world's number one weekly photography magazine," is not necessarily where you would expect to find disturbing stories about state surveillance. On second thoughts, perhaps you would. Matthew Syed raises some questions for Christians. Dramatic, not slow, remedies are the best way, says Jamie Whyte, former lecturer of philosophy at Cambridge University and author of Bad Thoughts: A Guide to Clear Thinking (London: Corvo Books, 2003) / Crimes Against LogicWednesday, January 28, 2009
The Mexican Answer to Disneyland
How to Complain
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Obama the Imperialist
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Report from Gaza
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Koreans in London
"The resentment created when poor migrants take over traditional working-class areas is well documented right across western Europe. This is a bourgeois invasion. Korea and Britain could hardly be more remote and different from each other. Yet these two groups, the Home Counties British and the Korean newcomers, are astonishingly similar: self-contained, reticent, desperate to avoid offence and very bad at making connections, partly because they are both hopeless at foreign languages."
Matthew Engel concludes his article with the words of a local, presumably English, resident, "If you're going to have an ethnic group in your community, I recommend the Koreans."Friday, January 16, 2009
Growing Outrage at the Killings in Gaza
The Cutting Edge of Personal Freedom?
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Crisis in the Heartland
Saturday, January 10, 2009
A British Academic Explains American History
From September 2008 through July 2009, Reynolds is presenting his perspective on American history -- America, Empire of Liberty -- on BBC Radio 4. Reynolds charts the development of the United States, exploring three key themes -- Empire, Liberty, and Faith. Later this month, on January 19, Allen Lane publish the book that accompanies the series (available from Amazon.co.uk for £15=00, i.e., half price). And on October 6, Basic Books publish this book in the U.S. Edward Luce’s favorable review in this weekend’s Financial Times will no doubt be the first of many discussions of Reynolds’ arguments.
My Opinion of Prince Harry Has Just Gone Up a Notch
And do scroll down to the comments from young British Muslims.
Of course, he's still a warmonger but what else do you expect of the British royals?Friday, January 9, 2009
No Right to Boycott Israel
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Victory Through Air Attack? It's Pie in the Sky
"The history clearly shows that air power alone cannot win wars. It only works as an extra dimension to land or sea warfare."
No End to the Idiocy
"Near-zero interest rates and even a tax on bank deposits are necessary to force those with cash to use it productively."Wednesday, January 7, 2009
The Ghost Bus and the Parliamentary Train
The "ghost bus" has an interesting historical precedent that is mentioned in Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado:
"The idiot who, in railway carriages,
Scribbles on window-panes,
We only suffer
To ride on a buffer
On Parliamentary trains"Sunday, January 4, 2009
But Don't They Know Israel Has a Right to Exist?
"Army explains rockets had been fired from one of Gaza's most distinguished schools; chairman of its board says, 'I can't swear no rocket was fired, but if there was, you don't destroy a whole school.'"
Amira Hass: How we like our leaders.
"This isn't the time to speak of ethics, but of precise intelligence. Whoever gave the instructions to send 100 of our planes, piloted by the best of our boys, to bomb and strafe enemy targets in Gaza is familiar with the many schools adjacent to those targets - especially police stations. He also knew that at exactly 11:30 A.M. on Saturday, during the surprise assault on the enemy, all the children of the Strip would be in the streets - half just having finished the morning shift at school, the others en route to the afternoon shift."Thursday, January 1, 2009
A Very English Departure
This Sounds Like a Fun Six Months!
UPDATE: Meanwhile Slovakia, the other half of what was Czechoslovakia, becomes the first post-Soviet bloc country to adopt the euro.Monday, December 29, 2008
An Interesting Case Study in Intellectual Property Law Is About to Unfold
"From January 1, the iconic sailor falls into the public domain in Britain under an EU law that restricts the rights of authors to 70 years after their death. Elzie Segar, the Illinois artist who created Popeye, his love interest Olive Oyl and nemesis Bluto, died in 1938."
"While the copyright is about to expire inside the EU, the character is protected in the US until 2024. US law protects a work for 95 years after its initial copyright.
"The Popeye trademark, a separate entity to Segar's authorial copyright, is owned by King Features, a subsidiary of the Hearst Corporation — the US entertainment giant — which is expected to protect its brand aggressively."
What Should Be Done?
Undoubtedly a Good Thing
"The new law, which comes into effect today, gives the chance of Spanish nationality to descendants of those who fled the country during the civil war between 1936 and 1939. It also gives a right of application to those whose grandparents fled the dictatorship of General Franco, which lasted from 1939 until 1975."
It is ironic that a self-styled socialist government is doing more to bring freedom to Cubans than successive U.S. administrations with their self-defeating sanctions.Sunday, December 28, 2008
Two Perspectives
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Harold Pinter RIP
"The invasion of Iraq was a bandit act, an act of blatant state terrorism, demonstrating absolute contempt for the concept of international law."
"How many people do you have to kill before you qualify to be described as a mass murderer and a war criminal? One hundred thousand?"
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Are You Up for It?
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
The Growing Case for Inflation
This article is quite simply dreadful as the comments make abundantly clear.
P.S. A friend pointed out to me that this is a syndicated column and not a commissioned article. However, that really doesn't excuse Reason posting Chapman's extraordinarily bad economics.Sunday, December 21, 2008
Recession? What Recession? (Third in an Occasional Series)
Russian Riot Police Crush Free Trade Rally!
"About 500 people had gathered in the city's central square to demonstrate against a new tax on imported cars.
"Witnesses said police officers kicked protesters, damaged journalists' equipment and made dozens of arrests.
"Vladivostok, one of several cities holding protests, depends heavily on car imports from Japan and critics say the tax could push prices up by 50%.
"The tax is intended to help prop up Russia's domestic car industry and prevent people buying cheaper, imported products."Saturday, December 20, 2008
Words of Wisdom
Recession? What Recession? (Continued)
As Woolworths goes under, Poundland rises to record profits.
Boom in sales of board games and cuddly toys as parents scrabble to make savings.
There's money to be made every day. You just need to know where to look for it.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Alexander Cockburn on Bernie Madoff
"First, he posed as a regulator and due diligence watchdog himself. The SEC thought he was one of their own. Then again, he had heavy duty social and financial connections and heavy duty political protection. Here’s where there should be a lot more investigation. Madoff poured money into the Democratic Senatorial Campaign war chest ($100,000 between 2005 and 2008)and made large contributions to important Democrats on the Finance Committees, like Rep Henry Waxman and Senator Charles Schumer. Waxman and Schumer have hastily announced they’re donating this money to charity."
Yet, as Cockburn recognizes, he isn't in the same league as the government:
"Uncle Sam is the biggest Ponzi operator of all, with the added magical power denied Madoff (unless forgery was among his talents) of being able to print money at will."Thursday, December 18, 2008
Season's Greetings from the President!
You'd think it has to be a spoof but you'd be wrong.
You know it's genuine government issue -- there's no mention of Christmas!
More and Better Regulation!
As John Gapper reminds his readers, if something looks too good to be true, it probably is.Thursday, December 11, 2008
Are All Libertarians Agreed That Bailing Out the Big Three Would Be a Bad Idea?
Understanding Greek Politics
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Some Companies Are Too Powerful to Fail
Read John Kay's excellent article here.Saturday, December 6, 2008
Recession? What Recession?
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Now Less Than Two Months Away
Monday, November 24, 2008
Truth Is the First Casualty
So Did You Really Expect They'd Do Anything Else?
"The 11th-hour transaction, announced just before midnite Sunday, calls for Citi to absorb the first $29bn in losses it sustains from problematic assets, and for the federal government to stand behind as much as $277bn more.
"The arrangement also provides for the injection of $20bn in new capital to Citi, in return for which the bank will issue preferred shares to the government, paying dividends at a rate of 8 percent annually."Friday, November 21, 2008
"There's a Lot of Rich People Backing This Cause"
"'[Global warming] allows [politicians] the option of cheap virtue – cheap to them, expensive to us – of satisfying constituencies for something that's never solved. They get to emote and spend; there's something in it for everyone.'"
Rob Lyons reviews Christopher C. Horner's Red Hot Lies: How Global Warming Alarmists Use Threats, Fraud and Deception to Keep You Misinformed (Regnery, 2008).Monday, November 17, 2008
So, When Will It Be OK to Mock Obama?
The Truth about Georgia
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Time for a Change
Thursday, November 6, 2008
What If Bush Did It?
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Ron Paul in the News
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Frank Furedi on Capitalism after the "Credit Crunch"
Frank Furedi, professor of sociology at the University of Kent in the UK, asks what capitalism is good for.
Furedi writes for spiked, an online resource edited by the self-identified libertarian Marxist Brendan O'Neill. I guess Furedi would also accept this tag. Often the articles they write are more libertarian in content than those written by self-proclaimed defenders of private property and free markets. Readers of Liberty & Power are unlikely to agree with everything Furedi writes in this article but they may be surprised with just how much they do agree with him.Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Barack Hussein Obama: A Safe Pair of Hands
When Will Obama's Bubble Burst?
Simon Jenkins suggests his supporters should lower their expectations.
"His desire to disengage from Iraq is not appreciably different from that of the Bush administration and the Iraqi government. On the other hand, his clearly expressed wish to beef up the war in Afghanistan is reckless."
Keeping Track of Tony Blair
Monday, October 27, 2008
What's in a Number?
A fascinating account of the British Bankers' Association's London Interbank Offered Rate, arguably the most important interest rate in the world.Sunday, October 26, 2008
Defend Bonfire Night!
Defend Liberty!
"In all my years of writing this column, from which I am standing down, I have been amazed at the spinelessness of Britain's elected representatives in defending liberty and protesting against state arrogance. They appear as parties to the conspiracy of power. There have been outspoken judges, outspoken peers, even outspoken journalists. There have been few outspoken MPs. Those supposedly defending freedom are whipped into obedience. I find this ominous."
Here's What Obama Should Do
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
A Woman in Berlin
"The German soldiers came back from the war and did not want to know about the humiliation of their wives, daughters, even mothers. There was a double silence: the men about what they did on the front; the women about their suffering," explains Nina Hoss, who plays the lead role in the film.Monday, October 20, 2008
A Licensed Kleptocracy?
How to Save a Column from Armageddon
"In scenes not seen in living memory, last Thursday in a late night session, I hammered out the fiendishly complicated details of this article in a last-ditch effort to inject some sense into the system. At 8.05pm, the lights were on in my first floor study and, anticipating a long and tense night ahead, I put in an order to the local curry house for a balti. When the foil wrappers had been cleared and with the clock ticking, I started feverishly drafting sentences about the changed landscape that we are in, the most toxic since the Great Depression. Ashen-faced and reeling, at 1.40am I rose. How would the package go down with shell-shocked readers? Would they roar their approval? Or would their confidence plummet in the worst collapse since the 1930s? Only time would tell."
Read the rest here.
Another very funny column from Lucy Kellaway, management columnist of the Financial Times.Sunday, October 19, 2008
Clive Crook: McCain Is No Salesman on Tax Proposals
"Here is a fact you might not have noticed. It certainly seems to have slipped by most Americans. The typical US household would get a bigger tax cut under Mr McCain’s proposals than under Mr Obama’s. I know a few politicians who could do something with that."
"The fact remains, he is offering middle-income families – not just the rich – a bigger tax cut than Mr Obama, and they don’t appear to know it."
You can read the entire article here.
Worth a Look
Self-identified Marxist libertarian Brendan O’Neill explains why he won’t be drooling over the alleged demise of capitalism.
I always enjoy reading John Lanchester in the London Review of Books. His thoughtful account of the present crisis is no exception.
Oxford historian Ross McKibbin asks what David Cameron the Conservative Party leader can do in Britain.
Robert Wade, Professor of Political Economy and Development at the London School of Economics asks if there will be financial regime change. The pdf of his essay is here.
And Anna Jacobson Schwartz, who co-authored (with Milton Friedman) A Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960 (1963), says that Ben Bernanke is fighting the last war.Saturday, October 18, 2008
In Praise of Wine
I have just one (minor) caveat. He makes a brief reference to Victorian England: "All of this produced a neurosis about alcohol [in Sweden] comparable to attitudes to sex in Victorian England." It's too bad he didn't read Michael Mason's The Making of Victorian Sexuality (OUP, 1994) and The Making of Victorian Sexual Attitudes (OUP, 1994). If he had, he likely wouldn't subscribe to one of the most enduring myths of our age.
Ten People Who Predicted the Financial Meltdown
"Back in September 2003, Mr Paul told a House Financial Services Committee that: 'Ironically, by transferring the risk of a widespread mortgage default, the government increases the likelihood of a painful crash in the housing market. This is because the special privileges granted to Fannie and Freddie have distorted the housing market by allowing them to attract capital they could not attract under pure market conditions.'
"Of course, if we are going to give Mr Paul credit, than we should also highlight the efforts of Peter Schiff, his economic advisor and long-time economic hawk."
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Free Speech for Historians
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
And Now for Something Completely Different
Monday, October 13, 2008
Survivor
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Without Comment
Sunday, October 5, 2008
So What Did You Expect?
"New law extends legal mandate for intervention."
"Germany guarantees savings to avert panic."
"Funds dry up in Golden State."
"Iceland in emergency talks to prevent bank meltdown."
"Short Selling Is the Pursuit of Truth"
Friday, October 3, 2008
Worth a Look
"America is now a centrally planned economy where the Treasury will determine which firms survive and prosper through allocation of scarce capital to an undercapitalised financial sector."
"This bill is about engineering survivor bias to friends of the Bush administration so that they profit disproportionately from the collapse of these markets using the funds provided by the taxpayer via the unreviewable and unconditional authority of the Secretary of the Treasury."
"Fight the survivor bias. It’s not your survival they’re engineering."
Looking for Work? Look No Further!
One Vote Tells a Story
"Monday, I cast a blue-collar vote for the American people. Today I am going to cast a red, white and blue-collar vote with my hand over my heart for this country, because things are really bad and we don't have any choice".
And Wamp is a member of the Liberty Caucus!
Plutocracy Triumphs!
The U. S. Will Do Anything to Avoid the Congestion Charge
Thursday, October 2, 2008
The Biden-Palin "Debate"
UPDATE: Over at LRC, our very own Anthony Gregory provides a libertarian perspective that readers will enjoy.Monday, September 29, 2008
Who Said This?
Ron Paul? No, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio).
"The normal legislative process that should accompany a monumental proposal to bail out Wall Street has been shelved. Yes, shelved! Only a few insiders are doing the dealing. These criminals have so much power they can shut down the normal legislative process of the highest lawmaking body in this land. All the committees that should be scanning every word that is being negotiated have been benched. And that means the American people have been benched. We are constitutionally sworn to protect this country against all enemies foreign and domestic, and yes, my friends, there are enemies....The people who are pushing this bill are the very same ones who are responsible for the implosion on Wall Street. They were fraudulent then; and they are fraudulent now. We should say No to this deal".
Chuck Baldwin? No, Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio).Tuesday, September 23, 2008
More from Glenn Greenwald
Greenwald is always worth reading, not least for his wry observations on the growing right-wing opposition to this proposal. He welcomes their new-found resistance to unconstrained executive authority but points to their amazing hypocrisy on this matter.Sunday, September 21, 2008
Luigi Zingales on Why Paulson Is Wrong
"The decisions that will be made this weekend matter not just to the prospects of the U.S. economy in the year to come; they will shape the type of capitalism we will live in for the next fifty years. Do we want to live in a system where profits are private, but losses are socialized? Where taxpayer money is used to prop up failed firms? Or do we want to live in a system where people are held responsible for their decisions, where imprudent behavior is penalized and prudent behavior rewarded? For somebody like me who believes strongly in the free market system, the most serious risk of the current situation is that the interest of few financiers will undermine the fundamental workings of the capitalist system. The time has come to save capitalism from the capitalists."
Where's My Pitchfork?
"One doesn't have to be an economics expert in order for several facts to be crystal clear:
"First, the fact that Democrats are on board with this scheme means absolutely nothing. When it comes to things the Bush administration wants, Congressional Democrats don't say "no" to anything. They say "yes" to everything. That's what they're for."
"Second, whatever else is true, the events of the last week are the most momentous events of the Bush era in terms of defining what kind of country we are and how we function -- and before this week, the last eight years have been quite momentous, so that is saying a lot. Again, regardless of whether this nationalization/bailout scheme is "necessary" or makes utilitarian sense, it is a crime of the highest order -- not a "crime" in the legal sense but in a more meaningful sense."
"Third, what's probably most amazing of all is the contrast between how gargantuan all of this is and the complete absence of debate or disagreement over what's taking place."
"[W]hat I do know is that an injustice so grave and extreme that it defies words is taking place; that the greatest beneficiaries are those who are most culpable; and that the same hopelessly broken and deeply rotted institutions and elite class that gave rise to all of this (and so much more) are the very ones that are -- yet again -- being blindly entrusted to solve this."
There's No Free Lunch and No Free Economy
"President George W. Bush, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke and treasury secretary Hank Paulson all declare their preference for free-market solutions and a desire to minimise moral hazard. But they sound like François Mitterrand in mid-1983 when he abandoned his socialist 'programme commun' in the face of capital flight and a collapsing franc, all the while proclaiming his devotion to socialism."
"By the time the situation calms and memories fade, there is unlikely to be enough capital in the economy to fund a restoration. Right now, the oldest baby boomers are 63. The ratio of earners to dependents has been at an all-time high. A vast earner generation is about to begin its transformation into a dependent generation. Probably a more dependent one than anticipated."Saturday, September 20, 2008
Winners and losers
"An extraordinary week in Wall Street history drew to a close with one of the biggest two-day rallies on record.
"Financials, whose violent movements have consistently led the wider market over the week, gained the most from the prospect of a vast government intervention attempting to ease anxiety over near unprecedented turmoil in the financial system."Thursday, September 18, 2008
Is Goldman Sachs Bankrupt?
After Lehman Brothers: Desperate City Wives
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
John Gapper Is Mad As Hell
"But AIG takes the biscuit. Here was a huge multinational insurance group with a reputation for solid underwriting and risk management that decided to diversify from insuring risks it knew well – car crashes and fires – to covering derivatives it did not understand.
"Of course, it thought it understood them. In presentations to investors this year, it emphasised how thoroughly its AIG Financial Products arm assessed the risks of insuring CDOs. It ran all the data and decided that, in the worst case, it risked losing $2.4bn on the portfolio.
"Well, $24bn of write-downs later – a mere 10 times its maximum estimate – the company has burned through its equity, spread financial chaos to all corners of the earth and humiliated the US Treasury. The job of insurance companies is to guard others against catastrophes, not cause them.
"The word 'irresponsible' does not begin to describe AIG's behaviour. Like Bear, Lehman and others, it saw a way to get in on the growing action in mortgage-backed derivatives. Its bankers were soon earning huge fees for themselves and AIG by piling up unimaginable risks."
Read the entire article here.
The Incredible Shrinking Banks
The Layman's Finance Crisis Glossary
Monday, September 8, 2008
Dan Klein, Are You Reading This? John Gray Talks Sense
"The current panic about Russia is a curious phenomenon. By any objective standard Russians are freer in the authoritarian state established by Putin than at any time in the Soviet Union. Many are also materially better off. Russia has abandoned global expansionism, and is now a diminished version of what it has been throughout most of its history - a Eurasian empire whose chief concern is protection from external threats. Yet western attitudes are more hostile than they were during much of the cold war, when many on the left viewed the Soviet Union, which was responsible for tens of millions of deaths, as an essentially benign regime."
Read the rest here.Thursday, September 4, 2008
Sarah Palin's Blog
Monday, September 1, 2008
Ben Goldacre: Bad Science
Don't miss today's column which discusses the medicalization of everyday life. Although Goldacre doesn't mention the topic of intellectual property, at least not here, it seems to me that pharmaceutical patents have played a crucial role in this process. In any event, read the article and don't miss his account of how the golden age of medicine has creaked to a halt (see below).Thursday, August 28, 2008
A Global Warming Advocate Makes the Case Against Carbon Offsets
"Between 2005 and 2007 the market for carbon offsets grew 175%, reaching $110 million (Faris 2007). But just as buying indulgences in the Middle Ages never really erased your sins, carbon offsets rarely counteract your carbon use. Moreover, in some cases, carbon offset projects actually hurt local people. Many experts now believe that well-intentioned consumers are not just wasting their money on offsets, but that purchasing them actually does more harm than good."
Read her essay here.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Starbucks and the Socialism of Fools
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Playing the Race Card
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
What Are the Odds That We're Baking the Planet?
"Decriminalise All Drugs Now, but Don't Celebrate Them"
It Was Ever Thus
Reading this prompted me to read the entry on Magee in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (behind subscription). There I read that "[a]lthough his religious views were always of an evangelical tone, they broadened considerably in later years ... In a sermon of December 1885 Magee accepted evolution ... All fanatical excesses in religion were abhorrent to him. He had little sympathy with the eccentricities of teetotal fanatics and other social reformers, and some remarks in his later speeches that he would rather see England free than sober, and that under certain circumstances betting was not wholly sinful, led to much misconception, but were fully consistent with his hatred of exaggeration and misapplied enthusiasm." Evidently he was a pretty sound fellow with whom I could enjoy a drink or two.
UPDATE (August 1): Today the Financial Times has seen fit to publish my letter about Bishop Magee together with a picture of the prelate himself.Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Transgender or Gay?
"The headteacher, Sitisak Sumontha, estimates that in any year between 10% and 20% of his boys consider themselves to be transgender - boys who would rather be girls."
"A ratio of 10% to 20% of boys calling themselves transsexual in a provincial high school does seem very high, but Mr Sitisak assured me that in his experience it was not unusual."
"[The headmaster] said that, in his 35 years of working in the Thai education system, he had come across many boys like this, and they never changed. Many go on as adults to have sex-change surgery, while others will live as gay men, he said."
So how many of the boys are transgenders (either transexuals or transvestites) and how many are gay or bisexual? There's a huge difference, of course. And how many are intersexuals? This is not a possibility discussed in this article. And what about the girls? Inquiring minds want to know. Seriously.Tuesday, July 22, 2008
An Insightful Essay on Hayek's Road to Serfdom
Larner may be characterized as some sort of democratic/libertarian socialist and has written an informed and insightful essay about Hayek's political philosophy as revealed in The Road to Serfdom. (Yes, of course, there's tensions and contradictions between these three concepts -- democracy, liberty, and socialism -- but clearly many writers identify with and defend some combination of these ideas, from which some offer thoughtful criticisms of classical liberal/libertarian arguments.)
Larner's article may be read with advantage by (at least) two groups of people. First, those on the left who likely have not read Hayek but are nonetheless apt to dismiss Hayek as a conservative reactionary who wrote nothing worth reading. And, second, admirers of Hayek whose understanding of his ideas would benefit from thoughtful criticism of their hero from whatever perspective, not least in order to participate seriously in the debate about Hayek's ideas.
Srebrenica: The Story Behind a Name
If you read The Times, the Srebrenica massacre involved "more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys."
If you read the Guardian, the massacre involved "nearly 8,000 Muslim men and boys." Elsewhere the Guardian reminds us, "That the Serbian forces under Karadzic's command committed genocide against the Muslims of Srebrenica in July 1995 is an established legal fact."
If you read the Independent, the massacre involved "more than 7,500 Muslim men and boys."
And if you read the Telegraph, "Some 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were executed in and around the town of Srebrenica in 1995."
Would it surprise you, dear reader, if I suggested that these accounts are far removed from what likely happened? According to Diana Johnstone's detailed inquiry into the Srebrenica massacre, some 3,000 persons were killed and the massacre did not constitute genocide as defined in international law. She also explains why the U.S. and the European Union have been keen to promote their own very dubious version of this event and thus how the name of a town—Srebrenica—has become a powerful propaganda symbol—"Srebrenica"—of the New World Order.Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Goodbye Capitalism
As he reminds his readers, every equity or debt offering of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac explicitly states that these "are not guaranteed by the US and do not constitute an obligation of the US or any agency or instrumentality thereof other than" of the two entities.
Rosner is the managing director of the research firm Graham Fisher.
Niall Ferguson on China Today
American Arrogance
Does it ever occur to the Columbia-and-Harvard-educated Barack Obama that perhaps the world does not want to be "led" by the United States?
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher
A (Henry) Georgist Perspective on the Crisis and Bailout
BBC Coverage of Barr and Nader
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
The Day George Bush Visited the Queen
Thursday, June 5, 2008
The Very Model of a Modern Central Banker
Kroszner is the chairman of the Fed's internal committee on consumer affairs. For some time he has been busy designing new regulations for mortgage lenders and credit card issuers. "Kroszner, who earned a bachelor's degree in applied mathematics-economics at Brown and a doctorate at Harvard, says he's doing what he always has: analyzing facts to make the best decision." He defends his inductive methodology thus, "Being a very much empirically oriented economist,...I'm really trying to get into the data and see what the data say. That's how I come to my approach and how I've always come to my conclusions."
Larry White, professor of economic history at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and noted scholar of free banking, comments drily: "I would have expected [Kroszner] to be helping to repeal some of the regulations that were passed in a hurry during the New Deal....I guess that hasn't happened."Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Raising a Glass to Freedom of Choice
This was the plan. If only all this energy were directed against state repression in other aspects of life!Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Islamofascists?
Ron Paul and Senator Borah
For a bare-bones account of his life, go here. For a left-of-center appreciation of him, go here. And for a fine defense of Borah against G. W. Bush’s recent slander, go here.
The Libertarian Dark Horse Still Rides
Counterpunch.org reprints the interview as today's lead article with the title The Libertarian Dark Horse Is Still Kicking.
Life Was Less Fun If You Were Jewish
The artistic elite partyed like there would be no tomorrow. "It was only in the course of those nights that I discovered the true meaning of the word party," was how Simone de Beauvoir put it. Jean-Paul Sartre was no less enthusiastic: "Never were we as free as under the German occupation."
For another take on the book go here. You can read more about the book here. And to read about the author go here.
Which reminds me to recommend John Lukacs' The Last European War: September 1939-December 1941 (1976; reprint, Yale University Press, 2001) to anyone interested in reading about a time when most Europeans thought Hitler had won and adjusted their lives accordingly.Monday, May 26, 2008
So Much Love for Wayne Allen Root
Bob Barr Wins LP Nomination for President
What impact will Bob Barr and his VP candidate, Wayne Allen Root, have on the elections in November? What are the implications for getting libertarian ideas discussed more widely? And what impact will the Barr-Root ticket have for the Libertarian Party? What do our readers think?Sunday, May 25, 2008
Oil Costs Up, House Prices Down--Good News
Although libertarians wouldn't agree with everything Simon Jenkins writes here, he presents his crucial argument about the role of the price mechanism in allocating scarce resources rather well.Friday, May 23, 2008
Can You Claim Expenses Like These?
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
The First Step on the Road to Serfdom?
Thus concludes Matthew Syed on the Mosley affair.
For those who don't follow the world of motor-racing or, for that matter, the recent adventures of Max Mosley, understand that he is the younger son of the late Sir Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Union of Fascists, and his second wife, Lady Diana Mosley, one of the Mitford sisters. Doubly embarrassing, therefore, when it was claimed that Max liked to act out sadomasochistic fantasies on a Nazi theme.
Rod Liddle defends his right to privacy here. "Those complaining most loudly about his alleged behaviour ought to worry that one day the bedroom door might be opened on their private passions."Wednesday, May 14, 2008
London's Illiberal, Intolerant New Rulers
I guess it may surprise our American readers that drinking booze on buses and tube trains in London is legal. But if the thought disturbs you, cheer up because from Sunday, June 1, it is PROHIBITED. Just another nail in the coffin of individual liberties historically enjoyed by Londoners.Monday, May 12, 2008
If You're Not Doing Anything Wrong, You Have Nothing to Fear. Don't Count on It.
If you do a search for police harrassment, you'll find stories like this, this, and this, and ninety-one other stories.Sunday, May 11, 2008
Questions for Christians
Jamie Whyte on How to Make Progress
Mounting U.S. casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq
Real Clear Numbers: 101,000 U.S. Casualties a Year.
"Here's how the figures add up, just for Americans. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have thus far produced 300,000 psychological casualties, 320,000 brain injury casualties, plus 35,000 (probably understated) officially reported "normal" casualties. This adds up to 655,000 US casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan, an average of just under 101,000 Americans killed or wounded every year since the wars began. If the idea of 101,000 casualties for every extra year in Iraq and Afghanistan gets out and infects the voting public, imagine the effect on the currently torpid national debate over leaving in five years versus fifteen years!"
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Atomic Tragedy
Atomic Tragedy: Henry L. Stimson and the Decision to Use the Bomb against Japan (Cornell University Press, 2008) is a new book by Sean L. Malloy, a young scholar at the University of California, Merced, that has received praise from many quarters, including Tsuyoshi Hasegawa, author of the much acclaimed Racing the Enemy: Stalin, Truman, and the Surrender of Japan (Harvard University Press, 2005), and Lloyd C. Gardner. Gardner is author of many books including Economic Aspects of New Deal Diplomacy (1964), Architects of Illusion: Men and Ideas in American Foreign Policy, 1941-1949 (1970), and The Long Road to Baghdad: A History of U.S. Foreign Policy from the 1970s to the Present, to be published this fall by The New Press.
To view ten never-before-published photographs illustrating the immediate aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing that dramatically convey the human as well as material destruction unleashed by the atomic bomb, go here. Hat tip to Manuel Lora at LewRockwell.com.
For an important earlier book on the atomic bombing of Japan, read Gar Alperovitz's Atomic diplomacy: Hiroshima and Potsdam: The Use of the Atomic Bomb and the American Confrontation with Soviet Power (1965/1985/1994). And if you want to follow the controversy, you may care to read Robert James Maddox’s essay here on History News Network. Regrettably, but not surprisingly, Maddox fails to raise, let alone discuss, the question of whether the U.S. decision to demand the unconditional surrender of Japan was either wise or moral.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
The Worst of Its Kind
I'm always reading horror stories like this one, but this particular state atrocity is the worst of its kind that I've come across in recent months. Hat tip to Mike Tennant over at the LewRockwell blog.
"But there was really nothing any of them could do, they all said. They were just adhering to protocol, following orders." Now where have I heard that before?
In the UK it was, and I think still is, legal to supply an alcoholic drink to your seven-year-old. I seem to remember my father, a secondary school principal, would allow me a glass of (alcoholic) cider some weekends when I was a kid. I understand the tradition continues today throughout Old Europe.
UPDATE: Lew Rockwell has an excellent article here on the state versus the family.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Then and Now
Then. The Fat Owl of the Remove. Follow the links, and don't miss this one.
According to Guinness World Records, Charles Hamilton (1876-1961), who wrote the Greyfriars stories under the nom de plume of Frank Richards, is the most prolific author of all time with a lifetime output calculated at 72-75 million words.
Now. Pupils shun Jamie Oliver's healthy diet for junk food runs.
And here is the money quote: "One young smuggling mastermind, when finally caught, said to his school's headmaster unapologetically: 'But we were only doing what you taught us in business studies, Sir.'"
Saturday, April 26, 2008
An English Gentleman
Melvyn Bragg on Humphrey Lyttelton (1921-2008), the jazz musician.
Here is the late George Melly's (updated) obituary.
And here is Bob Cryer's appreciation.
The Rosa Parks of 2008?
Last August Pennyslvania state troopers kidnapped Mennonite dairy farmer Mark Nolt and confiscated many thousands of dollars of his property.
Now they've raided his farm again.
Friend and fellow-farmer Jonas Stoltzfus compared the state to the Gestapo and drew a parallel between Nolt's right to sell raw milk products directly to his customers with Rosa Parks' right to sit wherever she wanted on the bus. Linn Cohen-Cole who quotes Stoltzfus writes about the war on raw milk products here (but conflates the two raids).
Read the FDA's threatening letter to Mark Nolt here and the state of New York's undercover activities against Meadowsweet Dairy here.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Rethinking the Second World War
Peter Wilby has an interesting article in today's Guardian. "Seeing the second world war as a pure struggle to defeat an evil dictator has led us into foreign policy traps ever since."
Wilby believes the war should have been fought but departs from the conventional wisdom when he acknowledges that "the war was not fought for humanitarian or democratic ends. Britain fought Germany for the same reason it had always fought wars in Europe: to maintain the balance of power and prevent a single state dominating the continent. America fought Japan to stop the growth of a powerful rival in the Pacific."
That, of course, was understood in 1939/1941. But it has been largely forgotten in recent years. Recognizing that fact again may help us question the wisdom of those fateful decisions that culminated in the declaration of war in 1939/41.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Citizen Gives Cop a Parking Ticket
Here's the story. The citizen was an attorney. Follow the discussion here at the Volokh Conspiracy.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Ron Paul's Strategy Vindicated?
Despite the pleas of Eric Garris and Liberty & Power's own Anthony Gregory, and a great many other libertarians, Ron Paul has declined to quit the Republican primaries and run as an Independent/Libertarian. At least so far.
Tonight Fox News reports that, with 88% of precincts reporting, Ron Paul has won almost 16% of the vote in the Republican primary in Pennsylvania. This beats Mike Huckabee (less than 12%) although, it ought to be added, Huckabee conceded to McCain some weeks ago. Today McCain received just over 72% of the vote. This means that Paul has won more than a fifth as many votes as McCain. Certainly there are a good many Republicans who are unhappy with McCain and his policies of high spending, inflation and war. Ron Paul's decision to stay in the race demonstrates this very clearly and sets down a marker for future Republican contests. And his impressive vote total raises some interesting questions. What will be the impact on the race for the Libertarian Party nomination? And how will those Ron Paul supporters vote, if they vote at all, this November?
In the Harry Truman Tradition
This morning on ABC's Good Morning America Hillary Clinton was asked how she would respond if Iran launched a nuclear attack on Israel.
"I want the Iranians to know that if I'm the president, we will attack Iran. That's what we will do. There is no safe haven."
"Whatever stage of development they might be in their nuclear weapons program in the next ten years during which they may foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them," Clinton said.
A New Low Blow to Freedom of Speech in Britain
Brendan O'Neill explains how the rantings of Trevor Brooks, er, Abu Izzadeen, got him four years in prison, and why we should care.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Legacy of Empire
Perry Anderson explains all you need to know about Cyprus.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Pipe Dream
Another episode in the invention of tradition.
Read the news story. And, if you'd care to read similar stories, get the book.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Last Night's Democratic Debate
"The first 45 minutes were Barack Obama's toughest time in any debate. He came under withering assault from the moderators (and Hillary Clinton) on a whole host of issues from the comments of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's former pastor, to his decision not to wear a flag lapel to his connections with a one-time member of the Weather Underground. Time and again, Obama dismissed the questions as part of the politics of the past, something that he was running to change." (Chris Cillizza writing in today's Washington Post)
I'd have more respect for Obama if he would defend the Reverend Wright, his decision not to wear a flag lapel, and his connections with a one-time member of the Weather Underground. Or is it too much to hope that he would break with "the politics of the past"?
Sunday, April 13, 2008
George H. Smith: Thinking About War
Liberty has now published George Smith's essay on just war theory, in which he discusses what (1) Murray Rothbard and (2) Objectivists Yaron Brook and Alex Epstein have written about the subject.
A few thoughts. His essay is a well-informed discussion that is grounded in a considerable knowledge of the history of political thought. That said, I note that more than once he elides the distinction between country and nation-state. And I am struck by how much Smith (sometimes by default), Walzer, and Brook and Epstein assume particular historical accounts as true. Consider the following examples, viz., "Islamic terrorism," the origins of the Six-Day War, Sherman's March through Georgia, and the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki:
Saturday, April 12, 2008
The Long and the Short of It
Matthew Engel discusses the origins of English surnames (and thus many American names) in a nice tribute to Constance Mary (Molly) Matthews (1908-2008) and her celebrated book English Surnames (1966/1967).
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Then and Now
"And with this goes something that is always written off by European observers as 'decadence' or hypocrisy, the English hatred of war and militarism. It is rooted deep in history, and it is strong in the lower-middle class as well as the working class. Successive wars have shaken it but not destroyed it. Well within living memory it was common for 'the redcoats' to be booed at in the street and for the landlords of respectable public-houses to refuse to allow soldiers on the premises."
"What English people of nearly all classes loathe from the bottom of their hearts is the swaggering officer type, the jingle of spurs and the crash of boots. Decades before Hitler was ever heard of, the word 'Prussian' had much the same significance in England as 'Nazi' has today. So deep does this feeling go that for a hundred years past the officers of the British Army, in peace-time, have always worn civilian clothes when off duty."
-- George Orwell, England Your England, in The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius (London: Secker & Warburg, 1941).
"Plans for comprehensive school pupils to sign up for military drills and weapons training backed by PM."
"The report also unequivocally recommends that soldiers should be encouraged to wear their uniform off-duty, a policy that has been relaxed since British military personnel ceased to be targets of the IRA."
-- The Observer, London, April 6, 2008.
Ferdinand Mount on Working for Mrs Thatcher
If you're interested in the character of Margaret Thatcher and how she ran her Cabinet, you'll enjoy reading this extract from Ferdinand Mount's memoirs, Cold Cream: My Early Life and Other Mistakes (London: Bloomsbury, 2008).
Friday, April 4, 2008
Pauper Chic: How Commerce Made Workers Better Off
Do read Ferdinand Mount's fascinating review of John Styles' recent and abundantly illustrated The Dress of the People: Everyday Fashion in Eighteenth-Century England (Yale University Press, 2008). You won't regret that you did.
The author's findings rebut the condescending conclusion of Marxist historian E. P. Thompson in his classic study The Making of the English Working Class (1966) that the share of the average working man in "the benefits of economic progress" was paltry, consisting of "more potatoes, a few articles of cotton clothing for his family, soap and candles, some tea and sugar, and a great many articles in the Economic History Review."
As the review explains, "John Styles, formerly a costume scholar at the Victoria and Albert Museum, has squirrelled together a remarkable, and often poignant, heap of evidence of what the poor actually wore...Styles never underplays the piercing poverty that the worst off endured. Nor is he claiming that eighteenth-century England was a fully fledged consumer society. But what he does show conclusively is that while the poor did not have a huge choice at the best of times, they did have some, and what they had they grasped with both hands...[W]hat strikes one throughout is the variousness of working-class experience and the determination of people to be agents rather than patients whenever they had a chance."
That said, please don't take my summary as an adequate subsitute for reading the entire review, one that will surely encourage you to read or even buy the book itself. The Dress of the People sounds like an essential addition to a shelf of books on British history that might include John Styles and Amanda Vickery's edited volume Gender, Taste, and Material Culture in Britain and North America, 1700-1830 (Yale, 2006) and would certainly hold Jonathan Rose's acclaimed The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes (Yale, 2001/2003). This award-winning book tracks the rise and decline of the British autodidact from the pre-industrial era to the twentieth century.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Where Are the Libertarians?
An article in today's Financial Times entitled "Homeowner bail-out hits resistance" caught my eye, and it's every bit as fascinating as the title suggests.
Above the story is a picture of protesters outside Bear Stearns and three paragraphs down readers are told, "Opposition to government aid to homeowners also has a broad base - pitting renters against homeowners, the young against the old and prudent savers against ambitious housing entrepreneurs."
"A poll last week found that 53 per cent of Americans reckoned the government should not help out homeowners who borrowed more than they could afford, with only 29 per cent in disagreement and 17 per cent unsure. Opposition to government help for banks that made bad loans was even stronger, with naysayers outnumbering proponents four to one, the Rasmussen Reports survey reckoned."
"Patrick Killelea, 42, a computer programmer and part-time blogger in Silicon Valley, is unconvinced [by the proposed homeowner bail-out].
"He has never voted Republican but said he might vote for John McCain, the Arizona Republican, in the November presidential election purely because of his cautious opposition to the bail-out issue."
Should libertarians (and Libertarian Party activists) be reaching out to this popular majority against the bail-out? And if so, what's the best way we (and they) might do this?
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
The Most Celebrated Hoaxers in British History
Today being April Fool's Day, the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography presents the lives of the most famous and infamous hoaxers in British history.
So What Are Their Kids Up To Now?
Learn about the lives of the children of some leading Nazis and Nazi sympathizers here.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Perhaps British Airways Should Be Privatized
BA brings in hundreds of volunteers to tackle baggage mountain
· Airline struggles to return 15,000 bags to passengers
· Terminal 5 cancellations to continue through week
Yes, I do know British Airways was privatized back in February 1987 but perhaps it's now time for a takeover bid from, say, Singapore Airlines. I say "Bring it on!"
"Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be"
That's the title of a successful musical by Lionel Bart that was notable for encouraging the use of authentic Cockney accents on the London stage.
And here's a thoughtful review of three new books about London's East End. As Neil O'Sullivan explains, "the good old days" were not as good as some people like to remember them.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Entirely without Irony
"The development of the atomic bomb during World War II, which relied heavily on European (and often Jewish) scientists who fled Hitler, is one illustration of the value of ethnic and cultural tolerance."
Thus writes Eugene Volokh, Gary T. Schwartz Professor of Law at UCLA Law School, on "Multiculturalism as a source of valuable citizens."
"They Couldn't Organize a Piss-Up in a Brewery"
That's what the Brits say about the total incompetents among us. And here is a fine example of such incompetence.
A Nice Appreciation of Ron Paul
Geoffrey Wheatcroft, arguably my favorite newspaper columnist and a very well read man, declares that "to write off Ron Paul as a loopy reactionary ignores his courageous stand on Iraq and Israel."
And there's a bonus for those who know their British history. Not many journalists have even heard of Francis Wrigley Hirst or Sir Ernest Benn, let alone know anything about these great British liberal individualists. Wheatcroft places Ron Paul in the tradition of these two men.
I encourage you all to read Wheatcroft's tribute to the man whom he calls "Washington's good doctor."
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Mike Gravel Joins the LP
For those who haven't heard the news. Perhaps there's a more serious account out there that does justice to Mike Gravel's long-time opposition to the warrior state.
UPDATE: And now he announces he'll seek the LP nomination for president.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
No Surprise Here
Jamie Kirchick endorses John McCain. "This gay writer would be more than comfortable with John McCain in the Oval Office." I don't doubt it. But anyone who values human life and individual rights should not.
The Reverend Sydney Smith
A nice appreciation of my favorite Anglican cleric.
The Reverend Jeremiah Wright
Our readers may be interested to read a more complete account of the Reverend Wright's sermon on "Confusing God and Government." I guess it was pretty much what I expected. He's good on government lies. And he's good on the war question, Pearl Harbor, Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, Afghanistan, Iraq. Yes, he does need to read Mises on the market economy. But, overall, he's arguably better than Barack Obama. And certainly better than some who call themselves libertarian!
