Eugene Robinson on the Meaning of Abu Gharib

In yesterday's Washington Post: "Twenty years from now, how will we remember this 'global war on terrorism''? Assuming it's over by then -- assuming we haven't escalated a fight against al Qaeda into an all-out clash of civilizations -- will we look back on the GWOT, as Washington bureaucrats call it, and feel pride in the nation's resolve and sacrifice? Or will history's verdict be tempered by shame? The answer will depend on how this Congress comes to terms with the documented mistreatment of prisoners in Afghanistan, Guantanamo, Iraq and who knows where else in the secret archipelago of U.S. detention."

Is Grover Norquist an Islamist?

Daniel Pipes asks: "Is Grover Norquist an Islamist? Paul Sperry, author of the new book, Infiltration, in an interview calls Grover Norquist 'an agent of influence for Islamists in Washington.'" Norquist has been a major Republican fund-raiser, and used to work with Jack Abramoff, now under a cloud himself. The National Review Book Service gave this summary of Sperry's conclusion: "The ultimate goal of these subversives, according to Sperry -- quoting verbatim from some of the most respected and "mainstream" Muslim leaders in America -- is to replace the U.S. Constitution with sharia (Islamic) law and turn America into an Islamic state."

More on Italian Objections to Pentagon Iraq Cover-Up

AP reports: "The 52-page Italian report, written by a diplomat and a general assigned to Italy's secret services and released Monday, said no measures were taken by U.S. officials to preserve the scene of the shooting. It said the car was removed before its position was marked, for example. The soldiers' vehicles also were moved.

It also noted that an Italian general was denied access to the site immediately after the shooting, and that duty logs were destroyed after the soldiers' shifts."

Sharansky Quits Israeli Government

According to The Jerusalem Post, Natan Sharansky has quit the Sharon government, in protest against Israel's Gaza pullout. He said that Israel's military move was premature, and should instead follow full Palestinian democratization. He told interviewers: "I have always believed that the disengagement plan is a heavy price to pay and encourages terrorism." (thanks to Little Green Footballs for the tip)

Sharansky's resignation letter can be found on Winds of Change.

60 Years Ago, This Week

Also on the BBC, 'Hitler's nurse' breaks silence on the last days of the Third Reich:

Mrs Flegel said that after Hitler's suicide, Goebbels took over as leader, but no-one paid any attention to him.

'His last subordinates shot themselves in succession,' she said. 'And those who didn't shoot themselves tried to flee.'

She said she remained, however. 'I had to look after the wounded.'

In the newspaper interview, Mrs Flegel described the atmosphere in the bunker as the noise of approaching Soviet forces grew.

'You could feel that the Third Reich was coming to an end,' she said. 'The radios stopped working and it was impossible to get information.'

Mrs Flegel added that when the Soviet troops arrived, they were well-behaved and advised her to lock her door.

She said she stayed for several days, and was one of the last people to leave the bunker.

There's a fuller version of the story in The Guardian:

On the morning of May 2, 60 years ago today, Russians soldiers poked their head round the bunker's entrance.

"By this stage there were only six or seven of us left in the bunker," Ms Flegel said. "We knew the Russians were approaching. A [nursing] sister phoned up and said, 'The Russians are coming.'

"Then they turned up in the Reichschancellery. It was a huge building complex. The Germans were transported away."

Ms Flegel insists that the Russians she had encountered treated her "very humanely", despite the mass rape of German women by Russian soldiers elsewhere in the city. They had a "look round", discovered the bunker's underground supplies, and then left, she said, advising her to lock her front door.

The Red Army allowed her to continue work as a nurse for the next few months, treating wounded Russians, until she ended up in the hands of the US Strategic Services Unit, one of the precursors of the CIA.

Ms Flegel said her "interrogation" by the Americans in November 1945 was little more than an informal chat over dinner. "They invited us to have dinner with them and treated us to six different courses in order to soften us up. It didn't work with me, though."

