Indochine

The possibility that Iraq really might become another Vietnam--and I hope not, but it is looking a little grim at the moment--was a sobering context in which to screen Regis Wargnier's 1992 epic Indochine, starring the icily beautiful Catherine Deneuve (for some reason she reminded me of a thinner version of Senator Hillary Clinton in this role) as the French doyenne of a Vietnamese rubber plantation.

Unfortunately, unlike East-West, which led me to getthe DVD from Netflix, Indochine left me a little cold.

Somehow, this film rang false. The plot, obviously symbolic, became shambolic as it headed into its third hour. Maybe each event really happened, but it just didn't make sense to a puritanical American. The menage-a-trois between Deneuve, her adopted Vietnamese daughter, and her French naval officer lover seemed preposterous. The chases and escapes seemed farfetched. And the enigmatic ending, in Geneva, peculiarly unsatisfying.

Somehow this Franco-Vietnamese romance seemed a little misguided, if not crazy-- l'amour fou. The French like this sort of thing, but it brought out too much of my own Ango-Saxon education and upbringing to enjoy. I couldn't understand why everyone was doing stupid and crazy things all the time.

Plus, the communists, who are the heroes of this picture (was East-West only anti-Stalinist?) come off as cardboard cutouts. Pure heroes, liberating their nation by torching the estates of the mandarins. Surely, the reality must have been more complex.

For a tragic story to work, all sides must have their human side--heroes are not all good, hence the "tragic flaw." Likewise, villians have their good side. But this was too unsubtle to enjoy fully.

Nevertheless, the photography was good. And it is always fun to see a big star like Deneuve in a leading role. But Casablanca it's not.

JTA: Saudis Pay for Anti-Israel Propaganda in US Public Schools

Here's a story from JTA that might not make it into tomorrow's New York Times:

NEW YORK, Oct. 23 (JTA) ≈ With the school year back in full swing, do you know what your children are learning?

In thousands of public school districts across the United States, without ever knowing it, taxpayers pay to disseminate pro-Islamic materials that are anti-American, anti-Israel and anti-Jewish.

Often bypassing school boards and nudging aside approved curricula, teaching programs funded by Saudi Arabia make their way into elementary and secondary school classrooms.

Inside the Washington Design Center

After getting the car inspected this morning, someone I know and yours truly took an hour or so to visit the Washington Design Center, six floors of furniture and fabrics in a converted warehouse a stone's throw from the US Capitol. It was really a surprise to find such nice stuff in the bleak area by the railroad tracks and freeways. It also marks a change for Washington, which wasn't exactly a fashion or furnishing center. This place was "absolutely fabulous" with all sorts of strange things, including a bathtub made of stone that looked like an Egyptian sarcophagus from the Metropolitan Museum of Art collection. Favorite vendor was the Fabricut distributor who informed us their old-fashioned patterns and prints came from European venues like Paris's Ritz Hotel--via company headquarters in Tulsa, Oklahoma Company founders Mssrs. Guterman and Finer were Holocaust survivors who, after a few years in New York, headed West in search of wide open spaces, according to their company's informative website.

Open Source Media Moguls Change Back into Pajamas

You read it here first as mere speculation; now Charles Johnson confirms the hypothesis on his OSM Media website--Republicans in suits ruined Pajamas Media. Apparently, the name was so un-original that it was already being used by another website run by Boston radio host Christopher Lydon, called Open Source. So dumb, dull and unoriginal to copy a bad idea from Public Broadcasting, that only Republicans would do it--and did:

So how did this happen in the first place? Back at the beginning, certain, shall we say, paternalistically minded parties (i.e., the guys in suits) decided that we should act like grownups, and being as yet somewhat immature—at least as businesspeople--we did as we were told.

Which is how, one day, we ended up sitting around a conference table listening to representatives from a "branding" company. What followed is still a bit of a nightmarish blur, but it involved a PowerPoint presentation on the history of names, and such probing questions as, "If you were an animal, what animal would you be?" (Which is how we almost ended up as Jellyfish Media.)

Enough said. So, in the spirit of "open source," we thought we’d tell you the real story behind the reason for our name change. And hope that our corporate parents will be satisfied with good grades and healthy revenue.

IMHO, I'd think about stopping trying to please your corporate parents, and instead try to please yourselves and your readers, if I were Charles Johnson and the OSM/Pajamas bloggers...

Did 9/11 Mastermind Meet Iraqi Spymaster in Prague?

Edward Jay Epstein says that the US government has consigned the answer to a "murky limbo" rather than examining Iraqi intelligence files, in today's Wall Street Journal.

Why is this Man Smiling?

In today's New York Times there's another scandal from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Let's see, while Bob Coonrod was CPB president, the CPB approved a $500,000 consulting contract for him--so, when do we get to see what kind of advice he offered for that price? And did the CPB board take Coonrod's consultations to heart?

Inquiring minds want to know...

Andrew Sullivan on Torture

He's got a lot of posts about ex-CIA and ex-Navy SEALS leaking their techniques.

Did Rumsfeld Sacrifice Iraq Victory for Bureaucratic Gamesmanship?