Monday, March 17, 2008
Identity Politics in a Nutshell
Who said "We prefer Bridget and Dinah at the ballot box to Patrick and Sambo"?
For the answer go here.
Who said "The only position for women in the SNCC [Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee] is prone"?
For the answer go here.
I was reminded of these two quotations by Gary Younge's thoughtful essay in Monday's Guardian.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
How Not to Make the Revisionist Case on the Second World War
Mark Kurlansky, author of Nonviolence: Twenty-Five Lessons From the History of a Dangerous Idea (Modern Library, 2006), reviews Nicholson Baker's new book Human Smoke:The Beginnings of World War II, The End of Civilization (Simon & Schuster, 2008). You can read a recent profile of Baker here. (Hat tip to Anthony Gregory here.)
The book is published this Tuesday in the U.S. and on May 6 in the UK. I await further reviews with some interest and I'm sure there'll be many. That said, having read Kurlansky’s review and David Pryce-Jones' review entitled "Immoral Equivalence" in the March issue of Commentary, I’m satisfied that Human Smoke is NOT the book that needs to be written and, indeed, will likely discredit revisionism. Reading between the lines of the two reviews, it strikes me that the quotations Nicholson Baker has dug up are neither as unknown as he believes nor are his interpretations as obvious as he implies. For example, historians of the period are well aware of what Churchill said about the Jews, Mussolini and Hitler in the 1920s and 1930s. Consequently, Baker doesn't make a convincing case, even from a pacifist perspective, let alone from any other viewpoint. Pryce-Jones, of course, roots for Churchill and FDR and he faces a pretty easy job of debunking the book.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Free Speech, Lack Thereof
Two stories, one from Britain, the other from Israel.
To place the first story in context, read this interview. "It was at that stage that I knew I couldn't carry on. I was very angry, and still am, at the way the politicians in this country and America have lied to the British public about the war. But most importantly, I didn't join the British Army to conduct American foreign policy."
To place the second story in context, read this summary of Israeli law. "THERE IS no Basic Law guaranteeing freedom of the press in Israel. There is, however, Section 9 of the Law and Administration Ordinance of 1948, which gives the government the power to enact the draconian WWII-era British regulations when a state of emergency is declared. And that's exactly what the Ben-Gurion government did in May 1948, giving rise to, among other illiberal institutions, the IDF censor. Fifty-five years later, with the War of Independence long over, the country is still under an official state of "emergency.""
War is indeed the health of the state.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
A Modest Proposal
John Whitbeck asks, If Kosovo, Why Not Palestine?
"If [the Palestinian] leadership truly believes, despite all evidence to the contrary, that a decent 'two-state solution' is still possible, now is an ideal moment to reaffirm the legal existence (albeit under continuing belligerent occupation) of the State of Palestine, explicitly in the entire 22% of Mandatory Palestine which was not conquered and occupied by the State of Israel until 1967, and to call on all those countries which did not extend diplomatic recognition to the State of Palestine in 1988 -- and particularly the U.S. and the EU states -- to do so now.
"The Kosovar Albanian leadership has promised protection for Kosovo's Serb minority, which is now expected to flee in fear. The Palestinian leadership could promise to accord a generous period of time for the Israeli colonists living illegally in the State of Palestine and the Israeli occupation forces to withdraw, as well as to consider an economic union with Israel, open borders and permanent resident status for those illegal colonists willing to live in peace under Palestinian rule."
Friday, February 22, 2008
The Pot Calling the Kettle Black
"Ironically, the United States refuses to join the more-than-75 nations that have recognized the independence of Western Sahara, originally declared back in 1976. Indeed, the Bush administration is on record supporting Morocco's call for international recognition of its unilateral annexation of Western Sahara as an 'autonomous region' of that kingdom. This double standard is particularly glaring in light of the fact that Kosovo had been legally recognized as part of Serbia whereas Western Sahara is legally recognized as a non-self-governing territory under belligerent military occupation, a status confirmed by the UN Security Council and the International Court of Justice.
"The United States has rejected proposals that would allow Serbia to annex a small strip of land in the northern part of Kosovo with a predominantly ethnic Serbian population and several sites that the Serbs consider to have important historical significance. At the same time, however, the United States is on record supporting Israeli proposals to annex strips of Palestinian land on the West Bank populated by Israeli Jews and other areas considered by Israelis to be of important historical significance. Ironically, the Kosovar Serbs have mostly lived on their land for centuries while the Israelis in the West Bank are virtually all colonists occupying illegal settlements built recently and in direct defiance of international law and a series of UN Security Council resolutions."
As Stephen Zunes explains, "Such double standards help expose the fallacy of U.S. claims that its recognition of Kosovo is based upon any moral or legal basis."
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
None Too Soon
Jonathan Freedland suggests that for Palestinians the power of mass non-violence would be undeniable.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
A Well-Argued Case against Intervention Abroad
Contrary to the British Foreign Secretary's claim, the UK has neither the authority nor the ability to promote democracy around the world. The truth is that global democracy is not for Britain (or the United States) to command.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Latte Liberals versus Dunkin Donut Democrats
Sunday, February 3, 2008
The President of Bling Gets Married
President Nicolas Sarkozy and model Carla Bruni married yesterday.
"Reports that Sarkozy had given Bruni a pink heart-shaped diamond Dior engagement ring, while she gave him a Swiss-made Patek Philippe watch, a total of £63,000 of exchanged precious metal and stone, have fuelled headlines about 'the president of bling'."
At least it spares the Queen's blushes: "The news will come as a mild relief to Buckingham Palace, where the Queen was said to have faced having to decide whether 'speedy Sarko' and his girlfriend should be offered separate rooms in Windsor Castle on a state visit to Britain next month."
Isn't It Time the U.S. Quit?
Police bugged Muslim MP Sadiq Khan. Could the U.S. have had a role in this?
The larger question goes like this. It's sixty-three years after the Second World War, and seventeen years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, yet the U.S. still maintains a network of bases in the UK. Isn't it time they quit?
Yes, I know the British government should quit as well. But let's leave that up to the residents of the UK.
U.S. policy reminds me of Brezhnev's advice to Dubcek in 1968: "Your frontiers are our frontiers." Enough said.
Saturday, February 2, 2008
An Alternative History of Technology
Top 10 useless inventions.
My two favorites are Patent no. 863087, issued 1887, Balloon propelled by eagles or vultures, and Patent no. 748284, issued 1903, Method of preserving the dead.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
John McCain: War Hero or War Criminal?
Over at the Volokh conspiracy, two of the regular bloggers are now supporting John McCain's campaign. A few hours after Orin Kerr announces his support, Dale Carpenter seconds that motion. My guess is we'll likely see other Volokh posters root for McCain, the candidate who thinks it "fine" if the U.S. keeps troops in Iraq for another hundred years or more.
My thoughts. McCain is a war criminal. Of course, he's not by any means the first war criminal to run for president. And neither is he the most egregious example of that infamous category of person, some notorious members of which were elected president after the commission of their crimes. But as the Rational Radical explains, "When he was shot down, McCain's bombing mission was to destroy a power plant in the center of Hanoi. What a perfect illustration of the essentially terrorist, war criminal-like nature of McCain's actions. Torture is absolutely wrong, and to the extent McCain was tortured, his captors should be absolutely condemned. And to the extent McCain bravely withstood his torture, he exhibited qualities of physical bravery. But that only makes him a brave war criminal, not a war hero." Amen.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Evolution by Natural Selection Defended
"If you want to understand the evolutionary history of man and other animals, and read no other account this year, read this splendid monograph. And if you subscribe to 'creationist' tendencies, read it also and repent your sorry ways."
So begins Alan Cane's enthusiastic review of Neil Shubin's Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body (New York: Pantheon; London: Allen Lane, 2008).
"Shubin's book is packed with the evidence to support his contention that everything innovative or apparently unique in the history of life 'is really just old stuff that has been recycled, recombined, repurposed or otherwise modified for new uses'. It's not a new notion, but rarely has it been expressed so clearly and with such good humour."
Are All Libertarians Mentally Ill?
According to this criterion, it looks as if they might be.
That statement, of course, rests on the assumption that the concept of mental illness is intelligible. But even if you do think it makes sense, it doesn't follow that what passes for Oppositional Defiant Disorder is a form of mental illness.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Outraged? Then Please Read This
In the spirit of some recent remarks by Less Antman, Brian Doherty shares his thoughts about the recent unpleasantness here.
Police Manhandle and Beat Up Protesters
Moscow? Damascus? Tehran? No, London.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
No Free Trade Here!
A friend just sent me this link. I wonder when exactly some sort of wall was first erected.
John Singer Sargent at War
It is solidarity with comrades, much more than loyalty to an abstract idea of nation or obedience to their superiors, that keeps men at war.
Read Camillo Mac Bica who explains that "[u]ltimately, warriors fight, kill, and accept injury and death, neither for god nor for country, but from a personal code of honor, loyalty, commitment, and accountability to one's comrades."
You can view the paintings of John Singer Sargent here and many of his wartime paintings here. And you can find out more about him here and here.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Once More, Right on the Money
"Ron Paul has to decide. If Hillary wins the Democratic nomination, whoever the Republican, there will be no straightforward, uncompromising anti-war candidate in the race. Ron Paul thus far has won such support as he got in Iowa and New Hampshire thanks to the fact that they are both open states that allowed independents to vote for a Democratic or Republican. Most future primaries don't allow this option. He has about $20 million raised from the most enthusiastic supporters yet visible in Election 2008, antiwar, pro-Bill of Rights. He should immediately run as an Independent candidate or on the Libertarian ticket, the latter being the easier option for him."
"Message to the young supporters of Obama. Politics is not one quick dash. You have to stay and work. The Clintons have been at the game for 30 years. They don't give up. They've come back from the dead many, many times."
Read the entire article and this one as well. Don't forget that Ron Paul won more votes in New Hampshire than the other antiwar candidates, Richardson, Kucinich and Gravel got, combined. And don't let a Giuliani supporter determine the parameters of the debate.
Monday, January 7, 2008
Ron Paul's Run
Ron Jacobs considers the issue and decides that being against the war isn't enough.
That said, he observes, "What the support for Ron Paul among potentially progressive voters signifies to me is the failure of today's left to enunciate an anti-imperialist position better than that put forth by the libertarian right."
Jacobs concludes, "In fact, a vote for Ron Paul is certainly a better use of the franchise than a vote for almost any of the other candidates currently running. For better or worse."
I read his analysis with interest. I suggest that libertarians might usefully consider his reasons for not supporting Ron Paul (and libertarian ideas) and how they would respond to his arguments.
Worth Reading
Writing in this morning's Guardian, Gary Younger explains why an Obama victory would symbolise a great deal and change very little.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
I'm Puzzled
Why should OUP publish this book if they want to sell the rest of their stock?
The Advocate Looks at Ron Paul
Friday, January 4, 2008
Ron Paul's Revolution
I encourage you to read Stan Goff's eloquent plea on behalf of Ron Paul.
He asks "what are his likely courses of action... in the unlikely event he wins?
"Well, he is the Commander-in-Chief, so he can bring the troops home immediately, as well as order the military-industrial complex to radically scale back. In case anyone on the left has missed the implications of this, this would be a profoundly anti-imperial development that would take the US boot off the necks of hundreds of millions of people around the world.
"He is a libertarian who dislikes corporate subsidies, so he would veto the mega-billion dollar subisidies for Big Agra, Big Pharma, nuclear power company insurance policies, Weapons-R-Us, the ADM/Cargill Great Ethanol Scam,et al. He could veto the federal highway spending that is promoting sprawl. He has also stated that he opposed so-called free trade agreements.
"Ron Paul is a Gold Bug. For the uninitiated, that means he believes dollar-value should be pegged to a gold-standard. The implications of a return to the gold standard by the Fed are grim... for Wall Street and the military, both of which depend on massive foreign loans convered by runaway printing presses. Putting a stop to this is a Good Thing. What is the net effect?"
"The malignant growth of the American Gulag has been fueled -- more than by any other cause -- by the ever-more-punative criminalization of drug use and drug addiction, and the ability fo the criminal justice system to apply this criminalization with special force against African America and Hispano-Latinas. Here's the thing. Paul opposes the criminalization of drugs. What is the net effect?"
"President Paul would close Guantanamo, halt CIA kidnappings, and gut the enforcement capacity for the PATRIOT Act.
"Nominee Paul would give 2008 voters a choice between a real anti-war candidate and a phony Democratic equivocator. The intensity of anti-war sentiment in the country already forced ex-war-hawk Edwards to adopt an out-in-nine-months position to left flank his Democratic opponents."
"Wanna throw a monkey wrench into a fixed electoral system? Here's a chance."
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Two Leftists Write in Support of Ron Paul
Jeff Taylor writes a Letter to a Liberal Friend: The Left and Ron Paul.
Caleb Friz explains how Ron Paul [is] a Means to an End.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
This Just In!
George Smith (sort of) endorses Ron Paul
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Why the U.S. Is Unlikely to Attack Iran Soon
Immanuel Wallerstein discusses the significance of the NIE Report on Iran.
Heroic
Today's Financial Times leads on an inspiring story from China: "In two highly unusual public challenges to core tenets of Communist rule in China, an academic has announced the launch of a democratic opposition party and farmers in four provinces have claimed ownership of land seized by local authorities."
Another story in the same issue explains how "[b]old activists hold Beijing to account."
"For an authoritarian Communist party to paint itself as a promoter of democracy and individual property rights was always going to be a political strategy with some risks.
"Less than three months after a much-heralded congress of China’s ruling communists at which party leaders restated their commitment to 'democratic' values and private property, they are being called to account on those very issues by some unusually bold critics."
Fugitive Politician Facing Corruption Charges in Several Countries Meets Her End
Benazir Bhutto assassinated.
For a welcome relief from the fawning obituaries, go here and here.
UPDATE: Lew Rockwell points to the unhappy consequence for U.S. hegemony: "The horrific assassination of Benazir Bhutto is a massive blow to the empire, since she was the handpicked US replacement for the hated Pervez Musharraf. The US had installed Musharraf as military dictator after kicking out his elected predecessor, Nawaz Sharif (ah yes, global democracy), who was considered insufficiently obedient. The US has spent many billions on Musharraf and his military, but it has only earned the contempt of Pakistanis who don't like being a US colony (and no, one does not have to be pro-terrorist to be opposed to foreign control)."
FURTHER UPDATE: And, as Mario Rizzo reminds us, "The U.S. government should not use this an excuse to intervene in Pakistan for the simple reason that it is incapable of improving the situation."
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Let Us Hope They Will Not Be Bombed
Christmas in Iran.
Children of Iran.
Women of Iran.
Jews of Iran.
Countdown to Christmas Quiz (10)
Who wrote these words?
"It was Christmas Day in the workhouse."
I hope it isn't for you. I'll post all the answers very soon. Meanwhile I wish all our readers a Merry Christmas!
Monday, December 24, 2007
Countdown to Christmas Quiz (9)
Why in July 1945 did the British government temporarily declare suite 212 of Claridge's Hotel in London Yugoslav territory?
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Alexander Cockburn on Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul
Alexander Cockburn is in fine form here where he examines Mike Huckabee's rise.
He concludes with an insightful remark about Ron Paul's candidature:
"Huckabee's single rival as a genuinely interesting candidate is another Republican, Ron Paul, who set a record a few days ago, by raising $6 million in a single day. Unlike Huckabee, Paul's core issues are opposition to the war and to George Bush's abuse of civil liberties inscribed in the U.S. Constitution. His appeal, far more than Huckabee, is to the redneck rebel strain in American political life the populist beast that the US two-party system is designed to suppress. On Monday night Paul was asked on Fox News about Huckabee's Christmas ad, which shows the governor backed by a shining cross. Actually it's the mullions of the window behind him, but the illusion is perfect. Paul said the ad reminded him of Sinclair Lewis's line, that 'when fascism comes to this country it will be wrapped in a flag and bearing a cross.' In the unlikely event they had read Lewis, no other candidate would dare quote that line."
This Is the Kind of Soldier I Support!
Countdown to Christmas Quiz (8)
Who said this?
"Though the people support the government, the government should not support the people."
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Countdown to Christmas Quiz (7)
Who wrote these words?
"The world will always be governed by self-interest. We should not try to stop this, we should try to make the self-interest of cads a little more coincident with that of decent people."
Friday, December 21, 2007
Countdown to Christmas Quiz (6)
Who wrote that a judge is a law student who marks his own papers?
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Countdown to Christmas Quiz (5)
Who wrote these words?
"Like many businessmen of genius he learned that free competition was wasteful, monopoly efficient."
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Mike Whitney at Counterpunch quotes Mises and slams Greenspan
Even if neocons and neoliberals won't listen to radical critiques of the Fed, it looks as if one person who regularly posts at Counterpunch is listening.
Mike Whitney looks into the abyss and sees The coming collapse of the modern day banking system.
"The economist Ludwig von Mises is more succinct in his analysis:
"There is no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought on by credit expansion. The question is only whether the crisis should come sooner as a result of a voluntary abandonment of further credit expansion, or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system involved."
Then having quoted Mises in support, Whitney cites Milton Friedman on (price) inflation:
"This admission proves Greenspan's culpability. If he knew that stock prices had doubled their value in just 3 years, then he also knew that equities had not risen due to increases in productivity or demand (market forces). The only reasonable explanation for the asset inflation, therefore, was monetary policy. As his own mentor, Milton Friedman famously stated, 'Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon'. Any capable economist would have known that the explosion in housing and equities prices was a sign of uneven inflation. Now that the bubble has popped, inflation is spreading like mad through the entire economy."
Countdown to Christmas Quiz (4)
Who said this? And here's a hint: The author is not thought of as an economist, but more as a man of letters.
"The protectionists are fond of flashing to the public eye the glittering delusion of great money-results from manufacturing, mines, artificial exports...But the really important point of all is, into whose pockets does this plunder really go?"
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Countdown to Christmas Quiz (3)
Who wrote these words?
"Free trade, one of the greatest blessings which a government can confer on a people, is in almost every country unpopular."
Monday, December 17, 2007
Countdown to Christmas Quiz (2)
Whose words are these?
"It is not a question of Mahometanism simply, but of Mahometanism compounded with the peculiar character of a race…They were, upon the whole, from the black day when they first entered Europe, the one great anti-human specimen of humanity. Where ever they went, a broad line of blood marked the track behind them; and, as far as their dominion reached, civilisation disappeared from view. They represented everywhere government by force, as opposed to government by law."
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Countdown to Christmas Quiz (1)
Which famous nineteenth-century public intellectual was godfather to the philosopher Bertrand Russell? Post your answers as Comments below.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
A Marxist Who Defends Capitalism
Brendan O'Neill is excited about the benefits of global capitalism.
Nice Work If You Can Get It
"Tony Blair is making between £500,000 and £1m a month from public speaking engagements, matching the earning power of President Bill Clinton.
"Sources close to Blair, who left Downing Street last June, say he is delivering up to five speeches a month, with a typical fee of between £100,000 and £200,000."
"If he manages to maintain his high profile, the Blairs should easily be able to service and pay off the mortgages of almost £4m on their properties in Connaught Square, in London, Bristol and Sedgefield, Co Durham."
Neither did I enjoy reading this:
"The running costs of Blair’s peace mission [in the Middle East] are considerable. Accommodation at the Colony exceeds $1m a year, and the travel budget adds a similar amount. He has a UN fleet of vast silver SUVs and three Mercedes. Locals resent his road convoys, which are blamed for traffic snarl-ups."
But this brought a smile to my face:
"Blair’s attempt to embrace the social networking phenomenon has been poorly received. Nearly two months after its launch, his channel on YouTube had attracted little more than 300 viewers and 16 subscribers."
Now how many minutes does it take for Ron Paul's website to receive 300 hits?
Episcopal Minister: Let's Take Christ out of Christmas
Howard Zinn: Bomb After Bomb
This is one of the best essays I've read by Howard Zinn.
Muslim Saves Jews from "Christian" Thugs
Muslim hero breaks up train beating.
Hate-crime talk is "ridiculous," says one of accused Chanukah Q train attackers.
Jirovec, who is white, admitted to beating two black men but insists the attack was not racially motivated because he is a member of the predominantly black Bloods gang. He denies the subway attack was anti-Semitic because his mother was half-Jewish.
I suggest the perpetrators of "hate crimes" should not receive additional penalties, but you can be sure that under libertarian justice, these thugs would be busy paying restitution to their victims for quite some time. Or, if they want to clear their debts fast, how about kidney transplants to raise money?
Kosovan Independence—Real or Imaginary?
"European leaders yesterday agreed to send up to 1,800 police, judges, and administrators to Kosovo in its biggest foreign policy gamble, aimed at nurturing the breakaway Balkan province towards full statehood."
"Balkan experts at the US state department are drafting Kosovo's declaration of independence, to be proclaimed by the ethnic Albanian leaders of Kosovo in early February after Serbia elects a new president, the sources said."
I seem to remember the Declaration of Independence was written by American patriots on their own in 1776. Please correct me if I'm mistaken.
"Many EU states want to entice Serbia into a deal by signing an agreement on preliminary EU membership talks with Belgrade on January 28. That would fall between two rounds of presidential elections in Serbia and would be designed to boost the chances of the pro-western president, Boris Tadic, defeating Tomislav Nikolic, an extreme nationalist."
You can imagine the outcry were Putin to attempt to influence the Serbian elections.
These three paragraphs are taken from a news story in Saturday's Guardian entitled EU summit gambles on huge Kosovo mission.
For some sensible thinking about these issues, I strongly recommend Phil Cunliffe's Kosovo: Plaything of the Great Powers and Diana Johnstone's The Next Kosovo War.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
The Helicopters Start to Drop Money
"The central bank helicopters are planning a co-ordinated drop of liquidity on troubled market waters. The money to be dropped now is not that large. But if this does not work, more will surely follow. The helicopters will fly again and again and again."
These are not the words of Ron Paul or some other advocate of the gold standard. They are the words with which Martin Wolf, associate editor and chief economics commentator at the Financial Times, begins his article describing the concerted action by the Fed, the European Central Bank, the Bank of England, and the central banks of Canada and Switzerland to extend loans to banks, a move that was announced Wednesday.
Wolf concludes: "So does the action by the central banks give us good reason to stop worrying? Only if you like huge rescue operations of incompetent bankers, would be my answer. They may well get the markets back into order. They may, in this way, rescue economies from the threat of recessions. But that is not the end of the story. The bigger the rescue has to be today, the more stringent regulation of financial institutons will have to be in future."
Is Federal Reserve Governor Randall S. Kroszner listening?
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Gun Culture or Gun-Control Culture?
"European Union legislators recently took another step towards transforming the entire continent into a low-security prison when they voted overwhelmingly for tough new gun-control legislation."
So writes Kevin Yuill in a new essay against gun control and gun-control culture.
"Historically, gun controls have been aimed at any group considered a threat to elite rule. The 1968 Gun Control Act was very much helped in its passage by fears of the Black Panther Party, the members of which exercised their constitutional right to form a militia. If there is any symbolic meaning to guns, it is as a symbol of power because an armed citizenry has a strong association with democracy, freedom, and equality. It is the literal meaning of 'empowerment', that term so meaninglessly repeated in a thousand European quangos. It is the medium through which the powerless become the equal to the powerful throughout history. As the American proverb went: 'God made men. Sam Colt made them equal.'"
Thursday, December 6, 2007
What Does He Know That We Don't Know?
Vice President Cheney today predicted Iraq will be a self-governing democracy by the time he leaves office, calling the current U.S. surge strategy "a remarkable success story" that will be studied for years to come.
Sounds absurd? But then maybe it depends on how long he expects to stay in office...
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
No Wonder They Like Putin
Norman Stone explains why the West should stop its finger-wagging. "The Russian people know what they want and their message is clear."
Friday, November 30, 2007
Free the NatWest Three!
Martin Wolf on judicial torture and the perversion of the rule of law.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Paint It White
Björn Lomborg explains how amid all the talk of cutting carbon emissions, we never hear about the simple solutions that can make a vast difference to temperatures.
Laissez Faire Books Lives On!
Laissez Faire Books is not closing but is continuing operations under a new owner, the International Society for Individual Liberty (ISIL).
ISIL has released the following statement:
"The International Society for Individual Liberty is pleased to be the new sponsors of Laissez Faire Books. For three decades LFB has been a prime source for libertarian educational material. And we intended to continue, and expand, that tradition.
"Your purchase from LFB does more than you may realize. Proceeds from sales allow us to sponsor new books that would never see the light of day otherwise through our Cobden Press publishing arm. In addition, we will sponsor books for libraries, schools, students and non-profit organizations around the world. And you can donate to such causes through ISIL which is a registered non-profit educational organization.
"The acquisition of LFB was unexpected so we are still getting a grasp on things. There will be a period of transition. But we will deal with your orders as quickly and efficiently as possible. It may take some time to have the new web site fully functional. But you will receive a regular newsletter from us in PDF format that you should be able to open and enjoy."
The first issue of this newsletter is now available. If you wish to receive this virtual publication now and in the future, email your request to laissezfairebooks[at]gmail.com. The website is http://www.lfb.org/.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Margaret Atwood revisits Brave New World
"Everybody is happy now"
So how does Aldous Huxley's vision of a totalitarian future stand up 75 years after his book was first published?
Saturday, November 3, 2007
A Perceptive Take on the Duke Lacrosse Scandal
Friday, November 2, 2007
Not Even Cheap Oil
Geoffrey Wheatcroft sums up the debacle that is the Iraq War. "We knew the war was built on lies - but to have increased petrol prices as well as terror will surely seal history's verdict."
Wheatcroft concludes:
"Finally there is what has sometimes been dismissed as a conspiracy theory: that it was really a war for oil. This idea looks a little less cranky now that Alan Greenspan, the former head of the Federal Reserve Board, has acknowledged 'what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil'. But here again, there was no need to await his verdict. After all, the most powerful man in British politics had told us the same thing even before the war began. 'The greatest thing to come out of this for the world economy,' said Rupert Murdoch, 'would be $20 a barrel for oil.'
"And so, on top of the whole list of false predictions and collapsed justifications, we have this final absurdity. As both Greenspan and Murdoch have very likely noticed, the price of oil hit a record $96 a barrel yesterday, and is still going up.
"In April 2003, our previous prime minister confidently pronounced that 'just as we had a strategy for war, so we have a strategy for peace'. It is not pre-empting the judgment of history to say with even greater confidence that no good whatever has come out of this war, that no single good reason for it can any longer be adduced - and that 'we' had never had any plan at all, not to say the faintest idea what 'we' were doing."
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Good News for Red Wine Tipplers
When he consulted a cardiologist about his angina, Malcolm Smith was told to drink three glasses of red wine daily.
If you enjoy other sorts of tipple, try cider, but only the cloudy, unfiltered kind as filtration removes all the polyphenols. And if you are not a drinker, other sources of polyphenols include dark chocolate, walnuts and cranberries. Sounds good to me.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Whatever Happened to Guy Fawkes Night?
Kathryn Hughes explains how Halloween has largely replaced Bonfire Night in Britain.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Haven't You Got Anything Smaller?
An international counterfeiting gang tried to con the Bank of England out of £28 billion with "special issue" £500,000 notes that they had invented, a court was told yesterday.
"They wanted the Bank to pay them the face value for thousands of forged notes, also including £1,000 notes - a denomination that had not been legal tender for more than 60 years. Southwark Crown Court was told that only 63 of the notes remain unaccounted for by the Bank of England."
. . .
"But their plan was undone by a number of errors: there never was a £500,000 note, they referred to the bank in documents as the 'England Bank' and they did not correctly forge the signature of Sir Jasper Quintus Hollom, the chief cashier of the Bank of England, the court was told. He always used his first two initials when signing his name rather than just the second that the gang used.
"The money they claimed to possess represented more than two thirds of all sterling in circulation, Martin Evans, for the prosecution, told the court."
Sunday, October 21, 2007
More Skepticism on Anthropogenic Global Warming
David Bellamy of the Conservation Foundation explains why he would rather be called a heretic on global warming.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
The Politically Incorrect James Watson
In 1962 James Watson, Francis Crick, and Maurice Wilkins won the Nobel prize "for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material". Now James Watson spills the beans on old colleagues and rivals.
Look Who's Talking!
Geoffrey Wheatcroft examines the world of diplomacy.
Don't Say You Weren't Warned!
Mark McCrum advises on the top ten faux pas to avoid when travelling abroad.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Police Chief Calls for the Legalization of All Drugs
"One of Britain's most senior police officers is to call for all drugs – including heroin and cocaine – to be legalised and urges the Government to declare an end to the 'failed' war on illegal narcotics.
"Richard Brunstrom, the Chief Constable of North Wales, advocates an end to UK drug policy based on 'prohibition'. His comments come as the Home Office this week ends the process of gathering expert advice looking at the next 10 years of strategy.
"In his radical analysis, which he will present to the North Wales Police Authority today, Mr Brunstrom points out that illegal drugs are now cheaper and more plentiful than ever before.
"The number of users has soared while drug-related crime is rising with narcotics now supporting a worldwide business empire second only in value to oil. 'If policy on drugs is in future to be pragmatic not moralistic, driven by ethics not dogma, then the current prohibitionist stance will have to be swept away as both unworkable and immoral, to be replaced with an evidence-based unified system (specifically including tobacco and alcohol) aimed at minimisation of harms to society,' he will say."
Read further and you'll find, not surprisingly, that he wants to make all drugs, including alcohol and tobacco, subject to a new regulatory regime.
UPDATE: After posting this story, I found that my co-blogger Keith Halderman had just posted on this topic. Evidently great minds think alike, eh, Keith?
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Is It All about Oil?
Jim Holt considers the reasons why the U.S. invaded and occupied Iraq and has no intention of leaving anytime soon.
"Iraq is 'unwinnable', a 'quagmire', a 'fiasco': so goes the received opinion. But there is good reason to think that, from the Bush-Cheney perspective, it is none of these things. Indeed, the US may be 'stuck' precisely where Bush et al want it to be, which is why there is no 'exit strategy'."
"The costs – a few billion dollars a month plus a few dozen American fatalities (a figure which will probably diminish, and which is in any case comparable to the number of US motorcyclists killed because of repealed helmet laws) – are negligible compared to $30 trillion in oil wealth, assured American geopolitical supremacy and cheap gas for voters. In terms of realpolitik, the invasion of Iraq is not a fiasco; it is a resounding success.
"Still, there is reason to be sceptical of the picture I have drawn: it implies that a secret and highly ambitious plan turned out just the way its devisers foresaw, and that almost never happens."
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Liberty and Repression in Italy
"A row has broken out in Italy over the wearing of the burka after the prefect of a city in the north-east announced he was permitting it, despite legislation outlawing any clothing that stops the wearer being recognised."
"The burka covers the body from head to foot, with the exception of a small mesh at eye level.
"The announcement by the prefect - the local representative of the interior ministry - also appeared to clear the way for the use of the equally controversial and more widely worn niqab, which leaves only the eyes visible."
I didn't know (and I guess most of you didn't either) that an Italian law of 1975 bans the wearing of masks in public.
Score one for the United States where, as far as I know, masks are not yet prohibited in public. Indeed, today I rode the bus next to a woman who wore a niqab. That's the second time I've seen her. More power to her, I say.
May We All Agree This Is Theft?
Israeli army orders confiscation of Palestinian land in West Bank.
"The Israeli army has ordered the seizure of Palestinian land surrounding four West Bank villages apparently in order to hugely expand settlements around Jerusalem, it emerged yesterday.
"The confiscation happened as Israeli and Palestinian negotiators met to prepare the ground for a meeting hosted by President George Bush in the United States aimed at reviving a diplomatic solution to the conflict.
"However, critics said the confiscation of land suggested that Israel was imposing its own solution on the Palestinians through building roads, barriers and settlements that would render a Palestinian state unviable."
Monday, October 8, 2007
The Writings of F. William Engdahl
I've just read F. William Engdahl's Confessions of an "ex" Peak Oil Believer. This fascinating essay describes two very different explanations for oil deposits and explains the significance of these rival theories for the political economy of oil today.
Engdahl is author of A Century Of War: Anglo-American Oil Politics and the New World Order, revised edition (Pluto Press, 2004).
His website takes you to much more, including three historical essays:
American Exceptionalism – Serious Distortions of the New Economic Era: Montagu Norman and Benjamin Strong in the 20s looks at the workings of the gold standard in the 1920s.
The second essay, Some Unconventional Reflections on the Great Depression and the New Deal, looks at FDR and the left-wing intellectuals who influenced him. Although he is no advocate of laissez-faire, Engdahl is very critical of FDR.
The final essay, Halford Mackinder's Necessary War, is about British strategy during the Second World War.
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Interview with Bjorn Lomborg
Bjorn Lomborg, author of The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World (Cambridge University Press, 2001), talks about himself and his new book, Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist’s Guide to Global Warming (Knopf, 2007), here.
Lomborg believes global warming is happening and humans are causing it. He just doesn't think it's that serious. Moreover, he thinks technology is the answer.
Stubble Trouble
Shaving is a tedious daily chore. But to a dedicated team of obsessive dermatologists, biometricists and neurologists, creating the perfect razor is the holy grail of grooming. Simon Garfield takes a wry look at the virbrating, rubberized, five-blade world of cutting edge technology.
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Archbishop Attacks Neocons Over Threat to Bomb Iran
Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has criticised the neoconservatives of the Bush administration and accused them of "potentially murderous folly" for suggesting military action against Syria and Iran.
Dr Williams has just returned from Syria where he met Iraqi Christian refugees. He warned of a problem of almost unprecedented scale as up to 1.5 million Iraqis have fled to neighbouring countries.
Speaking to the BBC, the archbishop, who opposed the invasion of Iraq from the outset, said: "When people talk about further destabilisation of the region - and you read some American political advisers speaking of action against Syria and Iran - I can only say that I regard that as criminal, ignorant and potentially murderous folly.
"We do hear talk from some quarters of action against Syria and Iran. I can't understand what planet such persons are living on, when you see the conditions that are already there."
Monday, October 1, 2007
Senior Pentagon Official: "I Hate All Iranians"
British MPs visiting the Pentagon to discuss America's stance on Iran and Iraq were shocked to be told by one of President Bush's senior women officials: "I hate all Iranians."
And what's that around her neck? An Iron Cross?
The Vagaries of Electoral Systems
A general election for the Ukranian parliament was held on Sunday. This is the story so far. Exit polls suggested that prime minister Viktor Yanukovych’s party took 35.5% of the vote, with Yulia Tymoshenko's bloc second on 31.5%, and Viktor Yushchenko, the president, third with just 13.5%. It seems that Tymoshenko and Yushchenko together are likely to secure a wafer-thin majority in the 450-seat parliament but Yanukovych has refused to yield ground. Mr Yanukovych could attempt to form a coalition with his allies in the Communist Party of Ukraine, which won 5.1% of votes, and with ex-parliament speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn's party, which won 3.7%, according to exit polls.
It struck me that these numbers were really rather similar to the distribution of votes at the most recent British general election in 2005. The Labour party under Tony Blair received 35.3% of the vote, the Conservatives received 32.3% of the vote, the Liberal Democrats got 22.1% of the vote, and all others 10.3%. The outcome, however, was quite different. The British system of first-past-the-post (the winning candidate in any constituency, or district, has to win merely a plurality of the vote) meant that Labour won an absolute majority of 66 in Parliament and formed the next government.
Will Tymoshenko and Yushchenko form the next government? Certainly it seems so under the Ukrainian electoral system. But under the British system, it is quite possible that Yanukovych would have won. Such are the vagaries of electoral systems.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
For the Brits and Anglophiles Who Read This Blog
Q. How many of 100 Britons passed the citizenship exam? A. Not one.
The minimum score to pass is 18 (out of 24). I, a native-born citizen of the UK, who lived the first thirty years of my life there (and later four more years) and follows British news on the Internet, scored 17. Readers, Brits and anyone else, are invited to take the test and record their scores in Comments.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Strippers with Altitude
Nepal wants to ban nudity on Everest. The irony is that this is where trouserless-peaking started with George Mallory, claims regular naked climber Hank Wangford.
It seems to me to be a case of Liberty against Power.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Should We Be Surprised?
"Northern Rock stands accused of 'reckless' lending after it emerged this weekend that the beleaguered bank is still offering mortgages of six times salary to potential borrowers."
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Is This the Right Way to Counter a "Bad" Book?
Last month Pluto Press of London and the University of Michigan Press - their U.S. distributor - came under attack by Stand With Us (a Zionist lobby group) who objected to the publication of Overcoming Zionism by Joel Kovel. This resulted in the book being withdrawn in the U.S.
Since then the executive board of the university has considered the matter and issued a public statement. Overcoming Zionism has now been reinstated but the University of Michigan Press plans to review its ongoing relationship with Pluto Press in October.
I haven't seen a copy, let alone read Overcoming Zionism. I'm therefore not prepared to accept the characterization of this book that is offered by Stand With Us. But even if it were every bit as awful as they say, and somehow I doubt it, and their other accusations were true, I suggest that pressuring the U.S. distributor to drop this title is not the way to counter what they regard as the baleful influence of this book.
"The Majority Are Not Bad People"
So spake General Sir Richard Dannatt, Chief of the General Staff, UK, yesterday at the Military Leaders' Forum organized by the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.
"So, because as an Army we are enemy focussed, some words on our adversaries in southern Iraq. The militants (and I use the word deliberately because not all are insurgents, or terrorists, or criminals; they are a mixture of them all) are well armed – certainly with outside help, and probably from Iran. By motivation, essentially, and with the exception of the Al Qaeda in Iraq element who have endeavoured to exploit the situation for their own ends, our opponents are Iraqi Nationalists, and are most concerned with their own needs – jobs, money, security – and the majority are not bad people."
You can watch his presentation here and read a transcript of his speech here by scrolling down to General Dannatt speech (MS Word file).
Jennifer Burns' Godless Capitalism: Ayn Rand and the Conservative Movement
It was only today that I came across Modern Intellectual History, which has been published three times a year since 2004 by Cambridge University Press. It's a treasure trove of goodies. Many academic libraries subscribe to Cambridge journals online so if you teach in a college or university, there's a good chance you can peruse this journal from your desk.
Readers of Liberty & Power may be especially interested in Jennifer Burns' Godless Capitalism: Ayn Rand and the Conservative Movement, Modern Intellectual History, vol. 1, no. 3 (November 2004): 359-385. To date this journal has published two articles discussing Herbert Spencer and many other essays on topics of interest to classical liberal scholars.
The New British Empire?
The UK plans to annex part of the South Atlantic.
And read the background briefing here.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
A Question for Our Readers
Is there anyone out there who still thinks that "independent" central banks are independent?
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Lew Rockwell: None Dare Call It Genocide
This is quite simply one of the finest articles about the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq that I have read this year.
A Plea for Freedom of Movement for All
Tomorrow the Gatwick No Border Camp begins a six-day protest near Gatwick international airport south of London to campaign for "the freedom of movement for all and an end to all migration controls." Nathalie Rothschild explains what they're about and does a great job presenting the case for free international migration.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Health Care in Cuba
Rory Carroll investigates.
"Cuban healthcare is no utopia. At times it is ragged and harsh. But the virtues are no myth. People live as long as they do because the system, overall, works. To be poor and sick in Cuba is tough, but it is not to be forgotten."
Certainly I'd rather be poor and sick in Cuba than in most of the Third World. That said, the question that remains is how a Third World country can transform itself into a more prosperous society to the benefit of all its citizens. And that, I suggest, is where the Cuban government is failing the Cuban people.
Of course, the situation isn't helped any by the obnoxious U.S. embargo that works against the Cuban people in two ways. Not only does it cause direct impoverishment by prohibiting mutually beneficial trade between Cubans and Americans but it also helps the Cuban state reinforce its control over the Cuban economy and society leading to further immiseration of the Cuban people.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Interesting Poll of Iraqi Opinion
I'm well aware of the limitations of opinion polls, and I'm sure that polls taken at the present time in Iraq should be evaluated particularly carefully. That said, the latest of four opinion polls commissioned by the BBC, ABC News, and NHK of Japan, in which some 2,112 Iraqis were questioned in more than 450 neighbourhoods across all the eighteen provinces of Iraq between August 17 and August 24, 2007, strikes me as a useful gauge of Iraqi opinion. Here are some of the key findings:
* Nearly half of Iraqis want an immediate withdrawal of U.S. and other coalition forces, and most of the rest want security restored first. (But is this even possible?)
* 57 percent (93 percent of Sunni Arabs, 50 percent of Shia Arabs, and 5 percent of Kurds) support attacks on coalition troops.
* Over 60 percent of Iraqis support a unified Iraq, with only Kurds supporting a federal or partitioned structure.
*Conditions of life are quite bad or very bad for most Iraqis in all areas and on all fronts.
Monday, September 10, 2007
An Amazing Web Page
A Compendium of Beautiful Libraries. And, when you've scrolled through the pictures, follow the links provided in the text and comments at the end.
Thanks once again to Bill Stepp for the link.
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Are Young American Jews Turning Their Backs on Israel?
"Young U.S. non-Orthodox Jews are becoming increasingly lukewarm if not alienated in their support for Israel in a trend that is not likely to be reversed, according to a study released on Thursday.
"Blending into U.S. society, including marriage to non-Jews and a tendency to look on Judaism more in religious terms than ethnic ones, is part of what's happening, the study found.
"'For our parent's generation, the question that mattered was, how do we regard Israel? For Generation Y (born after 1976) the question is indeed, why should we regard Israel?' said Roger Bennett, a vice president of The Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies, which sponsored the study."
Read the full report here.
If the survey is accurate, it seems to me to be a welcome change in opinion.
And let's not forget that significant sections of orthodox Jewry have always been anti-Zionist.
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Why Don’t the Terrorists Attack Us More?
Matthew Parris wonders why.
Friday, September 7, 2007
Should Corporations Have Rights?
Robert Reich, Bill Clinton's Secretary of Labor, has written a new book, Supercapitalism: The Transformation of Business, Democracy and Everyday Life (Knopf, 2007). There he argues corporate social responsibility is a diversion and an illusion, the corporate income tax is inefficient and inequitable, and corporate criminal liability is based on an anthropomorphic fallacy that hurts a lot of innocent people.
But with Reich, it's a package deal. While he would eliminate corporate criminal liability and get rid of the corporate income tax, he would also strip corporations of their constitutional rights.
"Corporations should have no more legal right to free speech, due process, or political representation in a democracy than do any other pieces of paper on which contracts are written," he writes. "Legislators or judges who grant corporations such rights are not being intellectually honest, or they are unaware of the effects of supercapitalism. Only people should possess such rights."