Ms Flegel's testimony - including her conviction that Hitler was dead, an important statement for the victorious allies - was deemed sufficiently important that it remained classified.

You can read the full transcript here.

Pentagon Evidence Tampering in Italian Iraq Deaths?

The BBC reports that the Italians are angry at what looks like a fumbled Pentagon cover-up:

The censored sections include recommendations that the American military modify their checkpoint procedures to give better and clearer warning signs to approaching vehicles.

The official Italian report on the incident expected to be published this week will accuse the American military of tampering with evidence at the scene of the shooting.

The Americans invited two Italians to join in their inquiry, but the Italian representatives protested at what they claimed was lack of objectivity in presenting the evidence and returned to Rome.

Relations between Rome and Washington remain tense.

"Tense" is diplomatese for bad. You can read the full accounts here.

Invitation to a Beheading

VDH's Private Papers has this account of doings in Saudi Arabia's "Chop Chop Square" from "R.F. Burton":

Allah's will is done.

That's how it's supposed to go. The beheading Fred witnessed went off a little differently. The executioner botched the job.

'I don't know if the prisoner had a short neck or he just jerked funny when they jabbed him in the back, but the blade glanced off his shoulder and only cut through half his neck,' Fred said.

'He fell over sideways,' he said. 'I never saw so much blood. It was squirting out all over the place from the gash in his neck. He started moaning. It was awful. Even though he was doped to high heaven, it must have hurt like hell. It took two more swings to hack his head off.'

'When it was over, I'll be damned if a doctor didn't walk over to the body and check his pulse,' Fred said. 'It was weird, seeing him kneel down next to a headless body, holding the wrist to make sure he wasn't going to get up and walk away.'

Tyler Cowen's Ethnic Dining Guide

I met James Bowman yesterday at a talk by George Mason University economics professor Tyler Cowen at the American Enterprise Institute about his new book Creative Destruction: How Globalization is Changing World Cultures. But it seemed that many in the audience were more interested in Cowen's views on local restaurants than world affairs (he talked about New Zealand mussels and BBQ in his lecture; as well as Mexican food, including his personal recipe for mole sauce, in the Q & A). I wondered why so much talk about food, until Cowen mentioned that his online dining guide is the most popular page on his personal website (it was written up in the Washington Post).

In the contest between local and global, even at a globalization talk by a libertarian economist in Washington DC, it seems that local interests win out.

Elinor Burkett: Today's Marco Polo

Just finished Elinor Burkett's So Many Enemies, So Little Time.

I liked it a lot. It's really a Marco Polo travel diary for today. Burkett provides needed background to world events, in a lively personal style. Fun to read, and you can think about it afterwards, too.

The book recounts Burkett's adventures in Kyrgystan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Russia, Burma (officially Myanmar), China, Vietnam, and Cambodia during the 2001-2002 events, when she was a Fulbright Scholar. I agree with her view that the Fulbright program is one US government initiative that really works as it was intended. She explains how her view of the world changed after her experience teaching abroad in the wake of 9/11--just the kind of growth experience Senator Fulbright wanted.

Burkett has a real gift for noticing the interesting detail. Her description of the little things at her university in Bishkek--such as wandering around the hall trying to find a classroom after being kicked out for some sort of seminar--tracked pretty exactly to my experience at UWED in Tashkent (which I was pleased to see she called the Harvard of Central Asia). Burkett's observations are generally acute, the most telling ones based on her personal confrontations with age-old traditions.

Most of all, I enjoyed Burkett's Kyrgyz anecdotes, which I think reflect a certain mentality--and reality--in the region:

While walking in the countryside, two Uzbeks and two Kyrgyz fell in a hole. "I'll give you a hand up," the younger Uzbek said to the older. "Then, when you're on solid ground, you can pull me up." The older man agreed, the Uzbeks freed themselves and then went on their way.

The two Kyrgyz men looked at each other grimly, and one began climbing out of the hole on his own. "Hey, you can't do that," yelled the other man, pulling on his companion's legs. "If you get out, I'll be alone and stranded."