David Von Drehle's article in last Sunday's Washington Post Magazine on the Rumsfeld "transformation" of the Pentagon certainly leaves that impression. And it's reinforced by his author's Q&A at Washingtonpost.com.

Dick Cheney at AEI: A Swing and a Miss...

Heard the VP's speech about Iraq on CSPAN radio while in the car driving home this evening. Nice try, but the Veep didn't connect. No one doubts there's a problem with terrorists in Iraq--only that the Bush administration appears capable of delivering a solution.

The "happy talk" conclusion shows that Dick Cheney has forgotten nothing--and learned nothing.

Transcript: here.

Conclusion: It looks like Cheney might really have to be impeached, or forced to resign for "health reasons." The country can't afford another three years of a Ford Administration re-run.

Vladimir Putin on Russia's Oil and Gas

Henry Balzer examines Putin's own analysis of Russia's oil and gas industries, in his article in The National Interest. (ht Scraps of Moscow)

French Rioters Target Jews (Cont'd.)

More on the story from Canada's National Post. (ht lgf)

Capote

Last night, we saw Bennet Miller's film starring Philip Seymour Hoffman as Truman Capote. Alice Goldfarb Marquis had recommended it, and it was worth seeing, though I'm still not sure what it was really about.

New York high society thrill seekers slumming in Kansas? Rough trade excursions for Truman? A love story? Redemption? Hopelessness. Alcoholism? Dopplegangers?

I liked the Harper Lee angle best. Almost saw Capote as doing his murder story in competition with To Kill A Mockingbird. Harper Lee seemed like a more sympathetic person, IMHO. Perhaps we'll get a biopic about her, someday?

Paul Farhi on the Ken Tomlinson CPB Scandal

I missed this PBS Newshour interview about the Ken Tomlinson scandal at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting when it was first aired. But it makes for some interesting reading...

French Riots Raise Sarkozy's Poll Numbers

According to Reuters:

The poll of 958 people showed 68 percent of respondents approved of Sarkozy's actions since the violence began, compared with 62 percent for Villepin. Sixty-four percent said they were confident Sarkozy could find lasting solutions to the problems, compared with 58 percent for Villepin.

"It is clear that Sarkozy's strong message on security goes down well with the French people," political analyst Dominique Moisi said of the IPSOS survey conducted on Nov. 12.

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Google Print Renamed Google Book Search

You can hear an interesting discussion of the copyright issues involved, at the New York Public Library's website., and also a panel sponsored by the Progress and Freedom Foundation that was taped by CSPAN, which can be watched here for the next two weeks.

Bush Back to Iraq for Turkey Day?

Belgravia Dispatch thinks the President may be going over there to announce an "Iraqification" strategy on Thanksgiving.

Murtha's Anti-War Stand Popular in Johnstown, PA

The LA Times reports that Congressman Murtha's plea to bring American troops home has struck a chord in Johnstown, PA.

What is the meaning of the defection by a conservative, pro-military Democrat to the anti-war camp?

Pretty significant. Chris Matthews called it the "beginning of the end" on TV today. I think he's right. The Bush administration simply lost its "mojo" with Hurricane Katrina. The old tricks won't work anymore, and the old dogs like Cheney and Rumsfeld can't seem to learn any new ones. Name-calling and accusations of treason won't wash.

When I was teaching in Uzbekistan, one of the staffers at the University's international office asked me what I thought of the war in Iraq. I told him that if it worked, I supported it, and if it didn't, I would be against it. "Very cunning," he said. "Not at all," I answered. "Americans are very pragmatic."

No American wants war for war's sake (except perhaps Halliburton executives and others who benefit from Pentagon no-bid contracts). Americans supported the Bush administration's war because they thought Bush knew what he was doing. The thousand plus dead from Hurricane Katrina, the "Heck of a job, Brownie!", and the sleaze oozing out from the White House have cast doubt on that premise. Therefore, if Bush doesn't know what he is doing, it follows that no more Americans should lose their lives following him. Murtha's move is in response to a shift in the mood of the American public. Perhaps more keenly felt in Johnstown, PA, which was the site of a major flood many years ago...

Understanding Ahmad Chalabi

Michael Rubin explains the Iraqi leader's ascent, in the face of American opposition led by Condoleeza Rice:

Both before and after Iraq's liberation, State Department officials criticized Chalabi as an exile with little connection to his own country. CIA analysts seconded such pronouncements. On September 6, 2004, for example, Judith Yaphe, a former CIA Iraq analyst now at the National Defense University, told the Associated Press that "over the years, [CIA favorite Ayad] Allawi's contacts were proven to be real while Chalabi's were never what Chalabi told us." Former Defense Intelligence Agency official W. Patrick Lang described Chalabi as "basically an émigré politician" and told an Australian radio station that the CIA and State Department "didn't trust what he said [and] didn't think he understood Iraq, really." General Anthony Zinni, head of U.S. Central Command, belittled Chalabi and his Iraqi National Congress as "some silk-suited, Rolex-wearing guys in London."