Russell Mokhiber discusses the book here.
What do readers think of this proposal? I invite you to post below.
UPDATE: Here is an interview with Robert Reich in Business Week. And thank you, Bill Stepp, for the link.
Preparing the Ground for the Bombing of Iran?
This unpleasant cartoon reminds me of another drawing, this one by Theodor Seuss Geisel.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
A Question for Ron Paul
Has anyone asked Ron Paul whether he would support the impeachment of Bush and/or Cheney? And if so, what was his reply? If anyone were to ask him, I guess he would say "No" but it's surely a fair question since he argues that Bush and Cheney have acted unconstitutionally.
That said, I'm inclined to agree with Alexander Cockburn who writes thus:
"The left is as easily distracted, currently by the phantasm of impeachment. Why all this clamor to launch a proceeding surely destined to fail, aimed at a duo who will be out of the White House in sixteen months anyway? Pursue them for war crimes after they’ve stepped down.
"Mount an international campaign of the sort that has Henry Kissinger worrying at airports that there might be a lawyer with a writ standing next to the man with the limo sign. Right now the impeachment campaign is a distraction from the war and the paramount importance of ending it."
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Intellectuals and the "War on Terror"
David Keen, Professor of Complex Emergencies at the London School of Economics, explains how the "war on terror" has an intellectual arm, and many of the most significant contributors are "liberals". I've perused a good many articles on international relations, and this is one of the best that I've read so far this year.
Sunday, September 2, 2007
Freedom's Watch
On August 22 Freedom's Watch announced a $15 million advertising and grass-roots campaign in twenty states to maintain Republican support for President Bush's policies towards Iraq.
You can read more about Freedom's Watch here. It turns out that John Templeton Jr. is a donor to Freedom's Watch. John M. Templeton, Jr., M.D. is chairman and president of the John Templeton Foundation, which is a major contributor to free market policy institutes and intelligent design advocacy. To read more about Dr. Templeton, go here.
Friday, August 31, 2007
Let's Do the Time Warp Again
There's still time to fly to Britain and attend the Goodwood Revival, the world’s most authentic historic motor race meeting - and the most popular.
The Goodwood Revival takes place at Goodwood House, West Sussex, from Friday, August 31, to Sunday, September 2. Warm and sunny weather is forecast.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
A Dazzling Triumph for Agricultural Intervention
"The vast increase in opium poppy farming in Afghanistan is indicative of an inability to grasp a basic law of economics."
Simon Jenkins explains all.
Spoils of War: How T-Force Abducted Germany's Best Brains for Britain
"Their methods had echoes of the Gestapo: kidnapping at night by state officials who offered no evidence of identity. Recently declassified secret documents reveal how at the end of the second world war an elite British unit abducted hundreds of German scientists and technicians and put them to work at government ministries and private firms in the UK.
"The programme was designed to loot the defeated country's intellectual assets, impeding its ability to compete while giving a boost to British business.
"In a related programme, German businessmen are alleged to have been forced to travel to post-war Britain to be questioned by their commercial rivals, and were interned if they refused to reveal trade secrets."
Read the rest of the story here.
Friday, August 24, 2007
1857 Revisited
2007 is the sesquicentenary of the Indian Revolt, known to some as the first war of Indian independence and to others as the Indian or Sepoy Mutiny. Among several new books published on this topic is Amaresh Misra’s War of Civilisations: India, AD 1857 (New Delhi: Rupa & Co.), in which the author argues that British reprisals involved the killing of ten million persons, spread over ten years.
According to Misra, Britain came perilously close to losing its most prized possession: India. He claims that although conventional histories have counted only 100,000 Indian soldiers who were slaughtered in savage reprisals, none have tallied the number of rebels and civilians killed by British forces desperate to impose order.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Why Your Vote Will Never Matter
James Rothenberg explains why you should stop voting if you want to change the country.
The Power of the State
From the Times Literary Supplement for August 10, 2007:
"The power of official bodies to influence the sales of books should not be underestimated. At the beginning of July, Tintin in the Congo was selling an average of seventy copies a week throughout the land. Then the Commission for Racial Equality stepped in, with a hideously worded statement which branded the comic strip "racist claptrap" and called for its removal from shops to prevent damage to young minds. The result, according to the August 3 issue of the Bookseller, is that Tintin in the Congo is now the fastest selling Tintin title. Last week, an estimated 1,300 copies were sold--one-tenth of the total since the book's republication in 2005."
I visited the website of Egmont Books, the publisher of Hergé's book, to find they have included this caveat:
"First published in book form in 1931, Tintin in the Congo reflects the colonial attitudes of that period in its depiction of African people. Hergé himself admitted that he was influenced by the bourgeois, paternalistic stereotypes of the period."
You can't be too careful with the Commission for Racial Equality breathing down your neck.
Friday, August 17, 2007
Whatever Happened to the Anti-War Movement?
Alexander Cockburn investigates.
Terence Kealey on the New Science of Neuroeconomics
Terence Kealey is Vice Chancellor of the University of Buckingham, Britain's one and only university that does not receive direct subsidy from the state. He also writes on science for The Times (London). Go here for his latest column on recent findings in neuroeconomics. Be advised that "public schools" in Britain are private, which will help you make more sense of the penultimate paragraph.
Terence Kealey is known for his book The Economic Laws of Scientific Research (Macmillan Press, 1995; St. Martin's Press, 1996) and his journalism and scholarship where he has been an articulate and outspoken opponent of government funding of science and higher education. His new book Sex, Science and Profits will be published by Heinemann (UK) in January 2008.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Race and IQ
In today's issue of The Times (London) Matthew Syed suggests that we not cower from the hard truth about race and IQ.
"The debate over racial differences in IQ represents perhaps the greatest scientific controversy of the past half-century. The facts are not in serious dispute: blacks score, on average, significantly lower than whites in IQ tests in the United States, Britain and beyond.
"Some argue that the only plausible response is to accept that blacks are naturally less intelligent than whites, a view that causes outrage among equal rights campaigners. But is there an alternative explanation for these puzzling statistics and what would it mean if there were not?"
Read the rest here.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Raul Hilberg (1926-2007)
Michael Neumann writes a nice appreciation of the historian Raul Hilberg.
John Biffen (1930-2007)
Unless you're a Brit, you've probably never heard of this Conservative Party MP and Leader of the House of Commons under Margaret Thatcher. As you might expect, I usually don't care for politicians but I liked John Biffen. Read Edward Pearce's obituary and perhaps you'll see why.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
With Capitalists Like Jim Cramer, Who Needs Socialists?
Watch Jim Cramer here.
Or as Martin Wolf explains in his most recent column in tomorrow's Financial Times:
"When William Poole, chairman of the St Louis Federal Reserve, said that "the Fed should respond to market upsets only when it has become clear that they threaten to undermine achievement of fundamental objectives of price stability and high employment or when financial market developments threaten market processes themselves", I gave a cheer.
"Not so Jim Cramer, hedge fund manager and television pundit, who declared last Friday that chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, "is being an academic!...My people have been in this game for 25 years. And they are losing their jobs and these firms are going to go out of business, and he’s nuts! They're nuts! They know nothing!...The Fed is asleep."
"So capitalism is for poor people and socialism is for capitalists. This view is not just offensive. It is catastrophic."
Wolf's column is behind a subscription wall but you can take out a free 15-day trial subscription to the Financial Times.
Friday, August 10, 2007
The Rebirth of Danish Imperialism?
"Danish researchers plan to set sail for the North Pole on Sunday to collect geological data, on a mission similar to Russia's one last week.
"The month-long Danish expedition will study the Lomonosov Ridge. Russia believes the underwater feature is linked to its territory.
"Denmark will investigate the ridge to see if it is geologically connected to Greenland, a Danish territory."
About the last time Denmark featured in the annals of imperialism was 1917 when the U.S. bought the Danish West Indies for $25 million and promptly enforced strict racial segregation in what had now become the American Virgin Islands. The African slaves had been emancipated in 1848. Somehow I doubt if all this was explained in your high school history class. A good source is Julius William Pratt's America’s Colonial Experiment: How the United States Gained, Governed, and in Part Gave Away a Colonial Empire (1950/1964). Pratt (1888-1983) taught at Cornell and was a distinguished historian of American diplomacy.
The same news story informs us that "Canada and the US are also engaged in a dispute over the future of the Northwest Passage, the partially frozen waterway that links the Atlantic and Pacific oceans." Casus belli, anyone?
Monster Munch--and It May Be Because of Global Warming!
Britain is in the grip of a moth epidemic, with anti-pest call-outs up 25 per cent: they eat clothes and their larvae cause skin rashes and breathing problems. The Times correspondent and infestation victim investigates.
"There is some pretty weird stuff going on in the moth world. Although in general their numbers are declining, some species are thriving. ... And a report earlier this summer from Helsinki claimed that global warming was responsible for the arrival of vampire moths that gorge on human blood.
"But the creature that is laying waste to Britain’s wardrobes is the common clothes moth."
...
"The run of warm, humid summers has also provided ideal conditions for eggs to hatch successfully. 'It may well be the result of global warming, although this hasn’t yet been thoroughly researched,' says Sawas Othon, technical director for Rentokil.
""Moths like heat and humidity, so in theory an increase in temperature, such as the one we’ve seen globally, will have encouraged a faster life cycle. The humidity caused by the wet summer we’ve seen this year will also have encouraged them.'"
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
In Today's FT
Today's Financial Times carries Willem Buiter's call for the legalization of all illegal drugs. He then proceeds to argue that the U.S. and its allies in Afghanistan should buy up the entire poppy harvest in order to undermine further the financial strength of the Taliban and al-Qaeda. "If a sufficient premium over the prevailing market price were offered, the Taliban/al-Qaeda middle-man could be cut out altogether, and thus would lose his tax base. Winning the hearts and minds of poppy growers and coca growers is a lot easier when you are not seen as intent on destroying their livelihood." Buiter is professor of European political economy at the London School of Economics' European Institute. Read and contribute to the online discussion here.
Today's issue also carries Benjamin Powell's letter explaining that, contrary to what Matt Miller had asserted in Monday's issue, many economists like Powell support completely open immigration and free markets in labour. Until this summer Ben was a colleague of mine at San Jose State. This fall he begins work at Suffolk University, Boston. Immigration has long been one of his research interests.
How Does 40/1 for Ron Paul Sound?
Those are the odds Ladbrokes is offering on Ron Paul being elected president. (Click on the Specials link at the top and then on the US Presidential Election on the left.)
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Man with a Plan: Herbert Spencer's Theory of Everything
Readers will enjoy Steven Shapin's informed appreciation of Herbert Spencer.
"For Spencer, the importance of being earnest could not be underestimated; the truth was all that mattered. Science, and a scientific approach to all the problems of social life, was another mode of sincerity, and the more science there was, the more moral people would be."
The occasion for Shapin's essay is the publication of Mark Francis' Herbert Spencer and the Invention of Modern Life (Cornell University Press, 2007). Scroll down for the reviews. This is the first full-scale intellectual biography of Spencer since J. D. Y. Peel's Herbert Spencer: The Evolution of a Sociologist (Heinemann Educational and Basic Books, 1971).
UPDATE: Carl Rollyson writes an appreciative review here.
"Aside from the value of Mr. Francis's study as a fresh view of how Spencer's ideas developed, his book also represents an attack on the way academics have specialized knowledge, thus a disservice to someone as protean as Spencer. 'Writing about Herbert Spencer had made me aware of the narrowness of academic disciplines,' he notes in his preface. Without knowledge of Spencer's 'authorial intentions,' of the way he 'lived his philosophy,' his ideas, in themselves, seem 'uninspired and disconnected.'
"Intellectual biography can be problematic because it makes for an awkward conflation of narrative and textual analysis, but in Mr. Francis's hands it becomes a rewarding re-creation of his subject and of the world from which he emerged."
A Kinder, Gentler Fuhrer?
It would seem that although Adolf Hitler, champion of Richard Wagner and German music, banished Jewish and Russian musicians from the concert halls of the Third Reich, he listened secretly to their work.
Looking for Somewhere to Live?
If you have £70m to spend, you might consider Updown Court in Surrey, designed by John Scholz, bigger than Hampton Court or Buckingham Palace, conveniently close to Heathrow airport, and the most expensive house in Britain. Be advised it needs "millions more decorating and fitting out what, in many respects, is still a glorified shell." Personally, I find it all rather over-the-top. I think I'll settle for "Park Place, a 30,000 sq ft pile near Henley-on-Thames, which changed hands last month for a mere £42m." That's more my style, if not within my budget.
Alas Alastair
Many of you will be familiar with Geoffrey Wheatcroft, one of Britain's most eloquent commentators. Here he takes Alastair Campbell, Blair's former spin doctor and author of The Blair Years to task.
Monday, August 6, 2007
What Exactly Is Going On in Iran?
Rostam Pourzal recommends we not trivialize discrimination in Iran.
Sunday, August 5, 2007
In Praise of the Book
Alan Wall has written a splendid essay defending the book (and explaining the limitations of Power Point presentations).
"Two examples might point up the absurdity of the 'access rather than internalizing' school of modern learning. Imagine a surgeon who had not memorized his skills, since that was no longer required, but was nevertheless adept at accessing and downloading the necessary information, as and when. One would have to assume that the queue for his operating theatre would soon be dwindling. Imagine a musician, a pianist say, who did not internalize musical skills but once again knew where they could be digitally located and retrieved. How much enthusiasm would there be, I wonder, for his version of the Hammerklavier Sonata?"
"The book represents one of the greatest technological innovations in history, and its fitness for its task, its versatility, its convenience, mean that it will surely continue well into the future. It is also a remarkably democratic technology, in educational terms. If a teacher is giving a power-point presentation, as we teachers are now being exhorted to do, at every available opportunity, then that teacher dictates what is available in the form of knowledge to everyone in the room. She or he presses the keys on the laptop that change whatever text or image is up there on the screen. She decides what I can see and when. But if I am a student and I have a book in front of me, then I can answer back. I can turn my own pages in my own good time, and remind myself of my own marginalia. 'Excuse me, but I don’t agree. What you said about Dorothea in Chapter Five might well be true, but if you’d care to turn to Chapter Nine, I think you might find…'"
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Behind the Wall
"The literature of architecture is largely self-serving, depoliticised and superficial. In Hollow Land Weizman has achieved a rare amalgam of politics, aesthetics, sociology, history and theory. He has produced a book which should be compulsory reading for anyone who thinks architecture has reduced its cultural role to the building of iconic galleries and silly skyscrapers. Rather, as Weizman shows, it remains the most politicised and potentially dangerous of all the arts."
Edwin Heathcote, who writes on architecture for the Financial Times, reviews Eyal Weizman's Hollow Land: Israel's Architecture of Occupation (Verso, 2007).
Eyal Weizman is also co-editor (with Rafi Segal) of A Civilian Occupation: The Politics of Israeli Architecture (Verso, 2003). Anne Karpf, writing in the Jewish Chronicle, described this book as an "incriminating piece of work that shows how deeply implicated Israeli architects have been in the state’s expansionism."
Friday, August 3, 2007
The Worldwide Market for British Newspapers
Rhys Blakely provides some interesting statistics.
So Black Runners Are Naturally Faster? Wrong
Matthew Syed argues against a widely held view.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Mario Rizzo on Libertarians and War
Go here to read Professor Rizzo's original letter to the Wall Street Journal and the abridged version they chose to publish in Tuesday's issue. Good job, Mario, who joins Sheldon Richman on my rollcall of honor.
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Brits Behaving Badly Abroad
Go here to read about the drunken antics of British tourists abroad.
Of course, the British sometimes behaved worse when Britain ruled the waves and a large chunk of the planet, except they spoke with more refined accents and asserted themselves more forcefully.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Not for the Faint-hearted or Prudish!
But nonetheless an interesting read about the consequences of legalizing gay sex.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Happy Birthday, George Bradshaw!
Best known as a compiler of railway guides, George Bradshaw (1801-1853) was also an activist for peace. I invite readers to celebrate the anniversary of his birthday today. "When he was a young man Bradshaw joined the Society of Friends, and was active with Richard Cobden and other Quakers and radicals in holding peace conferences, in the attempts to establish an ocean penny postage, and in other philanthropic labours. He was largely responsible for organizing 'Friends of Peace' congresses in Brussels (1848), Paris (1849), and Frankfurt (1850). Part of his time he devoted to the establishment of schools for the poor." And while you are on the website of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, visit the reading room and browse many entries and other essays for free.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Good Job, Sheldon!
Our colleague Sheldon Richman does a fine job exposing what he aptly calls Randy Barnett's "bogus libertarian defense of war" in a column that should help disabuse leftists that libertarians advocate war.
And Sheldon writes a nice appreciation of that notable anti-imperialist classical liberal William Graham Sumner here.
Sheldon, you're one of the best writers we have. More power (metaphorically speaking) to you!
Monday, July 23, 2007
Syllogism #2 (Revised)
Randy Barnett identifies as a libertarian.
Randy Barnett supports the war.
Ergo, there are people who identify as libertarian who support the war.
Perhaps we can all agree on this revision of Syllogism #2.
"Why Do They Hate Us?"
Mohsin Hamid provides an eloquent answer to the perennial question "Why do they hate us?"
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Guess Who's Giving Money to Sam Brownback?
Check out his and her donations here. I guess it's all to do with Sam Brownback being a senator from Kansas and not his penchant for warmongering. At least I very much hope so!
Monday, July 9, 2007
Bush Going Down
To learn the correct way to affix the new Priority Mail stamp, go here.
Friday, July 6, 2007
Correction Please!
Reading this web page, you would likely conclude that Ron Paul believes the government should (a) maintain the current level of regulation of the sex industry, (b) maintain welfare programs at current levels, and (c) maintain minimum wage and labor regulations at current levels. And there's no mention of his stance against the Iraq War and the federal government's attack on civil liberties. Would someone at Politopia please check out his record and amend his responses to the quiz accordingly? And address the issues of war and civil liberties?
Monday, July 2, 2007
Congratulations, Anthony Gregory!
It seems like there's always at least one post worth reading each day at Counterpunch and today is no exception. Liberty & Power blogger Anthony Gregory has written a fine essay on how killer cops walk and the rule of law is trashed in the good ol' U.S. of A. Nice job, Anthony.
It's good to see another libertarian publishing at Counterpunch. I write "another" because Jesse Walker, managing editor of Reason magazine, has also published there.
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Support from the left for Ron Paul on the Fed
Leftist Mike Whitney has written an interesting article here on the Fed's role in the Bear Stearns meltdown. He concludes his essay by quoting Ron Paul who "summed it up best when he said":
"From the Great Depression, to the stagflation of the seventies, to the burst of the dot.com bubble; every economic downturn suffered by the country over the last 80 years can be traced to Federal Reserve policy. The Fed has followed a consistent policy of flooding the economy with easy money, leading to a misallocation of resources and artificial 'boom' followed by recession or depression when the Fed-created bubble bursts."
It's too bad some "free market" economists have no understanding of what's happening. Perhaps they should read Counterpunch and learn something.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Tony and Cherie’s Ascent in the London Property Market
However history may judge Tony Blair’s premiership, there is no doubt that he and his wife Cherie have prospered over the years through some happy investments in London real estate.
1980: Mapledene Road, Hackney, bought £40,000, sold 1986 £80,000
1983: Myrobella, Trimdon village, nr Sedgefield, bought £30,000
1986: Stavordale Road, Islington, bought £120,000, sold 1993 £200,000
1993: Richmond Crescent, Islington, bought £375,000, sold 1997 £615,000
1997: 11 Downing Street - rent free flat next door to prime minister's traditional residence
2002: Clifton, Bristol, two flats bought for £525,000 in total
2004: Connaught Square, Bayswater, bought £3.6m
2007: Bayswater. Two bed house behind Connaught square property, bought £800,000. Blairs plan to join buildings together to create extra space.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Ron Paul, Jeffersonian
Support for Ron Paul is turning up all over the place. Here Jeff Taylor, a left-wing Democrat, has some encouraging words to say about Paul's candidacy.
"Another option for those of us who like popular sovereignty, justice, and nonviolence is Ron Paul. He is the only GOP presidential contender who opposes the Iraq War, the U.N. Security Council, and the Patriot Act. It's true that some liberal Democrats cannot swallow his opposition to abortion—which comes from a consistent life ethic that also includes opposition to war and capital punishment—and some New Deal nostalgiasts object to his libertarian belief in small, constitutional government, but Ron Paul is far more Jeffersonian in the best sense of the word than is Obama or Clinton."
Read the entire essay for an excellent critique of Barack Obama who "provides no alternative to Hillary Clinton, in terms of imperial-minded foreign policy. This is doubly regrettable since Clinton herself provides no substantive alternative to the neoconservative philosophy of the Bush administration."
Taylor, who teaches political science at the community college in Rochester, Minnesota, is author of Where Did the Party Go?: William Jennings Bryan, Hubert Humphrey, and the Jeffersonian Legacy (University of Missouri Press, 2006).
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Criminalizing the Classroom—Courtesy of Mayor Giuliani
"Since the September 1998 takeover of school safety in New York City public schools by the NYPD [New York Police Department, an initiative promoted by Rudolph Giuliani when he was mayor of New York,] the number of police personnel in schools has spiked dramatically. Before the takeover, the school safety division employed 3,200 school safety personnel. By the start of the 2005-2006 school year, the number of officers had increased by over 50 percent to 4,625 SSAs. In addition to the unarmed SSAs, at least 200 NYPD officers patrol school hallways with guns at their hips. New York City has more SSAs, by far, than any other school district in the country. If SSAs were considered their own police force, the number of SSAs alone would make the NYPD's School Safety Division the tenth largest police force in the country, with more school safety agents than there are officers in the police forces of Washington, D.C., Detroit, Baltimore, Dallas, Phoenix, San Francisco, Boston, San Diego, Memphis, or Las Vegas.
"In fact, New York City has more SSAs per student than other cities have police officers per citizen. San Antonio, which has a population approximately equal to the 1.1 million student enrollment in the New York City public schools, employs half as many police officers per citizen as New York City employs SSAs per student."
You can read the full story here (pdf file). The quotations above come from Section III, Policing in New York City's Schools Today.
No doubt the situation in some New York City public schools was pretty dire before the change in policy. Now we have the criminalization of the classroom, which, I suggest, would be indicative of Mr. Giuliani's approach to a lot of other issues were he to be elected president.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Psychologists in the Service of the State, and A Skeptical Look at Peer Review
Torture. Alexander Cockburn describes how psychologists have advised on torture.
"In 2002 the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff concluded that 'interrogation methods used were no longer effective in obtaining useful information from some detainees' and, as the Inspector General's report details, 'recommended that the Federal Bureau of Investigation Behavioral Science Unit, the Army's Behavioral Science Consultation Team, the Southern Command Psychological Operations Support Element, and the JTF-170 clinical psychologist develop a plan to exploit detainee vulnerabilities.' The use of dogs, sexual humiliation, and kindred tortures were only a couple of months away."
Peer review. Cockburn quotes from David Noble's essay Regression on the Left:
"Such perils of peer review were early detected and condemned by the physicist Albert Einstein, after his arrival in America. Having submitted a co-authored paper to the journal Physical Review, he was dismayed to learn that it had been sent by the editor to an anonymous reviewer. 'We had sent our manuscript for publication and had not authorized you to show it to specialists before it is printed,' an irate Einstein wrote the editor. 'On the basis of this incident I prefer to publish the paper elsewhere.' Einstein never again contributed to that journal. In Germany he had published in a journal edited by Max Planck, whose editorial philosophy was 'to shun much more the reproach of having suppressed strange opinions than of having been too gentle in evaluating them.'"
Happy Bloomsday!
There's still time to celebrate Bloomsday with a pint (or two or three) of Guinness.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
"And Blair has the gall to call the press cynical"
So concludes Simon Jenkins in a searing commentary on the most recent scandal to envelop Tony Blair's administration during his final days in office. Forget the sale of life peerages to raise millions for Labour Party funds. This colossal bribery involved more than a billion pounds. That's serious money even for a Saudi prince.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Speaking up for Norman Finkelstein
The Norman Finkelstein I heard speak at Stanford in January presented a very measured argument for the withdrawal of Israel to its pre-1967 boundaries. His informed and eloquent talk was very well received. He engaged the audience with his honesty and wit.
I invite our readers to consider the testimony of the historian Raul Hilberg, one of the best-known and most distinguished of Holocaust historians. His three-volume, 1,273-page The Destruction of the European Jews is regarded as the seminal study of the Nazi Final Solution.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Shame!
Norman Finkelstein denied tenure.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Tony Blair's "Legacy"
Many commentators have remarked on how Tony Blair is preoccupied by his "legacy." Simon Jenkins asks "How much hypocrisy can Britain get away with on this sordid deal?" as he examines the Saudi bribes scandal. He concludes that the British government has defied anticorruption treaties and impeded the conduct of justice. But will Blair and his cronies be called to account?
Sources and Authorities
Alexander Cockburn cites sources and authorities as he defends dissidents against anthropogenic global warming dogma.
No doubt Randians will be telling us how private enterprise is once again the "victim" of the state. But as Cockburn explains in an apt turn of phrase, "[c]apitalism is ingesting global warming as happily as a python swallowing a piglet." State capitalism, that is.
Saturday, June 9, 2007
Withdrawal Won't Happen
So was it really all about oil? Patrick Seale suggests as much.
Friday, June 8, 2007
Remember the USS Liberty!
On the fortieth anniversary of the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty, Jeffrey St. Clair revisits the scene of the crime and explains how and why the Feds continue to conceal the truth.
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Last Night's Debate
Richard Adams of the Guardian summarizes last night's pseudo-debate between the ten candidates for the Republican presidential nomination. His verdict on the proceedings: "What a f***ing shower! The only person who ever says anything sane is crazy Ron."
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Shaming the Official Antiwar Movement
This past weekend the Future of Freedom Foundation held a four-day conference on Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties in Reston, Virginia. Pretty much everyone who is anyone among antiwar libertarians spoke, including Liberty & Power's very own Anthony Gregory. Among those from outside the libertarian movement who spoke was John Walsh of the Green Rainbow Party of Massachusetts and Filibuster for Peace and author of a very enthusiastic account of the conference here.
Saturday, June 2, 2007
The American Civil Religion
Fascinating. Marc Levy tells all. And read through to the end.
Alexander Cockburn on the Last of the Texas Outsiders
That's Ron Paul. Read Cockburn's essay on the last of the breed of true individualists from Texas.
He concludes "Ron's a sound money man." Which, it might be added, is more than this guy, who thinks that rising oil prices cause inflation.
Friday, June 1, 2007
A Modern Morality Play
Whatever the truth about man-made global warming, it has increasingly become the argument of choice to freeze progress. Read Mick Hume's essay on the current campaign to halt the growth of London's Stansted airport in Essex.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Wendy Kaminer on Richard Posner on Plagiarism
A thoughtful essay. Go here to read what she has to say.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Brian Doherty's Radicals for Capitalism
My review of this book is now published.
And if you haven’t read Justin Raimondo's review of Doherty's book, I encourage you to do so.
A Somewhat Irreverent Interview with Charles Koch
And none the worse for that. This is a more entertaining read than most interviews with Charles Koch that get published.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Alexander Cockburn Replies to His Critics
"I began this series of critiques of the greenhouse fearmongers with an evocation of the papal indulgences of the Middle Ages as precursors of the 'carbon credits'—ready relief for carbon sinners, burdened, because all humans exhale carbon, with original sin. In the Middle Ages they burned heretics, and after reading through the hefty pile of abusive comments and supposed refutations of my initial article on global warming I'm fairly sure that the critics would be only to happy to cash in whatever carbon credits they have and torch me without further ado."
Read Cockburn here and here.
Richard Dawkins Visits the Galapagos Islands
And travels via the U.S., which proves to be a bit of a trial for the evolutionary biologist, thanks to security gone mad. Read his account here.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Phobias—Why We Should Reject This Idiom
Frank Furedi provides five reasons why we should reject the language of phobias. Worth reading. Furedi's arguments struck me as Szaszian, even though Furedi does not mention Thomas Szasz.
Monday, May 21, 2007
Arguably the Single Best Essay on Global Warming That I Have Read So Far
Read Josie Appleton's Measuring the Political Temperature here. The author explains how global warming has ceased to be a scientific hypothesis and become an ethical, religious and political principle to guide our lives.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
So Who's Been Watching the Sopranos?
The Guardian reports that an angry Wolfowitz engaged in a four-letter tirade.
"An angry and bitter Paul Wolfowitz poured abuse and threatened retaliations on senior World Bank staff if his orders for pay rises and promotions for his partner were revealed, according to new details published last night."
"Sounding more like a cast member of the Sopranos than an international leader, in testimony by one key witness Mr Wolfowitz declares: 'If they fuck with me or Shaha, I have enough on them to fuck them too.'"
Sunday, May 6, 2007
What Next, a Committee on Un-Scientific Activities?
Brendan O’Neill describes how in Britain a group of scientists and science communicators has written an open letter to WAG, a TV production company, insisting that it make changes to its film The Great Global Warming Swindle before releasing it on DVD.
O’Neill concludes that "[p]erhaps more than any other area of life, science develops through a self-corrective process. In demanding that something be corrected from on high, and before being fully submitted for public consideration, the 38 scientists complaining to WAG have violated the very spirit of their vocation. They have behaved less like scientists, and more like Stalinists."
Sunday, April 29, 2007
At Least Papal Sales of Indulgences Produced Beautiful Monuments
Alexander Cockburn asks Is Global Warming a Sin?
"In a couple of hundred years, historians will be comparing the frenzies over our supposed human contribution to global warming to the tumults at the latter end of the tenth century as the Christian millennium approached. Then, as now, the doomsters identified human sinfulness as the propulsive factor in the planet's rapid downward slide."
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Bring Back the Posse!
Alexander Cockburn explains why we should "disband SWAT teams and kindred military units, and return to the idea of voluntary posses or militias: a speedy assembly of citizen volunteers with their own weapons. Such a body at Columbine or Virginia Tech might have saved many lifes. In other words: make the Second Amendment live up to its promise."
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Vive la difference!
Whatever your disagreements with Simon Jenkins' observations on the French presidential election, I hope you understand his point when he writes:
"A casualty of globalisation has been a growing intolerance of political diversity, diversity not just of national personality but also of ideology, political priority and system of government. I may not share France's view of the world and may believe it wrong to deny the Thatcherite reformation, as in varying degrees do all today's candidates. But as Voltaire, the greatest of Frenchmen, insisted, the right that most needs defending is the right to be wrong.
"On this day of the French election, long live difference."
And, I should add, not least because it is a bulwark against U.S. hegemony.
So How Would a Libertarian Society Handle This?
Saturday's Guardian carries a disturbing report about how a mother, her two sisters, and their mother shot a video and shouted abuse as they forced two toddlers to take part in a "dog fight." The "cruel and callous" quartet got suspended sentences and the mother's children had been taken out of her care and are now being looked after by her estranged husband’s family.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Common Sense about Blacksburg
"The Blacksburg tragedy is not the sign of a sick society. Such evil is incurable, and we owe it to the victims not to inflate the problem by ascribing it to some greater malaise." So writes Simon Jenkins here in today’s Guardian.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Appetite for Excess
Giles Coren, restaurant critic of The Times (of London), reports on how he ate and drank like an Edwardian gentleman for a week.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
A Union of Crowns Is the Only Remedy for Devolution
Geoffrey Wheatcroft explains why Scottish independence would work for England as well as Scotland, and why Gordon Brown may not last long in 10 Downing Street. Be advised: An abundance of interesting historical detail.
Monday, April 9, 2007
Ugly Story—Neat Graphics
Iraq: Four years on. Baghdad: Mapping the violence.
Sunday, April 8, 2007
How the Feds Help Devastate West Africa without Even Invading It
Read how U.S. federal government subsidies to 25,000 American cotton farmers worth four billion dollars have devastating repercussions for millions of West African farmers.
And, dear readers, as you submit your federal tax returns for 2006, remember it's your tax dollars that make it all happen.
Saturday, April 7, 2007
The IRS Owes You Money
Ralph Nader explains how you can get a refund of the telephone excise tax.
Bush Whacked
Stephen Graubard, author of Command of Office: How War, Secrecy, and Deception Transformed the Presidency from Theodore Roosevelt to George W. Bush (Basic Books, 2004; paperback, 2006) reviews Chalmer Johnson’s new book entitled Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic, another title in The American Empire Project published by Metropolitan Books.
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Sanity Prevails
Abbas Edalat explains how the outcome of the crisis between Iran and Britain provides a lesson on how to deal with the wider international standoff.
Matthew Parris in Top Form
Matthew Parris asks "Did John Paul II perform a miracle? Am I Mother Teresa?". I've long been an admirer of Parris who writes for The Times (of London). This column is published just in time for Holy Week.
Monday, April 2, 2007
The Falklands or Las Malvinas?
Richard Gott suggests that Argentina's claim on the Falklands is still a good one.
Friday, March 30, 2007
A Bitter Legacy
Robert Tait explains why most Iranians see Britain as an old colonial power that's still meddling in their affairs.
UPDATE: Craig Murray, former British ambassador to Uzbekistan, explains here that: (1) the Iran/Iraq maritime boundary shown on the British government map does not exist; and (2) accepting the British coordinates for the position of both HMS Cornwall and the incident, both were closer to Iranian land than Iraqi land.
Murray concludes, "None of which changes the fact that the Iranians, having made their point, should have handed back the captives immediately. I pray they do so before this thing spirals out of control. But by producing a fake map of the Iran/Iraq boundary, notably unfavourable to Iran, we can only harden the Iranian position."
Monday, March 26, 2007
The Death Toll in Iraq
The BBC carries an interesting update about the Lancet peer-reviewed survey of the number of victims of violence in Iraq published last October. The report suggested that 655,000 Iraqis had died but was severely criticized by the Iraqi government and by Tony Blair and George Bush ("I don’t consider it a credible report"—but then who considers GWB a credible president?).
The BBC World Service made a Freedom of Information Request last November 28 and the information was released on March 14. In a memo dated October 13, 2006 the Ministry of Defence’s Chief Scientific Adviser, Sir Roy Anderson stated: "The study design is robust and employs methods that are regarded as close to 'best practice' in this area, given the difficulties of data collection and verification in the present circumstances in Iraq."
Of course, even if one accepts either Iraqi Health Ministry figures that put the toll at less than 10% of the total in the Lancet survey, or perhaps the range stated on Iraq Body Count, where the confirmed civilian death toll is currently reported as between 59,801 and 65,660, the number who have died is still huge and far exceeds the number of deaths attributed to Saddam Hussein in the last several years of his rule.
By Any Means Necessary
Go here to read A. C. Grayling's review of Keith Lowe's Inferno: The Devastation of Hamburg, 1943 (London: Viking). In June this book will be published by Scribner as Inferno: The Fiery Destruction of Hamburg, 1943. Although he argues that Lowe fails sufficiently to address the moral issues involved, Grayling believes that he "has written a compelling book. In describing the second world war’s worst bombing raid he has produced the definitive account of a great tragedy." Readers may recall that Grayling is the author of Among the Dead Cities: The History and Moral Legacy of the WWII Bombing of Civilians in Germany and Japan (Walker, 2005).
Sunday, March 25, 2007
The Dark Heart of the New South Africa
Fascinating. Go here to read Tim Adams on the Afrikaaner writer Rian Malan.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Possibly the Most Famous Literary Feud of Modern Times
Go here to read an explanation for why Gabriel García Márquez, the Nobel prize-winning author, and Mario Vargas Llosa, his fellow giant of Latin American literature, have refused to talk to each other for three decades.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Refuting Today's Miserabilist View of the Human Success Story That Is Longer Life
As you would expect, I don't advocate state provision of pensions and medical services for the retired. Of course, this is not to say that I support the idea that individuals be _required_ to direct some part of their Social Security contributions into private investment vehicles to provide for their retirement. Nor do I wish to identify with the hyperbole, dishonesty, lapses of logic, and factual errors that all too often characterize this proposal.
For this reason I offer a qualified welcome for Phil Mullan's writings on the implications of an ageing population. As you might expect of someone who was once a member of the Revolutionary Communist Party and a contributor to the now defunct magazine Living Marxism (LM), and who, along with his erstwhile comrades, now advocates an agenda that is skeptical of many mainstream leftist positions, Mullan remains an advocate of socialized provision. His analysis of the situation is, however, careful, informed and perceptive. His The Imaginary Time Bomb: Why an Ageing Population Is Not a Social Problem was published by I. B. Tauris in 2000 with a paperback reprint in 2002. Over the years he has written several articles on the subject and his most recent essay advances three key propositions that we should all bear in mind as we think about and discuss these issues.
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Too Many Lawyers
George Monbiot explains here how a glut of barristers at Westminster has led to a crackdown on dissent.
"Some of the most illiberal laws of recent years - the 1986 Public Order Act, the 1992 Trade Union Act, the 1994 Criminal Justice Act, the 1996 Security Service Act, the 1997 Police Act and the 1997 Protection from Harassment Act - were drafted by the Conservative party. Blair has supplemented them with all manner of pernicious instruments (such as the 2000 Terrorism Act, the 2001 Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act, the 2001 Criminal Justice and Police Act, the 2003 Anti-Social Behaviour Act, the 2004 Civil Contingencies Act and the 2005 Serious Organised Crime and Police Act). But this illiberal trend long pre-dates him."
"I think it also reflects something else, seldom discussed by the press: the over-representation of lawyers in British politics. Lawyers have an instinctive love of new laws, as this is how they derive their power over the rest of us. In this respect, Blair differs not a jot from Margaret Thatcher, Howard, Jack Straw and the other barrister-legislators. When you elect lawyers, you get laws."
Amen.
Saturday, March 3, 2007
Breaking Bread with the President
Go here to read neocon Irwin Stelzer's account of lunch with George Bush, Dick Cheney, historians Andrew Roberts and Gertrude Himmelfarb, and writers Norman Podhoretz and Michael Novak.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
A Village That Time Forgot
Go here to read a fascinating account of a Romanian village where European Union membership is set to transform a way of life unaltered in generations, even under the heavy hand of communist rule. As you would expect, membership brings regulations, taxes and subsidies, but it also brings investment and opportunities to participate in a wider market. Nothing, it seems, will ever be the same again.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Why the Conventional Wisdom May Be Wrong on Climate Change
Nigel Calder, former editor of New Scientist, describes an experiment that questions the orthodoxy that man-made greenhouse gases are responsible for global warming.
Henrik Svensmark and Nigel Calder's The Chilling Stars: A New Theory of Climate Change is published this month by Icon Books in the UK and is available through Amazon UK.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Frank J. Menetrez: The Real Reason to Get Out of Iraq
This morning I came across a perceptive and thoughtful essay on Iraq. So much commentary dates very quickly. Yet this article was published in October of last year and is as relevant now as it was when it first appeared.
Friday, February 9, 2007
Are Congratulations in Order?
"The President intends to nominate Williamson Evers, of California, to be Assistant Secretary of Education (Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development). Dr. Evers currently serves as a Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University."
Read more here.
I'm pretty sure this is the first time that a former member of the erstwhile Radical Caucus of the Libertarian Party has been appointed to the Bush administration. Are congratulations in order? And if so, to whom?
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Blair Is Dishonored by Iraq but Not As Much As Brown and Hain
Geoffrey Wheatcroft writes here at his most eloquent.
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Questioning an Unhealthy Reverence for the UK's National Health Service
This article questions public faith in Britain's National Health Service. Not the first time, you say. True enough. But it's significant if only because of where it's published - the Guardian.
This Aerial Onslaught Is War at Its Most Stupid
Simon Jenkins writes here that the images of U.S. "friendly fire" show how good bombers are at hurting, but how bad they are at winning.
For the full story of how two U.S. pilots killed a British soldier, go here, here, and here.
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Thank Goodness for Government!
"Spain resizes clothes for women." This from Spain.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
"There Is No War on Terror"
"[Britain's] director of public prosecutions, Sir Ken Macdonald, put himself at odds with the home secretary and Downing Street last night by denying that Britain is caught up in a 'war on terror' and calling for a 'culture of legislative restraint' in passing laws to deal with terrorism.
"Sir Ken warned of the pernicious risk that a 'fear-driven and inappropriate' response to the threat could lead Britain to abandon respect for fair trials and the due process of law."
Read the full story here.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Jonathan Ree: The Library of Google
This is truly a wonderful article, very perceptive and very funny.
Monday, January 22, 2007
We, the Jewish State
Tell me I'm wrong but shouldn't all who love liberty find this (and please read it through to the end) very disturbing?
Sunday, January 21, 2007
How Immigration Controls Are Enforced
"So long as there are nation states there will be borders and immigration laws to regulate them. The least we can do is drop the pretence that these laws are fair. They are not designed to discriminate between people, but against them."
Go here to read Gary Younge explain how the UK (and the West) persist in using race to decide who can cross its borders.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Germany Bids to Outlaw Holocaust Denial across the EU
According to a report in today's Guardian, Brigitte Zypries, the German justice minister, demanded that Holocaust denial, the sporting of Nazi symbols, and racist speech be criminalised across the European Union and called for jail terms of up to three years for the offences.
A British friend remarked, "What a bunch of Nazis!" I responded, "Once a Nazi, always a Nazi." To which he replied, "That's banned!" Or it will be, if Gauleiter Zypries has her way.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
France's Shame?
Rwanda's civil war saw 800,000 Tutsis slaughtered by the Hutus - armed and supported by France. Now, thirteen years later, is Paris once again meddling in the country's affairs? Read the story here.
Monday, January 8, 2007
So What Exactly Is Going On in China?
Will Hutton takes a stab here in a fascinating extract from his new book, The Writing on the Wall.
"The truth is that China is not the socialist market economy the party describes, nor moving towards capitalism as the western consensus believes. Rather it is frozen in a structure that I describe as Leninist corporatism - and which is unstable, monumentally inefficient, dependent upon the expropriation of peasant savings on a grand scale, colossally unequal and ultimately unsustainable. It is Leninist in that the party still follows Lenin's dictum of being the vanguard, monopoly political driver and controller of the economy and society. And it is corporatist because the framework for all economic activity in China is one of central management and coordination from which no economic actor, however humble, can opt out."
"The interest of the west is to help China avoid this fate and encourage a peaceful transition to a pluralist China within a legitimate system of accountability; a country that is comfortable with liberal globalisation and the international rule of law. To describe the goal of policy in this way is demanding enough; more demanding still is to execute it. The simple extrapolations of China's growth, predicting that it will eventually become a one-party, economic colossus, lead to an alarmist climate in which it is easier to justify trade protection or, in the United States, potential military activism. Such responses are naive. We have to play it long, encourage and help to co-manage the change that must come. Only thus will the world be a safer and still prosperous place."