This Just In...

After many years I ran into James Bowman today, and he told me he had his own website ("not a blog"). So I took a look. It's got some interesting tidbits, especially movie reviews. For example, a piece on "A Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy." His URL is http://www.JamesBowman.net.

PBS Back in the News

Today's New York Times headline: Republican Chairman Exerts Pressure on PBS, Alleging Biases.

The scare story ("the Republicans are coming!") is actually more like business-as-usual Washington "jobs for the boys" cronyism than anything political, ideological, or educational on the part of Ken Tomlinson (Full disclosure: my only program recommendation to CPB--Agustin Blazquez's documentary on Elian Gonzalez featured on this blog and in a Wall Street Journal editorial--was sidelined by Tomlinson's CPB staff and PBS executives).

When I see Ann Coulter with her own nightly PBS talk show, instead of Charlie Rose, then I'll agree that CPB is affecting PBS programming -- and maybe helping increase PBS's lousy ratings.

Until then, who cares about PBS and NPR ? We have the blogosphere, after all...

The Russian Dilettante on Putin's Speech

There's some interesting analysis on The Russian Dilettante's Weblog. A sample:

Putin's State of the Nation address:

A good speech overall, but it must be about some other country in a parallel world. I'm going to pick one bit that I know all Russia-watchers in Blogistan will get exercised about.

Also certain is that Russia should continue its civilising mission on the Eurasian continent. This mission consists in ensuring that democratic values, combined with national interests, enrich and strengthen our historic community.

Judging by the context, Putin is talking about Central Asia. Russia shooting itself in the foot again... Here's why. First, 'civilizing mission' gab is hopelessly pass?. Nobody cares about the mission; instead, you'll get branded a racist, imperialist, neo-Kiplingian and whatnot. Even Americans, out on a mission in Iraq, don't dare to call it by its proper name.

Ahhh, Civilization--the love that dare not speak its name...

May Day Still a Russian Holiday: Orthodox Easter

And Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin officially wishes everyone a Happy Easter this Sunday...

A Conspiracy of Kindness

PBS is actually showing what looks like an interesting film,Sugihara: A Conspiracy of Kindness. Here's an email from Eric Saul, who put together the touring "Visas for Life" photo exhibit about diplomats who saved Jews during WWII. (Full disclosure: My mother's family was saved by another diplomat, Portugal's Aristides de Souza Mendes) Sugihara's story is interesting because Japan was allied with Germany:

We are happy to announce the public airing of an important new documentary telling the story of Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara.  The documentary is called "Sugihara: Conspiracy of Kindness."  The Visas for Life Project has been working with film producers Rob Kirk and Dianne Estelle for the last several years.  We congratulate Dianne and Rob for their years of hard work.

As you may know, Chiune Sugihara was the first diplomat depicted by the Visas for Life: The Righteous and Honorable Diplomats Project.  The Visas for Life Project was happy to introduce Sugihara's rescue story to the United States in January 1995. 

The documentary has had some wonderful reviews, including the Wall Street Journal and an upcoming article in US News and World Report.

We believe this is one of the best documentaries ever produced on diplomatic rescue during the war.  Several Sugihara family members, including his widow Yukiko Sugihara, are interviewed in this moving documentary.  Many Sugihara survivors are also interviewed.  One is Ben Fischoff, of New York, who helped finance the film.

A particularly moving segment of the Sugihara documentary was taken at Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem, Israel, during the April 1998 Visas for Life Project tour of Israel.  As you may know, Sugihara issued more than 300 visas and saved an entire Jewish religious academy from destruction by the Nazis.  Many of the former students and teacher pay tribute to Mrs. Sugihara.

The documentary will be shown as part of the 60th anniversary commemoration of the end of World War II, and as a part of Yom Hashoah at the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles.

Please mark your calendars and watch this remarkable documentary honoring one of our courageous diplomats.  Also, please pass this information along to your family and friends.

