James A. Baker on "Pragmatic Idealism"

The former Secretary of State's 10 maxims to guide American foreign policy have been published in The National Interest:

What I suggest might be called “pragmatic idealism.” While firmly grounded in values, it appreciates the complexity of the real world—a world of hard choices and painful trade-offs. This is the real world in which we must live, decide and act.

It is a world that Ronald Reagan understood. He was, famously, a man of deeply held conviction. But he was also pragmatic. When I was his chief of staff, he often told me, “Jim, I’d rather get 80 percent of what I want than to go over the cliff with my flag flying.” The Gipper, of course, was right.

I am not proposing a dogmatic list that must be checked off for each foreign- policy challenge we confront. On the contrary, these maxims embody a mindset marked by a realistic assessment of events and a practical response to them. They represent anything but elements of a rigid ideology that forces events into preconceived notions and creates “either/or” choices that are both false and dangerous. This approach embodies one of our most distinctive national characteristics: We Americans are a practical people less interested in ideological purity than in solving problems. Our pragmatism should inform our foreign policy.

Such a balanced approach can help us avoid both the cynicism of “realism” and the impracticality of “idealism.” It is based on an optimistic view of man but is tempered by our knowledge of human imperfection. It promises no easy answers or quick fixes. But neither did the containment policy pursued by U.S. administrations, Democratic and Republican alike, during the Cold War. Yet that policy ultimately triumphed. It was based, much like the approach I have sketched, on a unique melding of idealism and realism. It eschewed the temptations of both isolationism on the one hand, and rollback of communism through direct conflict with the Soviet Union on the other. And it reflected, at an important level, a confidence about the future that we need to recapture.

Such an approach does, I am convinced, offer our surest guide and best hope for navigating our great country safely though this precarious period of unparalleled opportunity and risk in world affairs.

Just in Time for the Jewish Holidays...

Thanks to an email from a friend in Hollywood, I've learned that
Netflix now carries WHO SHALL LIVE AND WHO SHALL DIE? My distributor tells me they ordered 100 copies, so there should be plenty of DVDs available....

The Blogger Who Ended Senator Craig's Career

Profiled in today's Washington Post Style section by Jose Antonio Vargas under the headline: "The Most Feared Man on the Hill?" He reportedly has a hit list with 30 names on it, so far. His name is Mike Rogers:

A little volume titled "The Book of Questions: Business, Politics and Ethics" is tucked under his coffee table. There, on Page 193, is the question: "How much right do we have to know about the private lives of elected officials?"

Rogers says, "When those private lives are in direct conflict with the public policy that these officials espouse, I think it's fair game that their private lives be brought into this. And I have to blog to do that with. Here's the question: What community is expected to protect its own enemies? Don't beat up the gay community, and then expect us to protect your secrets and your double life. It's just not right."

Mike Rogers' blog is BlogActive.com.

Enjoy Labor Day Weekend...

From Wikipedia:

A recurring Labor Day event in the United States, since 1966, is the annual telethon of the Muscular Dystrophy Association, hosted by Jerry Lewis to fund research and patient support programs for the various diseases grouped as muscular dystrophy. The telethon raises tens of millions of dollars each year.

Labor Day weekend also marked the annual running of the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, SC. The race was run at any time during the weekend from 1950-2002. In 2004, NASCAR began racing on Labor Day weekend at California Speedway in Fontana, CA. This dropped the race to November in the schedule for 2004 which became a night race and was dropped altogether in 2005 in favor of a Mother's Day weekend night race.

An old custom eschewed wearing white after Labor Day. The custom is rooted in nothing more than popular fashion etiquette. In actuality, the etiquette originally stated that white shoes were the taboo while white or "winter white" clothes were acceptable. This custom is fading from popularity as it continues to be questioned and challenged, particularly by leaders in the fashion world. "Fashion magazines are jumping on this growing trend, calling people who 'dare' to wear white after Labor Day innovative, creative, and bold. Slowly but surely, white is beginning to break free from its box, and is becoming acceptable to wear whenever one pleases. This etiquette is comparable to the Canadian fashion rule against wearing green after Remembrance Day. In the world of western attire, it is similarly tradition to wear a straw cowboy hat until Labor Day. After Labor Day, the felt hat is worn until Memorial Day. ",

MuseBook e-Scores

I think I found the company that makes the automatic music score device spotted on From the Top last night: MuseBook.