But, in the months before Operation Iraqi Freedom began, Chalabi returned to Iraq. And after liberation, he became an irritant to Washington policymakers. While Coalition Provisional Authority administrator L. Paul Bremer sought to run Iraq by diktat, Chalabi agitated for direct elections and restoration of Iraqi sovereignty. He clashed with Meghan O'Sullivan, now deputy national security adviser for Iraq, when she worked to undermine and eventually reverse de-Baathification. He undercut White House attempts to internationalize responsibility for Iraq in the months prior to the 2004 U.S. elections when his Governing Council auditing commission began to investigate the U.N. Oil-for-Food scandal.

In a West Wing meeting, then–national security adviser Condoleezza Rice called Chalabi's opposition to the ill-fated Fallujah Brigade "unhelpful." Soon afterward, she directed her staff to outline ways to "marginalize" Chalabi. There followed espionage and counterfeiting charges — the former never seriously pursued by the FBI and the latter thrown out of an Iraqi court. Following the June 28, 2004, transfer of sovereignty in Iraq, John Negroponte — then U.S. ambassador to Iraq and now the director of national intelligence — refused to meet Chalabi. Cut off from U.S. patronage and without any serious Iraqi base, the analysts said, Chalabi would fade away.

He did not. Nor has he simply reinvented himself, as a State Department official suggested following Chalabi's November 9 address at the American Enterprise Institute. Rather, his relevance has remained constant. Unlike those of other Iraqi figures embraced by various bureaucracies in Washington, Chalabi's fortunes have not depended on U.S. patronage. His survival — and, indeed, his recent ascent against the obstacles thrown in his path by Washington — underlines the failures of diplomats and intelligence analysts to put aside departmental agendas to provide the White House with an objective and accurate analysis of the sources of legitimacy inside Iraq.

So far, when it comes to Iraq, the score is Chalabi 1, Rice 0.

US to Sanction Uzbekistan?

Over on Registan, Nathan reports that the US government will announce sanctions on Uzbekistan for human rights violations sometime next week. I guess that means Iraq will be next to be sanctioned, given the news reports of torture there--oh, I forgot, we are in charge in Iraq...

Senator Brownback Condemns Uzbekistan

Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) with US troops in Iraq
A November 18th press release from the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, chaired by Sam Brownback (R-KS) announced:

Commissioners of the U.S. Helsinki Commission strongly condemned the outcome of the trial of 15 men in Uzbekistan for the outbreak of unrest in the city of Andijan. The verdicts, which were announced on November 14th, found the men guilty of trying to oust the Uzbek Government and set up an Islamic state.

“The Uzbek Government, after blocking international investigation of the bloody events in Andijan, set up a kangaroo court and expects the world to accept the verdict,” said Commission Chairman Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS). “It is especially telling that official Uzbek sources have accused the United States of involvement in terrorism. Regrettably, the Uzbek Government seems determined to isolate itself from the Western world.”

I don't like to get into an argument with a Senator from Kansas (I worked on the public broadcasting issue with Bob Dole), but Brownback is off base here. There is indeed some evidence that the US may have been involved with terrorists in Uzbekistan, directly or indirectly through NGOs.

For example: America facilitated the move of Andijan suspects out of the country, providing safe havens in Romania following the violence; Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty interviewed the Andijan guerrillas' leader Qobiljon Parpiev, who has called for continued violence in Uzbekistan; and at the CSCE Washington, DC hearing on June 29th, a representative from International Crisis Group said that the organization worked with Akriyama in Uzbekistan. Another witness, Marcus Bensmann, appears to have misled CSCE when he testified that he heard no chant of "Allahu Akbar" during the Andijan violence. Bensmann may have missed it, but the BBC captured it on tape--and such a cry from the crowd during violence is obvious evidence of an Islamist link, which unfortunately supports the Uzbek government's contention that the perpetrators of the Andijan violence had the goal of establishing an Islamic state.

Notably, Senator Brownback's CSCE panel did not hear testimony about her investigation of the Andijan events from Dr. Shirin Akiner on June 29th. Therefore, the CSCE's own record is partial and incomplete at this stage. More information is needed about Andijan before the US Congress can take any reasonable position vis-a-vis Uzbekistan.

Contrary to the CSCE press release, no international investigation is necessary for the US Government to issue its own report. The US doesn't need a "permission slip" to find out what happened. If they really want to know what happened, Senator Brownback as well as Congressmen Cardin and Smith might ask the Government Accountability Office to conduct an investigation to determine whether US taxpayer funds may have found their way into the hands of terrorists or terrorist supporters in Andijan. If the GAO finds that no US-supported individuals or organizations were involved in any way before, during, or after Andijan, it would disprove the Uzbek government's charges. If not, the GAO has an obligation to let the chips fall where they may--and Brownback, Smith, and Cardin will be better able to determine what steps need to be taken.

Such a GAO investigation, following the money going from the US to Uzbekistan, might answer remaining questions about what happened in Andijan in an objective and dispassionate fashion that could provide an alternative strategy to the escalating war of words between Washington and Tashkent--and provide a basis to reduce Uzbekistan's isolation from the Western world.