Gulf of Tonkin II...?

From the Guardian:

The Iranian navy has seized up to 15 British sailors, the Ministry of Defence confirmed today, sparking a diplomatic standoff between the UK and Iran.

Iran's ambassador to the UK was immediately summoned to the foreign office for what the foreign secretary, Margaret Beckett, described as a "brisk" meeting.

He was "left in no doubt" that Britain expected the immediate return of the sailors and their boats, she said.

However, Iran's government responded by summoning the British charge d'affaires to Tehran to protest at what it said was the illegal entry of British naval personnel into Iranian waters.

I find this more than a little frightening, when you consider that the Bush administration has been (1) lusting for months for an excuse to carpet-bomb Iran, (2) under increasing legal threat from Congress on Attorneygate, and (3) facing, for the first time since 2003, the possibility that Congress will reign in Bush's imperial aspirations in the Middle East.

Also, something I read (can't remember where) suggested that if Bush were going to start bombing Iran with no warning, he'd commence when the moon is either waxing or waning.

I hate to say it, but it's currently a waxing crescent.

Happy St Paddy's Day...!

And it wouldn't be Ireland if we weren't experiencing gale force winds, near freezing temperatures and rain!

But who cares?! It's almost spring and the days are going from mid-winter's 7 hours of daylight to a rollicking 12 hours worth! (Well, not counting clouds and rain.) Whoo-hoo!!

So, I took some photos today. And I’ll bet those of you who haven’t been to Ireland in the past decade expect Dublin’s St Paddy’s Day parade to look something like this:

Or maybe this:

Or even this:

All photos I took today. But did you ever expect something like this?

And yes, that is a drag queen on the float in the background!

Or this?

And this:

Ireland has changed so dramatically from the poverty-stricken, parochial, papal-dominated and totally white country it used to be, and the Dublin St Paddy’s Day parade really reflects this. But for the Georgian architecture, freezing weather and resultant lack of bare skin, a spectator might think she was watching Carnival! (Well, Carnival in a mostly white country.) Samba bands, wild and colorful masks, dancers on stilts, and irreverent religious iconography reign supreme. It’s so much fun!!

As usual, there were marching bands from US high schools and colleges. I noticed Texas, North Carolina, Illinois, Kansas, Colorado, Tennessee and Arizona. And I couldn’t help wondering what expectations those young Americans came to Ireland with, and what impressions they’d take back with them. Drinking age is 18 here, too, and the kids’ adult minders already looked more than a bit jet-lagged. Ha!

So, to America’s Ancient Order of Hibernians, who still won’t let openly LGBT folk march in New York’s St Paddy’s Day Parade, I dedicate this closing photo of blue-robed, samba-playing “nuns” from today's parade in Dublin!

Hate-speech is now mainstream....

I honestly don't think American leftists realise how far the US has moved toward fascism.

The Right has shifted public discourse so far toward hate-speech, with the full cooperation and approval of the corporate media, that Ann Coulter's latest episode of verbal diarrhea has gone all but uncriticised by most people.

Were a public figure as well-known as Ann Coulter to pull such a stunt as this where I now live, not only would public opinion widely condemn her homophobia--yes, even in Catholic Ireland!-- but she'd probably also find herself facing slander charges, if not worse.

Andrew Sullivan is finally starting to get it.

(H/T to Shakespeare's Sister (comment thread) and Crooks & Liars.)

We are everywhere...!

When I give presentations on transgenderism, I start by telling audiences that we have been found in every time and every culture for which there are detailed historical records.

And for more proof of that:

A previously unpublished letter by Richard Wagner to a firm of Milanese couturiers offers the intriguing possibility that the great composer was, in fact, a cross-dresser.

The letter is published for the first time today in the inaugural edition of the Wagner Journal. In it, the composer of the Ring des Nibelungen details the cut of an outfit, ostensibly intended for his wife, Cosima.

Requesting "something graceful for evenings at home" he continues: "The bodice will have a high collar, with a lace jabot and ribbons; close-fitting sleeves; the dress trimmed with puffed flounces - of the same satin material - no basque at the front (the dress must be very wide and have a train) but a rich bustle with a bow at the back, like the one at the front) ..."