You can buy one online from Kelly's Music and Computers:

MuseBook Score is an electronic score solution which automatically turns page for you! Use a Tablet PC instead of sheet music and open MusicXML score files saved on your computer's hard disk. As you play the piano, MuseBook Score listens to the piano performance through a microphone, recognizes where you are playing, then turns pages automatically. MuseBook Score works with both acoustic and digital pianos.

Automatic Page Turning
Let MuseBook Score be your page turner. You concentrate only on the music, and then piano practicing becomes far more effective.

Current Position Display
Have MuseBook Score respond to your piano performance. As you play the piano, it indicates the current performing note with a color you defined. It provides not only an easier way of reading scores, but also more fun piano practicing by interactive learning environment.

Score Player
With MuseBook Score, you can hear what the score sounds like. Listening to the score before you practice helps you understand and memorize the music better.

How does MuseBook Score work?

MuseBook Score listens to the live piano performance through a microphone connected to a computer and recognizes the complex performance utilizing artificial intelligence technology. Therefore, MuseBook Score automatically tracks current performing notes and turns the pages over when it is timed to.

Music recognition technology enables a machine or a computer to listen to the music and recognize its contents in a similar way as human ear and brain do. Artificial intelligence software emulates a human's music recognition process by means of digital signal processing.

Ken Burns' Latest Snafu

Is Ken Burns fubar?

According to today's Washington Post, the latest controversy swirls over four-letter words in his 14 1/2-hour PBS documentary about WWII, The War:

"It's the world we live in right now," said Joe Bruns, WETA's chief operating officer. "My own view is that with the landscape of a 14-hour film about World War II, and given the overall obscenity of war, four words are not particularly shocking -- especially given the fact that these are words used routinely at that time. But [nowadays], we have to exercise an abundance of caution."

The profanity could subject a station to a $325,000 indecency fine if broadcast between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.

In two instances, the words are spoken by former American soldiers as they describe the meaning of the common military euphemisms "snafu" and "fubar," as well as some combat experiences. The other two words refer to a body part and excrement. In the edited version, the soundtrack briefly goes silent when the profanities are uttered.

In an interview, Burns called the soldiers' comments "four incredibly appropriate words." He added: "It's what soldiers in battle say, and not just during World War II."

From the Top

Last night, our local PBS station aired a marathon broadcast of From the Top, a show in which young people perform classical music. I enjoyed it. To hear and see 12 year old virtuosi of widely diverse backgrounds play Chopin on the piano, Kreisler on the violin, or Schumann on the clarinet provided a sorely-needed alternative to MTV, gangster rap, or Britney Spears. Sort of a junior classical "American Idol," without the competition.

It reminded me of watching the Culture TV channel in Russia, where 6-year olds performed Mozart (the youngest musician I heard on PBS last night was 10, playing a cello) in real musical competitions as well as on variety shows.

Producer Don Mischer did a good job keeping the tone light rather than solemn for Carnegie Hall and WGBH, Boston (how come not WNET?). Pianist Christopher O'Riley did his best as an MC to keep things moving along. He accompanies the kids on the piano, so you can see how good they are compared to him.

And, I really loved the electronic music score on the piano--no more page turners. Who makes it, and how does it work? Maybe O'Riley will explain it someday.

Only a few quibbles:

*The show is billed as "Live" from Carnegie Hall. Actually, it is taped in front of a live audience. It's nice, but not really live. Truth in advertising, please.

*O'Riley's jokes can verge on the tasteless, especially in front of children. Giving a 12-year old pianist "Michael Jackson's glove" and a 12-year old violinist a pair of worn tube socks prizes seemed tacky and undercut the positive atmosphere of the show. O'Riley also seemed a little jealous of his young co-stars at times. It would be nice if he could keep that natural competitiveness more in check.

*Let's have information on CDs, iTunes, and websites on the TV screen while the kids perform on the show. There is a link on the NPR website, but it takes a few clicks.