For more about his new book, go here and here (New York: Free Press, 2006), and here and here (London: Little, Brown, 2007).
Sunday, January 7, 2007
A Question for Our Readers
"One Last Push and That's You Finished in Iraq, Mr President." That's how Simon Jenkins begins his column in today's Sunday Times. Jenkins concludes, "The only good news is that it surely must be the beginning of the end." Amen.
Read it and consider what I'm about to say. I invite our readers, and especially those who supported U.S. intervention in Iraq either in March 2003 or subsequently argued against withdrawal, to tell us what they think George Bush should do now and why they think it would be the best course of action. And if you think U.S. armed forces should incrementally stand down as the Iraqi army steps up, tell us why you think this would work now.
Monday, January 1, 2007
A Happy New Year to All Our Readers!
That is to say, I hope you all enjoy a very happy and prosperous 1710! Go here, here, here, and here to find out more.
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Gerald Ford: America's Greatest President?
Alexander Cockburn makes his case here. Yes, in many ways he did a lot less harm than those who held office before and after him. Like Ayn Rand, I prefer the low-key Ford to Reagan and his explicit appeal to religious values. And neither should we forget Ford was a member of America First.
However, for libertarians I think the choice has to be between Martin van Buren and Grover Cleveland, with Warren Harding as runner-up.
Friday, December 22, 2006
A Surprisingly Humorous Greetings Card
Go here to view the card sent out by Britain's Commission for Racial Equality. I write "surprisingly" because the CRE has the reputation for taking itself very seriously and is not known for its satire.
Hat tip to Frank Furedi, author of Do they know it's Christmas? on how Christmas has become a battleground in the culture war over the status of religion.
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Marijuana Is Now the Largest Cash Crop in the U.S.
According to a report, Marijuana Production in the United States (2006), written by Jon Gettman and published by DrugScience.org, marijuana is now the largest cash crop grown in this country. The full report is here (pdf file).
Friday, December 15, 2006
When the "Public Interest" Transcends the Rule of Law
On the day on which Tony Blair became the first serving prime minister to be quizzed as part of a criminal investigation, it was announced that the Serious Fraud Squad had dropped its investigation into corruption over a multi-billion British-Saudi arms deal. In the words of Lord Goldsmith, the attorney-general, "It has been necessary to balance the need to maintain the rule of law against the wider public interest." For commentaries go here and here.
Monday, December 11, 2006
A Dictator Dismantled
This account struck me as a fair appraisal of Augusto Pinochet.
"Pinochet was admitted late to the plot that led to the coup against President Salvador Allende on September 11 1973. His genius was to appropriate power to himself and to use terror, both to eliminate opponents on the left and to intimidate those members of the armed forces who upheld constitutional rule. The dictatorship he installed was not the bloodiest in Latin America. It was shocking because it happened in a country proud of its democratic traditions."
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Simon Jenkins on the Possibility of a Realistic America
You can read another fine article from Simon Jenkins here.
"Strong countries can bomb and invade weak ones but not conquer them. They can sow destruction but not ordain peace. America will have humiliated only itself in this region and will not return for a long time. While its withdrawal from Europe would have been dreadful during the cold war, its withdrawal from this debacle can only be welcome.
"The horror of this war may just induce the rulers of Iran, Pakistan, Syria and the Gulf states to seek common cause in guaranteeing Iraq's integrity. They may recover their self-esteem and feel more secure in curbing their jihadist hotheads and Al-Qaeda cells — as they are not now. That is the only hope.
"Over the past five years hundreds of thousands have died and tens of billions of dollars been wasted that could have done so much good in the world. The Fourth Crusade has been restaged largely at the behest of one man, Osama Bin Laden. It will end, as everything in history ends. But was there ever such a mistake?"
Andrew Sullivan on a Sinister New America
For once, Andrew Sullivan has written a column that is well worth reading from beginning to end. Go here to read his take on the detention of Jose Padilla and what it portends for individual liberty in these United States of America.
"More than two centuries after the construction of the US constitution, almost eight centuries since Magna Carta, Americans are at the mercy of a new king, who can jail without charges and torture at will.
"The rationale? A war that has no definable end. The constitution itself declares that habeas corpus is inviolate except in cases of invasion or rebellion. But under this president, the constitution no longer applies. You want proof? Remember Jose Padilla. No one in Washington has."
Saturday, December 9, 2006
An Interview with David Starkey
Britain's highest-paid historian is also acclaimed as "Britain's rudest man." He doesn't suffer fools gladly. So how would he get on with The Independent's intrepid interviewer? Go here to find out.
Friday, December 8, 2006
What the Neocons Have Wrought
Martin Jacques explains how the neocons have finished what the Vietcong started. He argues that Vietnam traumatised the U.S. but left its power intact. Iraq, however, will be far more serious for the superpower.
Tuesday, December 5, 2006
The Untold Story of France’s Role in the Rwandan Genocide
My knowledge of French involvement in the Rwandan genocide was very limited until I read this article in Tuesday’s Times. Andrew Wallis, author of Silent Accomplice: The Untold Story of France's Role in the Rwandan Genocide (London and New York: I. B. Tauris, 2006) recounts the story here. French President Francois Mitterrand once said, "in countries like that, genocide is not so important." The truth is that every instance of genocide is important, and no one should escape responsibility for such a crime.
Monday, December 4, 2006
Liberaltarians, Anyone?
In today’s Washington Post Sebastian Mallaby discusses Brink Lindsey’s article in the current issue of The New Republic. There Lindsey argues that libertarians should ditch the Republican Party in favor of the Democrats.
Evidently Brink Lindsey defines libertarians in the very generous manner described here. According to Mallaby, Lindsey argues that "the ambition of realistic libertarians is not to shrink government but to contain it: to cut senseless spending such as the farm program and oil subsidies to make room for the inevitable expansion in areas such as health." So apparently that's what libertarianism has come down to, at least as conceived by the vice-president for research at the Cato Institute. I can't imagine that some of his colleagues and donors will be impressed by this particular formulation of what libertarians should aim for.
Mallaby concludes thus:
"The era of big government is far from over, and liberals and libertarians gain nothing from fighting over its inevitable growth. But precisely because government is on a trajectory of unsustainable expansion, liberals and libertarians have a common interest in reinventing it."
I understand where Sebastian Mallaby, a political pundit who does not claim to be a libertarian, is coming from. I'm more puzzled by Brink Lindsey, who, I guess, claims to be a libertarian.
Sunday, December 3, 2006
Update on Litvinenko
According to a story in Sunday's Observer, Litvinenko was planning to blackmail senior Russian spies and business figures. If true, it's not surprising he was bumped off.
Friday, December 1, 2006
Throwing Light on Litvinenko’s Death
Read Chris Floyd here, James Heartfield here, and Brendan O’Neill here.
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Michael Fry: Scotland Alone
Michael Fry, makes the case for Scottish Independence. It's well worth reading and very informative.
Although he is no longer a Tory, Fry remains "a conservative in a social, economic and moral sense." He is the author of several books, including The Dundas Despotism (1992/2004), The Scottish Empire (2001), How the Scots Made America (2005), and The Union: England, Scotland and the Treaty of 1707 (Edinburgh: Birlinn, 2006). You can read Ruaridh Nicholl's favorable review of The Union here.
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Europe's Most Downtrodden Minority
As this article makes clear, persecution of the Roma, once known as gypsies, continues apace in the European Union.
"Subject to entrenched harassment, discrimination, and ghettoisation, the Roma are liberty's losers in the transformation wrought by recent free elections and free markets."
"The Roma, who can be sub-divided into at least five different groupings, migrated to Europe from the Indian sub-continent 1,000 years ago. Although commonly seen as nomadic, more than 90% of Roma in Europe are settled and sedentary. Of some 10 million worldwide, around 7-8 million live in Europe, concentrated in central and eastern Europe and the Balkans. Around half a million Roma perished in the Holocaust. Accurate figures on the spread of Roma are unavailable. Figures are estimates: Romania 2 million; Bulgaria 800,000; Slovakia 600,000; Hungary 600,000; Greece 300,000; Czech Republic 250,000; former Yugoslavia 250,000; and Poland 50,000."
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Simon Jenkins: If Scotland Wants Partition, the British Cannot Deny It
Simon Jenkins explains that many nations have prospered after gaining independence from their neighbours, and asks why should the Scots be different?
Iraq Nears the "Saigon Moment"
Patrick Cockburn asks "Does Anyone in Washington or at Downing Street Know What's Really Happening in Iraq?"
"[G]oing by official statements, the British government knows no more about what was going on in Iraq in 2006 than it did in 2003. The picture Blair paints of Iraq seldom touches reality at any point. For instance he says Iraqis 'voted [f]or an explicitly non-sectarian government,' but every Iraqi knows that the vote in two parliamentary elections in 2005 went wholly along sectarian and ethnic lines. The polls were the starting pistol for the start of the civil war.
"Blair [or for that matter Bush] steadfastly refuses to accept the fact that opposition to the American and British occupation of Iraq has been the main cause of the insurgency. The commander of the British army General Sir Richard Dannatt was almost fired for his trouble when he made the obvious point that 'we should get ourselves out some time soon because our presence exacerbates the security problem.'"
Monday, November 27, 2006
An Unhappy Anniversary
According to Gary Younge, since yesterday American troops have been in Iraq longer than they were in the Second World War. I haven't checked his arithmetic but that sounds about right.
Younge's commentary explains why Bush and Blair will blame anyone but themselves for the consequences of their disastrous war—even its victims.
"Withdrawal, when it happens, will be welcome. But its nature and the rationale given for it are not simply issues of political point-scoring. They will lay the groundwork for what comes next for two main reasons.
"First, because, while withdrawal is a prerequisite for any lasting improvement in Iraq, it will not by itself solve the nation's considerable problems."
"Second, because unless we understand what happened in Iraq we are doomed to continue repeating these mistakes elsewhere."
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Don't Rush to Judgment
Tom Parfitt recommends that we don't rush to blame Putin for the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko.
"The idea that Litvinenko was a crusading dissident in the mould of Alexander Solzhenitsyn is risible. People who had never heard of him two weeks ago are now trumpeting his 'courageous, high-profile stand against the Kremlin'. The fact is that Litvinenko was a paid employee of Boris Berezovsky, the oligarch and archenemy of Putin."
Right now the identity of the person or persons responsible for killing Litvinenko remains an open question.
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Who Will Save London (and the British Taxpayer) from This Folly?
Andrew Rawnsley considers the ruinously expensive folly of the London Olympics and suggests a way out of the quagmire.
"The most priceless moment of Ms Jowell's appearance before MPs was when she got to explaining the 'delivery fee' for the management of the project. What was £100m in August has now inflated to £500m. The cost of cost-control has quintupled! In just three months! This is the mad, mad world of the Olympics."
"When the French lost the Olympics, they were stunned and upset that they had come runners-up to Britain, almost as stunned and upset as those of us who never wanted these impoverishing Games in our city. France has a better record of making a reasonable fist of grand projets like this. In the French presidential elections, Segolene Royal and Nicolas Sarkozy will be competing to please French national pride. How about inviting Sego and Sarko to bid to take the Games off our hands? Just a thought. A better one, surely, than the idea of squandering ballooning billions on this benighted five-ring circus."
Friday, November 24, 2006
Mark Kurlansky: A Pen against the Sword
Mark Kurlansky is the author of internationally bestselling micro-histories of Cod (1997) and Salt (2002). His most recent book, Nonviolence: Twenty-five Lessons from the History of a Dangerous Idea (New York: Modern Library; London: Jonathan Cape, 2006), "traces the history of non-violence movements throughout the world and argues that the state has always regarded those who oppose violence as a threat to society."
The Independent carries John Freeman's interesting interview with Mark Kurlansky.
The book "culls the past two millennia, examining moments when non-violence flourished [and] ends with a list of 25 pithy lessons, from 'Practitioners of nonviolence are seen as enemies of the state' to 'A propaganda machine promoting hatred always has a war waiting in the wings.'"
Paul Omerod on Why Hayek's Approach May Succeed Where Friedman's Failed
"Milton Friedman was a highly original economic thinker. But even in the one area he was proved correct, his work is likely to be outshone by that of another economist."
"Friedman was a brilliant polemicist. He had several highly original ideas about how economies work. Most have proved to be wrong, but at least he had them. And in the one area where he was proved correct, he exercised great influence on policymakers. But even in this area, Hayek's insights go much deeper and offer a better framework for the research programmes of the 21st century."
Read British economist Paul Omerod's thoughtful essay on the contributions of Keynes, Friedman, and Hayek here at Prospect online.
Jonathan Steele on Why Only Iraqis Can Overcome This Catastrophe
Jonathan Steele has often struck me as an insightful writer on foreign affairs. His most recent commentary is no exception. He explains that although Iran and Syria want to be seen as a stabilising force in Iraq, in contrast to the failure of the US, there is little they can do.
"As US influence wanes, neither Tehran nor Damascus can fill the void. Iraq has become a calamity that outsiders can only watch in horror. If cure there is, Iraqis will have to find it on their own."
£7,280,000,000 and Counting
Simon Jenkins contributes his two cents to the Olympic disaster in the making.
"The 1948 London Olympics cost £20m at today's prices. Such a sum, or £50m, or even £200m (10 times bigger) should be the upper limit for a festival of sport. If that is considered stingy, then how about half a billion? But £7,280,000,000 and counting? This is getting insane."
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Simon Jenkins on the Demented Tony Blair
Simon Jenkins explains here why Blair is wildly exaggerating the threat posed by terrorism and how, craving a monstrous enemy, the prime minister has vastly overstated this supposed threat to world security.
"After 1990 many hoped that an age of stable peace might dawn. Rich nations might disarm and combine to help the poor, advancing the cause of global responsibility. Instead two of history's most internationalist states, America and Britain, have returned to the trough of conflict, chasing a chimera of 'world terrorism', and at ludicrous expense. They have brought death and destruction to a part of the globe that posed no strategic threat. Now one of them, Tony Blair, stands in a patch of desert to claim that 'world security in the 21st century' depends on which warlord controls it. Was anything so demented?"
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Another (British) Government Boondoggle
Alice Miles writes about the Olympic disaster.
Friday, November 17, 2006
This Is Outrageous!
Is it too much to ask everyone who identifies as libertarian or classical liberal to protest this proposed assault on individual liberty in the Netherlands? Perhaps Dutch civil libertarians might don burqas (or helmets with visors) in protest.
"The Dutch cabinet has backed a proposal by the country's immigration minister [Rita Verdonk] to ban Muslim women from wearing the burqa in public places.
"The burqa, a full body covering that also obscures the face, would be banned by law in the street, and in trains, schools, buses and the law courts.
"The cabinet said burqas disturb public order, citizens and safety."
I’m not inclined to draw inappropriate analogies between contemporary events and the history of Nazi Germany, but I can’t help thinking this is pretty much what Hitler said about the Jews.
"Other forms of face coverings, such as helmets with visors that obscure the face, would also be covered by a legal ban.
"Ms Verdonk insisted the burqa was not an acceptable part of public life in the Netherlands.
"But the minister told the BBC that social interaction would be easier if faces were not covered.
"'It is very important that we can see each other and can communicate with each other. Because we are so tolerant we want to respect each other.'"
Yeah, right.
UPDATE: According to this article (scroll down), the burqa is outlawed in five Belgian towns, including Antwerp.
FURTHER UPDATE: Naima Bouteldja, a French journalist, explains here how the Dutch have reached a new level of authoritarianism and how across Europe, the campaign against the veil now has an established pattern; and it has nothing to do with integration.
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Milton Friedman: "The Money Man Who Rewrote the Rules"
"Milton Friedman deserves to sit alongside Adam Smith, Ricardo, Marx and Keynes as one of the greatest economists of all time." Go here to read Charles Goodhart's nuanced and well-informed obituary.
UPDATE: Here are obituaries from the The Independent and The Times. And here is Samuel Brittan's fine appreciation of Milton Friedman with some especially good stories about him.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Simon Jenkins: The Occupancy of Iraq Has Passed from Brutality to Mere Idiocy
"To talk of a collapse into civil war if 'we leave' Iraq is to completely misread the chaos into which that country has descended under our rule. It implies a model of order wholly absent on the ground. Foreign soldiers can stay in their bases, but they will no more 'prevent civil war' than they can 'import democracy'. They are relevant only as target practice for insurgents and recruiting sergeants for al-Qaida. The occupation of Iraq has passed from brutality to mere idiocy."
Simon Jenkins concludes:
"Bush and Blair are men in a hurry, and such men lose wars. If there is a game plan in Tehran it will be to play Iraq long. Why stop the Great Satan when he is driving himself to hell in a handcart? If London and Washington really want help in this part of the world they must start from diplomatic ground zero. They will have to stop the holier-than-thou name-calling and the pretence that they hold any cards. They will have to realise that this war has lost them all leverage in the region. They can insult and sanction and threaten. But there is nothing left for them to ‘do’ but leave. They are no longer the subject of that mighty verb, only its painful object."
To read his essay, go here.
Monday, November 6, 2006
Have Bush and Blair Forfeited the Moral Authority to Hang Saddam?
Yes, says Max Hastings, who believes that the verdict on the former Iraqi dictator is just, but everything stinks about the process by which it has been reached.
Sunday, November 5, 2006
Who Really Won the Second World War?
Not the Brits, theirs was a small contribution. The Americans—well, yes, in large part. But more than either of those, the Soviet Union made the greatest contribution. Norman Davies presents the revisionist case to a wider audience here.
"After talking at Cambridge recently about the preponderance of the eastern front and the scale of the Red Army’s triumph, I was accosted by an angry young British historian. 'Don't you realise that we were pinning down 56 German divisions in France alone,' he said. 'Without that the Red Army would have been heavily defeated.' What is less acknowledged is that without the Red Army pulverising 150 divisions, the allies would never have landed.
"The attack on the Third Reich was a joint effort. But it was not a joint effort of two equal parts. The lion's share of victory in Europe can be awarded only to Stalin’s forces and it is a fantasy to believe that he was fighting for justice and democracy."
Norman Davies' new book, Europe at War 1939-1945: No Simple Victory (Macmillan) has just been published in the UK. American readers will have to wait until next year for the book unless they order it from Britain. You can read extracts from an interview with Davies here and an extract from the book here.
Readers may also be interested to learn about Davies' other new book, Europe East and West (London: Jonathan Cape), a collection of essays, where he argues for a comprehensive view that challenges Western stereotypes and no longer ignores the history and experience of Eastern Europe. Among other issues, he proposes a revision of the misunderstood Allied victory in 1945 that parallels his Europe at War 1939-1945 discussed above.
Friday, November 3, 2006
Check Out These Really Neat Maps!
Go here to view some very detailed maps that explore many different characteristics of the American people and where they live.
Open Secrets
With next week's elections imminent, readers may care to visit Open Secrets, a website that monitors campaign contributors and their donations to candidates for federal office.
Go here to find out how much Charles Koch of Koch Industries has contributed to whom during the 2005-2006 election cycle. Go here to find out how much his brother David, vice-presidential candidate of the Libertarian Party in 1980, has shelled out during this same period. If, as expected, the Democrats win control of the House next week, would they have been better off distributing their largesse more widely?
Be advised that, if you wish to look up another donor, you should write a comma between their last name and their first name. Otherwise you will get no results.
Thursday, November 2, 2006
Clifford Geertz (1926-2006)
Clifford Geertz, the eminent cultural anthropologist who had a significant influence in many other disciplines, died Monday. He was a professor emeritus in the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton University, where he had served on the faculty since 1970. For an account of his work and career go here.
Is Kansas Turning Blue?
Go here and follow the links.
Friday, October 27, 2006
King's Counsellor: The Diaries of Sir Alan Lascelles
Next week the edited diaries of Sir Alan Lascelles (1887-1981) are published by Orion in Britain. "Tommy" Lascelles was private secretary to four monarchs, and his diaries reveal the inside story of the Abdication, the royal family during the Second World War and the Princess Margaret-Peter Townsend affair.
You can read extracts here. If you're interested in the high politics of twentieth-century Britain or even just peeking behind the curtain that conceals the machinations of the British establishment, you'll surely enjoy his damning assessment of Edward VIII as prince, king, and exile. "I can't help thinking that the best thing that could happen to him, and to the country, would be for him to break his neck." "God forgive me," said Stanley Baldwin, the prime minister. "I have often thought the same." The year was 1927, nine years before Baldwin, once again prime minister, presided over the constitutional crisis that led to Edward abdicating the throne to marry the twice-divorced Mrs. Wallis Simpson.
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Ghost Plane: The True Story of the CIA Torture Program
Stephen Grey's new book on how the CIA facilitated torture through "extraordinary rendition" is published by St. Martin’s Press in the U.S. and by C. Hurst in the UK. To read stories from the book go here and here.
Trevor Paglen and A. C. Thompson's Torture Taxi: On the Trail of the CIA's Rendition Flights covers the same subject and was published last month by Melville House.
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Simon Jenkins on Iraq as a Living Hell
Simon Jenkins recounts the awful truth here.
"[Iraq] has been turned by two of the most powerful and civilised nations on Earth into the most hellish place on Earth. Armies claiming to bring democracy and prosperity have brought bloodshed and a misery worse than under the most ruthless modern dictator. This must be the stupidest paradox in modern history. Neither America nor Britain has the guts to rule Iraq properly, yet they lack the guts to leave.
"Blair speaks of staying until the job is finished. What job? The only job he can mean is his own."
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Dubai: Capitalist Mecca or Authoritarian Dystopia?
Read Mike Davis on Dubai and decide for yourself.
UPDATE: According to this report, some laborers bound for Iraq end up building the new $592-million U.S. embassy in Baghdad.
Friday, October 20, 2006
Lord Harris of High Cross (1924-2006)
Ralph Harris, the first general director of the Institute of Economic Affairs in London, has died suddenly aged 81 of a heart attack. For the last photograph of Harris alive, go here.
The Daily Telegraph describes Harris as "perhaps the most successful polemicist of the second half of the 20th century, retrieving and advancing free-market ideas which were initially deeply out of favour and providing the intellectual basis for Margaret Thatcher's reforms of the 1980s." The Telegraph also carries a nice appreciation of Harris which concludes thus: "[A]t the heart of Harris's creed was the idea that the state was an evil to be kept at bay, and that nothing should take precedence over the freedom of the individual to be left alone within the law. His contribution to public discourse, economic thought and the idea of liberty was immense. His was, in its way, a heroic life."
The Times also provides a detailed account of his character, his work at the IEA, and his relationship with politicians, including Sir Keith Joseph and Margaret Thatcher. "As far as the IEA was concerned, he was opposed to orthodox political involvement. Think-tanks should aim to change opinion, but remain uncontaminated by baser activity. He argued the point with inimitable style: 'Keep clear of politics. Politics is bad for you. It leads to compromise and deals and confusion and vote-getting and lying and cheating and all these, in the end.'"
In a less than sympathetic obituary, Andrew Roth describes him as "the high priest of the libertarian right". Roth's account of his life is still worth reading for stories that are not mentioned in the other obituaries. "He had his greatest dilemma in April 1998, when Lord Denham called for public funds to save the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. 'Should an honest market man,' Harris said in the Lords, 'get mixed up in what looks suspiciously like an appeal for subsidies, even for so good a cause? To me, public money has always been tainted money.' But as a D'Oyly Carte enthusiast, he was torn. So he turned to the Arts Council, urging it to favour Gilbert and Sullivan as a good investment." Note to American readers: the Arts Council is funded by taxation.
Over at the Adam Smith Institute blog Eamonn Butler acknowledges that "those of us who created the Adam Smith Institute were among those who benefited from his early support and encouragement."
I shall conclude on a personal note. I first met Ralph Harris when I was a college student and I was immediately captivated by his charismatic evangelism on behalf of the free market. Subsequently I met him a number of times. He was an eloquent advocate of individual liberty and the free market. But above all I remember him as a generous, kind, and thoughtful person.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Henry Porter: We're All Suspects Now
Henry Porter explains how individual liberties have been eroded since Tony Blair became prime minister.
"Identity cards. Number-plate surveillance. CCTV. Control orders. The list of ways in which the Government has sought to manipulate and define the limits of our liberty grows ever longer. Ten years ago, the novelist and polemicist Henry Porter would have felt silly speaking out about human rights in Britain. But that was before the most fundamental assault on personal freedom ever undertaken. Now, he argues, it's time we woke up to reality."
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Frank Furedi: My Hungarian Revolution
Frank Furedi recalls the Hungarian uprising of October 1956 and how Soviet tanks rolled into Budapest to crush the insurrection. The son of a dissident, he was a nine-year old 'class enemy'. Later, on the night of November 21, his family crossed the border to Austria.
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
The Courts Are Starting to Accept that the War against Iraq Is a Crime
George Monbiot describes some recent British and Irish court proceedings where protesters who have deliberately damaged military equipment are walking from the dock.
"It is true that such verdicts (or non-verdicts) impose no legal obligations on the government. They do not in themselves demonstrate that its ministers are guilty of war crimes. But every time the prosecution fails to secure a conviction, the state's authority to take decisions which contravene international law is weakened."
Everything You Wanted to Know about North Korea
Gary Leupp has the scoop here. He makes a good case that North Korea is a religious state rather than a Marxist-Leninist one.
He concludes: "In any case, the confrontation here isn't between 'freedom' and 'one of the world's last communist regimes,' nor even between fundamentalist Christian Bush and Kim Il-songist Kim Jong-il. It's between a weird hermetic regime under threat and determined to survive in its small space, using a cult to control its people, and a weird much more dangerous regime under the delusion that God wants it to smite His enemies and to control the whole world. Both are in the business of peddling 'illusions of happiness.' Neither is much concerned about the 'real happiness' of people. Both ought to be changed---by those they oppress, demanding an end to conditions requiring illusions."
I agree. What else is there to say?
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Britain in the Twentieth Century: A Revisionist Perspective
I've just come across Gwydion M. Williams perceptive article on the British Empire and the fifty-years struggle to save Britain's global hegemony.
His analysis of British foreign policy in the first half of the twentieth century strikes me as very much to the point and I commend his essay for our readers' attention.
You may also wish to check out his essay on Britspeak. Ah, perfidious Albion. John Bull does indeed speak with a forked tongue. Likewise Uncle Sam.
Sunday, October 8, 2006
Silent Suffering: The Story behind the Most Successful Film in British History
Filled with shocking scenes of soldiers cheering on their way to die in combat, it was the most watched film of its day. The men behind The Battle of the Somme lived on to tell the tale. But did they tell it honestly? Christopher Hudson recounts the fascinating story.
Simon Jenkins on the Hypocrisy of Jack Straw
As some of you may be aware, last week Jack Straw, a senior member of the Labour government, called for Moslem women in Britain to discard the burqa. Straw was formerly Home Secretary and latterly Foreign Secretary, and is now Leader of the House of Commons. In other words, he has been an important member of the cabinet since Tony Blair became prime minister. In today's Sunday Times Simon Jenkins has written a perceptive column where he agrees with Straw's request but then explains how Shaw's exploitation of this topic is vulnerable to a number of hypocrisies.
"He and Blair took Britain to war. Straw has bought the full package, bombing Kabul and Baghdad, Guantanamo Bay, the return to Afghanistan and now a refusal to discuss withdrawal. He is a paid-up member of the pro-war cabinet.
"That the Iraq and Afghan wars have radicalised Muslim opinion against the West worldwide is a truism everywhere but in those citadels of denial, the White House and No 10. While the radicalising is most vociferous in the Middle East, its crypto-religious connotations have spilt over into Muslim communities everywhere. Antipathy is not just to the wars but also to the 'western values' in whose name they are being fought.
"The government’s claim that it is saving Muslims from their own worst selves and bringing them democracy is as patronising as it is implausible.
"Yet Straw believes it and last year vociferously declared that Muslim fanaticism in Britain 'has nothing whatever to do with the war'."
Friday, October 6, 2006
Sex, Fear, and Looting: Survivors Disclose Untold Stories of the Blitz
Maev Kennedy recounts some untold stories of the Blitz taken from Joshua Levine's new book Forgotten Voices of the Blitz and the Battle for Britain (Ebury Press and the Imperial War Museum). You can also listen to the voices on CD or cassette.
Be advised that the book and audios are not yet published in the U.S. Although you can order the book from Amazon.com, you have to buy the audios from Amazon.co.uk or another British source.
Tuesday, October 3, 2006
Common Sense about Foley's Follies
Gary Leupp writes about the activities of Mark Foley, the Republican congressman who has just resigned. Republican hypocrisy. Certainly. But Leupp offers a more thoughtful and nuanced view of the affair than most commentators. The prevailing response to the affair is surely a good example of what the sociologist Stanley Cohen called moral panic. In this case, it is the moral panic that arises whenever the heady brew of adolescents, adults and sex, particularly homosexuality, hits the headlines in America.
Monday, October 2, 2006
Is America Living beyond Its Means?
Larry Elliott argues that America is living beyond its means. For many years I have been concerned about the underlying strength of the U.S. economy and the prospects for the dollar and asset markets. You don't have to agree with Lou Dobbs to be skeptical of those who write so enthusiastically about the American economy. Neither do you have to believe protectionism is the answer. Whether or not you believe that America is living beyond its means, I suggest Larry Elliott raises some serious arguments. They're certainly ones that have troubled me for some time.
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Judges, Police: Two of the Rule-Free Classes
Minette Marin explains how in Britain there are those who have to abide by the rules and those who don't.
Henry Porter on the Disaster That Is Iraq
Henry Porter explains why Bush and Blair are still getting it so wrong in the 'war on terror.'
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Geoffrey Wheatcroft on Tony Blair
Geoffrey Wheatcroft writes consistently well-informed and well-written columns in the British press. This one is no exception.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Putting Words in Ahmadinejad's Mouth
Virginia Tilley explains what President Ahmadinejad actually said in contrast to what was reported by the media.
Sunday, August 27, 2006
"Every New Arab Generation Hates Israel More Than the Previous One"
These are the words of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. And I think he's right. Read the Israeli writer and peace activist Uri Avnery’s essay on the Second Lebanon War for this quotation and more.
"The main product of this war is hatred. The pictures of death and destruction in Lebanon entered every Arab home, indeed every Muslim home, from Indonesia to Morocco, from Yemen to the Muslim ghettos in London and Berlin. Not for an hour, not for a day, but for 33 successive days—day after day, hour after hour."
Further on, he explains how Israeli apologists appeal to the neocon slogan about a 'clash of civilizations' that echoes the words of the founder of modern Zionism, Theodor Herzl.
"After every single one of the war aims put forward by our government had evaporated, one after the other, another reason was brought up: this war was a part of the 'clash of civilizations', the great campaign of the Western world and its lofty values against the barbarian darkness of the Islamic world.
"That reminds one, of course, of the words written 110 years ago by the father of modern Zionism, Theodor Herzl, in the founding document of the Zionist movement: 'In Palestine we shall constitute for Europe a part of the wall against Asia, and serve as the vanguard of civilization against barbarism.' Without knowing, Olmert almost repeated this formula in his justification of his war, in order to please President Bush."
Bush and Saddam Should Both Stand Trial, Says Nuremberg Prosecutor
A chief prosecutor of Nazi war crimes at Nuremberg says that George W. Bush should be tried for war crimes along with Saddam Hussein. Benjamin Ferencz, who secured convictions for 22 Nazi officers for their work in orchestrating the death squads that killed more than one million people, argues that Bush and Saddam should be tried for starting "aggressive" wars—Saddam for his 1990 attack on Kuwait and Bush for his 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
The British State to Pardon (a few of) Its Victims
The Guardian carries the news that the Defence Secretary will seek a pardon for the 306 men who were shot for cowardice or desertion during the First World War. Parliamentary approval is required. For more of the story, go here.
Coincidentally, I believe that during a debate on this topic in the House of Commons, the Reverend Ian Paisley, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, whom Lord Carrington called "the bigot of all bigots", supported a pardon.
The pardons are also likely to affect former soldiers from other Commonwealth countries—such as Canada—and their families now living there.
To date New Zealand, France and Germany have pardoned soldiers who were shot in the same way. May we expect the United States to do so in the not too distant future?
Last year the UK government said it would scrap the death penalty for military offences in the armed forces. The forces have not carried out the death penalty for more than eighty years, but it still applies to five offences: misconduct in action, assisting the enemy, obstructing operations with intent to assist the enemy, mutiny, and failure to suppress mutiny with intent to assist the enemy. It was last used in 1920 when Private James Daly of the 1st Battalion of the Connaught Rangers was found guilty of mutiny at Jullunder in the Punjab.
Wednesday, August 9, 2006
Jackie Mason Defends Mel Gibson
Neil Cavuto interviews Jackie Mason. Jackie Mason gets it right. Perhaps we can now move on.
Tuesday, August 8, 2006
A Vote for Inflation?
From today's press release by the Federal Reserve:
"Voting for the FOMC monetary policy action were: Ben S. Bernanke, Chairman; Timothy F. Geithner, Vice Chairman; Susan S. Bies; Jack Guynn; Donald L. Kohn; Randall S. Kroszner; Sandra Pianalto; Kevin M. Warsh; and Janet L. Yellen. Voting against was Jeffrey M. Lacker, who preferred an increase of 25 basis points in the federal funds rate target at this meeting."
Friday, August 4, 2006
Maybe Self-Loving Does Make You Blind
Frank Furedi, professor of sociology at the University of Kent and author of many books and articles, including Therapy Culture: Cultivating Vulnerability in an Uncertain Age (Routledge, 2004), casts a skeptical eye on Europe's very first Masturbate-a-Thon event to be filmed and televised on Channel 4. Really, I'm not kidding.
Wednesday, August 2, 2006
Is Bush Blair's Poodle?
Brendan O’Neill asserts that the Bush administration is heir to the 'humanitarian warfare' masterminded by arch-interventionist Tony Blair. Well worth reading.
O’Neill concludes thus: "What the liberal commentators berating Blair for being Bush's poodle really seem to dislike about Bush's military interventionism is that it appears brash, uncouth, clumsy. Blair, you see, did it with more panache, making sure to speak about Good and Evil in modern secular terms rather than in Christian fundamentalist tones, and being careful to execute moral-military stunts that lasted a couple of months at most rather than full-scale military invasions. Blair is a good old British warmonger, a moral warrior with style, whereas Bush is loud and outspoken and a bit too gung-ho for British tastes. Again, as far as challenging Western intervention goes, such a stance is as lame as it gets."
A Leftist Looks at the American Left
Leftist philosopher Michael Neumann has written a perceptive essay about the American left and its failures in recent years.
Monday, July 31, 2006
Bush Could Rein in Israel but He Won't
As George Monbiot explains, President Bush is quite capable of reining in Israel but he won’t.
Well Worth Reading
Go here for Professor Juan Cole's informed account of Hizbullah that distinguishes it from al-Qaeda.
And go here for his thoughtful and disturbing analysis of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani's response to Israel's war on Lebanon. Other commentators have written something similar but Cole has penned some especially well argued remarks.
Friday, July 28, 2006
The Man Who Would Be King
In 1931 Anthony Hall, a former Shropshire police inspector, created consternation at Buckingham Palace when he spoke to large audiences across the West Midlands making his claim to the British throne. On one occasion he announced that, "The King is a German, a pure bred German ... I want to become the first policeman to cut off the King's head."
The story unfolds in correspondence to the Home Office and the Palace released today at the National Archives. Hall traced his ancestry to Thomas Hall, the bastard son of Henry VIII, who died in 1534. To add to his claim to the throne, he argued that the real James I of England had been murdered as an infant and his remains lay in a coffin in Edinburgh Castle. His place was taken by an "impostor and changeling," James Erskine, whom he dubbed "goggle-eyed Jim."
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Jonathan Cook: Five Myths That Sanction Israel's War Crimes
Readers who chide Israeli attacks on Lebanon as "disproportionate" or worse yet support Israel's victory in the current conflict, would do well to read British journalist Jonathan Cook's informed demolition of Five Myths That Sanction Israel's War Crimes. Since the current conflict began, I've been suspicious of the demonization of Hezbollah by governments and commentators around the world, and not least by those writers who identify as libertarians.
"The third myth is that, while Israel is trying to fight a clean war by targeting only terrorists, Hezbollah prefers to bring death and destruction on innocents by firing rockets at Israeli civilians."
"Hezbollah seems to have as little concern for the collateral damage of civilian deaths as Israel – each wants the balance of terror in its favor – but it is nonsense to suggest that Hezbollah's goals are any more ignoble than Israel's."
See also Cook's Crossing Red Lines where he argues that "Israel and Hizbollah have identical objectives: both are targetting economic and military assets with careless disregard for civilans."
Monday, July 24, 2006
The Humanitarian Urge is Morphing into Thirst for War
Simon Jenkins says that calls to send troops back into Lebanon beggar belief. "We should dispatch the Red Cross, not the aircraft carriers."
He concludes: "Of course something must be done about the agonies suffered by the people of the Middle East. Humanity demands it. I would sail the first Red Cross ship into Beirut harbour. But I would sink the first aircraft carrier."
Go here to read his plea against armed intervention in the Lebanon.
Sunday, July 23, 2006
Blackmail by Bombs
Read Azmi Bishara’s analysis here.
The Land That Time Forgot
British journalist A. A. Gill tells you everything you need to know about life in Albania.
Saturday, July 22, 2006
The Brutal Legacy of the British Empire
Richard Gott argues that all around the world, from Sierra Leone to Sri Lanka, the violent legacy of colonialism can still be witnessed. Read the full story here.
Thursday, July 20, 2006
The Biggest Wave of Migration into Britain for Three Centuries
That's Poles coming to live and work in Britain. "Official statistics suggest that 228,000 Poles have registered to live and work in Britain since Poland joined the EU in May 2004. Other estimates suggest the real figure is between 350,000 and 500,000, while last week the respected Polish news magazine Polityka estimated that one million Poles have moved to the UK. Some 83% of them are under 34. This benign invasion of eager and biddable young Poles has, it is generally agreed, been marvellous for the British economy and anyone who had previously struggled to find a cheap plumber." Read the full story here.
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Olmert the Barbarian
If you make an effort to read beyond the mainstream media, in which category I include the BBC, you will find analysis that provides a welcome rejoinder to the knee-jerk defense of Israel which passes for informed comment among most Americans.
Here are three different articles that I commend for your consideration.
M. Shahid Alam writes about Israel, the US and the New Orientalism. Don't miss the quotations from the American journalist Herbert Adams Gibbons (1880-1934) and Anstruther MacKay, military governor of part of Palestine during World War I.
Ahmad Khalidi asserts that if Israel has the right to use force in self defence, so do its neighbours. "The west appears to insist that only one side in the conflict is able to intervene militarily across borders. That will never be accepted."
Jonathan Cook, a British journalist who is based in Nazareth, Israel, writes a telling critique of BBC coverage of events entitled "Israelis Are Dying: It Must Be an Escalation." I also recommend you visit his website for other recent articles on the Middle East.
Btw, is there anyone who even now denies the existence of a successful Israel lobby in the U.S.?
Monday, July 17, 2006
Meet the Vicar of Baghdad
Stephen Moss interviews Andrew White, vicar of St. George's, Baghdad.
"White is now more diplomat than churchman - the foundation, though it has a Christian ethos, is independent of the Anglican church - but he may be the least diplomatic diplomat in the world. I ask him about one recent remark – 'I’ve got no time for trendy leftie peaceniks.' He is more than happy to amplify: 'I can pretend to like them, but I find it very difficult. You don't get through to problems or understand the situation by standing in front of tanks. Going into a situation that puts British embassy personnel in danger or puts themselves in danger is not the way forward. I can remember when I was negotiating on the Church of the Nativity siege in 2002. We had nine trendy peaceniks break into the church, and the siege went on longer because of them.'
"He doesn't like 'woolly liberals', either. When he was parish priest in Clapham, London, in the 1990s, he combined pastoral care with being a Tory [Conservative] councillor – 'It was quite useful having a vicar who dealt with everything, God and Mammon,' he says, with his strange, high-pitched laugh - and he still takes what politicians like to call a robust line with liberals, especially in the church. 'I can cope with anything,' he says when I ask him where he stands theologically. 'I can cope very well with orthodoxy - Greek Orthodox, Syrian Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox - I can cope with Anglo-Catholicism, evangelicalism, charismatics. I just can't cope with the woolly liberal bit in the middle that doesn't believe much.'
"It is in Baghdad and Gaza - among the believers - that he clearly feels most at home. 'I love the Middle East,’ he says. 'I love the people, I love the way they express their faith, I love their food. They're not woolly liberals. I have never found any woolly liberals in the Middle East.'"
Tuesday, June 6, 2006
Yakov Rabkin's New Book on the Jewish Opposition to Zionism
Michael Neumann has an interesting review of Professor Yakov M. Rabkin's new book A Threat from Within: A Century of Jewish Opposition to Zionism.
Thursday, June 1, 2006
Brian Cloughley: War Crimes Start at the Top
Brian Cloughley has written an excellent essay explaining why war crimes start at the top.
Sunday, May 28, 2006
"More than 1,000 Desert UK Forces"
According to the BBC, "[m]ore than 1,000 members of the British military have deserted the armed forces since the start of the 2003 Iraq war."
It comes as the UK Parliament considers a bill to make it an offense for military personnel to refuse to participate in the occupation of a foreign country. Refusal would be punishable by a maximum life sentence in prison.
"[T]he BBC has been told that more than 1,000 military personnel went absent without leave and failed to return since the beginning of the Iraq war in 2003.
"Some were subsequently arrested but about 900 have evaded capture, according to official figures.
"During 2005 alone, 377 people deserted and are still missing. So far, this year, another 189 are on the run."
"It is unclear how many troops are deserting because they do not want to go to Iraq and how many are doing so because of personal reasons such as family problems."
Saturday, May 27, 2006
Is It Any Surprise that Insurgents Thrive in Iraq?
In Haditha, Memories of a Massacre.
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
BIS Working Paper is Favorable to Austrian Insights
Martin Wolf, associate editor and chief economics commentator at the Financial Times, is always worth reading. Although today’s article is behind subscription, the good news is that Wolf writes about a recent working paper from the Bank for International Settlements that is freely available at their website.
Those sympathetic to Austrian capital theory and business cycle theory will find much of interest in William R. White's paper, "Is Price Stability Enough?" He discusses F. A. Hayek's contributions at some length and cites both Hayek (on the economics of full employment) and George A. Selgin (on the case for a falling price level in a growing economy). Go here for the abstract and here for the paper itself (pdf file). White's paper is non-mathematical and accessible to a reader who is familiar with key concepts in macroeconomics.