Complete story here.

The almighty dollar always trumps politics....

Trust a capitalist to put profits before politics or ideals. (I've posted the entire Irish Times February 23rd article here, as it's a subscription-only site.)

Coca-Cola and PepsiCo are using their Irish-based subsidiaries to ship product to Iran and skirt US trade sanctions with the pariah state.

The two cola giants are shipping concentrate from their Irish operations to Iran, where it is then bottled for sale.

A loophole in the sanctions allows American companies to ship certain foodstuffs to Iran by using overseas subsidiaries.

This means Coca-Cola and PepsiCo can sidestep the trade sanctions, while also benefiting from Ireland 12.5 per cent corporation tax rate.

Reliable statistics for the size of the soft drinks market in Iran are not available. Some reports, however, suggest that it could be worth as much as $1 billion annually. In 2006 Iranians drank an average 95 bottles of soft drink, which is expected to rise to 120 by 2010.

PepsiCo confirmed that it has shipped concentrate from Ireland to Iran since 2002. "This is perfectly lawful," said Dick Detwiler, senior vice president for pubic affairs at PepsiCo International. "The products of dozens of companies in America are sold in that market."

PepsiCo, which has manufacturing operations in Cork, employs about 400 people in Ireland and has invested more than €200 million here in the past five years, according to Mr Detwiler.

"Ireland is one of our larger concentrate facilities," Mr Detwiler said.

Coca-Cola, which has had manufacturing facilities in Ireland since 1974, would not confirm that its Irish subsidiary ships cola concentrate to Iran. "Our Irish concentrate facility exports to customers on six continents," said Charles Sutlive, a senior communications executive at the Atlanta-based multinational.

Informed sources, however, confirmed that Ireland is being used by Coca-Cola to ship concentrate to Iran. This is bottled in Iran by a local company called Khoshgovar, which also produces its own brands of cola and is thought to control about 50 per cent of the soft drinks market there.

Khoshgovar also licences Fanta, Sprite and Dasani water from Coca-Cola, although it is not clear if all of this is sourced from Ireland.

Relations between Iran and the US have been frosty since the 1979 Islamist revolution, which saw the Shah overthrown. That resulted in Coca-Cola and PepsiCo leaving the market and trade sanctions being put in place.

These were eased in the early 1990s, with the result that Coca-Cola and PepsiCo gradually built up relationships with local producers again.

A tightening of sanctions under president Bill Clinton's administration and the current stand-off between Washington and Tehran over uranium enrichment has since made it difficult for US corporations to do business in the country.

Neither brand is popular with conservative clerics in Iran and hardliners often appear on television to denounce both Coke and Pepsi. This has not stopped trendy, young Iranians from consuming the American brands in large numbers.

"Coke is ubiquitous in Iran," said John Teeling, an Irish entrepreneur who controls a company called Persian Gold and is a frequent visitor to Iran. "You see people drinking it everywhere."

Complete story here.

Eliminationist sentiment, anyone...?

Over the past few days, I got into a discussion with a couple of commenters at Effect Measure. What really surprised me about the way this played out was that the focus of Effect Measure is mostly bird flu, and posts are written by public health officials or employees using pseudonyms so they can speak frankly without jeopardizing their jobs. The blog seems to attract a pretty middle-of-the-road readership.

The post I responded to was actually about Jewish settlements in the Palestinian territories. Instead of being deluged with hate mail accusing the blogger of anti-Semitism, however, the comment thread took off in a discussion of undocumented Mexican workers in America.

I was shocked when one commenter suggested offering Mexican undocumented workers a choice between returning to Mexico, or a rope. I know anti-immigrant wingnuts express such ugly sentiments, but judging from previous comment threads, Effect Measure doesn't attract the far Right fringe. So I found myself wondering it that sort of eliminationist thinking has now infected the more middle-of-the-road Rightists.

I was even more shocked when no one commented on his comment, especially the moderator. One person from Canada even said he was glad to see Americans "arguing in such an enlightened manner"!

So I responded. And you should see the response to my response.

It’s all here:

Pretty scary stuff, especially considering that these people might represent the more “moderate elements” of the Republican Party.