*The NPR radio show version (about which I had heard nothing before the PBS broadcast), is not simulcast. Why not?

These are minor points. Overall, From the Top is top-notch cultural fare, and a welcome addition to the TV schedule. I'm sure it will help encourage more young people to take music lessons. Although the original 13-episodes are "in the can" (they showed 7 half-hours last night on WETA, I think), I hope PBS gives it a regular weekly time-slot in the Fall.

BTW, Young musicians can apply to perform on the show by clicking this link.

Rudy Giuliani & Teddy Roosevelt

Yesterday I stumbled accross Ed Koch's attack on Rudy Giuliani in a local bookstore. I thumbed through the large print of Giuliani: Nasty Man (easy to read at my age) and found a chapter that actually explains Giuliani's appeal.

In what he thought was a savage demolition of Giuliani's mayoral record, Koch called him "a great NYC Police Commissioner." Koch meant it as a put-down, but I think it may turn out to be a compliment.

Koch's label can help Giuliani overcome the jinx that prevented other NYC mayors, like John Lindsay and Ed Koch, from reaching the Oval Office. For Giuliani can run as a former NYC Police Commissioner, just like Teddy Roosevelt. According to the law of unintended consequences, Ed Koch may have done Giuliani a favor.

TR served as NYC Police Commissioner before he became President. Like Giuliani, Roosevelt was a maverick Republican, a Progressive who believed in peace through strength. He built up US Navy's "Great White Fleet"--and never had to use it. He presided over the expansion of American power throughout the world, and the dynamic growth of American industry at home. Peace and prosperity were the hallmarks of the Roosevelt Era. TR's enduring popularity helped Franklin Roosevelt (his cousin) win the Democratic nomination during the Great Depression. His "Square Deal" was a forefunner of the "New Deal."

Not bad for a NYC Police Commissioner. Here's a link to his bio on Wikipedia.

Nureyev on PBS

Speaking of anti-communists, I hope readers had a chance to watch PBS' broadcast of the BBC documentary Nureyev: The Russian Years last night on Great Performances. The documentary was fascinating, and explained why the Soviet ballet star defected to the West--he faced 5 years in a Siberian prison camp for homosexual behavior, which just might have been his death sentence. Having just read David Caute's The Dancer Defects, with a chapter on Nureyev, the film seemed particularly vivid and compelling. The face-off between KGB and French police at Le Bourget airport at the moment of Nureyev's leap to freedom was dramatized beautifully in a first-person eyewitness account. Nice clips of Nureyev dancing both in Russia and the West, too.

You can read my review of The Dancer Defects at Amazon.com.

Humberto Fontova: Shame on the Washington Post!

Agustin Blazquez sent us this op-ed by Humberto Fontnova, author of Exposing the Real Che Guevara and the Useful Idiots Who Idolize Him, criticizing the Washington Post for running a recent Pat Oliphant cartoon advocating the deportation of Cuban-Americans:

Note that a smiling Uncle Sam insults an American ethnic group as “nuisances" while forcibly expelling them from the nation in a rickety boat titled "Cuban-Americans," while these scowling, elderly and Mafiosi-clad people scream “we demand a chance to interfere with the '08 election!”

By “interfere” we have to assume the cartoonist refers to the right, privilege and duty bestowed upon U.S. citizens known as "voting." It so happens that the cartoonist, Pat Oliphant, is himself an immigrant to this country. In an interview with Time magazine he admitted to “leaning Democratic” in his politics.

I now invite you to contemplate the reaction from the usual political-correctness police had any other U.S. ethnic group (except overwhelmingly Republican Cuban-Americans) inhabited that boat. Imagine the fire and brimstone (literal, perhaps) if instead of Fedoras (rarely worn by Cuban-Americans, by the way) the group had worn kuffiyeh's, burkha's and chadors!

Imagine the clamor and attempted extortions followed by craven apologies and grovelings if the boat's passengers had been "nappy-headed" and headed for Africa! Imagine the rallies in Los Angeles and the indignant blusterings by California politicians and Nancy Pelosi if they'd worn sombreros!