Monday, May 22, 2006
Mutual Aid Society Calls for State Pensions
Here is a report of the proceedings of the Annual Movable Delegation of the Order of Druids. Let me amplify that statement. The meeting took place in 1902.
What I find to be especially interesting is that "[I]t was resolved that it was the duty of the state to provide old-age pensions of not less than 5s. per week to all thrifty and deserving persons of 65 years of age and over who were unable to work and in need."
Six years later, in 1908, David Lloyd George, Chancellor of the Exchequer in Asquith’s Liberal government, announced means-tested Old Age Pensions between 1s. and 5s. per week for those aged 70 and over.
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Imperialists and Anti-Imperialists in History
Geoffrey Wheatcroft reminds his readers that many progressives and leftists, including Karl Marx, have long supported imperialism.
And just as the left was split, so were (and are) classical liberals. Consider, for example, Alexis de Tocqueville who supported French colonization of Algeria. For more see Jennifer Pitts' edition of Tocqueville's writings on empire and slavery.
For Enlightenment thinkers against empire, see Sankar Muthu's Enlightenment Against Empire that describes the anti-imperialist political philosophies of an age often regarded as affirming imperial ambitions. Muthu discusses at length the anti-imperialism of Denis Diderot, Immanuel Kant, and Johann Gottfried Herder.
Footnote: Muthu and Pitts are husband and wife. Both teach in the Politics Department at Princeton University.
Simon Jenkins Points a Way Out for Bush and Blair
Simon Jenkins calls for the U.S. to respond to this week's letter from Tehran. He concludes:
"There is, of course, one thing that Britain and America could do that would wholly disorientate Ahmadinejad and have him rushing troops to his borders. It would be a sudden end to the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. Such a decision would remove at a stroke the running theme of Iranian militancy. It would saddle Tehran with two unstable neighbours whose insurgents and revanchists would cause it, its allies and its surrogates no end of trouble. After a bit of initial crowing the next Iraq will be Ahmadinejad's nightmare. Unfortunately such a step seems too clever by half for the west's present leadership."
Monday, May 8, 2006
The Israel Lobby: The Debate Continues
As readers would expect, the London Review of Books has carried extended correspondence about Mearsheimer and Walt's article on the Israel Lobby about which my co-blogger Sheldon Richman posted a while ago. Go here to read the first letters, here to read Alan Dershowitz and others, and here to read the authors' reply.
Elsewhere Norman Finkelstein suggests that The Lobby: It's Not Either/Or. Worth a look.
Sunday, May 7, 2006
A Fascinating Article on Contemporary China
The spring 2006 issue of Dissent magazine carries a fascinating account of teaching political theory in Beijing. There's many fewer political constraints than you might think.
Hat tip to Lew Rockwell.
America's Finest?
For an interesting account of gang activity in the U.S. military, read this account. It would, of course, be absurd to blame all U.S. atrocities in Iraq on the presence of members of black and Latino gangs and the Aryan Nation. That said, I suspect military recruiters are quite happy to have young men with this sort of background help do the dirty work of "pacifying" the local population and even win a Purple Heart or two in the process.
Sunday, April 30, 2006
Who Said This?
"There are two sorts of forecasters. Those who don't know, and those who don't know they don't know."
Dietary Advice across the Years
Go here to learn more about changing dietary advice across the millennia and especially the last two hundred years. For an explanation, go here.
Friday, April 28, 2006
Double Standards
Jonathan Steele describes President Bush's double standards when it comes to international relations and explains that his messy choice of friends and enemies is not a moral failing, but a ruthless show of strength and should be feared.
When will "Beltway libertarians" recognize this truth?
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Muslim Violence and State Violence
The news that a German brothel has responded to threats of Muslim violence is indeed disturbing. It looks as if they took their decision more because they figured the police would not be prepared to protect their property against threats of violence than because they didn’t wish to offend public sensibilities irrespective of the threatened violence.
"A Cologne brothel touting for clients with a World Cup-themed banner has blacked out the flags of Iran and Saudi Arabia after threats from Muslims."
"The giant banner on a high-rise building shows a semi-naked woman and the flags of the 32 countries in the World Cup, which kicks off in June.
"The Pascha brothel's owner, Armin Lobscheid, said a group of Muslims had threatened violence over the advert.
"He said they had accused the brothel of insulting Islam by using the flags.
"First there were telephone threats of violence, then about 30 hooded protesters armed with knives and sticks turned up outside Pascha on Friday, the Koelner Stadt-Anzeiger newspaper reported.
"'The situation was explosive,' Mr Lobscheid told the paper."
That said, let us not forget that the threat of state violence deters Americans (and British) from operating brothels in their respective nation-states, with the limited exception of certain counties in Nevada, which even then are heavily regulated. Why is prostitution outlawed in every state in the U.S. but one? And why are brothels outlawed there and the UK? Could it be because a significant part of public opinion is outraged by the existence of prostitution and brothels and most of the population is prepared to tolerate the threat of state violence for this purpose?
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
What Would the British Have Done under Nazi Occupation?
Max Hastings has written a thoughtful essay in which he speculates on what the British would have done if the Nazis had occupied Britain. Irène Némirovsky's Suite Française (Chatto and Windus, 2006; Knopf, 2006), a portrait of wartime France, has become a bestseller more than 60 years after its Jewish author perished in Auschwitz, and this has prompted renewed debate about societies' conduct under occupation. Hastings suggests that the book is an antidote to British complacency about collaboration and the British would have behaved pretty much as the French did.
Monday, April 24, 2006
The Madness of Bombing Iran
Robert Skidelsky, the renowned historian and biographer of Oswald Mosley and John Maynard Keynes, argues that Western opinion is being softened up for a US or Israeli strike against the Iranian centrifuges at Natanz.
"Given that it is possible, though difficult, to put in place a series of checks on Iran’s nuclear ambitions, our leaders need to weigh very carefully the equivocal comfort that a so-called preventive strike may buy against the massive costs of mounting one. It is as certain as it can be that a strike against Iran would inflame Muslim hatred throughout the Middle East and beyond. It would interrupt oil supplies and disorganise the world economy. It would swell the insurgency in Iraq, multiply the numbers of 'terrorists' and strengthen their determination to exact a terrible vengeance, especially on Israel. It would be against every counsel of prudent statesmanship. The danger is that we will drift into war because we lack the will and imagination to create institutions to make peace safe."
Tony Blair's Authoritarian Populism Is Indefensible and Dangerous
Jenni Russell explains why the prime minister's pose as an honest bloke talking common sense masks a frightening disdain for basic freedoms. Well worth reading.
Read Henry Porter's exchange of emails with Tony Blair here.
Saturday, April 22, 2006
Tory Peer Quotes Edward Gibbon in an Open Letter to Party Leader in Defense of Personal Liberties
The Earl of Onslow, one of the 92 hereditary peers who sits and votes in the House of Lords and takes the Conservative whip, has written an open letter to David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party. As you would expect, it has a predictable Conservative-Tory spin but he raises some important questions about why the Tory leadership is not doing more to oppose Tony Blair's assault on traditional common law liberties.
"What surprises, worries and depresses me is the apparent relative quietude on the part of the Conservative party on these issues. I repeat - it did not vote against the Regulatory Reform Bill on second reading. It has not remembered the great Edward Gibbon's comment on Augustus Caesar's Rome: 'The principles of a free constitution are irrecoverably lost when the legislative power is nominated by the executive.'"
Friday, April 21, 2006
Happy Birthday, Brenda!
Today, April 21, 2006, Her Majesty Elizabeth Alexandra Mary of Windsor celebrates her eightieth birthday. That's Elizabeth II, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith.
Go here for all you ever wanted to know about her and more. Click on In pictures: The Queen—a public life and go to photos 7 (which reminds me of the David Hockney picture Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy) and 12. Elizabeth is the great, great, great, great—that's four greats if you're counting—granddaughter of King George III.
UPDATE. Perhaps Elizabeth II is Elizabeth the Last. Jonathan Freedland argues here that the monarchy is finished and Elizabeth could well be all that's keeping it alive. And scroll down for an evaluation of which royal does most for the republican cause.
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Castro Reinvents the Cuban Revolution—Again
Leftist Richard Gott has written an interesting essay on how Fidel Castro is seeking to ensure that his legacy survives in some shape or form.
A new direction in economic policy is bringing about greater market liberalization. "While health and education will remain free, subsidies on electricity and housing will be lowered, and food rationing will eventually be phased out." Gott informs us that Castro "is not moving towards a market economy but to a society that is made more aware of the value of what it consumes." Whatever. It sounds like an improvement to me.
Double Standards?
Here is a story that compares the official treatment of Rep. Cynthia McKinney with that of Rep. Tom Lantos. Perhaps there's more to be said about both incidents but I suggest the article throws an interesting light on how the U.S. Capitol Police treats different members of Congress.
Sunday, April 16, 2006
The War on "Sex Offenders"—Part 2
Last month I recommended Pariah's Scapegoats and Shunning, which describes the state's War on "Sex Offenders." I now commend Michael Kuehl's essay on Women as Rapists and Pedophiles? The Sex Police State which focuses on the absurdity of labelling women who have sex with teenage boys as rapists and child molesters.
The author explains how "child sexual abuse" victimology is now applied to this sort of case. He also argues for the existence of innate sex differences between men and women and the psychological ramifications of this biological reality.
So where is this essay posted? At Counterpunch, which is usually labelled as "Radical Left." The publication of this and some other articles, e.g., those against laws mandating hate crimes and gun control, gives the lie to the widespread belief that all leftists embrace a suffocating political correctness. I'm not surprised that Alexander Cockburn who edits Counterpunch calls himself an anarchist. I encourage those who identify as libertarian to peruse the contents of Counterpunch and read what catches the eye. Each week there are essays worth reading. And often Reason's managing editor Jesse Walker contributes a playlist of what he's listening to this week.
Friday, April 14, 2006
Hersh vs. Bush: Whom Would You Believe?
Read Kevin Zeese here and sign the petition here.
American Leftist Visits Ho Chi Minh City
Saul Landau, a fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies, writes about his recent visit to Ho Chi Minh City. Well worth reading through to the end.
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Bush and Blair's Policy on Iran Is "Completely Nuts"
Wednesday's Guardian carries Simon Jenkins's splendid essay on U.S. and UK policy on Iran.
The title says it all: "If ever there was a nation not to drive to extremes, it is Iran."
"The US and Britain are goading Iran to acquire nuclear weapons, while Blair's jihadist rhetoric is inciting a fourth crusade."
He concludes, "One country in the region that has retained some political pluralism is Iran. It has shown bursts of democratic activity and, importantly, has experienced internal regime change. If ever there was a nation not to drive to the extreme it is Iran. If ever there was a powerful state to reassure and befriend rather than abuse and threaten, it is Iran. If ever there was a regime not to goad into seeking nuclear weapons it is Iran. Yet that is precisely what British and American policy is doing. It is completely nuts."
Sunday, April 9, 2006
More on Mearsheimer and Walt
I’d like to endorse Sheldon Richman’s recommendation that you should read Mearsheimer and Walt’s essay on the Israel lobby and U.S. policy in the Middle East. In fact, I was going to post a link to their article but Sheldon beat me to it. I think it’s well worth reading and has some considerable merit if only to encourage people to think about these issues. Readers shouldn’t be deterred by the false accusations and insinuations of anti-Semitism that are flying around.
Sleep: A Revisionist Perspective
I strongly recommend Jo Revill's essay on sleep, in which she discusses Jim Horne's new book, Sleepfaring: The Secrets and Science of a Good Night's Sleep (Oxford University Press) at some length. I found her account very interesting, not least for fascinating insights into how people slept in past times.
"Throughout the ages, humans have regulated their sleep according to their working lives. Five centuries ago Britons enjoyed something known as 'fyrste slepe', an early evening nap. Supper usually followed, then a period of prayer or talking. People would then stay awake until the early hours of the morning, then had a five to six-hour sleep.
"'It seems to me that a night of between seven and eight hours' sleep is a fairly modern western development, which is clearly linked to industrialisation,' said Horne. 'Human beings are very adaptable, and we should keep that in mind because we tend to think of these hours as sacrosanct, when in fact we are far more flexible than we like to think.'"
"The phrase 'hangover' does not come from some alcohol-related source but from the bedtime tradition in Victorian workhouses. Workers lined up along a bench and a rope was tied from one end to the other, allowing them to sleep by draping their arms over the rope which they 'hung over' as it supported them."
The Evil Legacy of the Easter Rising
Or why, unlike some who identify as libertarian, I have never cared for Irish nationalism. Read Geoffrey Wheatcroft's essay here in today's Observer (London).
Would Bush Bomb Iran?
"Would President Bush go to war to stop Tehran from getting the bomb?" asks Seymour M. Hersh in the latest issue of The New Yorker. Go here to read his story.
"Current and former American military and intelligence officials said that Air Force planning groups are drawing up lists of targets, and teams of American combat troops have been ordered into Iran, under cover, to collect targeting data and to establish contact with anti-government ethnic-minority groups. The officials say that President Bush is determined to deny the Iranian regime the opportunity to begin a pilot program, planned for this spring, to enrich uranium."
Today’s Sunday Times (London) tells us that "[t]he favoured scenario is an attack using a small number of ground attack aircraft flying out of the British dependency of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. The British would have to approve the use of the American base there for an attack and would be asked to play a supporting role by providing air-to-air refuelling or sending surveillance aircraft, ships and submarines."
Would Tony Blair oblige? Although Harold Wilson, the British premier in the 1960s, had the nous to refuse LBJ's request to provide a token British force to fight alongside the U.S. in Vietnam, I can well imagine Blair supporting Bush in an attack on Iran. Would the Cabinet and the Parliamentary Labour Party accept the decision? I can see enough resignations to terminate Blair's tenure at 10 Downing Street. But I fear the Conservative Party would for the most part support Blair—just like most Democrats would support Bush.
Friday, April 7, 2006
Iraq Three Years On
Three years after the toppling of Saddam, Iraq is a bloody mess. Friday 70 people were killed in an attack on a Baghdad mosque. Patrick Cockburn reports on three years of broken promises in a blighted land.
The U.S. Is Talking with Iraqi Insurgents—Official
The U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, has confirmed that U.S. officials have held talks with some groups linked to the Sunni-led Iraqi insurgency. According to this report, Mr Khalilzad told the BBC that, in his opinion, the talks had had an impact as the number of attacks on U.S. troops by Iraqi militants had fallen.
“Mr Khalilzad would not specify which groups the U.S. had had contact with other than to say it would not talk to people he called "Saddamists" or terrorists seeking a war on civilisation.”
The news of talks between the U.S. and Iraqi insurgents is surely to be welcomed, if only as a sign that the American administration is becoming more realistic about the situation. It’s too bad we’ve had to wait so long for this development to occur. I'll be interested to read what neoconservatives, liberal interventionists, and those who identify as libertarians but also defend a continued U.S. presence have to say about this news.
Saturday, April 1, 2006
Three Essays on the Middle East
In his most recent essay self-identified Trotskyist Tariq Ali provides a more informed and coherent perspective on the current situation in the Middle East than any number of self-identified liberals, conservatives, and libertarians who have written on the subject and with whom readers may be more conversant. It seems to me that he doesn’t force his analysis and conclusions to fit the Marxist doctrines that he holds. And what I found very welcome was that his essay reflects an extensive knowledge of the history of the region and some keen insights into recent events and is not imbued by one or other variant of American nationalism. Classical liberals and libertarians should resist the temptation to write from a nationalist perspective but should embrace the cosmopolitanism that was once the hallmark of real liberal doctrine. It is sad that real liberals too often leave that universalism to Marxists.
I encourage you to read his essay, Mid-Point in the Middle East?, published in the new issue of New Left Review. The PDF version is here.
Also available for non-subscribers are Yoav Peled’s analysis of Viginia Tilley’s The One-State Solution: A Breakthrough for Peace in the Israeli-Palestinian Deadlock (2005), Zionist Realities: Debating Israel—Palestine, and Tilley’s reply, The Secular Solution: Debating Israel—Palestine. PDF versions are available here (Peled) and here (Tilley). At first glance, they look well worth reading if you are interested in the Israeli—Palestinian question. I look forward to reading them carefully.
Bernard Siegan Dies Aged 81
Readers may remember Professor Bernard H. Siegan for his justly celebrated study of the effects of non-zoning in Houston, Texas, Land Use without Zoning (Lexington Books, 1972), and his forthright advocacy of constitutional protection for property rights, Economic Liberties and the Constitution (University of Chicago Press, 1980; 2nd revised edition, Transaction Publishers, 2006). Go here for John Cobin’s paper which seeks to provide a theoretical framework for the case against zoning.
Siegan was born in Chicago on July 28, 1924, and died last Monday, March 27, in Encinitas, California, aged 81. The Institute for Justice has posted an appreciation here and two of his colleagues at the University of San Diego law school have written a tribute here.
Tim Harford’s The Underground Economist
Last spring Steven Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner’s Freakonomics grabbed the headlines and generated its authors fat royalty checks. I was less taken by the book than some of my colleagues and acquaintances.
Then late last year Tim Harford’s The Underground Economist (Oxford University Press) rolled off the press—and to far less hype. This Thursday the book is finally published by Little, Brown in Britain. Judging by the review in today’s Financial Times, for whom Harford writes a weekly column in the Weekend section, his book is a well written introduction to the economic way of thinking for anyone who wishes to get a handle on how markets work. This morning I had a quick look at a copy in Border’s and later read extracts online at Amazon.com. It strikes me as a much better book than Freakonomics to hand someone who asks what economics is all about. I invite those readers who are familiar with the book to share their thoughts online.
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Cesar Chavez and the INS
Walking across the campus at San Jose State University, I couldn't but notice a large banner proclaiming the words of Cesar Chavez that "The end of all education should surely be service to others." Tomorrow is Cesar Chavez Day, a public holiday in California and seven other states. This particular observation about education would surely cause Ayn Rand to turn in her grave. And I hope all our readers, and not just those of an individualist persuasion, would take exception to what strikes me as an unusually silly statement.
Until I did some research this afternoon, my knowledge of Cesar Estrada Chavez (1927-1993) was very limited. I knew he had sought to unionize farm workers back in the 1960s and 1970s and was now celebrated in the pantheon of multicultural heroes of contemporary America, and that was about it. However, according to an entry in Wikipedia, Chavez collaborated with the Immigration and Naturalization Service to reduce the flow of workers that were undermining his efforts to unionize the workforce. If true, it is ironic that his name is now invoked by those who assist undocumented immigrants in fighting the INS and who seek to relax or abolish immigration controls from Mexico. According to Wikipedia,
"In 1969, Chávez and members of the UFW marched through the Imperial and Coachella Valley to the border of Mexico to protest growers' use of illegal aliens as temporary replacement workers during a strike. Joining him on the march were both a Reverend Ralph Abernathy and a U.S. Senator Walter Mondale. Chávez and the UFW would often report suspected illegal aliens who served as temporary replacement workers as well as who refused to unionize to the INS."
This article generated quite vigorous discussion. One person objected to the last sentence in the paragraph above. In response someone else quoted Steve Sailor in support of the allegation and cited Sailor's article "La Causa or La Raza." Sailor is well known for his opposition to further immigration, which isn’t to say he’s got his facts wrong. Sailor informs us that,
"[Chavez] frequently complained that the Immigration & Naturalization Service wasn't tough enough. When Chavez would lead a strike, the grower would send trucks across the Mexican border, load them up with scabs, and race back to the Central Valley in the dead of night. Chavez even offered his UFW staffers to the INS to serve as volunteer border guards to keep Mexicans from sneaking into California."
Sailor then quotes Ruben Navarrette Jr. in the Arizona Republic (August 31, 1997):
"Cesar Chavez, a labor leader intent on protecting union membership, was as effective a surrogate for the INS as ever existed. Indeed, Chavez and the United Farm Workers Union he headed routinely reported, to the INS, for deportation, suspected illegal immigrants who served as strikebreakers or refused to unionize."
Can any readers throw more light on the allegation that Cesar Chavez formed a pragmatic alliance with the INS or, for that matter, on any other aspect of his activities?
Monday, March 27, 2006
Bombing Civilians—Then and Now
Go here to read British philosopher A. C. Grayling's discussion of the deliberate mass bombing of civilians. Go here to read more about Among the Dead Cities: Was the Allied Bombing of Civilians in WWII a Necessity or a Crime?, his new book on the Allied bombing of Germany and Japan. And go here to read John Charmley's review of the book.
Friday, March 24, 2006
This Is the Army Mr Scarano
Readers may interested to read this account of the late PFC Mathew Scarano, formerly of Fort Sill, Oklahoma, here and here.
I’m interested to get to the bottom of this story and encourage readers to post other links about Mr. Scarano in the Comments section.
What Price Academic Freedom?
This story comes to us from Britain, where there is no First Amendment and, specifically, no First Amendment interpreted to protect the free speech of faculty at public universities.
"Frank Ellis, a lecturer in Russian and Slavonic Studies, was sent home on full pay by the University of Leeds, which accused him of breaching its obligations to promote racial harmony under the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000.
"It is the first significant test of academic freedom since the introduction of the Act, which places a duty on public bodies to promote equality of opportunity and good relations between different races."
"He voiced support for the theory set out in The Bell Curve, a book published in 1994 by Richard J. Herrnstein and Charles Murray, that white people had higher average IQs than blacks. He said the study had 'demonstrated to me beyond any reasonable doubt there is a persistent gap in average black and white average intelligence'.
"Dr Ellis also told Leeds students that women did not have the same intellectual capacity as men and that feminism, along with multiculturalism, was “corroding” Britain. His views outraged students, who staged a campaign to have him dismissed from the university.
"Leeds responded initially by stating that Dr Ellis had a right to express his views, although they were 'abhorrent to the overwhelming majority of our staff and students'. Officials said that they had no evidence that his beliefs had led him to discriminate against students or colleagues.
"Yesterday, however, it announced that the ViceChancellor, Professor Michael Arthur, had suspended Dr Ellis and that disciplinary proceedings had begun. Roger Gair, the University Secretary, said that in publicising his views Dr Ellis had 'acted in breach of our equality and diversity policy, and in a way that is wholly at odds with our values'.
"The lecturer had 'recklessly jeopardised the fulfilment of the university’s obligations under the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000'. Mr Gair said: 'As a public body, the university is required under that Act to promote good relations between people of different racial groups. That is a requirement we are happy to accept.'"
Whatever they may think of Frank Ellis’s views, or the truth of Herrnstein and Murray's Bell Curve, I imagine most readers will find this story very disturbing. To read the full story, go here.
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Clive of India’s Tortoise Dies, Aged 255
A tortoise brought as a present for Clive of India has died at the venerable age of 255 in Alipore Zoo in Kolkata (Calcutta), India.
"The giant Aldabra tortoise was one of four brought by British seamen from the Seychelles Islands as gifts to Robert Clive of the British East India Company. Clive died in 1774."
The three other tortoises given as gifts to Clive died soon after they arrived in Kolkata. Although the zoo's records show that the tortoise was born in 1750, some claim he was born in 1705. The zoo will use carbon-dating to determine his real age.
To read the full story, go here.
Friday, March 17, 2006
The Black Shamrock Campaign
Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all our readers! Some of you may be interested to visit the website of the Black Shamrock Campaign.
"The Black Shamrock symbolises our mourning for all those who died as a result of Irish collaboration in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, for which the airports at Shannon, Aldergrove and Baldonnel have become pit-stops. It also symbolises our mourning for the loss of Irish Neutrality."
"The Black Shamrock is also, of course, a symbol of resistance. In wearing it, all of those who do declare their opposition to any Irish involvement, be it economic, strategic or logistical, in the unjust and illegal wars."
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Paradox and Paranoia in the War on Terror
Go read Simon Jenkins' review of David Runciman's new book, The Politics of Good Intentions: History, Fear and Hypocrisy in the New World Order.
"[Runciman] takes as his starting point the familiar phenomenon of a leader who rules by generating fear of the unknown, rooted in some iconic catastrophe to which such fear can be related. The 'war on terror' was ideal for this purpose, a war that had no enemy and could thus never be won, a war that need never end. As in George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-four, such a war empowers a leader to fight any battle he chooses, and to require any sacrifice, since he can declare the existence of the State to be at risk.
"The villain of Runciman’s piece is Tony Blair, Dick Cheney’s 'preacher on a tank'. The central thrust is that 9/11 did not represent a new pattern in world-historical affairs since, as many neocons had been asserting, a similar threat had been around for a decade. No new intent or strategy separated the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center from the 1993 one. The only difference was in technical competence."
What Milosevic Knew
"What the corporate media overwhelmingly ignores in Milosevic's death is what they ignored in his life as well--his intimate knowledge of US war crimes in Yugoslavia. While Milosevic was undoubtedly a war criminal who deserved to be tried for his crimes, he was also the only man in the unique position of being able to expose and detail the full extent of the US role in the bloody disintegration of Yugoslavia in the 1990s."
"It is a sad testimony to the state of international jurisprudence that after many attempts to find justice, the only hope for US victims in the Yugoslavia wars was the trial defense of a man many of those same victims despised. If there was an independent international court that was recognized and respected by the US, those responsible for bombing Yugoslavia would have been alongside Slobodan Milosevic in the docks these past years instead of having their responsibility being buried with him."
So writes Jeremy Scahill in his essay "Rest Easy, Bill Clinton: Slobo Can't Talk Any More." Jeremy Scahill is an independent journalist who spent extensive time reporting from Yugoslavia, including covering the 1999 US-led NATO bombing from the ground. The night Milosevic was arrested in Belgrade, Scahill was beaten by the former president's supporters outside Milosevic's residence.
See also Amy Goodman’s interview with Andrej Grubacic, Chris Hedges, and Jeremy Scahill.
UPDATE: I also recommend Alexander Cockburn’s "Pages from the Liberals' War—Did Milosevic or His Accusers 'Cheat Justice'? The Show Trial That Went Wrong" published today (Tuesday).
Friday, March 10, 2006
This Just In—John Profumo Dies at 91
British readers of a certain age, and maybe a few American readers as well, will remember the Profumo Affair, the sex-and-spy scandal that rocked Britain in 1963 and contributed to the Conservative defeat in October 1964.
Go here and here to read accounts of the scandal and John Profumo’s life. Like many poor souls, he was once a politician. However, from all accounts, he conducted himself with dignity in his resignation and subsequent life.
UPDATE: David Kynaston's obituary in the Financial Times is well worth reading.
And Now the Denim Revolution (Belarus)
Readers will likely remember the Rose Revolution (Georgia) and the Orange Revolution (Ukraine). Now it seems we’re about to experience the Denim Revolution in Belarus. Not surprisingly, this is the handiwork of the American, British, German and Polish governments and tax-supported non-profits.
Go here for Jonathan Steele’s account of how the U.S. and European countries are blantantly interfering in the Belarussian election.
"… there is a huge campaign by foreign governments to intervene in the Belarussian poll, even more controversially than in Ukraine in 2004. While Russia is hardly engaged in this election, Europe and the US are pumping in money. According to the New York Times, cash is being smuggled from the US National Endowment for Democracy, Britain's Westminster Foundation and the German foreign ministry directly to Khopits, a network of young anti-Lukashenko activists."
"Some of this foreign money will be used to fund street protests promised by opposition activists if Lukashenko is declared the winner. They have already dubbed it the 'denim revolution', giving supporters little bits of the cloth as symbols to copy the successful demonstrations in Ukraine and Georgia.
"But why is the US, with the EU in its wake, so concerned about Belarus? Is it because Belarus stands out as the only ex-Soviet country that maintains majority state ownership of the economy and gets good results? Is ideological deviance forbidden? (The IMF, while admitting Lukashenko's economic success, calls it 'ultimately unsustainable', being based on cheap Russian energy imports and wage increases that outstrip productivity growth.) Is the problem Lukashenko's independence, his friendliness to Russia and resistance to Nato, his abrasive, don't-push-me-around style? As one Minsk resident put it to me, he's a 'Slavic Castro'."
An Elegy to the Steam Engine
Go here to read Simon Jenkins' elegy to the steam locomotive and the Age of Steam.
The author explains how the train was once a revolutionary force, bringing romance and power to the world through its steel wheels. Highly recommended.
Thursday, March 9, 2006
The Mystery of Robert Maxwell's Death Revisited
On November 5, 1991, the body of the British media tycoon, Robert Maxwell, was found floating in the Atlantic. It later emerged he had looted an estimated £400m from the Mirror Group pension fund. Maxwell is presumed to have fallen overboard from Lady Ghislane, which was cruising off the Canary Islands. The official verdict was accidental drowning, but many people, including members of his own family, believe he took his own life. It did not emerge until after his death that he had plundered the Mirror Group pensions' funds to bail out his ailing media empire.
Now, almost fifteen years later, Friday's Independent (London) carries the story that he was under investigation for alleged war crimes at the time of his death. Detectives were considering Maxwell's admission that while serving as a British Army captain in World War II he shot dead a German civilian. The incident is said to have taken place in April 1945, when his platoon was trying to capture a German town. Maxwell said he shot dead the town's mayor after a tank opened fire on them. At the time of his death he was aware he was under investigation and the latest revelation is likely to fuel speculation that he killed himself. However, the author of an acclaimed but unauthorized biography of Maxwell, Tom Bower, said this was "fanciful"—because Maxwell had never shown any remorse or regret over the shooting.
For the BBC account, go here. For the full story, go here and here.
Tuesday, March 7, 2006
Meme of Fours
Anthony Gregory has tagged me.
Four jobs I've had:
Sorting and delivering mail for the General Post Office (UK)
Cooking and serving hamburgers at a privately owned hamburger joint in Kingston-upon-Thames
Lecturing on economics for a year at University College Cork in the Republic of Ireland
Proctoring exams at Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, DC
Four movies I can watch over and over:
Double Indemnity (1944)
Passport to Pimlico (1949)
Cabaret (1972)
American Graffiti (1973)
Saturday, March 4, 2006
The War on "Sex Offenders"
Readers are familiar with the War on Poverty, the War on Drugs, and the War on Terror, and how the state uses military metaphors to justify spending billions of dollars on failed policies that destroy human liberty. For the past twenty-five years, since before the now discredited satanic cult child sex panic that made headline news in the 1980s, we've witnessed federal and state authorities in the United States waging war on those whom they identify as "sex offenders" and "pedophiles." Truth be told, there's been precious little opposition raised by either self-identified libertarians or civil libertarians. First Amendment stalwarts steer clear of the question of child pornography. And libertarians, who are happy to defend the right to ingest the recreational drug of one's choice, studiously avoid any discussion of the age of consent that has now been effectively federalized at eighteen.
I was therefore delighted finally to read a thoughtful and well-researched essay that addresses these issues in an unapologetic fashion from a civil libertarian perspective. I strongly encourage all who claim to take personal freedoms seriously to read this article and think about the issues raised. Pariah's Scapegoats and Shunning is a telling account of what the author calls "sexual fascism in progressive America" and explains how the Feds and state authorities are waging war on the civil liberties of millions of Americans under the guise of protecting children.
Thursday, March 2, 2006
Harry Browne Dies
Go here for the story.
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Another Day, Another Riot
"The main thoroughfare . . . became a battle zone as up to 2,000 rioters tore up building materials being used in major renovation work in the road and hurled them at . . . police. Shops and hotels closed their doors, and at least three . . . police were taken to hospital as rioters hurled scaffolding poles, bricks, slates and rocks at their lines.
"Violence raged throughout the afternoon as protesters opposed to the . . . rally fought running battles with . . . police. Cars were set alight and fireworks thrown at police. Shops . . . were looted as the riot squad combined with a mounted unit initially prevented demonstrators . . . from crossing the river."
Baghdad? Damascus? Beirut?
Friday, February 24, 2006
US Marines Probe Tensions among Iran's Ethnic Minorities
The Financial Times (of London) carries some of the best foreign news coverage of any English-language newspaper. Go here to read a most interesting story that throws welcome light on U.S. policy towards Iran.
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Politicians grab first class so Prince Charles goes Club Class to Hong Kong
Read Prince Charles’s candid thoughts here. Even though the heir to the throne was not amused, I wager you will be when you read this account.
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
The FBI and the Myth of Fingerprints
Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair tell a disturbing story that knocks some holes in the boundless faith many have in the FBI and the 100 per cent reliability of fingerprint evidence.
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Anatol and Dominic Lieven on the Importance of History in Understanding the World Today
It’s quite likely that readers are familiar with the accomplished journalist Anatol Lieven and have read one or more of his articles. His most recent piece may be found here.
Readers may have also encountered his brother’s work. Dominic Lieven teaches at the London School of Economics and is a distinguished historian of Russia.
This weekend I sat down and read two very interesting essays. One, Against Russophobia, is an article by Anatol Lieven published a few years ago in the World Policy Journal. The other, Empire, History and the Contemporary Global Order (pdf), is the 2005 Elie Kedourie Memorial Lecture that Dominic Lieven read at the British Academy. Each demonstrates the importance of historical knowledge in understanding the world today. I strongly commend them for readers’ education and enjoyment.
Saturday, February 18, 2006
I'm Flabbergasted but Maybe I'm Naive
Go here and scroll down to read what John and Jeanette Goodman of the National Center for Policy Analysis earn in a year. And thanks to Lew Rockwell for the link.
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Those Cartoons Again
Go here to read what John Sugg has to say about those infernal cartoons. Recommended.
Sunday, February 12, 2006
The Past Is a Foreign Country
Go here to read the obituary of Nicholas Swarbrick (1898-2006) and his memories of childhood and adolescence and as a young man in the Great War. One of the last two Merchant Navy veterans of the First World War, serving as a radio officer on Atlantic convoys, he has died aged 107. This link goes behind subscription at 7 PM (ET) on Wednesday, February 15.
"Never interested in sport, he was a great reader but not averse to a game of marbles or conkers." Conkers, you ask, what’s that? Go here and here. And to read why schools are now banning this time-honored pastime, go here.
Saturday, February 11, 2006
A Faustian Pact with the State
The current issue of the Times Literary Supplement carries an interesting review of two new biographies of prominent twentieth-century British scientists. One was the soft-leftist Solly Zuckerman. The other was the unrepentant Marxist J. D. Bernal, who was the first to coin the phrase "weapons of mass destruction" (about nuclear weapons). Each made a Faustian pact with the state.
"These two remarkable men found their lives intersecting during the Second World War and their respective careers more generally touched on the engagement of science with politics that was such a feature of twentieth-century political life. . . . They worked together in 1941 on an analysis of the British bombing of German cities, put to this task by political masters who hoped that their work would buttress Churchill’s belief that Germany could be defeated by bombing alone. . . . Interestingly, however, both men eventually came to distrust the role of science in politics."
Read Christopher Coker’s thoughtful account of their lives, especially within the service of the state, here.
Friday, February 10, 2006
Abu Hamza: Imprisoned for Talking Rubbish
I encourage you to read Brendan O’Neill’s splendid essay on the conviction of Abu Hamza for talking rubbish here. The case of Abu Hamza is a recent and egregious example of how the British government is suppressing free speech in the name of waging the War on Terror. And, I might add, it's far more disturbing than the case of a university telling a faculty member not to post those infamous cartoons on his office door.
Wednesday, February 8, 2006
The Republican Ideology of the Total State
Liberty & Power blogger Anthony Gregory has a splendid essay here on the Republican Party and its ideology of the total state. He writes,
"The Republicans have lost even the thinnest pretense of being a party for smaller government. They might prefer deficit spending to taxing people up front. They might understand economics well enough to know that some overbearing regulations favored by Democrats will kill the host on which their parasitic operations depend. They are lower-tax imperialists, perhaps. But they do believe, when push comes to shove, that the president should have unchecked power to spy, detain, torture and wage war. Perhaps the only Constitutional provision worth observing is the guarantee of a Republican form of government – that is, a government of, by, and for the Republicans."
Is there anyone out there who will defend the Republican Party?
Tuesday, February 7, 2006
Milton Friedman: "We Should Not Have Gone into Iraq"
New Perspectives Quarterly has published an interview with Milton Friedman in the winter 2006 issue. Most any interview with Friedman would be interesting, and this is no exception. The first question is about Iraq.
NPQ: You’ve seen a lot in your long life and thought about the big issues. What is on your mind these days?
Milton Friedman: The big issue is whether the United States will succeed in its venture of reshaping the Middle East. It is not clear to me that using military force is the way to do it. We should not have gone into Iraq. But we have. At the moment, the most pressing issue, therefore, is to make sure that effort is completed in a satisfactory way.
There is no doubt that America’s stature in the world—in large part due to the attraction and promotion of our liberal freedoms—has been eroded as a result of Iraq. However, if Iraq emerges in the end as a self-governing country that is not a threat to anybody, that will have a favorable effect on the Middle East in general. The end result then would be to increase the prestige of the US. But that is not the case now. The effect so far has been the other way.
Go here to read the rest of the interview.
Sunday, February 5, 2006
Romano Mussolini, Jazz-musician Son of "Il Duce", Dies
Go here to read an obituary that goes behind subscription 7 pm (EST) Monday. It contains interesting insights into Benito Mussolini and jazz in fascist Italy. "Romano and [his brother] Vittorio loved jazz in their youth despite their father's regime heavily censoring it. During Fascism, recordings by American artists, especially black ones, were released with the musicians given Italian names. Louis Armstrong was known as Luigi Fortebraccio."
And go here (htm) or here (pdf) for David Ramsay Steele’s wonderful essay on Benito Mussolini’s political career from Marxism to fascism and what fascism was really about.
Sunday, January 29, 2006
Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?
Britain’s News of the World carries a story that Special Branch officers deliberately falsified vital evidence to hide mistakes which led to the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes at a south London Underground station last summer.
For more background on this story go here.
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Randall Kroszner to Join the Ruling Class and Debauch the Currency
Yesterday President Bush nominated Randall Kroszner, professor of economics at the University of Chicago's graduate school of business, to be a member of the board of governors of the Federal Reserve System.
A few readers may remember Randy as a chapter contact for Students for a Libertarian Society at Brown University, where he went to school. If you're a monetary economist, you may know him as an expert in banking and financial regulation, international financial crises, and related topics. In his bio he mentions that, while he was at the President's Council of Economic Advisors (2001-2003), he worked in many areas including "improving the quality of government statistics." He is also an editor of The Journal of Law & Economics and director of the George J. Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State. I have no idea whether Randy still calls himself a libertarian or, if he does, what that would mean. I guess it wouldn't mean dismantling the Fed—or at least not for several years.
Thursday, January 26, 2006
A Fascinating Article on Google
Thursday’s Guardian carries a fascinating article on Google—how it began, how its search engine works, how it makes so much money, and what the future may hold. John Lanchester’s article is an edited version of an essay published in the London Review of Books here.
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Has Google Sold Out? And if so, Is It Cause for Concern?
Wednesday’s Guardian carries a report that Google has agreed to follow Chinese government-censorship in restricting the range of websites that the China-based version of its search engine can throw up.
Sunday, January 22, 2006
Common Law Protection for Products of the Mind
Arthur R. Miller, Bruce Bromley Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, has just published an article on common law protection for products of the mind. I have yet to read his essay but it looked sufficiently interesting that I decided to post the links here for the benefit of our readers. Go here for a summary and here for the full text. Hat tip to Orin Kerr at Volokh.com for the link.
Saturday, January 21, 2006
A Revealing Interview with David Irving
Sunday's Observer newspaper carries a revealing interview with David Irving, who sits in a Viennese prison awaiting his court appearance on February 20.
Towards the end of the article, the interviewer, German author and academic Malte Herwig, explains that since Irving's arrest, Austria has witnessed a new debate on Holocaust denial and free speech. "The sociologist Christian Fleck, Lord Dahrendorf and others have spoken up against criminalising opinions even if they are as vile as those of David Irving. Even Deborah Lipstadt has suggested that Irving should be let go. 'If you had said to me a couple of months ago that I would be asking for David Irving's release,' she says, 'I would have said you are crazy.' But Lipstadt doesn't want to be on the side of censorship, she says, and she doesn't want Irving to become a martyr to free speech."
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Thatcher: The Musical!
I suppose it was only a matter of time before an enterprising troupe would stage Thatcher: The Musical!. Well, next month audiences in Warwick can listen to "I’m the iron in the your bloodstream", while the backing singers respond with a chorus of, "Haemoglobin, haemoglobin".
"A production feting and satirising her life receives its world premiere at the 550-seat Warwick Arts Centre in Coventry on February 7 before a national tour.
"It is nothing if not varied, ranging from The Iron Lady, a punk anthem, to The Cabinet Shuffle, a ditty in the style of Noël Coward. . . . Eight actresses play the former Prime Minister in her many incarnations: Grocer’s Daughter, Twinset Maggie, Power Suit Maggie, Military Maggie, Britannia Maggie, Sacrificial Maggie, Broken Maggie and Diva Maggie, each wearing a more voluminous wig than the last until the hair rivals that of Lily Savage. The all-female cast will also play the parts of her friends and enemies."
The official website is here.
Thursday, January 12, 2006
What Bush Has Wrought
David Hirst reported from the Middle East for the Guardian from 1963 to 2001. Here he provides a thoughtful assessment of the dire consequences of U.S. intervention.
Sunday, January 8, 2006
Harry Magdoff (1913-2006)
As many readers know, I am an avid reader of obituaries. Some of you may be aware that the Marxist / socialist economist Harry Magdoff died on New Year’s Day. If you’re interested in reading a useful account of his life and work, especially his analysis of U.S. imperialism in the twentieth century, go here. It’s the best account I’ve come across. John Bellamy Foster’s article includes a bibliography and many links. I found it really quite helpful in understanding Magdoff’s ideas.
I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to discern a parallel between Harry Magdoff and Murray Rothbard with regard to their influence upon, and the affection in which they were held among, respectively Marxists and libertarians.
Monday, January 2, 2006
Churchill Overruled: Innocent Lives Spared
With a new year comes the disclosure of new state secrets. After sixty-three years, wartime cabinet documents just released show that Winston Churchill wanted the RAF to wipe out German villages in retaliation for the Nazi massacre of Czech civilians in the village of Lidice. He proposed 'three for one' bombing of German villages and abandoned the plan only in the face of opposition from cabinet colleagues, who feared that the lives of aircrews would be placed needlessly at risk. Clement Attlee, the dominions secretary and future Labour prime minister, said he believed it unwise "to enter into competition in frightfulness with the Germans". On June 15 Churchill conceded, saying: "My instinct is strongly the other way ... I submit unwillingly to the view of cabinet against."