(Anna Politkovskaya)
Despotism in Russia...

This two-part article in today's Guardian details the critical part played by the Russian media in the evolution of the modern Russian oligarchy. Americans, whose own media is evolving into a corporate-controlled, sports-and-celebrity-obsessed government lapdog would do well to read it in its entirety.

Regarding the lack of official censorship:

...'It's a magic process now,' Anna Kachkaeva, who broadcasts a weekly interview show on Radio Liberty, told me. Kachkaeva, who is also the head of the television department at Moscow State University, went on: 'There is no censorship - it's much more advanced. I would call it a system of contacts and agreements between the Kremlin and the heads of television networks. There is no need to start every day with instructions. It is all done with winks and nods. They meet at the end of the week, and the problem, for TV and even in the printed press, is that self-censorship is worse than any other kind. Journalists know - they can feel - what is allowed and what is not.'

Gee, she could be describing the New York Times and ABC News.

The article also explores the brutal assassination of Anna Politkovskaya, one of 13 journalists murdered in Russia in the seven years since Putin came to power.

The Putin government has made a clever calculation: a few newspapers, with tiny elite audiences, can publish highly critical investigations and editorials as long as that reporting and criticism stays absolutely disconnected from television. (And as long as their reporters keep out of Chechnya.) Anna Politkovskaya began writing about the war in 1999, after the rules of press freedom changed, and she violated those rules every time she went to work. Not long before her death she wrote, 'I will not go into the ... joys of the path I have chosen - the poisoning, the arrests, the threats in letters and over the internet, the telephoned death threats, the weekly summons to the prosecutor general's office to sign statements about practically every article I write (the first question being, "How and where did you obtain this information?"). Of course I don't like the constant derisive articles about me that appear in other newspapers and on websites presenting me as the madwoman of Moscow. I find it disgusting to live this way. I would like a bit more understanding.' The fact that Novaya Gazeta [Politkovskaya's paper] continued to exist says more about the paper's minimal impact than about its openness.

Politkovskaya didn't only write truthfully about the Chechnyan war, but about the modern Russian state, where economic stability has become everything.

Putin, who has called the break-up of the Soviet Union 'the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century', clearly agrees. Sick of the queues, the empty shops and the false promises of Soviet life, Russians looked first to the west - and particularly to the United States - to provide an economic model. What followed was an epic disaster: the sell-off of the state's most valuable assets made a few dozen people obscenely rich, but the lives of millions of others became far worse. The healthcare system fell apart, and so did many of the social services networks. Russia became the first industrial country ever to experience a sustained fall in life expectancy. Russian males born today can, on average, expect to live to the age of 59, dying younger than if they were born in Pakistan or Bangladesh. It is not surprising, then, that by the time Putin became president most Russians were only too happy to exchange the ideas of free speech and intellectual freedom for the concrete desires of owning a home and a car and possessing a bank account. They also wanted to feel that somebody was in control of their country.

In today's Russia, as Politkovskaya wrote, stability is everything and damn the cost. Gorbachev and Yeltsin are seen by an overwhelming majority as historical disasters who provoked decline, collapse, chaos and humiliation before the triumphal west. The opportunities created in those years, the liberation from totalitarianism, have been forgotten. 'Yes, stability has come to Russia,' Politkovskaya wrote. 'It is a monstrous stability under which nobody seeks justice in courts that flaunt their subservience and partisanship. Nobody in his or her right mind seeks protection from the institutions entrusted with maintaining law and order, because they are totally corrupt. Lynch law is the order of the day, both in people's minds and in their actions. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.'

Of particular interest to me, an opponent of Shell's corrupt agreement with the Irish government to exploit the Corrib gas field in Ireland's west despite staunch opposition on the part of local residents, is the following paragraph.

The Kremlin recently provided a particularly audacious example of how it sees its role as an 'energy superpower': Royal Dutch Shell, which had invested billions of dollars to develop the world's largest oil-and-gas field, Sakhalin II, in the Russian far east, was forced by the government to sell its controlling stake in the project. The company had endured a year of regulatory harassment - including ludicrous threats that the pipeline would not meet Russia's environmental standards. The moment Shell surrendered to Gazprom, however, those environmental concerns vanished. And what was Shell's response after its holding in the project was reduced from 55 to 25 per cent? 'Thank you very much for your support,' the company's chief executive, Jeroen van der Veer, told Putin at a meeting three weeks ago. 'This was a historic occasion.'