Such cartoons are indeed imaginable with other ethnic groups — but surely with Uncle Sam cast as the villain, wearing a white hood, a swastika or an Ann Coulter mask. Maybe all three. In this one Uncle Sam smiles benevolently while handing the boat's ethnic occupants their just desserts.

When earlier this year authorities in Virginia's Prince William County attempted to enforce U.S. laws against illegal immigration the Washington Post denounced it as “shameful," "hypocritical" and "ugly." "Hounding Immigrants" ran the editorial's title (no mention of "illegal" in the title, though it came up in the text.) "By singling out illegal immigrants, local politicians are contributing to what is becoming a poisonous, increasingly nativist atmosphere that will infect relations with Hispanics generally."

Nothing "poisonous" or "infectious," "shameful" or "nativist", mind you, about a cartoon gloating over the expulsion of U.S. citizens of Hispanic origin from America's shores in a manner identical to Ferdinand and Isabella's expulsion of Jews and Moors from Spain.

When U.S. Federal authorities attempted to enforce U.S. law against illegal immigration in New Bedford earlier this summer the Post once again stormed to its pulpit and denounced it as: "Cruel," "lurid" "hypocritical, "self- defeating" and "illogical." "Stop the Raids! Stop Hurting Children!" blared their editorial headline. "The New Bedford raid is an inelegant example of how badly this country needs a clear-eyed immigration policy, one that provides . . . a path to citizenship for immigrants who have put down roost and contributed to the national economy." ("As long as they don't go on to vote Republican" they forgot to add.)

The immigrant (actually, refugee) group the Post insults in a manner utterly inconceivable for any other, is in fact the very one that “implanted roots" and "contributed to the national economy” like few others. The 1998 census shows Americans of Cuban heritage to have income and educational levels higher — not just than other "Hispanic" (a meaningless term) groups, but higher than the U.S population in general. Lower crime rates than the national average complete the picture.

But these insufferable people consistently vote close to 80 percent Republican, you see. This sin instantly nullifies all of the Washington Posts usual hyper-sensitivity in these matters.

Attempting to enforce U.S. law as in potential expulsion, (with full due process) of, illegal immigrants is denounced by the Washington Post as "xenophobic," "shameful," "poisonous," "nativist," "cruel," "self defeating," "illogical," and "ugly."

But a cartoon celebrating the expulsion of Americans who happened to be foreign-born, who played by the rules, who became U.S. citizens, who then outpaced even the overall U.S. population in educational and income levels (in "Americanization" you might say) and who specialize in exercising their right and duty to vote, well, these vermin should be shoved off en masse to Stalinist prison camps by a smiling Uncle Sam. Unreal.

Senator Craig & Walter Jenkins

Another parallel comes to mind, between the predicaments of Republican Sen. Larry Craig and Democratic LBJ aide Walter Jenkins, the Karl Rove of the Johnson administration, whose career came to an end after he was arrested in a YMCA toilet. Here's a link to the Wikipedia version of the story:

Johnson's former aides have generally credited much of Johnson's political success to Jenkins. In 1975 journalist Bill Moyers, a former Johnson aide and press secretary, wrote in Newsweek, "When they came to canonize political aides, [Jenkins] will be the first summoned, for no man ever negotiated the shark-infested waters of the Potomac with more decency or charity or came out on the other side with his integrity less shaken. If Lyndon Johnson owed everything to one human being other than Lady Bird, he owed it to Walter Jenkins." Joseph Califano wrote, "Jenkins was the nicest White House aide I ever met in any administration. He was never overbearing. It was quite remarkable."

D.C. Scandal

His career with Johnson ended in October 1964, when Washington, D.C. police arrested Jenkins during a homosexual liaison at a YMCA and a reporter at the Washington Star learned of the incident. Johnson applied considerable pressure on the newspaper not to print the story and recruited his personal lawyer, Abe Fortas, to lobby the newspaper's editor. However, the story eventually appeared in the Star and Jenkins was forced to resign.