The story from today’s Guardian carries other interesting stories from the notebooks kept by Sir Norman Brook, the wartime deputy cabinet secretary, who recorded cabinet meetings. Churchill wanted Adolf Hitler executed "like a gangster" in an electric chair borrowed from the Americans, if the dictator were captured alive by British troops; German PoWs in British hands shot if the Nazis began killing British captives; and Mahatma Gandhi allowed to die if he went on hunger strike while interned.
British troops were told to show respect for the US army's racial segregation policies by showing "reserve" when meeting black troops stationed in Britain during the war. The guidance was issued after anguished debate in Churchill's cabinet over how to deal with discriminatory American rules. The Guardian explains that hundreds of thousands of black troops, mostly from colonies, were expected to be treated equally in the British Empire's armed forces, while white US soldiers ate and slept separately from their black comrades.
What Price Free Speech? Part 2
The New Year sees a new call to suppress free speech. It's rather ironic that a gay humanist magazine is in the firing line. But the right of Moslems not to be offended takes precedence in Blair's Britain.
I quote from today's Guardian:
A gay magazine which described immigrants as "criminals of the worst kind" and Islam as a "barmy doctrine" has been condemned as racist by other gay rights groups. According to the magazine of the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (Galha), Islam is growing "like a canker" in the UK through "unrestrained and irresponsible breeding".
The magazine also published an article endorsing the rightwing populist Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn, and described immigrants as "ill educated and culturally estranged Third Worlders".
Peter Herbert, chairman of the London-wide Race Hate Crime Forum, said he would be writing to the Crown Prosecution Service about the remarks and would "vigorously pursue" a prosecution of the editor or writers who had made the "racist and degrading" comments.
I haven’t read the offending article in its entirety but, on the basis of the extracts printed in the Guardian, I can understand why Moslems would be offended. But offense should be no reason for the state to prosecute the offending writers.
Friday, December 30, 2005
The Queen’s New Year Honours Are Always a Good Read
That’s no typo, we’re talking about the Queen’s New Year Honours list, so it’s Honours, not Honors!
Older readers will remember Tom Jones (“Delilah”, “It’s Not Unusual”). Who is not to be confused with the hero of the novel by Henry Fielding, which was made into a movie with Albert Finney. Following in the footsteps of Sir Mick Jagger, Sir Elton John, Sir Paul McCartney, and Sir Cliff Richard, comes (drum roll, please) another very successful survivor from the sixties, Sir Tom Jones.
Also among those honored on this occasion were jazz musician John Dankworth (husband of singer Cleo Laine), 1950s singing trio the Beverley Sisters—Babette, Joy and Teddie, actress Imelda Staunton (who played the starring role in Mike Leigh’s rightly acclaimed Vera Drake), actor Robbie Coltrane (who stars as Hagrid in the Harry Potter films), Apple designer Jonathan Ive, playwright Arnold Wesker, actor and comedian Sanjeev Bhaskar, and the inimitable Bruce Forsyth. So who’s Bruce Forsyth, you ask. That just shows you never lived in the UK!
Whatever you may think of their particular talents, they all made their fame and wealth honestly—or somewhat honestly, if you include contracts with the British Broadcasting Corporation financed by the compulsory license fee. How different from politicians. And how different from the Queen, for that matter.
Thursday, December 29, 2005
This Just In!
Thursday’s Guardian carries two stories which may appeal to those of you with an English sense of humor. One is an account of examples of outrageously rude behavior by clergy and communicants of the Church of England recorded by the Church Times.
The other is about a rather wacky proposal by the British government in 1975 to raise civilian morale in Northern Ireland. So what’s new? Aren’t governments always coming up with wacky proposals. Well, yes, but they’re not always as wacky as this one. Nor, one might add, as harmless.
Monday, December 26, 2005
We Will All Mention the War, Nuremberg Tells English Fans
Fans of the BBC TV series Fawlty Towers will recall Basil Fawlty’s advice not to mention the war. Next June English soccer fans descend on Nuremberg to watch England play Trinidad and Tobago in the first round of the finals of the FIFA World Cup. According to this report, “some fans’ groups [are] planning to print T-shirts with Basil Fawlty’s famous line ‘don’t mention the war’ translated into German.”
Nuremberg has decided, however, not to follow Basil’s advice and to acknowledge the city’s Nazi past. Today’s Times (London) carries the story. Here Simon Barnes explains the British facility for Nazi jokes. He concludes, “The Germans will wince when the English go goose-stepping into Nuremberg, but the history of the world would have been very different if the Germans possessed the British sense of humour.”
Friday, December 23, 2005
Another Horror Story from Britain
Read here how Mrs. Lynette Burrows was investigated by the police for what she said on a radio program. She had stated her belief that homosexuals should not be allowed to adopt. She added that placing boys with two homosexuals for adoption was as obvious a risk as placing a girl with two heterosexual men who offered themselves as parents. "It is a risk," she said. "You would not give a small girl to two men."
A member of the public complained to the police and an officer contacted Mrs Burrows the following day to say a "homophobic incident" had been reported against her.
"I was astounded," she said. "I told her this was a free country and we are allowed to express opinions on matters of public interest. She told me it was not a crime but that she had to record these incidents."
"They were leaning on me, letting me know that the police had an interest in my views. I think it is sinister and completely unacceptable."
Scotland Yard confirmed last night that Fulham police had investigated a complaint over the radio programme.
A spokesman said it was policy for community safety units to investigate homophobic, racist and domestic incidents because these were "priority crimes".
"All parties have been spoken to by the police. No allegation of crime has been made. A report has been taken but is now closed."
What Price Free Speech?
Go here to read Brendan O’Neill’s fine defense of free speech. “Discussing the trial of Orhan Pamuk for 'publicly denigrating Turkish identity' is a disgrace. So is Austria's imprisonment of David Irving for Holocaust denial.” As he explains, free speech is all or nothing. Then go here to visit O’Neill’s website, which is well worth a visit.
Thursday, December 22, 2005
And You Thought Next Year Is 2006
Think again. Next year is 1984. Today The Independent reports that from 2006 Britain will be the first country where every journey by every car will be monitored. “Britain is to become the first country in the world where the movements of all vehicles on the roads are recorded. A new national surveillance system will hold the records for at least two years. Using a network of cameras that can automatically read every passing number plate, the plan is to build a huge database of vehicle movements so that the police and security services can analyse any journey a driver has made over several years.” And don’t hold your breath that the Conservative party will oppose this measure designed for “public protection.”
As Frank Whiteley, Chief Constable of Hertfordshire and chairman of the Acpo steering committee on automatic number plate recognition (ANPR), explained, MI5 will also use the database. "Clearly there are values for this in counter-terrorism," he said. "The security services will use it for purposes that I frankly don't have access to. It's part of public protection. If the security services did not have access to this, we'd be negligent."
Of course. How silly of me to think otherwise.
Oh, and for more on MI5, check this out.
Monday, December 12, 2005
He Fought for the Emperor Franz Josef
Last Tuesday, December 6, Colonel Jerzy Pajaczkowski-Dydynski, soldier, gardener and musician died aged 111 in Allithwaite, Cumbria, England. He was Britain’s oldest man. Go here to read about his amazing life. Born in Lwow, Austria-Hungary, on July 19, 1894, he saw action in both world wars, in the first with the Austrian army against the Italians and in the second with the Polish army fighting a rearguard action against the Germans and Russians. He also saw action against the Red Army in 1920.
His obituary goes behind subscription at 7 pm (EST) this Wednesday.
Thursday, December 8, 2005
British Conservatives Screw Up—Yet Again!
Go here to read Anatole Kaletsky’s perceptive analysis of how the British Conservative Party has screwed up—yet again! As an ex-patriate Brit and, in my mispent youth, a Conservative, I still follow British politics and had long been suspicious of David Cameron, who last Tuesday was elected leader of the Conservative Party. That's not to say I could muster any enthusiasm for his rival David Davis. Both Davids are enamoured of George Bush and his desire to project U.S. power in the Middle East. That said, at least Davis seemed to be more interested in the substance of policy and not as preoccupied with image.
Wednesday, December 7, 2005
Harold Pinter Speaks Out
Go here to read the full text of the lecture to be given by Harold Pinter when he receives the 2005 Nobel prize for literature on Saturday. Forbidden by doctors from going to Stockholm to receive the £720,000 prize, the ailing playwright and poet has delivered his speech by video.
Here are some excerpts from his lecture.
“Political language, as used by politicians, does not venture into any of this territory since the majority of politicians, on the evidence available to us, are interested not in truth but in power and in the maintenance of that power. To maintain that power it is essential that people remain in ignorance, that they live in ignorance of the truth, even the truth of their own lives. What surrounds us therefore is a vast tapestry of lies, upon which we feed.”
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Last Known Veteran of the Great War’s Christmas Truce Dies Aged 109
Alfred Anderson died peacefully in his sleep on Monday. He was the last member of the British Expeditionary Force—the Old Contemptibles—and the sole remaining survivor of the Christmas truce on the Western Front in 1914. He was also Britain’s oldest man, having been born in 1896.
Go here to read more about his life and his recollections of the Christmas truce.
Only last year he spoke in detail of his memories of Christmas 1914, when British and German troops clambered out of their trenches, sang carols and played football by kicking around empty bully-beef cans, using their steel helmets as goalposts. “I remember the silence, the eerie silence,” he said of the unofficial truce, which spread along much of the 500-mile Western Front where more than a million men were bunkered down.
“All I’d heard for two months in the trenches was the hissing, cracking and whining of bullets in flight, machine gun fire and distant voices,” he said. “But there was a dead silence that morning, right across the land as far as you could see. We shouted ‘Merry Christmas’, even though nobody felt merry. The silence ended early in the afternoon and the killing started again. It was a short peace in a terrible war.”
You can read his obituary here before it goes behind subscription at 7 pm (EST) this Friday.
For more on the British Expeditionary Force under the command of Sir John French, go here.
For more on the Christmas truce in 1914, go here, here, here (scroll down for contemporary accounts), here for a German perspective on the truce, and here (scroll down to read about fraternization between opposing armies in the Peninsula War (in Spain), the Crimean War, the American Civil War, and the Boer War).
According to the Guardian, there are now believed to be only eight survivors of the First World War left in Britain.
Monday, November 21, 2005
Is There Any Crime the Coalition Forces Have Not Committed in Iraq?
In his most recent column George Monbiot investigates the use of chemical weapons in the U.S. assault on Falluja last year. He asserts that “Behind the phosphorus clouds are war crimes within war crimes” and “We now know the US also used thermobaric weapons in its assault on Falluja, where up to 50,000 civilians remained.” He concludes by asking the rhetorical question, “[I]s there any crime the coalition forces have not committed in Iraq?”
Sunday, November 20, 2005
Worth Reading
Writing on “A Fractured Anti-War Movement,” leftist activist John Walsh explains how
“[b]oth Paleoconservatives and Libertarians share the belief that empire is not compatible with a Republic and so their opposition to wars in the post-Cold War era has some rather deep roots.”
Later he writes,
“Lefties would do well to recognize that they share more with Libertarians than with the Democratic establishment. Go to the Libertarian web site and take the test telling you whether you are a libertarian. There are ten question[s] and most Lefties will give a Libertarian's answer to at least six of them. The Libertarians are staunchly against the war, much more so than the Democrats and about the same as the Greens and Naderites.”
There’s more to be said, of course, not least the recognition that many self-identified libertarians and neolibertarians supported the U.S. invasion of Iraq and/or advocate continued U.S. military occupation. That said, Walsh’s article is welcome.
Later he speculates as to why (some) libertarians and (some) leftists can make common cause to oppose the war. He writes,
“There is in my mind a very deep reason why Libertarians and the Left have more in common than we suspect when compared with the neocons. The reason is that we have our roots in the Enlightenment and modernity. But Leo Strauss, philospher of the neocons rejects the Enlightenment and calls for a return to the tyran[n]ies found in antiquity.”
I suggest Walsh has a point although, of course, the reality is more complicated. The Enlightenment embraced a wide variety of thinkers and writers with a wide variety of ideologies and prescriptions. After all, Bolshevism, Maoism, and other variants of Marxist totalitarianism all claimed to be rooted in part in the Enlightenment. Which explains why some Trotskyists (like Irving Kristol) became neoconservatives and other Trotskyists (like Christopher Hitchens) have become supporters of the neoconservative agenda abroad.
Friday, November 11, 2005
Revealed: UK Wartime Torture Camp
Saturday’s Guardian reports that “[t]he British government operated a secret torture centre during the second world war to extract information and confessions from German prisoners…The centre, which was housed in a row of mansions in one of London's most affluent neighbourhoods, was carefully concealed from the Red Cross, the papers show. It continued to operate for three years after the war, during which time a number of German civilians were also tortured. A subsequent assessment by MI5, the Security Service, concluded that the commanding officer had been guilty of "clear breaches" of the Geneva convention and that some interrogation methods "completely contradicted" international law…Not all the torture centre's secrets have yet emerged, however: the Ministry of Defence is continuing to withhold some of the papers almost 60 years after it was closed down.”
A second article, The Secrets of the London Cage, provides a detailed account of how beatings, sleep deprivation and starvation were used on SS and Gestapo men. The torture center, the London office of the Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Centre, known colloquially as the London Cage, occupied Nos. 6-8 Kensington Palace Gardens in the West End of London. It was run by MI19, the section of the War Office responsible for gleaning information from enemy prisoners of war. And boy, oh boy, did they do a thorough job! The Cage was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Paterson Scotland whose memoirs entitled The London Cage (London: Evans Bros., 1957; paperback reprint, London: Landsborough Publications, 1959) were eventually published after a seven-year delay, and only after all incriminating material had been deleted.
“As the work of the Cage was wound down, the interrogation of prisoners was switched to a number of internment camps in Germany. And there is evidence that the treatment meted out in these places was, if anything, far worse. While many of the papers relating to these interrogation centres remain sealed at the Foreign Office, it is clear that one camp in the British zone became particularly notorious. At least two German prisoners starved to death there, according to a court of inquiry, while others were shot for minor offences.
“In one complaint lodged at the National Archives, a 27-year-old German journalist being held at this camp said he had spent two years as a prisoner of the Gestapo. And not once, he said, did they treat him as badly as the British.”
I remember, when I was a young school teacher, thirty or so years ago, being told by a much older colleague who had fought in the Second World War, that the British had played as dirty as the Germans. Perhaps he had British interrogation centers and, in particular, the London Cage in mind.
Wednesday, November 9, 2005
More on the French Riots
Frank Furedi, professor of sociology at the University of Kent, provides an interesting and thoughtful commentary on the French riots. For Furedi, the French political elite has lost its way and France has consequently lost its political identity. He’s a Marxist (of some sort), not a libertarian or classical liberal, but it’s worth reading nonetheless, more so than the musings of many conservatives and Randians on this topic.
James Heartfield, a writer living in London and author of Second World War: The Battle of the Books, asks Who’s fanning the flames?. Heartfield, who also seems to be a Marxist of some kind, argues that it isn’t that assimilation has failed, but that it hasn’t really been tried.
Friday, November 4, 2005
Gunpowder, Treason, and Plot
Remember, remember the fifth of November,
Gunpowder, treason and plot,
I see no reason why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.
I cannot permit the four hundredth anniversary of the Catholic conspiracy to blow up the Houses of Parliament and kill King James I and his ministers to pass without recognition.
Growing up just outside London, I well remember Guy Fawkes Day and the perennial ritual of burning stuffed effigies (of Guy Fawkes) on bonfires and firework displays. Those were the days when kids could buy large and potentially dangerous fireworks. They would take to the streets displaying their effigies to solicit funds (“A penny for the guy”) to pay for their fireworks. I remember when an “old” (pre-decimalization) penny would buy you a sparkler or a banger, tuppence (two pennies) would buy you a Jumping Jack, and a shilling would buy you a couple of Roman candles. No more. Inflation has eaten away at the purchasing power of the currency. And government laws now prohibit the purchase of “adult fireworks” by anyone under eighteen. Although the British state does not prohibit privately organized firework parties, the authorities encourage people to gather in carefully monitored areas for public displays at taxpayer’s expense.
I guess the discovery of the conspiracy under Robert Catesbury and twelve others (Guy Fawkes was the man who was arrested alongside 36 barrels of gunpowder) would today be seen as the successful prevention of Catholic terrorism! Indeed, until the late nineteenth century, it was common practice to burn effigies of the Pope. Now that occurs only at Lewes, East Sussex, where the celebrations also commemorate the memory of seventeen Protestant martyrs who were burnt at the stake in the town during the Marian persecutions of 1555–1557. More Catholic terrorism!
For those of you who wish to learn more about Guy Fawkes, the Gunpowder Plot, and Bonfire Night, go here, here, and here. For more links go here, here, here, here, and here. For the official perspective go here. If you wish to read advice on how to let off fireworks safely, go here. And if you wish to read about Bonfire Night in less safety-conscious days, go here for a report from Somerset in 1889 and here for a report on London in the 1950s. While researching this article, I read that Bonfire Night is celebrated in New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, and some parts of the United States.
Gunpowder Treason Day, as Guy Fawkes Day was known, was once commemorated as an official holiday in the Church of England calendar, together with two other holidays marking important events in the history of the English monarchy. The first is the execution of King Charles the Martyr on January 30, 1649. That’s Charles I who is the last saint to be canonized by the Church of England. The second is Oak Apple Day (May 29, 1660), which marks the restoration of his son Charles II to the throne. Parliament did not abolish these holidays until 1859. I assume they were also observed by the Episcopal Church in the Thirteen Colonies.
Monday, October 31, 2005
The Last Survivors Tell Their Stories
Of the millions who fought in the First World War, only a handful are still alive today—and all are now well over a hundred years old. With the horror of the trenches about to slip from living memory, Max Arthur has tracked down and interviewed these last survivors of what Wilfred Owen called a 'carnage incomparable'. To mark next week's Remembrance Day, Tuesday’s Guardian has published a selection of their stories.
Monday, October 24, 2005
Who Should Chair the Fed?
As most readers are now aware, President Bush today nominated Ben Bernanke, current chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers, to succeed Alan Greenspan as chairman of the Federal Reserve. Bernanke previously served on the Fed's Board of Governors and was a professor of economics at Princeton University.
Over at Marginal Revolution, Tyler Cowen provides some useful links that enable his readers to learn more about the views of Ben Bernanke. Cowen also provides his own assessment of Bernanke, whom he rates “an excellent choice and a first-rate economist.” I don’t doubt that Bernanke isn’t a very smart guy who is well versed in the literature. (That said, where is the evidence he has read either Mises on the impossibility of central planning or Hayek on the pretence of knowledge and drawn the appropriate conclusions for central banking?) I’m not clear, however, that his high IQ and extensive knowledge of recent debates in monetary economics makes him a good, let alone an outstanding, choice. And even were he the best among those whom Bush would consider nominating, that would not make him “an excellent choice” per se. Indeed he could be the best of the bunch and still be pretty awful. Let me explain.
From the point of view of a libertarian or classical liberal who advocates the separation of money and state, none of the likely candidates looks very promising. And even if the question is “Who prospectively looks like doing the least damage?”, I’m not clear that Bernanke who favors inflation targeting (the Fed policy in the 1920s) should be the choice of libertarians or at least those who are aware of the malign consequences of a policy of price stability on the capital structure (remember the Great Depression—even though that depression was made much worse by a subsequent policy of monetary contraction and government price supports). See George Selgin’s "Less Than Zero: The Case for a Falling Price Level in a Growing Economy" (London: Institute of Economic Affairs, 1997).
For this libertarian, a truly excellent choice would be someone who argues consistently for the separation of money and state. Among those who advocate free banking with fractional reserves, two names come immediately to mind: Lawrence H. White and George A. Selgin. And among those who defend free banking with a hundred percent gold standard, Joseph Salerno is perhaps your man.
The ideal nominee would be prepared to freeze the operations of the Fed (its abolition requires, of course, the repeal of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913) and thus refuse to exercise government control over the banking system. I realize, of course, this would very quickly lead to calls for his removal by our ever-vigilant Congress (can the chairman of the Fed be impeached?) but before he could be forcibly removed (by court-ordered detention under a mental health act?), it would be my sincere hope that the public debate would have been considerably broadened by consideration of ideas that were once taken seriously by many economists, bankers, and legislators, and, indeed, implemented on both sides of the Atlantic (eighteenth-century Scotland and, to a more limited extent, Jacksonian America, etc., etc.).
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Simon Jenkins: Beware Good News from Iraq This Week
Last week Simon Jenkins, former editor of The Times (London), who now writes for the Sunday Times and the Guardian, visited Iraq. Go here to read what he has to say. His account is a telling rejoinder to the fables spun by those who call for the U.S. and Britain to stay on in Iraq through 2006 and beyond.
“The invasion was merely illegal. The occupation has been the most bafflingly inept venture undertaken by western powers in modern history. I tremble to think what Tony Blair and George Bush would have done with the cold war.”
Jenkins writes, “These men [Blair & co.] have left a British army stranded in an Arabian desert with no apparent exit and no control over its fate. Their only possible redemption is to withdraw that army (other than as advisers) when the next Baghdad government is installed in the new year. Iraq can then be left to the Iraqis. If the Americans want to stay, more fool them.”
Indeed, more fool them.
Friday, October 14, 2005
Four Links on Iraq
Today’s Independent (which goes behind subscription this Sunday at 7 pm EDT) carries four interesting stories on the subject of the invasion and occupation of Iraq: Harold Pinter on Wilfred Owen on the invasion of Iraq, Patrick Cockburn on the chaos that is Iraq, Phillip Knightley on Robert Fisk’s new book, and Margaret Thatcher on her doubts over the basis for the Iraq war.
Whatever Happened to the Orange Revolution?
Go here to find out. Jonathan Steele explains how the ‘orange revolution’ oligarchs have revealed their true colours.
Thursday, October 13, 2005
Who Was Invited to Margaret Thatcher’s Eightieth Birthday Bash?
This evening Margaret, Lady Thatcher, is hosting her eightieth birthday party at London’s Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Hyde Park. The Times informs its readers that Lady Thatcher is welcoming her guests at a two-and-a-half-hour reception, and that the time has been kept short as she tires quickly and suffers from memory loss after several minor strokes.
As you would expect, her guest list is a roll call of honor from the 1980s Thatcher heyday. The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh are there (it’s rare for the monarch to attend such an event), as are Tony and Cherie Blair. Also attending are Lord Harris (that’s Ralph Harris who founded the Institute of Economic Affairs), economist Sir Alan Walters, Labour MP Frank Field, singer Dame Shirley Bassey, actresses Joan Collins and June Whitfield, Lord Lloyd-Webber and Sir Tim Rice, disk jockeys Terry Wogan and Sir Jimmy Young, chef Marco Pierre White, journalist William Shawcross, historian Norman Stone, media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, Caspar Weinberger, two (out of four) contenders for the Conservative Party leadership, John Profumo (now there’s a name from the past!), in all 650 guests. For the complete guest list, go here.
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
Srebrenica Revisited
Diana Johnstone has written a fascinating article about the Srebrenica massacre. She explains what likely really happened and how its portrayal as “genocide” has been and will continue to be used as an excuse for more war. Go here to read her essay. Be sure to read it through to the end.
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Arthur Seldon of the Institute of Economic Affairs Dies Aged 89
I've just heard that Arthur Seldon, former editorial director of the Institute of Economic Affairs (London), has died peacefully at his home. Born in 1916, he was a very important person in the renaissance of classical liberal ideas in postwar Britain. I propose to post more about AS later, after I've taught my morning classes.
UPDATE: Wednesday's Independent (London) carries a refereshingly candid obituary of Arthur Seldon by Dennis Kavanagh and an appreciation by Colin Robinson. The article goes behind subscription at 7 p.m. (EDT) this Friday.
FURTHER UPDATE: London newspapers carry three more obituaries today (Thursday). Go here for an obituary by Alfred Sherman in the Guardian, here for the obituary in the Daily Telegraph, and here for the obituary in The Times. If you're interested in finding out more about Seldon, you'll find them all worth reading.
George Monbiot: “My heroes are driven by God, but I'm glad my society isn't”
George Monbiot, writing in Tuesday’s Guardian, asks whether religious societies are better than secular ones and summarizes new findings that murder, venereal disease and marital breakdown are all more common in religious cultures.
First he explains that the only two heroes he has met are both Catholic missionaries, Joe Haas and Frei Adolfo. “If they did not believe in God, these men would never have taken such risks for other people.” Then he continues, “Remarkably, no one, until now, has attempted systematically to answer the question with which this column began. But in the current edition of the Journal of Religion and Society, a researcher called Gregory Paul tests the hypothesis, propounded by evangelists in the Bush administration, that religion is associated with lower rates of ‘lethal violence, suicide, non-monogamous sexual activity and abortion’. He compared data from 18 developed democracies, and discovered that the Christian fundamentalists couldn't have got it more wrong.”
Tuesday, October 4, 2005
John Taylor Gatto: Against School
Gatto explains how public education cripples our kids, and why. Superb. Go here to read his powerful attack on the ideology of public schooling.
Saturday, October 1, 2005
How the Conservatives Can Defeat Blair and Win the Next Election
Simon Jenkins calls for "Conservative libertarianism" in London's Sunday Times.
Jenkins is author of Accountable to None: The Tory Nationalization of Britain (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1995; New York: Penguin, 1996), a telling critique of Margaret Thatcher and John Major who, even as they privatized many economic activities, centralized decision-making with the national government.
Ted Galen Carpenter: Bush Misreads History
Further to the question of whether Cato has anything more to say about the invasion and occupation of Iraq, I wish to refer readers to Ted Galen Carpenter’s most recent article in the Orange County Register, where he reiterates his opposition to the invasion of Iraq and the desirability for the U.S. to pull out sooner rather than later.
Drum roll, please, for Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, who, after returning from one of several trips to Iraq, said: "We should start figuring out how we get out of there. Our involvement there has destabilized the Middle East. And the longer we stay there, I think the further destabilization will occur." I hope those who wish the U.S. to stay on in Iraq will read and consider his remarks.
What many of us would now like to hear is the timetable that Carpenter thinks is appropriate. And what do readers of Liberty & Power think? Immediate withdrawal? Total withdrawal by the end of this year? Total withdrawal by the end of 2006?
Friday, September 30, 2005
“We have been lied to about the war. I dared to speak the truth.”
This Wednesday Walter Wolfgang, Labour Party veteran since 1948 and refugee from Nazi Germany, was ejected from the annual Labour Party conference for shouting the single word “Nonsense” during the speech of Jack Straw, the foreign secretary. Here he explains why he opposes British participation in the invasion and occupation of Iraq and the chilling control that Blair and his supporters exercise over the Labour Party.
Monday, September 26, 2005
How We Can Reach the Left without Compromising Our Principles
Lew Rockwell explains how here.
Friday, September 23, 2005
British Veteran of the Great War Dies Aged 108
Saturday’s Independent (London) carries the obituary of one of the last survivors of the Great War. Read about George Rice here before the article goes behind subscription next Monday at 7 pm (EDT). His death leaves only eight British survivors of the First World War. My understanding is that there are even fewer survivors in France and Germany.
What Is Going on at Cato?
Over at Antiwar.com Justin Raimondo pursues the question I asked here at Liberty & Power and which generated intense discussion at the time. Why has the Cato Institute not contributed in recent months to the debate on whether the U.S. should pull out of Iraq? It might seem that Cato is biding its time and waiting for the U.S. occupation of Iraq to collapse. Rather like the Democratic leadership is waiting on events to unfold. Which seems a shame for an avowedly libertarian public policy institute that should surely be leading the way forward. Is it perhaps seen as a way of keeping all the donors on board? This, of course, is a major consideration for such institutes. Inquiring minds wish to know. Thoughtful comments and insider information are solicited here.
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Simon Jenkins: To Say We Must Stay in Iraq to Save It from Chaos Is a Lie
Simon Jenkins, the veteran journalist and former editor of The Times (of London), who now writes for The Guardian, has penned a powerful essay on why Britain should withdraw its troops in short order from Iraq. And, I might add, he provides a mighty good argument why the U.S. should also withdraw posthaste.
He concludes:
“The alleged reason for occupying Iraq was to build security and democracy. We have dismantled the first and failed to construct the second. Iraq is a fiasco without parallel in recent British policy. Now we are told that we must "stay the course" or worse will befall. This is code for ministers refusing to admit a mistake and hoping someone else will after they are gone. By then the Kurds will be more detached, the Sunnis more enraged and the Shias more fundamentalist. A hundred British soldiers will have died.
“America left Vietnam and Lebanon to their fate. They survived. We left Aden and other colonies. Some, such as Malaya and Cyprus, saw bloodshed and partition. We said rightly that this was their business. So too is Iraq for the Iraqis. We have made enough mess there already.
“British soldiers may indeed be the best in the world. But why then is Blair driving them to humiliation?”
I recall the United States declared itself independent of Britain 229 years ago. It is surely time for Britain to declare itself independent of the United States by pulling out from Iraq. And thereby, I hope, provide an example for our transatlantic cousins to follow.
Friday, September 16, 2005
Invective as Perhaps Only the Brits Can Do It
The Guardian carries an amusing account of the debate between George Galloway, the British MP, and Christopher Hitchens, the dual national journalist, on the Iraq War at Baruch College, New York City. It seems as if it generated some entertainment, if little enlightenment on the issues.
“In a debate that drew as much from the culture of the playground as the traditions of parliament, no hyperbolic stone was left unturned.
“In response to one of Galloway's answers Hitchens said: "Beneath each gutter there's another gutter gurgling away." Galloway later shot back: "You've fallen out of the gutter into the sewer."”
Reading the story reminded me: Is there any chance of a debate between Tom Palmer and Justin Raimondo on the same subject? Queensberry Rules, of course, as befits two of the libertarian movement’s best known gay men.
Thursday, September 15, 2005
Did You Really Expect Anything Else?
For GWB, the answer to government failure is more government. Did you really expect anything else?
The Washington Post begins thus:
“President Bush, summoning the American spirit and "a faith in God no storm can take away," vowed from the heart of the Hurricane Katrina disaster zone Thursday night to rebuild this devastated city and the rest of the Gulf Coast with "one of the largest reconstruction efforts the world has ever seen."
“In a prime-time address televised from the storm-battered French Quarter, the president appeared without coat and tie to promise help for hundreds of thousands of victims to rebuild their lives with unprecedented federal assistance to secure a home, a job, health care and schooling.
“"You need to know," he said, directly addressing the dislocated and desperate, "that our whole nation cares about you, and in the journey ahead you are not alone. . . . And tonight I also offer this pledge of the American people: Throughout the area hit by the hurricane, we will do what it takes, we will stay as long as it takes, to help citizens rebuild their communities and their lives."”
They will stay your lifetime and the lifetime of your children. Your wallets will be picked by the federal government for the next two generations. And, if you wish to alleviate the pain, buy a portfolio of stocks in the construction industry.
“Although he cited no price tag, the president committed the nation to a plan that officials and lawmakers believe could top $200 billion, roughly the cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars combined, and is certain to reorient government and the remainder of the Bush presidency. It will create much larger deficits in the short-term, siphon off money that would have been spent on other programs and dramatically shift the focus of the White House, Congress and many state governments for the foreseeable future.”
Prepare for few or no future tax cuts.
“While he embraced a big-spending program the scale of which few liberal presidents have ever advanced, Bush also signaled plans to use the reconstruction to enact long-term conservative goals. Adopting a policy option typically used in much smaller scale, he proposed creation of a Gulf Opportunity Zone that would grant new and existing businesses a variety of tax breaks, loans and loan guarantees through 2007. And in documents released before the speech, Bush called for displaced families who send their children to private schools, including religious ones, to get federal money.”
Well, that’s all right then. None of this one-size-fits-all welfare that creates a dependency culture but targeted programs that use market mechanisms to, err, create a different sort of dependency culture. Market liberals everywhere should rejoice. To be alive at this very hour is bliss!
Of course, free-market Republicans will tell us how much worse it would be if the Democrats were in power:
“"The families in the Gulf . . . certainly don't need to hear another speech from President Bush," Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said. "What they need is leadership. . . . Let's be clear about what Katrina was: a failure of leadership." Reid called for "an American Marshall Plan" to rebuild the Gulf Coast and accused Republicans of balking at even greater spending on health, housing and education for victims.
“As he did on Tuesday, Bush accepted accountability: "Four years after the frightening experience of September 11th, Americans have every right to expect a more effective response in a time of emergency. When the federal government fails to meet such an obligation, I as president am responsible for the problem, and for the solution."”
In an earlier era, accepting accountability in a situation like this might have meant resignation. But, of course, these days, no president resigns for such a reason. GWB just goes on and on—spending our money to try and bail himself out from the swamp into which he has climbed.
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Uzbekistan: So Where Is the Outrage?
Tuesday’s Guardian carries a long dispatch from Ed Vulliamy who has written by far the most complete account of the Uzbek massacre of May 13. That’s the one where President Islam Karimov—protege of Vladimir Putin and, until recently, a crucial ally to Britain and America in the "war on terror"—dispatched his troops to kill hundreds, possibly thousands, of innocent civilians at Andijan in eastern Uzbekistan.
The massacre received comparatively little coverage both at the time and in the months that followed. Far less coverage, it might be added, than any ballot-rigging by Viktor Yanukovych that precipitated the Orange Revolution in Ukraine. It's also noteworthy how little the American, British and other European governments have protested the massacre. Yet from all accounts it can only be described as government terror of the worst sort. So, George Bush and Tony Blair, where is the outrage? Or are the demands of U.S. and Nato policy in Central Asia determining whose rights are worth protesting and whose rights can be ignored?
Monday, September 12, 2005
J. G. Ballard and the Second World War
J. G. Ballard, author of Empire of the Sun and other acclaimed fiction, applauds Alexander Sokurov's remarkable film portrait of Hirohito, The Sun, in Tuesday’s Guardian. Ballard writes:
“Should Britain and France have stayed out of the war? No, emphatically. But we should have declared war on Germany only when we could win. By 1943, Hitler's forces were being ground down by the Red Army, and we would have had every chance of defeating the Germans in western Europe.
“As someone who was so affected by our war with Japan, I am more interested in the consequences of the British government's misguided decision. Would Japan have attacked Pearl Harbor, the most significant event of my life, if Britain and France had not declared war on Germany in 1939? I suspect not. The attack was a desperate gamble prompted by the American oil embargo, which would be lifted only if the Japanese withdrew from China. The oil that Japan eyed so eagerly was in the Dutch East Indies, but deterred by a strong British, French and Dutch presence, the Japanese might well have yielded to American demands and withdrawn from China.
“The Japanese tanks that I saw rolling into Shanghai on the day of the attack might have been moving in the opposite direction. The lives of millions of Chinese and Asians would have been spared, along with thousands of British soldiers in Burma and Singapore.”
Go here to read Ballard’s essay Secrets of the Emperor’s Bunker and his revisionist perspective on the Second World War.
And Sokurov's The Sun is a must-see movie.
Monday, September 5, 2005
Money Quote from Richard Nixon
“The time has passed when America will make every other nation’s conflict our own, or make other nations’ failure our responsibility, or presume to tell the people of other nations how to manage their own affairs. Just as we respect the right of each nation to determine its own future, we also recognise the responsibility of each nation to secure its own future.” That was Richard Nixon in his second inaugural address. It seems he understood better than George W. Bush both the world and the limits of American power.
Saturday, September 3, 2005
Sandra Day O’Connor’s Date Dies
Or, as David Bernstein notes at Volokh.com, "William Rehnquist has passed away".
I understand that O'Connor dated Rehnquist when they were students together at Stanford Law School. He graduated first in his class (ahead of O'Connor).
Friday, September 2, 2005
Simon Schama and His New Book on Britain, the Slaves, and the American Revolution
Go here to read an interesting interview with the historian Simon Schama. (Be advised that this article will go behind subscription at 7 pm EDT on Sunday, September 4.) His new book Rough Crossings: Britain, the Slaves and the American Revolution (BBC Books, 2005; not yet published in the U.S.) tells the story of how some of King George’s commanders provided sanctuary and freedom to (some) fugitive slaves. Order the book here.
Says Schama, "I was very concerned that it not replace American self-congratulation with British self-congratulation," he says, noting that the British often broke their word and sold ex-slaves down the river (not merely a metaphor, alas). He adds that "What's shocking is not that we [the Brits] betrayed them; what's shocking are the moments of genuine integrity," when the duffer Whig aristocrats who led King George's armies kept promises of freedom and protection to the fugitive slaves. In an ocean of opportunism, these points of honour shine: "The message here is - don't forget little moments that are really moments of extraordinary grandeur."
As for US readers, Schama hopes that his cliché-busting story of (some) virtuous Brits and (some) hypocritical Patriots will offer an alternative to the "consolatory" history they love, about "the wisdom, nobility and foresightedness of the Founding Fathers. All of which is true, but is used somehow as a balm against self-interrogation. That gets up my nose - it really does."
New Orleans, Past and Present
Here are two links worth reading. First, an answer to the question of why New Orleans was built where it was. Second, a thoughtful commentary on why tens of thousands of people didn’t leave New Orleans.
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
The Economics of Looting in Devastated Areas
From the perspective of neoclassical economics as embodied in, say, Posnerian law-and-economics, an economist might well argue that some of the looting within devastated areas would be "economically efficient". After all, it would seem that if perishable goods weren't looted, they would be destroyed by the flood waters this week and by the passage of time in coming weeks.
Indeed, I would defend people without vital provisions taking them from deserted shops provided that they subsequently offer to make reparations. According to the Times-Picayune, it seems that the police assisted people to take such provisions:
> At the Wal-Mart on Tchoupitoulas Street, an initial effort to hand out provisions to stranded citizens quickly disintegrated into mass looting.
There is also the question of long-term incentives. A neoclassical economist would not wish to encourage looting in the future so there would seem to be a strong case for the police to stop people looting consumer durables although not perishable foodstuffs.
However, it appears that the police and firefighters were looting alongside private citizens. The Times-Picayune reports:
> Throughout the store and parking lot, looters pushed carts and loaded trucks and vans alongside officers. One man said police directed him to Wal-Mart from Robert’s Grocery, where a similar scene was taking place. A crowd in the electronics section said one officer broke the glass DVD case so people wouldn’t cut themselves.
> “The police got all the best stuff. They’re crookeder than us,” one man said.
And more:
> Inside the store, one woman was stocking up on make-up. She said she took comfort in watching police load up their own carts.
> “It must be legal,” she said. “The police are here taking stuff, too.”
Which, of course, poses a problem for your typical neoclassical economist who supports a "limited" role for the state to provide "public goods". I’m grateful that I’m not your typical neoclassical economist.
The Times-Picayune continues:
> The scene turned so chaotic at times that entrances were blocked by the press of people and shopping carts and traffic jams sprouted on surrounding streets.
> Some groups organized themselves into assembly lines to more efficiently cart off goods.
This is clearly rationally cooperative behavior (among thieves). I guess even Austrian economists may take a certain professional satisfaction in such conduct!
Thursday, August 25, 2005
Polly Hill, economic anthropologist, dead at 91
Go here to read the obituary of Polly Hill. (The story will go behind subscription at 7 PM EDT on Saturday, August 27.)
“Polly Hill was the pre-eminent economic anthropologist in the classic British fieldwork tradition. She was born in 1914 into one of Cambridge's most distinguished academic families. Her father was A.V. Hill, a Nobel prize- winning physiologist, and her mother's brother was J.M. Keynes. She graduated from Newnham College, Cambridge in 1936 with a degree in Economics, but her academic career did not begin until 1954 when she took up a post as a Research Fellow in the University of Ghana. This was the beginning of her distinguished career as a "field economist," as she liked to describe herself. Over the next 30 years she published nine books and over 50 articles, including the classic study that established her reputation, The Migrant Cocoa-Farmers of Southern Ghana (1963).”
Although I knew the name Polly Hill, I knew next to nothing about her work and I was not aware of her familial connection with John Maynard Keynes.
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Can Anyone Seriously Doubt There Was More Religious Liberty under Saddam Hussein?
When you read stories like this, this, this, and this, can anyone seriously doubt there was more religious liberty in Iraq under Saddam Hussein than there is now under U.S. occupation? Can anyone out there prove me wrong? Bring it on, as GWB once said in a totally different context. And thanks to Justin Raimondo for the links.
Monday, August 22, 2005
Common Sense on Hard Drugs
Lionel Shriver asks "Why can’t you buy heroin at Boots?" Of course, she’s not the first to ask this question but it’s not one that usually gets asked in a national newspaper, even the Guardian.
Last week Liberal Democrat MP Chris Davies called for the legalisation and regulation of hard drugs. Shriver writes: “I cannot imagine a rational, pragmatic approach to drugs in the western world evolving in my lifetime. Davies's proposal was sane, it was welcome; it was also self-destructive. Fellow Lib Dems rushed to clarify that he was not promoting party policy. And these are Lib Dems! Can you envisage an American presidential candidate going out on a limb to advocate that the US decriminalises heroin? That's right, with pigs flying merrily overhead, and hell freezing below.” Myself, I think she’s a mite too pessimistic although I’d grant that it won’t happen on GWB’s watch.
Btw, Boots is a national chain of chemists, err, drugstores.
Sunday, August 21, 2005
Why Incitement to Religious Hatred Should Not Be a Crime
This session the British government is pushing through Parliament a bill to make incitement to religious hatred a crime. Similar legislation is already in effect in the state of Victoria in Australia. An Australian Muslim, Amir Butler, argues that Victoria's laws against incitement to religious hatred have sown division, and undermined freedom of speech, thought and conscience. He illustrates his case with telling examples from the Australian experience. You can read it here. It’s well worth reading.
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Brendan O’Neill: The Implosion of 'Mission Impossible'
Go here for an interesting and thoughtful essay on the ‘War on Terror’ by British journalist Brendan O’Neill.
Tuesday, August 9, 2005
Tributes to Robin Cook: Altogether Too Much
This outpouring of tributes for the late Robin Cook, who died last Saturday, is really too much. Cook is the former UK foreign secretary and leader of the House of Commons who in March 2003 resigned from Blair’s cabinet over the decision to go to war on Iraq.
Judging from the tributes pouring in from fellow politicians, anti-war groups, and around the world, you'd think he was Jesus Christ and Winston Churchill rolled into one. Although I salute his resignation over the decision to wage War on Iraq, I for one remember his support for deadly sanctions against Iraq and the bombing of Yugoslavia, and his complicity in the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians—all in pursuit of what he called an “ethical” foreign policy-and I don't like it one little bit.