Aljazeera: Worldwide protests mark May Day

Aljazeera.Net reports on global protests on this former national holiday of the USSR. Meanwhile, The Nation recounts May Day's American origins:

On May 1, 1886, more than 300,000 workers in 13,000 businesses across the United States walked off their jobs in the first May Day protest in history. Within a few years, the fight was won. But, in the early part of the 20th century, the US government, recognizing May Day's galvanizing potency, tried to curb May 1 celebrations and their radical resonance by establishing an alternative: Labor Day, a holiday devoid of historical significance--but one offering a paid day off!

Rice Calls for More Democracy

Now in Chile, the Secretary of State has redoubled democracy-builidng efforts, according to Yahoo! News: "In her seven-minute speech here, Rice said it is the historic duty of democrats 'to tell the world that tyranny is a crime of man, not a fact of nature.' 'Our goal must always be the elimination of tyranny in our world,' she said. Rice also called for the creation of a 'legitimate' U.N. rights body to replace the widely scorned U.N. Human Rights Commission, based in Geneva."

Mark Steyn Does it Again

This is pretty funny fromThe Spectator.co.uk:

Did you see that picture in the paper this week? It was the same day as the announcement that Sir Elton John was to wed Mr David Furnish, and just above it was a touching portrait of an obviously smitten younger man gazing soulfully into the eyes of a portly bespectacled older man as they strolled hand in hand through a field of blooming bluebonnets. Unfortunately for my blood pressure, the spooning couple were not Sir Elton and his betrothed but Crown Prince Abdullah and George W. Bush. The Saudi strongman was yet again visiting the Bush ranch at Crawford, which is bad enough, but this time the President couldn't keep his hands off him. The guy had barely touched down and Bush was purring, 'Hey, what say we step into the yard and shoot the big love scene for Michael Moore's next crockumentary'

At such moments, it's like September 12 over again. It's at least three years since I first argued that ranch breaks should be reserved for America's real friends -- Tony Blair, John Howard-- and not for a regime which has very successfully exported its civil war to the rest of the world. The Saudis are under a lot more pressure than they were back then -- hence Abdullah's feints towards faux 'reform'. Nonetheless, only the other day the chief justice and big Abdullah sidekick was captured on video urging Saudi men to go to Iraq and fight the Americans -- and still the Crown Prince gets ranch privileges from Bush. Someday his prince won't come, I hope. When I called for the President to give the Saudi royals the finger, this isn't exactly what I had in mind.

Agustin Blazquez on Estela Bravo

Blazquez calls this article about the showing of Bravo's 1992 'documentary' at the Havana Film Festival on April 18, 2004,'Miami-Havana' a Misguided Trip:

Estela had the right to make her documentary, and taxpayer-funded PBS and the National Endowment for the Arts had the right in 1993 to sponsor the POV broadcast and now this New York Times pro-Castro film festival in New York City to show it. But being free in the U.S., I also have the right to criticize this dishonest piece of pro-Castro political propaganda.

There is nothing like freedom. One day, not far in the future, I hope, Cubans will enjoy freedom in Cuba in spite of the efforts of collaborators like Estela Bravo.

Read the whole thing.

Putin: Trading Ukraine & Georgia for Israel & Palestine

That's the gist of this analysis on the not always reliable DEBKAfile, Putin's Mid East Visits Signpost Unfolding Russian Penetration. As Debka points out, Putin conversed freely with Palestinian leader Mohammed Abbas in Russian, since Abbas was educated in Moscow (and the PLO was set up by Moscow in the first place). What values do Moscow-educated Arab communists, Ba'athists, and former communists share with Israelis? A strong antipathy to Islamist fundamentialism, for one thing. Remember, the US, through the CIA and USAID is still trying to "make nice" with Islamist terrorist sympathizers in Chechnya, Central Asia, and elsewhere, continuing the pro-Taliban strategy employed in Afghanistan pre-9/11. This makes American enemies out of modernizers, socialists, communists, and the rest. The Russians can move to take back this traditionally pro-Moscow constitutency.