The arrest raised questions about whether Jenkins had been blackmailed. At this time gay men and lesbians were automatically denied clearance. Johnson's opponent in the 1964 presidential election, Barry Goldwater, who knew Jenkins from the Senate and served as commanding officer of his Air Force Reserve unit, chose not to make the incident a campaign issue. "It was a sad time for Jenkins' wife and children, and I was not about to add to their private sorrow," Goldwater later wrote in his autobiography. "Winning isn't everything. Some things, like loyalty to friends or lasting principle, are more important." Jenkins arrest was quickly overshadowed by international affairs -- the People's Republic of China successfully tested its first nuclear device and the politburo of the USSR overthrew Nikita Khrushchev.

Members of Congress called for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to carry out an investigation into the case, citing concerns that the FBI had been unaware of Jenkins previous offence in the same Washington toilet six years earlier. Tapes of Johnson's Oval Office telephone calls later revealed that the President had orchestrated the FBI report that cleared Jenkins of any suspicions that he had compromised national security. However, investigations did reveal that Jenkins, a colonel in the Air Force Reserve, had tried to use his influence to reinstate a fellow officer dismissed for sex offences.

Johnson did not replace Jenkins, but instead divided his responsibilities among several staff members. "A great deal of the president's difficulties can be traced to the fact that Walter had to leave," Johnson's press secretary, George Reedy, once told an interviewer. "All of history might have been different if it hadn't been for that episode." Former Attorney General Ramsey Clark suggested that Jenkins' resignation "deprived the president of the single most effective and trusted aide that he had. The results would be enormous when the president came into his hard times. Walter's counsel on Vietnam might have been extremely helpful."

The LBJ library has tapes of conversations between Abe Fortas and the President about Jenkins. I think I may have heard this recording broadcast on C-SPAN. Here's the catalog listing, for readers who want to check out the original tape.

Citation No.: 5876
Speaker: ABE FORTAS
Tape: WH6410.08 Program No.: 6
Length: 15:03

Date: 10/14/64
Time: 3:56P
To/From: F
Transcribed: N
Restriction: OPEN

Comments: "NEW YORK C."; FORTAS IS MEETING WITH CLARK CLIFFORD AT TIME OF CALL; CLIFFORD IS LISTED ON SLIP BUT DOES NOT SPEAK; POOR SOUND QUALITY; LBJ HOARSE, FORTAS DIFFICULT TO HEAR; CONTINUES ON NEXT PNO

Topics: FORTAS TELLS LBJ THAT WALTER JENKINS HAS BEEN HOSPITALIZED FOR NERVOUS EXHAUSTION FOLLOWING HIS ARREST LAST WEEK ON MORALS CHARGE; FORTAS' AND CLIFFORD'S EFFORTS TO SUPPRESS NEWS STORIES OF ARREST; JENKINS' 1959 ARREST; POSSIBLE EFFECTS ON CAMPAIGN

Alberto Gonzales & Webster Hubbell

The departure of Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General recalled the saga of former Associate Attorney General Webster Hubbell in the Clinton Administration. This reminder, from Wikipedia:

Webster Lee Hubbell (born 1949), known as Webster L. Hubbell and Webb Hubbell, was an Arkansas lawyer and politician. He was a lawyer in Pulaski County before serving as Mayor of Little Rock from 1979 until he resigned in 1981. He was appointed by Bill Clinton as chief justice of Arkansas State Supreme Court in 1983. When Clinton became President, Hubbell was appointed as associate attorney general; he was generally considered the third most powerful person in the Justice Department. His wife is Suzanna "Suzy" Hubbell.

In December 1994, Hubbell pleaded guilty to federal mail fraud and tax evasion charges connection with his handling of billing at the Rose Law Firm, a firm with partners that once included Hillary Clinton and Vince Foster. Hubbell admitted he had defrauded former clients and former partners out of $482,410.83. On June 28, 1995, Judge George Howard sentenced Hubbell to 21 months' imprisonment.

On the other hand, Ann Coulter compares Gonzales with Janet Reno.

Gordon Hahn: The West Has Lost Russia

From the Moscow Times (ht Johnson's Russia List):

Now Moscow's bitter disappointment with the West has taken the form of harsh anti-Americanism. It has also translated into a burning desire among the Russian elite and public to finally show the West that it would regret its policies once Russia "got up from its knees." That time has surely come.