Friday, August 5, 2005
Geoffrey Wheatcroft on the Significance of Hiroshima
I always enjoy reading the British journalist Geoffrey Wheatcroft even when I disagree with him. He is exceptionally well read and is consistently one of the most thoughtful and interesting commentators in Britain today. His new essay The Birth of ‘Mere Terror’ is no exception.
“Hiroshima wasn't uniquely wicked. It was part of a policy for the mass killing of civilians.”
Read the rest of the article here.
Friday, July 22, 2005
Juan Cole on the Unintended Consequences of War
Further to the vigorous discussion here at Liberty & Power on when the U.S. should withdraw from Iraq, I commend Juan Cole’s The Iraq war is over, and the winner is... Iran. His essay illustrates perfectly how war almost always turns out to have unintended consequences for the protagonists, in this case the Bush administration. Hat tip to Antiwar.com.
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
The Bloody Legacy of the U.S. Invasion
A BBC story led me to a new report (pdf) from Iraq Body Count in association with Oxford Research Group on post-invasion civilian deaths in Iraq. The report states that nearly 25,000 civilians have died violently in Iraq since the US-led invasion in March 2003, and that 37% of all non-combatant deaths were caused by US-led forces.
This is the first detailed account of all non-combatants reported killed or wounded during the first two years of the continuing conflict. It is based on comprehensive analysis of over 10,000 media reports published between March 2003 and March 2005. Read it, or at least read the summary. Republicans have their talking points. This is one of ours. Today Counterpunch.org posted the first part of a two-part interview with Ward Churchill. He replies to his critics on their allegations of plagiarism and discusses other recent controversies, including Michael Bellesiles (Churchill is gentle on Bellesiles), and mentions in passing his own support for the Second Amendment. Sir Edward Heath, the former Conservative prime minister whom Margaret Thatcher defeated for the leadership of the Tory party in 1975, died Sunday at his home in Salisbury. A week ago he had celebrated his eighty-ninth birthday. For obituaries, go here, here, here, and here. They make for interesting reading.
Interestingly, Ted Heath omitted all particulars of his political career from Who's Who. As W. F. Deedes pointed out here: “He must be the only prime minister in history to expunge all record of his political progress from a principal directory.” The obituary in the Guardian states: “Heath claimed to have visited every country in the world except North Korea, Bolivia and Paraguay. In many countries he was treated rather more respectfully than at home, where his candour was redefined as petulance by his critics.” And, as far as I can make out, Heath was likely the only twentieth century prime minister who died a virgin. What’s up with Cato? The War in Iraq continues with its daily bombings and killings. Meanwhile there are many signs that some Democrats and Republicans in Congress are unhappy with the current situation and seek withdrawal. Yet the Cato Institute appears to have nothing to say.
Way back in December 2002, Cato published Why the United States Should Not Attack Iraq by Ivan Eland (now with the Independent Institute and a contributor to Antiwar.com) and Bernard Gourley. A year later Cato published Charles V. Pena’s Iraq: The Wrong War. Three weeks later Patrick Basham asked Can Iraq Be Democratic?. In June 2004 Cato published the Exiting Iraq: Why the U.S. Must End the Military Occupation and Renew the War against Al Qaeda, the report of a task force sponsored by Cato and directed by Christopher Preble. In January 2005 Preble published an article, How to Exit Iraq, in the National Post of Canada. Unfortunately, Cato’s link to the article doesn’t work but you can get a sense of what it’s about by reading Justin Raimondo’s remarks here. Since then, apart from a commentary on monetary reform, there has been complete silence—at least as far as I can tell.
It’s therefore not unreasonable to ask “Where Is Cato Now on One of the Most Important Issues of the Day?” I can’t believe they’ve run out of things to say. Perhaps someone from Cato reading this post would defend their decision not to say anything since January. May we infer that Cato is deliberately keeping quiet on this issue? And if so, why? Is this part of a grand strategy not to detract from Cato’s other policy objectives? And/or is this silence reflective of divisions within Cato itself? I’m genuinely puzzled and intrigued. Today is Bastille Day, when the French state, and some French people, celebrate the fall of the notorious Bastille prison on July 14, 1789. It is said the late Chinese prime minister Zhou Enlai, when asked once for his thoughts on the lasting impact of the French Revolution, memorably declared that it was "too early to say".
And here’s another, rather sanguinary, quote for Bastille Day from the great Enlightenment philosopher Denis Diderot (1713-1784): "Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest."
Whatever your views on the French Revolution—and mine are mixed—I suggest that readers open a bottle of good French wine and drink to the memory of that great classical liberal Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas de Caritat, Marquis de Condorcet (1743-1794), who perished during the French Revolution.
As the notable British political philosopher
H. B. Acton (1908-1974) wrote: “Wholly a man of the Enlightenment, an advocate of economic freedom, religious toleration, legal and educational reform, and the abolition of slavery, Condorcet sought to extend the empire of reason to social affairs. Rather than elucidate human behaviour, as had been done thus far, by recourse to either the moral or physical sciences, he sought to explain it by a merger of the two sciences that eventually became transmuted into the discipline of sociology.” This is exactly what I’d expect Anthony Charles Lynton Blair to say but it’s still disappointing.
“It is important that those engaged in terrorism realise that our determination to defend our values and our way of life is greater than their determination to cause death and destruction to innocent people in a desire to impose extremism on the world.
“Whatever they do, it is our determination that they will never succeed in destroying what we hold dear in this country and in other civilised nations throughout the world.”
Fine sentiments, perhaps, but it doesn’t demonstrate much understanding of what “those engaged in terrorism” are about.
Then, in self-referential remarks so typical of Blair, he notes: “It is particularly barbaric this has happened on a day when people are meeting to try to help the problems of poverty in Africa and the long term problems of climate change and the environment.”
Leftist London Mayor Ken Livingstone commented that: “This was not a terrorist attack against the mighty and the powerful. It was not aimed at presidents or prime ministers. It was aimed at ordinary working class people.”
Yes and no. Yes, the bombers did not seek to attack the G8 meeting at the Gleneagles hotel in Scotland. That would not have succeeded because Tony Blair had surrounded himself with enough army and police to thwart such an attack. So in consequence they struck at vulnerable public spaces (streets and subways) in London. But, no, it was not aimed at working class people per se, just anyone—venture capitalists and shop assistants—who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Livingstone added: “They seek to turn Londoners against each other . . . London will not be divided by this.” I guess this is a reference to Moslem minorities in London but I doubt the bombers particularly sought to foment ethnic and religious strife in the capital.
Personally, I much prefer what the Queen had to say. She was “deeply shocked” and sent sympathy to those affected. Amen.
Update: This post is now cross-posted at Antiwar.com. Today’s Guardian carries an interesting story on how Victorinox, the firm which makes the Swiss army knife, is adapting to the world post-9/11.
Carl Elsener, the great-grandson of Karl Elsener, the man who, in 1884, invented the Swiss army knife, explains how 9/11 hit his business.
“"It was an absolute catastrophe for us," Elsener says. "Until then our knives had sold very well both in duty free shops and on board planes. Most airlines sold them, including British Airways. Then suddenly this distribution was closed. It was zero. The merchandise came back to us. This was really very hard." Under new airline regulations, passengers could no longer carry the Swiss army knife in their hand luggage. Those who didn't comply had their knives confiscated - and they weren't returned at the other end.
“The effects were sudden, and devastating. Sales of Swiss army knives dropped by 40% almost immediately.”
Read here how Elsener’s firm is fighting to sustain its sales in the face of state regulation and against cheap imitations from China. I found it an inspiring story of entrepreneurship.
One last thought. “Last month it [Victorinox] registered the deep red colour of its Swiss army knives as a patent.” That sounds more like a trademark to me. It's too bad they went on to create a national state!
Today the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography celebrates the life of John Adams. So, you ask, What is Adams doing in a *British* national biography? Well, as you may remember, he was once a citizen of King George III, and the new ODNB includes Americans from first settlement to independence. Truly inclusive.
Then read Lenni Brenner’s appreciation of Jefferson,
Breaking the Chains of Monkish Ignorance and Superstition: Jefferson, God and the Fourth of July, where inter alia he delivers some telling criticisms of Christopher Hitchens’ new book Thomas Jefferson: Author of America.
In conclusion, I quote from Brenner’s essay, where he tells a nice story about Jefferson:
“In 1791, Benjamin Banneker, a free black, sent Jefferson a copy of the Almanac he had written, and called upon him to acknowledge black intellectual equality. Jefferson truthfully replied: "I thank you, sincerely, for your letter of the 19th instant, and for the Almanac it contained. No body wishes more than I do, to see such proofs as you exhibit, that nature has given to our black brethren talents equal to those of the other colors of men; and that the appearance of the want of them, is owing merely to the degraded condition of their existence, both in Africa and America. I can add with truth, that no body wishes more ardently to see a good system commenced, for raising the condition, both of their body and mind, to what it ought to be, as far as the imbecility of their present existence, and other circumstances, which cannot be neglected, will admit. I have taken the liberty of sending your Almanac to Monsieur de Condozett, Secretary of the Academy of Sciences at Paris, and Member of the Philanthropic Society, because I considered it as a document, to which your whole color had a right for their justification, against the doubts which have been entertained of them.
“History's tragic contradiction deliberately closed with a courtly, "I am, with great esteem, Sir, your most obedient servant."” From the Cato Institute website: This year marks the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar, when the Royal Navy defeated the French and Spanish fleets on October 21, 1805. The French and Spanish lost 22 ships; the British none. Today’s reenactment, however, takes place between the reds and the blues. As Anna Tribe, 75 and the great, great, great granddaughter of Admiral Viscount Nelson, who commanded the British fleet and was killed in the engagement, said, "The idea of the blue team fighting the red team is pretty stupid. I am sure the French and Spanish are adult enough to appreciate we did win that battle." Read the full story here. For more about today’s events, go here, and for more about the celebrations this year, go here. Alexander Cockburn on the “The Supreme Court's Jackboot Liberals”: I encourage all readers to check out the website of the newly formed Antiwar League. Am I the first person to observe that The Sunday Times (of London) which published the leaked Downing Street memos is owned by Rupert Murdoch who also owns Fox TV? Hat tip to Rick Sincere for his timely post on the Virginia Declaration of Rights. Only an exceptionally well-informed reader will recognize the name of F. W. Hirst, whose stalwart advocacy of personal freedom, free trade, and peace during the first half of the twentieth century, and especially during the First World War and its aftermath, surely earns him an honored place in the pantheon of individual liberty. Mr Kim told ABC News Pyongyang had "enough nuclear bombs to defend against a US attack." For the full story go here. James Davidson's long review of Alan Bray’s The Friend has just appeared in the latest issue of the London Review of Books. Some readers may remember that this book was published posthumously way back in September 2003 but that's the LRB for you.
Even if you don’t find the question of same-sex unions in Christian history interesting, you may be surprised how fascinating you find Davidson’s account of Bray’s scholarship. And if you’re aware of the work of John Boswell but rather skeptical of some of his conclusions, you may decide that Bray’s approach is more persuasive than Boswell’s. David Beito, who keeps track of birthdays, has invited me to post on the life of Richard Cobden, who was born 201 years ago on June 3, 1804. I’m happy to do so since Cobden is one of my heroes—for at least four reasons that I’ll explain.
Today Richard Cobden and his friend John Bright are principally remembered for their work on behalf of the Anti-Corn Law League between 1839 and 1846, when Sir Robert Peel announced the phased total repeal of the corn laws, the tariff on imported grain or ‘bread tax’ that worked to raise the price of bread for the laboring poor and the rents accruing to the landlords or ‘bread stealers’. The organization and success of the League is a fine example of how to organize uncompromisingly for liberty and a great inspiration for us today.
My second reason for celebrating the life of Richard Cobden is that he was a firm and eloquent critic of British adventurism abroad and war-making. As was John Bright. In the general election of 1857 both Cobden and Bright lost their seats in the House of Commons because of their opposition to the Crimean War of 1854-56.
Two years later in the election of 1859 Cobden was reelected and over the course of the next year negotiated the Anglo-French commercial treaty of 1860 (the Cobden-Chevalier treaty) that inaugurated thirty years of lower tariffs across Europe.
Cobden’s words ring true today. “I yield to no one in sympathy for those who are struggling for freedom in any part of the world; but I will never sanction an interference which shall go to establish this or that nationality by force of arms, because that invades a principal which I wish to carry out in the other direction—the prevention of all foreign interference with nationalities for the sake of putting them down...”
Moreover, “...whilst we are in a state of profound peace, it is for you, the taxpayers, to decide whether you will run the risk of war, and keep your money in your pockets, or allow an additional number of men in red coats to live in idleness under the pretense of protecting you.”
Cobden believed that free trade would promote peace as well as prosperity. “I see in the free trade principle that which will act on the moral world as the principle of gravitation in the universe- drawing men together, thrusting aside the antagonisms of race, and creeds and language, and uniting us in the bonds of eternal peace.... I believe the effect will be to change the face of the world, so as to introduce a system of government entirely distinct from that which now prevails. I believe the desire and the motive for large and mighty empires and gigantic armies and great navies . . . will die away .... when man becomes one family, and freely exchanges the fruits of his labour with his brother Man.”
Miles Taylor, professor of modern history at the University of York, author of The Decline of British Radicalism, 1847-1860 (Oxford University Press, 1995), and editor of The European Diaries of Richard Cobden, 1846-1849 (Scolar Press, 1994), has written a very informative and nuanced account of Cobden’s life for the new Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (OUP, 2004, and updated online).
Taylor explains that "Cobden's support for non-intervention intensified during the American Civil War, which broke out in 1861. He never doubted that morality was on the side of the Union, and that the future of America lay with the industrial and commercial supremacy of the north. However, Cobden remained suspicious of the protectionist tendencies of the Union, as manifested in the Morrill tariff of 1861, and he had a low opinion of the administrative abilities of the Republican Party: in March 1864 he commented to his friend Thomas Thomasson that ‘if their [the North's] cause was not so good, I should certainly back the South whose men are much more capable whether as statesmen or generals’ (R. Cobden to T. Thomasson, March 1864, Thomas Thomasson MSS, BLPES). Moreover, he opposed the blockade tactics used by the North, which had led to the drying up of the supply of southern cotton to Europe. But he thought throughout the war that Britain, along with the other European powers, should remain neutral. Cobden used his contacts with leading Americans such as Sumner and Adams, within the British and French governments, and also among the Lancashire cotton manufacturers to dampen calls for armed intervention to end the blockade. And he joined in attempts to relieve the distress of cotton workers during the Lancashire famine."
In making my case for Richard Cobden, I recognize (and deplore) the fact that he advocated important measures of state intervention, most notably public funding of education. As Taylor explains, “In the years after 1847 Cobden resumed many of the political campaigns with which he had been associated during the previous decade. Incurring the disapproval of his nonconformist constituents, Cobden became a leading supporter of the National Public Schools Association, believing that ‘government interference is as necessary for education as its non-interference is essential to trade’ (Cobden to James Coppock, 15 June 1847, Cobden MSS, W. Sussex RO).”
My third reason for celebrating the life of Richard Cobden is that he supported the reform of land law—turning leasehold properties into freehold properties and the abolition of primogeniture (inheritance of land through the eldest son). Indeed he once said that getting rid of primogeniture was a more important goal than the repeal of the corn laws. His present-day admirers are almost entirely unaware of his position on land reform. Indeed, many are unaware of his principled opposition to British adventurism abroad. I should add that he was also a firm advocate of retrenchment (reducing government expenditure), the repeal of the taxes on knowledge (taxes on printed matter), and colonial reform.
My final reason for honoring Richard Cobden is that, by all accounts, he was a good and honorable man—indeed for Cobden it was a matter of honor that he rejected all offers of office under the Crown. Born the fourth child of eleven in rural poverty, he lifted himself from a penury that would have crushed a lesser soul. He was a good husband and family man. Cobden died on April 2, 1865 in his sixty-first year, worn out from his labors on behalf of liberty and against power. His fine character is surely reason enough to celebrate his life.
To read Cobden’s works online, go here, and to read about the project to collect and publish his letters, go here. To see portraits and likenesses of Cobden go here, and to buy a mug or a T-shirt bearing his image, go here.
I know of two pubs named after Richard Cobden, one in Chatham in Kent and the other in Havant in Hampshire (and I’d be surprised if there aren’t others). In West Lavington in Sussex you will find the Cobden Obelisk. And outside Mornington Crescent subway station in Camden High Street in north London you will find a statue of Richard Cobden built on the site of an old toll gate. Also in Camden there’s a primary school and a block of flats close by named after him, but, as Mahalia Lloyd, a student at the school, explains, “strangely he had no connection at all with Camden!” I encourage readers to check out William Boyd's essay on "Churchill and the Myth of the Special Relationship". Although it was published in the Times Literary Supplement of May 13 and it’s now behind subscription, I came across a copy online. You can read it here for free.
Oh, and don’t miss John Maynard Keynes’ appraisal of the terms of Lend-Lease. Yes, I too enjoyed George Galloway sticking it to the U.S. Senate but I couldn’t help thinking “Too bad it’s left to George Galloway to correct the record.” I recommend the insightful Brendan O’Neill to explain all about Gorgeous George’s narcissism and the awful state of the antiwar movement in Britain.
If you like what you read, read more of Brendan O’Neill at his website. And don’t miss his article on lapsed Catholics that appeared in The Spectator earlier this month. Further to my posts here and here and the lively discussion they generated, I refer readers to Walter Block and Stephan Kinsella’s essay on Federalism posted today. Albert Marshall, First World War cavalryman and last survivor of the Battle of the Somme, has just died. Go here for a long and interesting account of his life (this will go behind subscription later this week so check it out now) in The Independent.
Marshall married in 1921 (his wife died in 1984). According to another obituary in the Daily Telegraph, they had five children, of which only John Marshall, his youngest son at 73, survives, although 12 grandchildren, 24 great-grandchildren and four great-great-grandchildren will ensure the family keeps growing. After looking at the pictures and reading the captions from Saturday night’s fiftieth anniversary Eurovison Song Contest, I got to thinking that maybe, just maybe, there was something to be said for Soviet rule in eastern Europe and, in particular, the Red Army band. Go here to experience the atrocities that market forces have brought to some of the former Warsaw Pact nations and other parts of Europe. Go here to read Josie Appleton on the current situation in Uzbekistan. She describes President Islam Karimov as “an ex-Communist Party chief who just stayed where he was after the USSR collapsed, attempting to keep control through a Soviet-style apparatus that included a ruthless secret service.” She seeks to explain how the U.S. through its pursuit of the so-called War on Terror has created its own enemies in central Asia. She concludes thus:
“It would be better if both Americans and Europeans kept their noses out of the already shaky state of Uzbekistan, and left the people of that region to decide their fate in peace.”
Then go here to read John Laughland’s explanation of U.S. policy towards that country:
“People who reason that the US supports President Karimov, and will therefore turn a blind eye to his alleged excesses, do not understand the thrust of current American policy, which is to try to support and control all sides in any political equation. As in neighbouring Kyrgyzstan under former President Akayev, Uzbekistan is home to scores of western-backed NGOs that agitate politically for the opposition. For instance, Freedom House - a notorious CIA front and the main architect of the orange revolution in Ukraine - has an office in Tashkent.
“Ostensible US support for a president like Islam Karimov, moreover, gives the Americans the very proximity to a regime that they need in order to buy off turncoats within the power structure when the time comes for regime change; to believe that the current unrest in Uzbekistan will lead to anything other than the consolidation of American power in this strategically crucial region near China's border is to fail to understand how much US foreign policy under the neocons owes to the theory of permanent revolution.” Monday I posted some brief remarks on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that state laws restricting interstate shipments of wine were unconstitutional. Subsequently Grant Gould posted two informative commentaries on the relevant constitutional law.
I’m now linking to Lew Rockwell’s latest column that asks Will the Court Grant Us Freedom?. His answer is a resounding No! May the debate commence here at Liberty & Power. As readers may be aware, today a divided (5-4) U.S. Supreme Court held that state laws restricting interstate shipments of wine were unconstitutional. Interestingly enough, Scalia sided with the majority and Rehnquist joined Thomas in the dissent.
Although I follow developments in U.S. constitutional law with some interest, I’m not an attorney and I’m open to persuasion on which side made the better case in terms of (a) a plain reading of the U.S. Constitution (which itself is not without ambiguity) and (b) current U.S. constitutional law—which, of course, are two very different arguments. For the record, my own view of limited constitutional government is that it alone has a very limited ability to constrain government (pun intended) without supportive public opinion, and I see this as a further argument for private property anarchy vis a vis limited constitutional government.
That said, my main purpose in posting about this topic now is to alert readers to how some self-identified libertarians who celebrate the virtues of the U.S. Constitution will almost certainly welcome today’s decision irrespective of the constitutional arguments, and to observe that such a stance seems to me to be an intellectually dishonest position. Over the years American commentators claim to have observed the fresh green shoots of liberty sprouting forth in the inhospitable landscape of British politics. Yesterday John Vaught LaBeaume wrote that the Liberal Democrats under the leadership of Charles Kennedy have rediscovered their classical liberal roots. If only it were true.
Yes, the Liberal Democrats did vote against committing British troops to fight alongside the U.S. in Iraq—but this was not based on a principled objection to the invasion of a foreign state, rather it arose from their argument that the war was not legal and would need another vote of the UN Security Council to make it legal. The Liberal Democrats also supported the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999 and every other overseas military intervention of the Blair government, and they've never expressed regrets about any such action.
Yes, the Liberal Democrats have moved away from some of the more interventionist economic policies they advocated in recent years. But a pledge to
get the British government "off the back of businesses," an assurance that they "want to cut the red tape that stops businesses from growing," and a promise that "Liberal Democrats will set business free" do not add up to what LaBeaume calls "the most explicitly liberal economic policy in a century."
And, yes, the Liberal Democrats are generally speaking better on civil liberties issues than either New Labour or the most recent reincarnation of the Conservatives under Michael Howard. But this has to be placed in the context of the Liberal Democrat infatuation with the European Union and international human rights law—an altogether less attractive aspect of our modern day Liberals.
In fact the Liberal Democrats have a long way to go before they could plausibly be seen as the true heirs of Cobden and Bright. The UK is five hours ahead of the East Coast and eight hours ahead of the West. I went to the BBC website here and substituted U.S. times for those readers who wish to follow the results as they are declared.
2:00 AM (EDT) and 11:00 PM (PDT) polls open for the 2005 general election.
5:00 PM (EDT) and 2:00 PM (PDT): Polls close up and down the country. Not only are voters choosing their respective Members of Parliament but voters in England and Northern Ireland are also selecting three mayors and a host of councillors.
Just one minute later the BBC will broadcast the results of an exit poll based on a sample of 13,000 voters from 320 polling stations in marginal constituencies.
The first result of the night is expected by 6:30 PM (EDT) and 3:30 PM (PDT), and perhaps as early as 5:45 PM (EDT) and 2:45 PM (PDT). The race to be first is traditionally intense, with Houghton and Washington East, Sunderland North and Sunderland South likely to be among the contenders. Sunderland South won the race in 1992, 1997 and 2001. The fastest ever count took place at a by-election in 1928 in Ashton-under-Lyne, where the mayor arranged for coloured rockets to be fired from the town hall roof to declare the result. I think I’m correct in saying that the last time a parliamentary election was tied was also in Ashton-under-Lyne—in 1885.
7:00 PM (EDT) and 4:00 PM (PDT). The first trickle of results should turn into a torrent in the next hour, with more than 30 declarations expected at 7:30 PM/4:30 PM alone. First result from Scotland, in Na h-Eileanan an Iar (formerly the Western Isles), expected at 7:01 PM/4:01 PM, and first in Wales, in Islwyn, expected at 7:30 PM/4:30 PM.
8:00 PM (EDT) and 5:00 PM (PDT): By now nearly 150 results should be in, and the likely shape of the next parliament should be clear.
9:00 PM (EDT) and 6:00 PM (PDT): Following a frenetic 60 minutes or so, results should now be in from more than half of the 659 seats being contested.
11:00 PM (EDT) and 8:00 PM (PDT): A surge of late results expected. Carmarthen West and Pembrokeshire South due to be last result declared in Wales.
12:00 AM (EDT) and 9:00 PM (PDT): By now all but a handful of results from the mainland should be in.
8:00 AM (EDT) and 5:00 AM (PDT): Last result in England, the sprawling rural Yorkshire seat of Skipton and Ripon, due.
9:00 AM (EDT) and 6:00 AM (PDT): Last of the mainland constituencies, Argyll and Bute in Scotland, due to declare.
11:00 AM (EDT) and 8:00 AM (PDT): The first of the 18 Northern Ireland constituencies expected to declare. Expect Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionist Party to do well.
4:00 PM (EDT) and 1:00 PM (PDT): The last of the 646 seats, Newry and Armagh, expected to declare.
Strictly speaking, only 645 constituencies will declare tonight and tomorrow. Last Saturday the Liberal Democrat candidate for South Staffordshire died so there will be no election today but a by-election next month. More power to them, I say. Guido Fawkes’ blog carries the story here. Listen to the video here and decide for yourself. (Please note the BBC is more even-handed than some Conservatives might suppose.)
Guido Fawkes reports later that these kids also sang "Mr. Blair, we don’t care, you’re wearing Cherie’s underwear" until they were made to stop. I can’t imagine American schoolkids coming close to booing and shouting something similar at George Bush — at least not without being arrested.
Two days later, as BBC TV's Question Time went off air, part of the audience started chanting "Tony Blair - Liar" whilst Blair tried to placate them with security guards getting nervous enough to whisk him out the side exit. Seems like the kids are setting a good example for their parents. May this spirit of rebellion flourish — on both sides of the Atlantic! Brendan O’Neill explains why here. Sad but true. On March 25, 1821 the Greeks declared themselves free of Ottoman rule. War ensued. On May 11, 1832 Greece was finally recognized as a sovereign state and this state of affairs was formally recognized by the Turks and the European powers with the signing of the Treaty of Constantinople in July 1832. Go here for an account of the Greek War of Independence.
The nineteenth and early twentieth centuries subsequently witnessed the gradual withdrawal of the Ottoman empire from Europe as various Balkan states sought and achieved independence from Ottoman rule. In the First World War the Ottoman empire was allied with Germany and Austria-Hungary. Following military defeat in 1918 these three empires vanished from the face of the earth and a multitude of successor states arose. Most of the Ottoman empire in western Asia was divided into territories that became League of Nations mandates under British or French rule. In 1923 the Republic of Turkey was founded, in some sense the heir of the Ottoman empire. Today Turkey seeks membership of the European Union. Although the events of the First World War and its aftermath now seem very distant, they cannot be so easily forgotten for they continue to have a profound impact on our lives.
Today, Monday, April 25, marks the ninetieth anniversary of the Gallipoli landings. The Gallipoli campaign, a futile eight-month effort to capture Constantinople and so enable French and British forces to join the Russians in the war against Austria-Hungary and Turkey, cost the lives of more than 100,000 Allied and Turkish soldiers with another quarter of a million wounded. Australian casualties were 8,000 dead and another 18,000 wounded, and New Zealand casualties were 7,500. Australian and New Zealand nationalists regard the Gallipoli campaign as the coming of age of their respective states. The irony is that they were actually fighting for the British empire. For more on Gallipoli see here and here. And let us not forget Peter Weir’s fine movie Gallipoli (1981) starring the young Mel Gibson. If you’re looking for an interesting article on the British general election, go here. Although this is primarily an account of the fight between Oona King, the Labour incumbent, and George Galloway of Respect to represent Bethnal Green and Bow in the House of Commons, the author also offers insights into national culture and politics. This is the constituency where in 1888 Jack the Ripper stalked his victims. This is the constituency where in 1936 the local Jewish community fought Oswald Mosley’s Blackshirts. And this is now a constituency where around 55,000 Muslims, mainly Bangladeshis, make up more than half the electorate. Go here for the full story. Yet again futures markets triumph. You don’t have to be a cardinal to participate in this election. Go here to find out more. And go here to wager on the outcome of this historic event. Until today I was only vaguely aware of the controversy surrounding Joseph Massad, an untenured assistant professor in the Department of Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures at Columbia University. This lunchtime I read up on the dispute and after some reflection decided to sign the Petition to Professor Lee Bollinger of Columbia University.
To read what Massad has to say, go here. To read one of his recent articles, go here. And for a recent article in the Columbia Spectator, go here. For another, very different, take on the question, go here and here. I encourage readers to peruse these stories and to consider signing the petition. Today Tony Blair announced a general election for Thursday, May 5, just over four weeks away. I’ve followed British politics for forty-five years and every general election since October 1964. Indeed I can even remember the election of October 1959. And, regardless of my anarchist sympathies, I’ll be closely following developments in what promises to be a much more interesting election than the previous one in 2001.
I’m sure few if any readers of Liberty & Power need reminding that the government of the United Kingdom depends upon majority support in the House of Commons. If the composition of the Commons changes sufficiently, the government will change. Thus next month’s election will indirectly determine the administration for the next four or five years—unless, of course, no party received an overall majority, in which case another election might well occur sooner rather than later.
The number of Scottish parliamentary constituencies has been reduced from 72 to 59 (and their boundaries redrawn) to reflect the devolution of power to the Scottish Assembly. This means the new parliament will have 646 MPs instead of 659.
Many bills currently before Parliament will lapse, including the government's plans to introduce compulsory ID cards.
Useful sites include the BBC News and several sites dedicated to British elections and this one in particular. Go here for forecasts, including one which shows how even if the Conservatives were to receive eight per cent more votes than Labour, Labour would nonetheless win a plurality of seats. Go here and here for polls. Go here to follow the betting. (Over there you can bet on the election results by visiting your local betting shop and millions of Britons do.) And go here to read details of past elections.
What is not generally known is that in 1997, when Labour swept the Conservatives from power, Labour received 575,096 votes fewer than had the Conservatives in 1992, when the Tories narrowly retained power under John Major. Even more striking is that in 2001 Labour received 835,531 votes fewer than Labour had gotten under Neil Kinnock when they lost in 1992. The outcome of the 1997 and 2001 elections reflected differential falls in turnout (the Tory vote slumped in 1997 and both Labour and Tories lost millions more votes in 2001). And now it looks as if the result of next month’s election will turn not only on a moderate Conservative recovery under Michael Howard but also on a further huge slump in the Labour vote thanks to the disillusionment of Labour voters with Tony Blair. Lew Rockwell has written a thoughtful column and it’s posted here today. This is a reply to Bill Woolsey's post, which reflects the thinking of many who identify as libertarian.
BW: On the supposed opposition to war that is a key element of the classical liberal tradition—Bush, like just about everyone in the U.S., fits.
Few argue that war is a positive good—providing the best field for man to exemplify his martial virtues. Few argue that the U.S. needs an Empire so that our nation will be glorified in History.
Similarly, few argue that we should have an Empire to collect loot or tribute. Or even to impose favorable trade or investment policies so that the U.S. can gain or maintain prosperity at the expense of the rest of the world. The conventional wisdom today is that the trade and investment policies we favor for other countries would benefit them and the rest of the wold too.
All the sorts of bizzare pro-war notions that the classical liberals opposed have almost entirely been defeated in the marketplace of ideas. Instead, we have competing ideas about how best to apply liberal (or libertarian) values to foreign policy.
MB: Many of us believe that the lessons of the past have not been learned by contemporary nation-states and in particular by the United States. There seem to be few limits to the hubris of the Bush administration. I assert that current U.S. policy can be meaningfully described as imperialism, although of course it is somewhat different in character from the imperialism of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
BW: Isolationism isn't the only libertarian approach. The notion that it is, is just that sectarian approach that those libertarians who disagree with my view aren't really libertarians. Not unusual, but innacurate.
MB: Isolationism is not—and has never been—a libertarian approach. The classical liberal tradition has always emphasized peaceful relations between the residents of different states. And a diplomatic policy of genuine neutrality is not the same thing as isolationism.
BW: Liberal (or libertarian) imperialism isn't a very plausible approach, but some libertarians do hold to it. Creating a libertarian world is one way to provide for national defense, and one way to create a libertarian world is to impose it by military force.
MB: I agree that imperialism isn’t a very plausible approach for libertarians and classical liberals to adopt, but more to the point it’s fundamentally antithetical to their ideology. The word ‘libertarian’ looses a vital part of its meaning if ‘libertarians’ can advocate imperialism—just as it would loose a crucial part of its meaning if ‘libertarians’ included those in favor of a mixed economy or limited government censorship. Can Professor Woolsey provide even one example of how a nation-state has successfully promoted libertarian values at the point of a gun?
BW: While it seems to me to be unlikely to work, could easily be counter-productive towards geting a libertarian world or for national security for some regime trying to implement the strategy, and would likely have unnacceptable collateral casulties and create an unreasonable tax burden, it isn't incompatible with libertarian values.
MB: What Bill Woolsey considers likely I see as well nigh inevitable. Moreover, they call into question how libertarian such a policy could ever be. Where I disagree with him is with regard to his implicit assumption that the mindset behind such a policy is compatible with libertarian values.
BW: Of course, Bush isn't working fo a libertarian world, but rather a democratic capitalist one.
MB: What exactly is a “democratic capitalist world”? Democracy may well be incompatible with what I understand Bill Woolsey to mean by capitalism.
BW: But then, the claim isn't that Bush is a libertarian. Rather that he shows libertarian tendencies. While what I like least about Bush is his foriegn policy, I can't agree that it is obviously unlibertarian. Some libertarians support it.
MB: Where does Bill Woolsey draw the line and assert that a position is so antithetical to the libertarian ideology that a libertarian cannot support it and remain a libertarian? How about advocacy of a mixed economy? Or limited government censorship? Or is his ecumenical approach prepared to include such people within the libertarian tent? It’s not that I am a narrow sectarian seeking to crush deviationism but words do have meanings and a non-interventionist foreign policy has always been at the core of the (evolving) classical liberal tradition. There is often an interesting essay in any particular issue of New Left Review. The issue dated November-December 2004 is no exception for it carries Tony Wood's fascinating in-depth history of Chechnya, which I found very helpful in understanding the current situation. Go here for "The Case for Chechnya".
I have long thought that the cause of Chechnyan independence has received short shrift in the West, not least because Putin has been able to play the "Terror" card. And, of course, the U.S. has its own bloody history of resisting secession and would even now surely find it more than a mite embarrassing to champion Chechnyan independence. I guess Oscar night is as good an occasion as any to recommend Mike Leigh's Vera Drake even though Imelda Staunton lost out to Hilary Swank for best actress award in Million Dollar Baby.
I greatly enjoy the work of director Mike Leigh, whose films include Abigail’s Party (TV, 1977), Secrets & Lies (1996), and Topsy Turvy (1999), an affectionate look at Gilbert and Sullivan. Vera Drake is arguably his best film to date. I recommend it very highly.
Currently Vera Drake is playing at far fewer cinemas than is Million Dollar Baby so you may have to go out of your way to see it. But it's certainly worth the effort.
If you wish to read more, I suggest you go here--"Vera Drake is not for everyone, but it is a dramatic story about a woman doing what she thinks is right in the face of a law she does not believe in, and facing the consequences for these choices" and here--"Sometimes agonizing to watch but endlessly riveting, "Vera Drake" is one of the finest films from England in years. It's not a British counterpart to "The Cider House Rules" where Michael Caine's dashing devotion to his patients and to young, orphaned boys in bucolic New England subtly removed the issue of laws restricting abortions from front and center attention. "Vera Drake" is raw and affecting. It's truly not so much pro-choice as it is a retelling, through one sympathetic character, of many very sad tales." Readers may be interested to learn that perhaps the best-known statement of the proposition that the economics of John Maynard Keynes is properly understood with reference to his homosexuality is Keynes at Harvard: Economic Deception as a Political Credo (Veritas Foundation, New York, 1960). (Keynes was in fact bisexual over the course of his life.) Authorship was credited to Zygmund Dobbs in the revised edition published by Veritas Foundation in 1962 and in the revised and enlarged edition from Probe Research, West Sayville, N.Y., in 1969. I remember looking at a copy in a John Birch Society bookstore during my first visit to the United States in the summer of 1972 and since then I have come across several copies in book stores and book sales. It was printed in large quantities and it’s not difficult to find.
So who was Zygmund Dobbs? I understand that Dobbs was the pseudonym of Archibald Bulloch Roosevelt (1894-1979), Teddy and Edith Roosevelt’s fourth child and third son, a second cousin of FDR, and sometime member of the John Birch Society. Go here and here to read more about Archibald Roosevelt. He was the only U.S. soldier in history to have been fully disabled from two wars (the First and Second World Wars) and one of the few non-alcoholics to sit on the Board of Alcoholics Anonymous. (His elder brother Kermit (1889-1943) was an alcoholic who committed suicide.) I suggest that a significant proportion of the population, and probably a larger proportion of the male population, are to a varying extent bisexual, at least during some part of their lives. They are more likely to engage in gay sex if either members of the opposite sex (think single-sex boarding schools, prisons, etc.) are not around, physically attractive members of their own sex are available, or if they’re invited to do so (think seduction) by interesting and charming people. This is more likely to occur when they are relatively young—when their sex drives are relatively high and they are more likely to experiment, partially but not only out of curiosity and a desire to break social taboos, and before they enter into long-term commitments.
It is therefore not surprising that gay men and women will seek sexual partners among those who do not identify as gay and often succeed—more likely because their partners are in fact gay (but not ‘out’) but sometimes because they are bisexual (see above). Adolescent and young adult men and women are generally speaking physically more attractive than older adults and thus disproportionately the object of sexual desire (straight and gay).
I don’t see that the relevance of these remarks has anything to do with whether a particular polity is a republic or an empire.
I further suggest that no moderately thoughtful person, whether he or she is straight or gay or bisexual, should take exception to this analysis. I hope that no libertarian would have a problem with the reality I have described but I guess that some may not like it. Go here to read a fascinating report on women in Saudi Arabia and how some of them are determined to live independent and productive lives in a society where both law and custom impose draconian restrictions on what they may do.
“Next week, Saudi Arabia is to hold its first elections of any kind for 40 years. Women - who are beginning to make their way in business, journalism and industry - had expected to have the vote: six even put their names forward as candidates. But, in one of the world's most repressive societies, they have been banned from the poll. Can the women who've been struggling for their rights regain lost ground? Natasha Walter finds them in determined mood.”
I encourage you to read the entire article. Contemplating the present state of affairs in the Arab world, Walter writes, “The anger created by the occupation of Palestine by Israel and of Iraq by America have made it impossible for Arabs to look to the west as a moral touchstone. But this does not mean an end to the pursuit of women's rights. Progressive women in Saudi Arabia continually refer to the Koran in order to argue that, in the deepest traditions of Islam, women could participate politically, could work freely, could travel, could have a voice in society.” At least, that’s what the BBC calls them. Go here to read about ten state secrets that have only now been opened to the public after a freedom of information request from the BBC. There’s nothing amazing but the stories afford interesting insights into the workings of the British state before the First World War. I have just visited Crisis Pictures and encourage readers to do the same. They have brought together some very disturbing photos from Iraq that are unlikely to be reproduced in the mainstream media.
In his interview with Barbara Walters to be broadcast Friday evening, President Bush says he has no regrets about his administration's decision to wage war in Iraq, despite inspectors' failure to find any weapons of mass destruction in the country — the chief rationale for the March 2003 invasion and toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime. Despite the deaths of more than 1,300 U.S. military personnel and the multibillion-dollar price tag, the ouster of Saddam justified the invasion, he says.
But Iraqis have paid an immense price too, often with their lives, a price that doesn't seem to be included in Bush's calculus. For glimpses of their pain and suffering visit Crisis Pictures and consider what this mendacious mediocrity of a president has wrought.
My first thought on whether the U.S. is "stingy" in allocating aid to the victims of the tsunami, is to declare that I prefer for this government, indeed any government, to be as stingy as possible (and the appropriation of privately owned resources correspondingly lower) and for private individuals to be as generous as they choose to be when disaster strikes. My second thought is that as long as the U.S. has armed forces around the world, I'd rather they take part in rescue efforts than invading and occupying other nations.
I've skimmed some of the debate (which I don't find particularly interesting) and come across a post by Daniel W. Drezner here. Drezner argues that "One could make the case that comparing large economies with Scandanavia or the Benelux states is unfair, because the bigger economies have other public goods functions to fulfill" and cites an article by Bruce Bartlett. Bartlett declares that "U.S. Falsely Charged with Being 'Stingy' on Foreign Aid" and makes some good points about how private individuals in America contribute to world prosperity. That said, I found the argument cited by Drezner thoroughly unsatisfactory. Bartlett states: "The first thing one notices when looking at the big foreign aid contributors is that they all spend very little on national defense. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, in 2002, The Netherlands spent just 1.6 percent of its gross domestic product on defense. Norway spent 2.1 percent, Switzerland spent 1.1 percent, and Ireland spent a piddling 0.7 percent. By contrast, the U.S. spent 3.4 percent--and this was before the Iraq war. It's easy to be generous with foreign aid when another country is essentially providing your defense for free." But is the U.S. really providing for their defense? And defense against what? Indeed, aren't U.S. policies (invading and occupying Iraq as the most egregious example) actually destabilizing the world and endangering the lives of the citizens of these nations, particularly when they travel abroad? A month ago I linked to Jonathan Steele's "Ukraine's postmodern coup d'etat" here. In Friday's Guardian he reports that he received a flood of ferocious emails, mainly from Yushchenko fans, which exceeded the response to anything he had written before. In "Not a good way to start a democracy" he raises some very good questions about "electoral interventionism" by the U.S. and other western governments.
"Why," he asks, "is so much of it selective? Why do western governments (for they are the prime interferers) that claim to be fostering democracy take only one side, rather than being above the fray? Why are only certain countries picked? Georgia, but not Azerbaijan. Serbia, but not Croatia. Zimbabwe, but not Egypt."
I encourage you to read the entire article here. Robert Fisk's telling analysis of the disaster that is Iraq is available here. In March 2003 I found it very difficult to understand how any self-identified libertarian or classical liberal could support the U.S. invasion of Iraq. And now I find it as difficult to comprehend how any such person can support current U.S. policy in that country. Mark Almond is lecturer in modern history at Oriel College, Oxford. His interests focus on nineteenth- and twentieth-century central-eastern Europe. He is author of several books on European history, including a biography of Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu, a study of the Bosnian war in its historical context, and many essays and articles.
Well, so far, so good. Recently he wrote for the Guardian (UK) on the situation in Ukraine. Read "The price of People Power"here. In response the former Solidarity adviser and Polish foreign minister Bronislaw Geremek wrote what I thought was a not very convincing rebuttal here. Almond has also received criticism for his association with the British Helsinki Human Rights Group.