So stay tuned. If Putin's strategy works, the US may have gained Eastern Europe only to lose the entire Middle East, including Israel. Debka's conclusion is that Russia is being very cunning:

Put together, these connections add up to a quiet political and military Russian penetration of Middle East forces close to the fringes of power in a way that will not arouse too much attention in Washington, but will at the same time provide Moscow with an inside track to regional developments and jumping-off points for broader penetrations.

This careful balancing act was aptly illustrated just before the Putin trip in an announcement by foreign minister Sergei Lavrov that Russia would begin withdrawing its troops from Georgia by the end of the year. This step came after a long period in which the Kremlin ignored demands from Washington and Tbilisi to eliminate the Russian military base in the former Soviet republic. But, when combined with a Russian initiative to gain a stronger foothold in the Middle East, this step signaled a tit-for-tat deal whereby Moscow would pull back from a key Caucasian region in Washington's favor while pressing forward in the Middle East. This deal will most certainly figure high on the agenda of the Bush-Putin summit next month.

In the war on terror, cooperation between Moscow and Jerusalem is more sparing than Israel would like. The Russians command a rich fund of intelligence on the Arab world, the Palestinians and al Qaeda's activities in the Middle East, especially Saudi Arabia, the Persian Gulf and Iraq. Moscow has cut Israel out of its counter-terror loop for a reason. Gone are the days of late 2001 and early 2002 when, in the aftershock of the 9/11 attacks, Putin collaborated fully with Bush on data that helped the American-led coalition successfully invade Afghanistan and defeat the Taliban and al Qaeda. These days, the Kremlin plays its cards very close to its chest. Jerusalem's bid for intelligence-sharing with Moscow was rebuffed in early 2004 when the Russians indicated they were open only to one-way traffic from Israel, but offered nothing of value in exchange.

Another important dimension of Putin's Israel visit comes from his attitude to the ex-Russian community. While most Israeli institutions and media treat Russian citizens as new immigrants to be absorbed in the overall fabric of society like all previous waves of newcomers, for the Russian president they are not ex-Russians but expatriates, exemplars of Russian culture, art, sport, language and education. Putin does not see a million Russian-speaking Israelis, but the largest Russian minority in the Middle East, which must be fostered, protected and sponsored. He is personally in regular contact with several Israel-Russian business figures and he rates these connections as highly as any political ties.

Putin is saying that only Russia can guarantee peace in the Middle East. If the US continues to make trouble in the former USSR, supporting Islamist terrorists who want to break up the country, then Russia can make trouble for the US in Iraq, Syria, Iran, and Palestine. Is this Debka analysis correct? I think so.

Actions speak volumes. It appears Putin isn't afraid to visit Israel, while Bush is, since the US President hasn't been in the Holy Land since 9/11. Perhaps it's time for Bush to drop in to Sharon's ranch, for a change?

So Many Enemies, So Little time

Just started reading Elinor Burkett's So Many Enemies, So Little Time: An American Woman in All the Wrong Places, which I ordered from Amazon after reading the author's stimulating NY Times oped about Kyrgyzstan's "Tulip Revolution." About 80 pages into it, Burkett's observations about her time in Bishkek track pretty closely with what I saw in Tashkent. Coincidentally, we were both Fulbrighters. Burkett's also one of David Horowitz's "Second Thoughts" people, and I used to work for David. Anyhow, her perspective on the situation in Central Asia seems about right, at least so far as I've read... Here's a section about an Afghan refugee couple she met in Bishkek:

After a friend was beaten because she'd exposed an inch of her wrist while checking the size of underwear in the market, Munvara decided that she'd had enough and headed up to Mazar-i-Sharif, beyond Taliban control, to find a way out of the country. "I vowed that I would not go back so long as there was a Muslim government in Afghanistan," Munvara said, her body taught with fury.

Her husband, also a refugee, put his hand on her knee, then turned to me and cracked, "Islam, Islam, Islam. You can't imagine how tired we are of hearing about Islam."