Some analysts warned that this would be the inevitable result of NATO expansion and other flawed U.S. and Western policies. Only a partnership with Russia and a firm policy of drawing it into the West would prevent Moscow's turn to the East. This also would have prevented the revival of traditional Russian suspicion -- if not outright antagonism -- toward the West. Finally, a closer cooperation with Russia may have prevented Moscow's disenchantment with democracy, which it has interpreted as being no more than an insidious and cynical Western ploy to weaken Russia.

The cost of NATO expansion is that Russia has been lost in the medium term -- and perhaps in the long term as well -- as a powerful, committed democracy and Western ally. Moreover, the West has pushed Russia closer to China and Iran.

If these are the costs of NATO expansion, what are the advantages? Few, if any. The alliance received from its new member states: a few thousand additional troops that are stationed in Afghanistan and Iraq, a three-jet Latvian air force and five Estonian nurses. Compare these benefits to Russia's vast military and intelligence resources and experience -- particularly in Afghanistan. Moreover, Moscow has helped to track down global jihadists, prevent the proliferation of weapons and materials of mass destruction and reconstruct Afghanistan. As a true ally, Russia could contribute much more to the Western alliance than the small new NATO members.

All opinion polls now show that a plurality or majority of Russians regard the United States as the greatest threat to Russia and the world. Putin has repeatedly decried the U.S. impetus for a "unipolar" international structure -- which is to say, global hegemony.

The Russian elite's consensus is even harsher. Alexander Solzhenitsyn recently said the United States seeks to encircle and weaken Russia. This statement is highly symbolic, coming from the esteemed writer who once took refuge in the United States as a political refugee from the Soviet state. It also underscores how cold U.S.-Russian relations have become.

John Danforth for Attorney General

Here's who I would like to see President Bush nominate for Attorney General of the United States: John Danforth. The former Ambassador to the UN and Senator from Missouri might be able to restore respect to the Justice Department among the American public, Congress, and the rest of the world. I bet he would not give a green-light to torture, either--since he's an ordained Episcopal priest, in addition to everything else.

He resigned in a hurry from his UN job in 2005, no doubt passed over for a cabinet job like Secretary of State. Now's Bush's chance to bring him--and mainstream thinking--back into the administration. I think he'd get confirmed without too much trouble by the Senate, especially since Danforth used to serve on the Judiciary Committee...and according to CNN, he told Bush that he would be available for "short-term assignments". With only 18 months left in the administration, sounds like a perfect match.

Here's a link to Danforth's Wikipedia entry.

Alex De Waal: Darfur Problem Not Genocide

In the Washington Post today, De Waal and co-author Julie Flint say the real problem in Darfur is "anarchy:"

While the script of many rights campaigners and activists has remained stuck in the groove of "genocide," Darfur faces something that can be just as deadly in the long term: anarchy. The government is a dictatorship, but its writ doesn't run beyond the first checkpoints outside the towns. The army has a fearsome arsenal, but two much-heralded offensives last year were smartly and bloodily annihilated by rebels. The air force is rarely used, except when targets of opportunity arise -- or the rebels have the army on the run. There have been no large-scale offensives by the government in 2007.

The Sudanese government relies on its Arab militias for a semblance of control, but increasingly these militias pursue their own agendas. The largest loss of life this year occurred in clashes between two Arab militias, most recently at the end of July, when 100 militia members and Arab civilians died. The other big ongoing crisis, and the major cause of more than 100,000 people being displaced this year, is a multisided conflict in Southern Darfur involving warring Arab militias; rebel commanders from the Sudan Liberation Army who are now allied with the government, though other commanders are fighting it; a militia drawn from West African immigrants; and a rebel commander from the Justice and Equality Movement who answers to no one but himself. Simple, it isn't.

More on Darfur by De Waal at the CSIS website and on his Social Science Research Council blog.

As Seen At Victoria Airport Bookshop

On our return from summer vacation in British Columbia--my cousin Daniel Kalla's novel Resistance displayed on the sales shelf next to The Da Vinci Code...