I don't have a vested interest in either Mark Almond or the BHHRG, I'm interested in learning more about both, and I could be persuaded to place one or other or both on my black list. That said, I find quite persuasive their skepticism about the U.S. and the EU in promoting "democracy" in former Communist Europe. After all, why shouldn't we expect states--even "our" states--to behave like states usually do? Go here for Thomas Boyle, M.D.'s fascinating story about Viktor Yushchenko, president-elect of Ukraine, that argues powerfully against the conventional wisdom that he was poisoned by dioxin. And go here for the author's acclaimed website CodeBlueBlog. Go here for anarchist Alexander Cockburn's most recent and seasonal post. He puts the extravagances of the rich in perspective and explains how successful entrepreneur Mike Korchinsky uses the market to promote conservation. I invite our readers to celebrate today, Sunday, December 26, 2004, as Boxing Day, and not as just another Sunday. In the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada people will be celebrating Boxing Day. Check here for an explanation. Since this year Boxing Day falls on a Sunday, tomorrow (Monday) is a bank holiday. And since Christmas Day fell on a Saturday, Tuesday is another bank holiday. (You might think that Monday's holiday would be in lieu of Sunday, and Tuesday's in lieu of Saturday, but they aren't.)
If the United States hadn't left the British Empire, Americans might well be celebrating Boxing Day. That said, the United States could apply to rejoin the British Empire (as envisaged by George Bernard Shaw in his play The Applecart) except there is now no empire, not even the British Commonwealth, just the Commonwealth, and I'm not clear that such a humble name would suit the hubris of the current American administration.
Of course, there's nothing to prevent independent-minded readers of Liberty & Power celebrating today and the next two days as holidays, irrespective of the absence of an edict from the federal government. I invite you all to do so. Of the websites I regularly check, one is spiked, edited by Mick Hume, the former editor of the monthly magazine LM (Living Marxism). This folded in 2000 when it lost a libel action brought by Independent Television News. Go here for details and links to related stories. Hume is ably assisted by Brendan O'Neill and other writers.
Hume was a Marxist, and I assume remains a Marxist of some sort. His website publishes some interesting stories and they are particularly good on civil liberties, including freedom of speech and the therapeutic state. One of their interests is in debunking contemporary society's preoccupation with exaggerated risks.
Tomorrow being Christmas, you may wish to check out their latest seasonal (and politically incorrect) offerings including Patrick West's "Presents are for primitives", Neil Davenport's "Calling time on the 'demon drink'", and
Josie Appleton's "100 Artists See God".
And a Very Merry Christmas to All Our Readers.
Richard Jackson Barnet (1929-2004), leftist, revisionist historian, and author of many books including Intervention and Revolution: The United States in the Third World (1968) and Roots of War (1972), died this morning after a long illness. Go here to read an appreciation by John Cavanagh, director of the Institute for Policy Studies.
I hope you will find time to read Michael Neumann's "Getting in Touch with Your Inner Terrorist: How We Became Barbarians" posted here. I believe he makes a very powerful argument and I commend it for your consideration, even though you may balk at the comparison he draws in the two final paragraphs. Scotsman Douglas Calder Mason, writer, speechwriter antiquarian bookseller, and a prolific innovator of free-market policy ideas, died Monday in Kirkcaldy, Fife. Eamonn Butler of the Adam Smith Institute knew him well and has written a nice appreciation here. To read other obituaries, follow the links here.
I never did meet Douglas Mason but in 1968 a friend and I wrote a pamphlet advocating road-pricing as one of a series of free-market tracts that he published during the 1960s when he was involved with the St Andrews University Conservative Association. Thursday evening's debate at Georgetown University between Doug Bandow of CATO and Peter Lawler of Berry College sponsored by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) attracted an audience of thirty-seven and the ISI representative. If the Hoyas hadn't been playing Illinois and exams weren't imminent, it would probably have drawn more students. The debate itself consisted of timed presentations and replies by Bandow and Lawler. I thought Bandow did a first-class job of presenting libertarianism to the conservatives who were likely the majority of the audience. (The room had been booked by the Georgetown Republicans.) Unfortunately, Lawler spoke in a very different fashion and I thought his skittish remarks didn't cut it at all. Consequently the two speakers didn't really engage with each other but that was not through any fault of Bandow.
Questions from the audience followed. My request of Lawler to comment on Chodorov's statement that he would punch anyone who called him a conservative in the nose drew forth a long and winding answer that concluded with a call for government to get completely out of education. This was a more substantive--and interesting--remark than I had anticipated.
One happy consequence of my attendance was to meet some of the current staff of IHS and hold an enjoyable conversation with program director Nikki Sullivan. This Thursday evening the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) is sponsoring "Conservatism and Libertarianism: A Debate" between Doug Bandow of CATO and Peter Lawler of Berry College. It promises to be a lively exchange. The one occasion I heard Bandow speak, I thought he spoke very well. And it seems that Lawler is well thought of by his students. The debate will take place at 7 PM on Thursday, December 9, in Room 108 of the Intercultural Center on the main Georgetown University campus in northwest DC. Unfortunately, there is no Metro train service to the immediate vicinity of the school. The two nearest Metro train stops are Rosslyn (in Virginia) and Foggy Bottom (in DC). I hope to see some of our readers from the DC area there.
What Is ISI?
Recently ISI celebrated what it chooses to call its fiftieth anniversary. Although the website provides a brief history and cites the Georgist and individualist Frank Chodorov as its founder, it fails to point out that he founded the Intercollegiate Society of Individualists and that it was only many years after his death that this organization became the Intercollegiate Studies Institute.
In a 1956 letter to National Review, Chodorov stated: "As for me, I will punch anyone who calls me a conservative in the nose. I am a radical." Cited in Charles H. Hamilton, ed., Fugitive Essays: Selected Writings of Frank Chodorov (Indianapolis: Liberty Press, 1980), p. 29.
Judging by the speakers at the fiftieth anniversary gala, one might think ISI was now an affiliate of the Republican Party. See George H. Nash's, The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America, since 1945 (New York: Basic Books, 1976; updated edition, Wilmington, Delaware: Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 1996) for a history of ISI. I also recommend Murray N. Rothbard's "Frank Chodorov: Individualist" reprinted here. Here are links to four interesting posts on the Ukrainian presidential elections.
Was Mr. Viktor Yushchenko poisoned? For an interesting story, go here. It rather looks as if he wasn't.
Last Friday the Guardian (London) ran two interesting stories. Jonathan Steele writes that "Yushchenko got the U.S. nod, and money flooded in to his supporters." See "Ukraine's postmodern coup d'etat" here.
And James Meek reports on former economist Yulia Tymoshenko, who is heavily involved in Ukrainian politics and backs Yuschenko. See "The millionaire revolutionary" here.
Over at counterpunch.org Professor Gary Leupp of Tufts University writes that "Poll Results Aren't the Real Issue" and examines how Ukraine features in geopolitics. Go here to read the story. On Sunday the Donetsk region council in eastern Ukraine, who are supporters of Prime Minister ViktorYanukovych, announced they will hold a vote next Sunday for autonomy. On Tuesday there will be an emergency session to consider the plan to hold a referendum on 5 December. And officials from some other regions have met to consider seeking autonomy in case the opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko becomes president. Readers will find the story here and here.
Sunday's announcement drew criticism from politicians on both sides of the Ukrainian political divide and from the European Union and Nato as they all sought to emulate Honest Abe Lincoln and insist on the unity of the state. Mr. Yanukovych said he did not support the moves for a referendum in an area dominated by Russian speakers that have always looked more towards Moscow than Kiev. Mr. Yushchenko said "Those people who will raise the issue of separatism will be held criminally responsible under the Ukrainian constitution." And outgoing President Leonid Kuchma, after talks with regional leaders who have threatened to demand autonomy, said he could not accept any division of Ukraine. "My position is that we cannot allow the division of Ukraine," Mr. Kuchma said in televised remarks. His warning was echoed by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who said "the unity of Ukraine is fundamental." Nato Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer agreed that maintaining Ukraine's territorial integrity was essential. "The sense of belonging to one nation is very important and on that basis a solution should be found," he said.
But why is it so essential to retain the present-day boundaries of Ukraine? It is true that in various past times there has existed an independent Ukraine or proto-Ukraine. It is also true that in various past times what is present-day Ukraine was ruled by one or more of several other states. Consider the history of Ukraine since the late eighteenth century. From the partitions of Poland until the First World War, Ukraine was ruled by Austria and Russia. The chaotic events following the Bolshevik revolution in 1917 and the collapse of the Habsburg Empire in 1918 prompted Ukrainian nationalists to try and create an independent Ukraine. Between 1917 and 1918, three separate Ukrainian republics declared independence. None survived. By 1921 the western part of Ukraine had been incorporated into Poland while the larger, central and eastern part became part of Soviet Russia. At the end of the Second World War, Western Ukraine was reunited with Eastern Ukraine as the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. With the demise of the Soviet Union, the Ukrainian parliament (the Supreme Rada) declared Ukraine's independence on August 24, 1991. This was confirmed by referendum on December 1, 1991, with 90% approving the decision.
Ukrainians comprise 77.8%, Russians 17.3%, and a variety of other ethnicities 5% of the population, according to the December 2001 census. Orthodoxy is the dominant religion in the east, while in the west it co-exists with the Uniate (or Greek Catholic) church, which combines Orthodox service rites with allegiance to the Pope. For a brief analysis of divided Ukraine, go here. And for a useful background briefing, go here. I am reminded of the peaceful dissolution of Czechoslovakia into the Czech republic and Slovakia on January 1, 1993. Does anyone believe they should now be forcibly reunited? For a brief but scholarly account of the life of Edward Winslow, the first governor of the colony of present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts, go here. This entry in the new Oxford Dictionary of National Biography is posted for only a week so I encourage readers to check it out soon. I shall soon be posting much more on the magnificent ODNB. On which note I conclude by wishing all our readers a Very Happy Thanksgiving. The British Helsinki Human Rights Group carries many fascinating stories at its website. These include the preliminary report of the BHHRG's observers on the controversial second round of the Ukrainian presidential elections. This report challenges the widely-disseminated media image of government-sponsored fraud at the expense of an untainted opposition on the basis of first-hand reporting.
The report concludes thus: "In spite of concerns, BHHRG finds no reason to believe that the final result of the 2004 presidential election in Ukraine was not generally representative of genuine popular will. The election featured a genuine choice of candidates, active pre-election campaigns, and high voter participation. It is clear that Ukrainian opinion was highly polarized. That meant many people backing a losing candidate would find it difficult to accept a defeat. Foreigners should not encourage civil conflict because the candidate on whom they have lavished expensive support turned out to be a loser."
I wish to thank Antiwar.com for the link. Referring to the official announcement that Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych had won the Ukrainian presidential elections, Secretary of State Colin Powell declared that the U.S. "cannot accept this result as legitimate, because it does not meet international standards and because there has not been an investigation of the numerous and credible reports of fraud and abuse." I wonder how Americans would have reacted had foreign statesmen declared in 1960 that they could not accept the election of John F. Kennedy as president "because it does not meet international standards and because there has not been an investigation of the numerous and credible reports of fraud and abuse" in Cook County, Illinois, and Texas. The U.S. government should butt out of the controversy over the Ukrainian elections and leave the commentary to private individuals in the U.S. And the European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and other European politicians should likewise leave the commentary to private individuals in Europe. The BBC carries a new report on how twenty-three members have signed a Commons motion calling for the prime minister to be thrown from office for misleading Parliament over the case for invading Iraq. Predictably, the impeachment bid does not have the official support of the Conservative and Liberal Democrats, let alone backing from Labour backbenchers, so it is widely expected to fail and will probably not even be debated in the Commons. The last attempted impeachment was of the foreign secretary Lord Palmerston back in 1848, when it was alleged that Lord Palmerston, while foreign minister, had concluded a secret treaty with Russia. The BBC carries a report on the second round of voting in the Ukranian presidential elections. This story has legs and will surely run for some time. Earlier this month The Spectator (London) offered two perspectives on these elections. To read Radek Sikorski's account of how Russia is using strong-arm tactics to see that its man is returned, go here. And to read John Laughland's account of how the US and Britain are intervening in these elections, go here. Free registration is required to read these articles. Trevor Royle, the diplomatic editor of the Sunday Herald (Glasgow, Scotland), discusses the implications of shooting dead a wounded Iraqi in cold blood here. Further to David's story about Condoleezza Rice, I note that a (white) radio talk show host in Madison, Wisconsin, called Rice "Aunt Jemima" and said she isn't competent to be secretary of state. Whether it's "racist" or not, it would be nice if the mainstream commentariat could come up with a more substantial criticism of her appointment. That shouldn't be too difficult. I always enjoy reading Geoffrey Wheatcroft and his article "Death to Iraqis, not to foxes" (registration required) in this week's issue of The Spectator is no exception. It's a superb indictment of New Labour. I encourage you to read this first-class essay by one of Britain's finest journalists. I wasn't at all surprised that a U.S. marine might have shot dead an injured antagonist in Fallujah and I have to say that I wasn't horrified in the way so many commentators seemed to have been by the alleged incident. It seems absurd to expect that the sort of training which American soldiers (and, no doubt, the soldiers of most armies) undergo wouldn't at least sometimes lead to this sort of outcome. This is, of course, a very good reason (one of many) why politicians should think very carefully before they commit their armed forces to war. Falklands veteran Quintin Wright's Rules of Engagement is well worth reading in this regard. Fallujah in Pictures is a new blog to which photos are posted each day. Sadly, events are such that you may wish to visit it on a regular basis as the days and weeks go by. I'd like to thank David Beito & Co. for inviting me to join Liberty & Power on a permanent basis. I look forward to posting on a wide variety of subjects that reflect my interests and enthusiasms. These include but are not limited to economics and British history and politics. Wednesday's edition of The Independent (London) carries a long obituary of Thomas Corbally, who is described as a "mysterious American businessman intimately involved in the Profumo affair." This is the Soviet spy scandal involving call girls and politicians that shook Britain in 1963 and hastened the resignation of Harold Macmillan as prime minister later that year. You have to hand it to the Brits: their Cold War spy scandals are in a class of their own. They're not just about espionage but also contain a generous dose of what passed for decadence in that bygone age.
And if you can't get enough of this particular spy scandal, you can read Michael Gillard's obituary of Corbally published in the Guardian last week. It is not surprising that the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq and the continuing resistance that American forces are encountering has prompted comparisons with the British in Mesopotamia (Iraq) after the First World War, the French in Algeria after the Second World War, the Americans in Vietnam, and the Israelis in the Occupied Territories. It seems to me that there is some merit in each of these historical parallels but perhaps the most telling one for American readers is the U.S. invasion and occupation of the Philippines that began in 1898. This led to the Filipino insurrection that lasted for ten years and was brutally suppressed by U.S. troops. The Philippines was not granted complete independence until 1946. Last week saw the publication of two articles describing this squalid episode in American history. William Loren Katz’s “Splendid Little War; Long Bloody Occupation: Iraq, the US and an Old Lesson” was posted April 28 at the Counterpunch website edited by that acerbic anarchist Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair. And William Niskanen’s “Filipino Lessons for America Strategy in Iraq” first appeared in the Financial Times for April 30 and is now republished at the Cato Institute website. This Saturday, May 1, sees the first anniversary of President Bush’s declaration that “major combat operations in Iraq have ended.” How much more destructive of life and limb does the fighting in Falluja (where at least 600 people died as a result of recent fighting) and Kura near Najaf (where 64 Shia Muslim militiamen were killed on Monday night alone) have to be before the media are prepared to state that major combat operations in Iraq have now resumed?
The U.S. government has promised that in just over two months’ time it will hand over sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government. Earlier this week, on Tuesday, April 27, in an interview with Reuters news agency, Secretary of State Colin Powell said that while the new government would take full sovereignty over the country, it would have to give some of it back to the Americans so that the US would still be in command of its own troops. "I hope they will understand that in order for this government to get up and running - to be effective - some of its sovereignty will have to be given back, if I can put it that way, or limited by them," Mr. Powell said. "It's sovereignty but [some] of that sovereignty they are going to allow us to exercise on their behalf and with their permission." Yeah, right.
And for how long will U.S. forces remain in Iraq? Do any readers seriously think they will all have left by 2010 or even 2014? The big news in London is the story of an open letter to the prime minister, Tony Blair, signed by fifty-two former diplomats, including past ambassadors to Baghdad and Tel Aviv. They urge Mr. Blair to use his alliance with Mr. Bush to exert "real influence as a loyal ally ... If that is unacceptable or unwelcome, there is no case for supporting policies which are doomed to failure." They also accuse the US-led coalition of having "no effective plan" for Iraq after the war and an apparent disregard for the lives of Iraqi civilians. They urge Mr. Blair to act urgently to challenge the UK's portrayal as a partner in US policies condemned by the Arab and Muslim world. The text of the letter and a full list of the signatories may be read
here. Thank you, David, for your kind invitation to return to Liberty & Power for another week of blogging.
As readers are aware, there's much discussion and no little concern about the prospective bankruptcy of Social Security in the U.S. and comparable unfunded state pension schemes in other countries. Self-proclaimed advocates of the free market have often invoked such fears to argue for some measure of privatization, usually a mandatory requirement that people invest some stipulated percentage of their wages in funded private pension schemes. I've long thought that the more dire predictions were overstated and their exposure as such would very likely discredit the cause of liberalization and liberty itself.
Economist Phil Mullan is the author of The Imaginary Time Bomb: Why an Ageing Population Is Not a Social Problem (I. B. Tauris, 2000). Last week he published
"Ageing: the future is affordable", in which he persuasively argues against the prognostications of the doomsayers. Although Mullan is not a libertarian and assumes that the state should continue to provide a substantial basic pension and healthcare for retirees, he makes some good points that are well worth reading by anyone who wishes to understand what is going on. The principled libertarian case for individuals taking care of their own pensions and healthcare remains just as valid as ever.
Although proponents of the free market usually dismiss the doom and gloom forecasts of global warming, many continually harp on the worst-case scenarios regarding the future bankruptcy of government pension and healthcare schemes. Skepticism is in order in both cases. I have always understood that freedom of association means that an individual may both associate, including trade, with other consenting individuals and its corollary, may also decline to associate, including trade, with other individuals. Thus a person may discriminate against anyone else for any reason whatsoever--race, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, disability, whatever. Today, of course, discrimination for these sorts of reason is largely illegal and politically incorrect even when it is legal. Not surprisingly, self-identified libertarians and classical liberals tend to eschew this implication of the principle of free association in their public presentations of the case for liberty. I understand their concern not to be labeled bigots or to turn off people who might otherwise be attracted to libertarian arguments. However, at some point those who favor individual liberty must be prepared to stand up and be counted in favor of the right of individuals to discriminate in their own conduct on their property for whatever reason.
What is worse, however, is intentional or unintentional obfuscation of the issue. An egregious example is Professor David Bernstein's recent article (January 29) in the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Unlike Professor Richard Epstein of the University of Chicago Law School, author of Forbidden Grounds: The Case against Employment Discrimination Laws (Harvard University Press, 1992), Bernstein isn't prepared--at least not in this article--to defend the right of individuals to discriminate in their own time on their own property. That's his choice as a writer. But what he does write is very misleading.
As most readers are no doubt aware, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 made discrimination illegal--both by federal and state governments and by private persons and organizations. In his article Bernstein not only fails to distinguish between discrimination by government and discrimination by private individuals but also fails to explain that "public facilities such as restaurants, hotels and theaters" were mainly private property. Yet he writes, "While the civil-rights laws of the 1960s were generally sensitive to civil libertarian concerns, contemporary anti-discrimination laws often are not." The truth of the matter is that the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1967, which outlawed discrimination on grounds of race, national origin, religion and sex by the owners of restaurants, hotels and theaters and in employment in any business exceeding twenty-five people, had already undermined freedom of association in the United States before further legislation and court decisions extended the scope of the law in the way he describes. How can an avowedly libertarian law professor, and at George Mason University of all places, not understand that point? And if he's prepared to defend the 1964 Act, including its regulation of private behavior, without qualification, how can he make a principled objection to extending the scope of the law? Not only am I an avid reader of obituaries but I am also a keen reader of biographies and entries in biographical dictionaries, preferably those written after the death of the subject and with full access to their papers, etc. Some of my favorite books are biographical dictionaries, either national or more specific. The notable Dictionary of National Biography, first edited by Leslie Stephen, father of Virginia Wolfe, remains an amazing repository of human knowledge. Many decades ago Oxford University Press took over its publication and every so often issued a new volume with entries on the relatively recently deceased. In 1991 OUP decided to commission a very largely new text. This September the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography will be published simultaneously in sixty print volumes and electronically. The editorial policy is to include everyone who was in the old DNB together with many people who had been omitted, including George Washington (after all he was once a British citizen), and the recently deceased with a cut-off date of December 31, 2000. Among those included are such legendary characters as Robin Hood and families and groups, such as the Cecil family--read about Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, here--or the Tolpuddle Martyrs here.
The policy of including everyone who was in the old DNB is in welcome contrast to that followed by OUP in New York when in 1999 it published the American Dictionary of Biography under the auspices of the American Council of Learned Societies as a replacement for the Dictionary of American Biography. The editors chose to exclude a good many people whom they deemed were no longer important enough to be included. Such was the fate of Lysander Spooner (1808-1887), Benjamin Tucker (1854-1939), and other principled individualists and many more not-so-principled politicians who were swept aside to make room for a host of newcomers, including a great many women and minorities, some of whom certainly deserved to be included for their contributions to American life and some of whom may eventually be discarded when a new edition is commissioned and the particular sort of political correctness that currently rules academia is no longer fashionable.
All of you who are interested in intellectual dissent should search out Joseph McCabe's A Biographical Dictionary of Modern Rationalists (1920/1998). There you can read fascinating entries on the freethinking views of celebrated and not-so-celebrated men and women and refutations of those alleged deathbed conversions with which priests would harangue their congregations. McCabe (1867-1955) was a former Jesuit who renounced his faith to become a leading propagandist for secularism. Perhaps his most celebrated book is Twelve Years in a Monastery (1897, 2nd edition 1903). As you might imagine, his intellectual conversion didn't make his fortune but rather led to his penury. But it also led him to write hundreds of books and pamphlets on every subject, including numerous Little Blue Books published by Emanuel Haldeman-Julius (1889-1951), a journalist and publisher in Girard, Kansas, and a celebrated translation of Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919)'s The Riddle of the Universe (1900).
Having mentioned Joseph McCabe, I should now make reference to John Mackinnon Robertson (1856-1933), a self-educated scholar, whose books A History of Freethought, Ancient and Modern, to the Period of the French Revolution, 4th ed. (1936) and A History of Freethought in the Nineteenth Century (1929) remain unsurpassed for their comprehensive and erudite coverage of courageous individuals and their writings. Counterpunch.com is the one left-wing website that I visit almost every day. There's usually an article or two worth reading, sometimes several, and it's always fun to read Alexander Cockburn's ironic remarks which he posts at least once a week. Each day new articles come online some time after 9 AM Pacific time. It's a pretty eclectic mixture, with articles by Ron Paul and William Lind appearing alongside (far more numerous) anarchists, socialists and Marxists. And Reason's Jesse Walker has made an occasional appearance in the past.
Today Counterpunch carries an article by Sam Husseini--Same Skeletons, Different Closet: How Many People Will Die Because of This "Mistake", Senator Kerry?--which conveniently lists a great many questions that David Beito can ask of John Kerry.
Good luck, David, in your efforts to reveal the real John Kerry. Yesterday BBC Chairman Gavyn Davies resigned following publication of the Hutton report. Then today the Director General, Greg Dyke, resigned. Gavin Hewitt, a BBC reporter, spoke of "one of the most turbulent days in the BBC's history" and that wasn't an overstatement. Ominously the BBC
reports that "The departure of both the BBC chairman and director general comes amid growing calls for the BBC to come under outside regulation. Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell said the Hutton report would be taken into account in the 2006 review of the BBC's charter." Currently, the BBC enjoys a certain degree of independence from the government although, of course, since it is largely funded by a mandatory TV license fee, a tax by any other name, it is, of course, very much dependent on the state for its existence. In practice this means that the BBC investigates and reports on government wrong-doing and frequently hosts interviews and debates critical of the current administration on one topic or another. The prevailing ethos is center-left but that doesn't prevent BBC commentators and guests making thoughtful criticisms of the government from time to time. Tom Palmer's accusation that "The BBC Does Its Best to Destroy Universal Values" is very wide of the mark. I fear that, in response to the Hutton report, even the BBC's mild criticisms of government policies will be tempered for fear of recriminations. That is why real liberals want to see a truly independent BBC financed voluntarily through market mechanisms and by the donations of viewers and listeners.
There is wide agreement that the Hutton report whitewashed Blair and his cronies. At The Independent Andrew Grice reports the words of Austin Mitchell, the Labour MP for Great Grimsby, who says: "It is a whitewash, basically. The danger is that it is so one-sided a report that it is going to lose credibility. People just aren't going to believe it." And over at the Daily Telegraph Boris Johnson, the Conservative MP for Henley and editor of The Spectator, writes:
"Blair, Hoon, Scarlett, the whole lot of them, have been sprayed with more whitewash than a Costa Brava timeshare. Hutton has succumbed to blindness of Nelsonian proportions. As snow-jobs go, this beats the Himalayas.
"With unerring inaccuracy, he has trained his guns at exactly the wrong target. He has blasted the BBC when, as I will repeat to my dying day, it was Blair, Campbell and Hoon who were the guilty men.
"How, you may be asking, do I dare to dissent from the opinions of the judge? I dissent because I have read the evidence presented to Hutton, and I put it to you that the judge is noble, learned and talking through the back of his neck." The statement of Jeremy Dear, general secretary of the National Union of Journalists, on the Hutton report prompted me to visit their site, where I found his full statement, an
explanation of why BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan was right to pursue the story, a defense of his story, and the NUJ's threat to take "whatever action is necessary" to protect its member Gilligan if he is sacked or disciplined by the BBC in response to the Hutton report.
As you might expect, I'm not in the habit of defending the nationalized British Broadcasting Corporation but there is no doubt that it certainly does seek to maintain its independence from the government of the day, be that Labour or Conservative, that it has played a creditable part in investigating the truth behind the decision to go to war, and that it does not deserve the sort of vendetta that some commentators are now waging. Although, of course, Tony Blair must be pretty happy with the Hutton report, which lets him off the hook, many commentators and politicians are skeptical of its findings. Check
this link to read the reactions of politicians and commentators,
this link to read what Fleet Street said, and
this link where you can scroll down to read what Jeremy Dear, general secretary of the National Union of Journalists, had to say about Hutton's criticism of BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan. "I have spoken to Andrew Gilligan today and I believe the report does him and his story a grave injustice. Whatever Lord Hutton may think, it is clear from the evidence he heard that the dossier was 'sexed up', that many in the intelligence services were unhappy about it, and that Andrew Gilligan's story was substantially correct." I don't know how many readers follow events in the UK and in particular the Hutton inquiry into the death of Dr. David Kelly. Today saw the publication of his report (although readers of The Sun newspaper were able to read a leaked summary of its findings over breakfast this morning). For news and comment visit the newspaper websites to which I linked in my previous post and also
BBC News and
ITV News online.
STATE JUDGE BACKS GOVERNMENT: WELL I NEVER!
"In the end what it comes down to is a judgement by Lord Hutton - who he believes, whose motives he trusts most and in that, again and again, he comes down on the side of politicians and officials, who by and large he believes and whose story, whose narrative he accepts and he comes down against Andrew Gilligan, and journalism, I have to say generally, and against the BBC."
-- Andrew Marr, BBC political editor
For Marr's full comment click on
this link. As my friends well know, I enjoy reading the obituaries in the London press and emailing the text of particularly interesting obits to those who I think might be interested in reading them. In the United States the only newspaper that comes even somewhat close to offering the range and depth of these obituaries is The New York Times but there are just so many interesting and eccentric characters that appear in the London newspapers that escape mention in the NYT.
The London papers come online the previous evening on the East Coast so you can read them before you go to bed. Unfortunately you have to subscribe to The Times online edition but access to The Guardian, The Independent and the Daily Telegraph is free, at least at the time of publication and for a short while afterwards. These, together with the Financial Times, are the so-called (up-market) broadsheets. (Two -- The Times and The Independent -- are now published in tabloid form as well). The FT prints few obituaries but it does offer what is arguably the best foreign news coverage in any English language newspaper.
Navigating the sites is pretty straightforward. Obituaries are under "People" at The Independent. Obituaries in the UK are often more candid than those that appear in the U.S. For example, the anonymous author of The Times obituary of Pamela Harriman identified her as a courtesan, which, of course, she was. Since this obituary is no longer accessible for free, see a short and candid account of her life and loves at Misfit Women. Although Times obituaries are anonymous, the other three newspapers provide the authors' names. I'm Mark and I'm your guest blogger this week. Thank you, David, for your kind invitation to blog at Liberty & Power. I'm looking forward to the week ahead.
For those who don't know me, I've been a libertarian for well over thirty years. I was born in Windsor and grew up in Egham, a small town southwest of London and very near Runnymede, where King John signed the Magna Carta in 1215. I have resided in the U.S. for twenty of the past twenty-five years. For many years I taught economics in schools, colleges and universities in Britain, Ireland and California. More recently I was a program officer at the Institute for Humane Studies, where I organized and directed student seminars, evaluated fellowship applications and mentored students. Now I work primarily in the private sector with high-school students. Since my childhood I have enthusiastically collected books and have even found time to read some of them.
It's been a while since I last looked at Milton Friedman's Capitalism and Freedom (1962). Yesterday afternoon I had occasion to return to this book and was immediately reminded of how much better it is than Free to Choose (1980). Much better because, whatever Friedman's inconsistencies from the perspective of hard-core libertarianism (and I suggest he has fewer than F. A. Hayek), it remains a succinct statement of the case for individual liberty and the free market. Indeed, I heard Friedman once say that he thought it was the better book because it was shorter.
Chapter VII on Capitalism and Discrimination is in many respects an excellent treatment of the topic. He concludes (pp.117-18) with a discussion of whether the state should enforce segregation or integration in public schools (and thus addresses the more general question of what real liberals should want the government to do if it already exists). If forced to choose, he states that he would opt for enforced integration. He then makes the case for vouchers that would permit parents to select a segregated school for their child if this were their choice. I got to speculating whether Friedman would be prepared to make this argument (about vouchers) today. I wasn't surprised to find that the Milton & Rose D. Friedman Foundation at www.friedmanfoundation.org doesn't address this issue. And I haven't come across anyone currently campaigning for school vouchers who has endorsed Friedman's 1962 statement. But I'd like to think Friedman would not repudiate his original position if asked. He might say that it isn't so much of an issue now as it was in 1962. That's probably true but I guess it's more of an issue than some defenders of vouchers would have us believe.
Chapter VIII on Monopoly and the Social Responsibility of Business and Labor is also well worth reading. (So for that matter is the entire book, whatever criticisms libertarians would make of his advocacy of government intervention in money, school finance, etc.) This chapter got me thinking about how self-identified libertarian, classical liberal and conservative organizations inside and outside the Beltway tap corporate sponsors for contributions. Friedman writes (p.133):
Few trends could so thoroughly undermine the very foundations of our free society as the acceptance by corporate officials of a social responsibility other than to make as much money for their stockholders as possible. This is a fundamentally subversive doctrine.
Later he writes (p.135):
One topic in the area of social responsibility that I feel duty-bound to touch on, because it affects my own personal interests, has been the claim that business should contribute to the support of charitable activities and especially to universities. Such giving by corporations is an inappropriate use of corporate funds in a free-enterprise society.
He concludes (p.136):
[T]he direction in which policy is now moving, of permitting corporations to make contributions for charitable purposes and allowing deductions for income tax, is a step in the direction of creating a true divorce between ownership and control and of undermining the basic nature and character of our society. It is a step away from an individualistic society and toward the corporate state.
I suppose Friedman might temper his strictures against corporate donations to charities and universities -- and, by extension, public policy institutes, advocacy groups and PACs and political candidatures -- in the case of private corporations where the owners unanimously agree on the donations. That said, I don't see that contributing to policy institutes, pressure groups and political campaigns is profit-maximizing behavior in a way that making other sorts of contribution is not. And certainly both donors and beneficiaries strenuously deny the fact. There now arises an interesting question. I'm not aware that avowedly free-market institutes refrain from soliciting funds from public or private corporations where charitable contributions are decided by majority vote of the board of directors. The question, dear readers, is should they? And what about charitable foundations, where a board of trustees may fail to implement deceased donors' wishes?
Monday, July 18, 2005
An Interview with Ward Churchill
Sunday, July 17, 2005
Former Prime Minister Sir Edward Heath Dies
May We Infer that Silence Speaks Volumes? And if so, What Exactly Is Going On?
Thursday, July 14, 2005
Bastille Day
Thursday, July 7, 2005
London Bombs and Politicians' Rhetoric
Tuesday, July 5, 2005
How Victorinox Is Meeting the Challenges of a New Era
Monday, July 4, 2005
Happy Independence Day!
Sunday, July 3, 2005
A Logical Fallacy?
“Sandra Day O’Connor Announces Her Retirement
“Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor announced her resignation Friday. Roger Pilon, director of Cato's Center for Constitutional Studies says, "With Sandra Day O'Connor's resignation from the Supreme Court, the extraordinary confirmation battle that was expected with a Rehnquist resignation will be even more intense — O'Connor, after all, has been a 'swing vote' for years."”
I’m not clear why the confirmation battle over the nomination of a justice to replace O’Connor (a ‘swing vote’) should be any more—or any less—intense than the prospective battle over the nomination of a replacement for Rehnquist (not a ‘swing vote’). After all, a nominee is a nominee and is thus, in some sense, fungible, like a dollar bill. There is a caveat, of course, and this is that the politics of the retiring justice may determine in some way the politics of the nominee, e.g., Bush nominates a likely ‘swing vote’ to replace a retiring ‘swing vote’—but is that likely in this case? Or have I missed something?Tuesday, June 28, 2005
A Politically Correct Reenactment of the Battle of Trafalgar
Sunday, June 26, 2005
The ‘Left’ and the Kelo Decision
“Thomas also wrote an excellent dissent which I’m sure had Jane Jacobs nodding approval. He called the decision "far-reaching and dangerous," and noting correctly that those displaced by urban renewal and "slum clearance" over the years have tended to be lower-income members of minority groups. "The court has erased the Public Use Clause from our Constitution".
“Liberals love eminent domain, as much as conservatives love the death penalty, and like many liberal passions it destroys far more lives than the gas chamber or the lethal needle.”
Read the full story here.
Ralph Nader on the Kelo decision:
“The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Kelo v City of New London mocks common sense, tarnishes constitutional law and is an affront to fundamental fairness.”
Read the full story here.Monday, June 20, 2005
Announcing the Antiwar League
Thursday, June 16, 2005
Some Irony
Sunday, June 12, 2005
The Virginia Declaration of Rights
Virginia’s Declaration was drawn upon by Thomas Jefferson for the opening paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence. It was widely copied by the other colonies and became the basis of the Bill of Rights. Written by George Mason, it was adopted by the Virginia Constitutional Convention on June 12, 1776.
Rick provides the complete text of the Declaration and links to the appropriate page at the National Archives website.Friday, June 10, 2005
Happy Birthday, Francis Wrigley Hirst
Today let us celebrate the life of Francis Wrigley Hirst (“Frank” to his family), who was born on June 10, 1873, at Dalton Lodge, two miles east of Huddersfield in the West Riding of Yorkshire. After a long and fruitful life, he died at Singleton in Sussex on February 22, 1953.
The weekly periodical Truth described him as “one of the greatest libertarians of all time” for his work as an apostle of civil liberty and personal freedom. A book of reminiscences by his family and friends appeared in 1958, in which his lifelong friend and brother-in-law, J. E. Allen, wrote that he had a “genius for friendship” and the historian G. P. Gooch declared, “I have never known a man whose character and convictions underwent less change with advancing years.”
Hirst was a prolific writer, skillful biographer, and scholarly exponent of basic principles, who devoted his life to the cause of individual liberty when at times it must have seemed that collectivism had triumphed. It is therefore appropriate that today we salute Francis Wrigley Hirst as a valiant defender of the Cobdenite tradition of peace and free trade.
You can read my account of his life here.Thursday, June 9, 2005
Topic for Debate
If true, is this a good or bad thing? And would the world now be a better or worse place if Iraq had had enough nuclear bombs to defend against a US attack in March 2003?
Wednesday, June 8, 2005
Why Would a Guy Want to Marry a Guy?
Friday, June 3, 2005
Happy Birthday, Richard Cobden
Friday, May 27, 2005
Churchill and the Myth of the Special Relationship
George Galloway: An Accidental Hero
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
More on Federalism
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
Last Survivor of the Battle of the Somme Dies Aged 108
Sunday, May 22, 2005
The Eurovision Song Contest
Saturday, May 21, 2005
Uzbekistan: Two Links Worth Reading
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Should We Celebrate Enforcing the Commerce Clause against the States?
Monday, May 16, 2005
Today’s U.S. Supreme Court Decision on Interstate Commerce
Friday, May 6, 2005
How Liberal Are the Liberal Democrats?
Thursday, May 5, 2005
How to Follow the UK General Election
Tuesday, May 3, 2005
Tony Blair Booed by Schoolchildren
Friday, April 29, 2005
Iraq Still Isn't an Election Issue
Monday, April 25, 2005
There's No Escaping the Ottoman Empire--Part 1
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Will Muslim Votes Cause Labour to Lose This Safe Seat?
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Futures Market Right on New Pope
Monday, April 18, 2005
Betting on the Next Pope
Monday, April 11, 2005
Academic Freedom under Fire: The Case of Joseph Massad
Tuesday, April 5, 2005
The UK General Election
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
Which Way for Liberty?
Friday, March 18, 2005
War and Peace in the Classical Liberal Tradition
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
Chechnya
Monday, February 28, 2005
Vera Drake
Sunday, February 13, 2005
Keynes at Harvard: Economic Deception as a Political Credo
Wednesday, February 9, 2005
Gays and Youth
Saturday, February 5, 2005
Veiled Hopes
Britain's Ten Best-Kept Secrets
Thursday, January 13, 2005
The Reality of War
Sunday, January 2, 2005
Are U.S. Military Expenditures a Public Good for the Rest of the World?
Thursday, December 30, 2004
Jonathan Steele Replies to His Critics
Robert Fisk's The Ghosts of Vietnam
Mark Almond on the Price of People Power
Tuesday, December 28, 2004
Yushchenko the soak?
Sunday, December 26, 2004
War Crimes, Conservation through the Market
Make Merry This Boxing Day
Friday, December 24, 2004
Merry Christmas to All Our Readers
Richard J. Barnet (1929-2004)
Thursday, December 16, 2004
How We Became Barbarians
Tuesday, December 14, 2004
Douglas Mason (1941-2004)
Sunday, December 12, 2004
Report on Thursday's Debate
Tuesday, December 7, 2004
Interesting Debate on Thursday
Tuesday, November 30, 2004
What's Happening in Ukraine and What's the Significance of It All?
Monday, November 29, 2004
So what if Ukraine split?
Thursday, November 25, 2004
Edward Winslow
Ukraine: The Other Side of the Story
Wednesday, November 24, 2004
Butt out, Mr. Secretary of State!
Powell also threatened that "If the Ukrainian government does not act immediately and responsibly, there will be consequences for our relationship, for Ukraine's hopes for a Euro-Atlantic integration and for individuals responsible for perpetrating fraud." Which being translated means that economic sanctions will be imposed on private individuals in the U.S. who wish to do business with Ukrainians.
MPs call for Blair's impeachment
In a separate move, the Liberal Democrats are calling for a fresh look at the prime minister's power to take the country to war without a vote of MPs. Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy is tabling a House of Commons motion calling for a special select committee to be established to examine the issue. The government did put the decision to go to war in Iraq to a vote in Parliament, but was under no obligation to do so.
Sunday, November 21, 2004
STAY TUNED FOR THE FINAL RESULTS OF THE UKRANIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
WHY PRE-EMPTIVE INVASIONS ENCOURAGE SOLDIERS TO COMMIT WAR CRIMES
Friday, November 19, 2004
RADIO HOST CALLS RICE "AUNT JEMIMA"
Thursday, November 18, 2004
DEATH TO IRAQIS, NOT TO FOXES: GEOFFREY WHEATCROFT ON THE MORAL BANKRUPTCY OF TONY BLAIR AND THE LABOUR PARTY
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
THE TRAGEDY OF WAR
THE TRAGEDY OF FALLUJAH
I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO BLOGGING HERE
Tuesday, May 4, 2004
A GOOD READ
HISTORICAL PARALLELS
Wednesday, April 28, 2004
ILLUSION AND REALITY
Monday, April 26, 2004
THE ESTABLISHMENT ROUNDS ON TONY BLAIR
THE DEBATE ABOUT SOCIAL SECURITY
Sunday, February 1, 2004
MUDDLED THINKING ON CIVIL RIGHTS
Friday, January 30, 2004
BIOGRAPHIES
QUESTIONS FOR JOHN KERRY
Thursday, January 29, 2004
HEADS ROLL AT THE BBC WHILE BLAIR IS WHITEWASHED
Wednesday, January 28, 2004
THE HUTTON REPORT AND THE BBC
REACTION TO THE HUTTON REPORT
THE HUTTON REPORT
Sunday, January 25, 2004
OBITUARIES
Tuesday, January 20, 2004
MY VERY FIRST BLOG
Recent Entries
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- Playing the Genocide Card
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Old Archives
Recent Comments
- Marc Mayerson on The Trillion Dollar Question: Should the National Debt be Repudiated?
- David T. Beito on More on Demolition of Black-Owned Homes In Montgomery, Alabama (Short But Powerful)
- Gus diZerega on More on Demolition of Black-Owned Homes In Montgomery, Alabama (Short But Powerful)
- David T. Beito on More on Demolition of Black-Owned Homes In Montgomery, Alabama (Short But Powerful)
- Jeffrey Rogers Hummel on More on Demolition of Black-Owned Homes In Montgomery, Alabama (Short But Powerful)
- Allan Walstad on The Trillion Dollar Question: Should the National Debt be Repudiated?
- Mark Brady on “Born in the U.S.A.”: Damon Root’s Reminder of our Proud Exceptionalism
- C.J. Maloney on Great Zora Neale Hurston Footage
- Santese Lamar Smith on Cost of the war in Iraq/Afghanistan
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