Russia Blames Berezovsky for Politkovskaya Murder

According to the Daily Telegraph (UK), the arrest of 10 suspects in Moscow for the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya is adding to Russian-UK tensions:

When asked by Russian journalists if he believed that Mr Berezovsky, a former oil tycoon, was behind the murder, he smiled and said: "Our investigation has led us to conclude that only people living abroad could be interested in killing Politkovskaya.

"Forces interested in de-stabilising the country, in stoking crisis, in a return to the old system where money and oligarchs ruled, in discrediting national leadership, provoking external pressure on the country, could be interested in this crime.

"Anna Politkovskaya knew who ordered her killing. She met him more than once."

The thinly veiled accusation will raise the pressure on Mr Berezovsky, who met Miss Politkovskaya several times and has made no secret of his wish to overthrow Mr Putin.

It will also worsen relations with London, which expelled four Russian diplomats after Moscow refused to extradite the chief suspect in the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, the former KGB agent, in London last year.

USAID Defers Terror Screening

That didn't take long. Just days after newspapers reported protests from InterAction.org, the Bush administration caved. According to today's Washington Post: "The Bush administration has decided to defer the start of a new security screening program for thousands of officials of organizations seeking funds from the Agency for International Development..."

Score: Terrorists, 1-Bush, 0.

Inside the Al Haramain Charity Case

From Zombietime (ht lgf):

Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, Inc. was the Ashland, Oregon-based American branch of Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, a huge international Islamic charity founded and headquartered in Saudi Arabia, with subsidiaries in countries around the world. After 9/11, several governments (including the U.S., the U.K., and even the United Nations) began investigating the terror funding network, and found evidence that money from Al-Haramain was used not just for charity projects but also to finance Al Qaeda and specific terrorist plots. Various foreign branches of Al-Haramain were broken up or shut down, but it was not apparently until 2004 that the U.S. branch of Al-Haramain came under intense investigation.

In early 2004, government intelligence services supposedly (or has been alleged) began electronic surveillance of phone calls connected to the Ashland Al-Haramain office. It is not known if warrants were obtained, or if the calls were domestic or international. Partly based on intelligence gathered during this surveillance, The U.S. government declared the Oregon branch of Al-Haramain a "specially designated global terrorist."

Unexpectedly, Al-Haramain fought back. They contacted lawyers and sued to have the "terrorist" designation revoked. During what is called "discovery" (a legal term in which each side in a civil case must reveal its evidence to the other side), an employee of the U.S. government accidentally included in a stack of documents given to Al-Haramain a Top Secret record of the surveillance logs.

Al-Haramain's lawyers brought in more anti-government lawyers, who recognized a golden opportunity: since this Top Secret document proved that surveillance of specific individuals had taken place, they now had "standing" (the legal right) to challenge the entire underlying lawfulness of government surveillance in principle. And so the case went into overdrive, and suddenly took on much greater significance than just an individual organization fighting for its reputation: legal activists saw a chance to use the courts to stop the Bush administration from surveilling anybody. If they could get the courts to rule that Al-Haramain had been surveilled illegally, then it would set a precedent and prevent any similar surveillance in the future, and also would render unusable any evidence gathered by surveillance in the past. In other words: a very big deal.

The government's legal team sought to forestall this by recalling the document, insisting that its Top Secret status made it unusable in court because revealing its contents would endanger national security.

From here onward, things became bizarre, a dizzying tug-of-war over surrealistic legal technicalities. Both sides were put into completely impossible positions: The government had to suppress a document which revealed Top Secret surveillance without actually admitting that it had conducted any surveillance; whereas Al-Haramain sought to revoke its designation as a terrorist organization by citing the very evidence (the information gathered during the surveillance) that suggested it was a terrorist organization.

In a word: farcical.

Read the whole thing.

KinoKultura

Just finished an interview with film critic Oleg Sul'kin of Novoye Ruskoye Slovo about the 25th anniversary release of Who Shall Live and Who Shall Die on DVD by Kino International Corporation (Kino distributes a lot of Russian films). We had a very interesting discussion about a lot of things--including New Russian Cinema. This led to a google search, which led in turn to KinoKultura, a website devoted to Russian film--and this review of Kirill Serebrennikov's Playing the Victim.