Complete story here.

Tell that to this guy....

The US government tonight welcomed Britain's decision to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq, despite its own surge of more than 20,000 soldiers to the country.

Tony Blair announced a cut of more than 2,000 UK personnel in Basra by the end of the summer, in a special statement to parliament today.

Dick Cheney, the US vice-president called it "an affirmation that in parts of Iraq...things are going pretty well."[emphasis mine]

Complete story here.

Speaks for itself....


H/t Lefty Tube.

First watch this....


(H/T Crooks and Liars.)

Then read this.:

Still convinced Americans can "win" in Iraq?

Still think the war was a good idea?

Impeach Bush.

The real world....

Dennis Perrin at Red State Son has written a characteristically thought-provoking piece on the Edwards blogger controversy. Although this one hits closer to home than usual for me, as Melissa at Shakespeare’s Sister is my friend.

I find myself in the unusual position of disagreeing with Dennis, perhaps simply because Melissa’s my friend and I fear for her safety. I wonder if the target of death threats and verbal assaults had been Dennis’ wife or daughter, would he have responded differently? And I ask this sincerely, not snidely.

Or maybe I just shy away from the concept of martyrdom in general. I fled the US, after all, rather than commit civil disobedience against the Iraq war and risk prison. Most of my reasons for this relate to being ftm and fearing incarceration in a male prison. (Exactly which prison they’d put me in is open to question, but that’s another discussion.) Am I merely lacking the strength of my convictions? Am I just a spoiled citizen of a privileged nation, unwilling to make any real sacrifice for the principles I profess to support?

It’s quite possible.

On the other hand, it’s extremely important to pick the causes one's willing to die for. In the case of Melissa and Amanda, is John Edwards or the American Democratic Party worth potential martyrdom?

I think not.

One element largely missing from the discussions of the blogger controversy has been the utter lack of mainstream institutional support for the two women. Take the media. Melissa's and Amanda's perspectives have been missing, while the Right’s has been fully presented.

Equally missing was support from Edwards and the Democratic Party. The designated “far left” candidate cravenly hung Melissa and Amanda out to dry by his failure to unequivocally defend their freedom of expression and hit back hard against Donohue, Malkin, O’Reilly, et al. Protected by the best security money can buy, he put right-of-center voters --who will never back him!-- ahead of the safety of two of his most ardent (and idealistic) supporters. To say his cowardice is emblematic of the Democratic party is a gross understatement.

Imagine how differently this whole travesty would have played out had Edwards not hesitated but come out guns blazing in support of freedom of expression and religion (or lack of it) and gone after Donohue’s bogus tax-exempt status as soon as the right-wing assault dogs started their mad baying. Imagine if other Democratic candidates had added their voices to his.

Instead, after rumors of firing and 24 hours of silence, Edwards issued a “statement of support” that read like a backhanded slap, accompanied by clearly forced statements from Melissa and Amanda that offered their throats to Donohue’s blade. I feared then that their resignations would follow.

The weakness of institutional resistance to the Right in America is central to this controversy. Chris Hedges points out in his brilliant book, American Fascists, the significance of the destruction of traditional institutions—labor unions, liberal churches, a strong, independent press, healthy families and communities—that used to present an organized resistance to the American right. I’d add to this, the transformation of the Democratic party into an institution more fiercely committed to the corporate gravy train than to the progressive principles held by its core supporters.

In the absence of institutional resistance, martyrdom becomes mere murder. The political becomes personal, to perversely twist the famed feminist catchphrase. For examples in microcosm, regard how rightwing detractors attacked Melissa and Amanda in comment threads on their blogs. You’re fat. Ugly. Potty-mouthed. Just need a good fuck. Hate Catholics. Deserve what you got. Bwah ha ha, you were fired! You're gonna burn in hell. The attacks ignored issues and were almost entirely ad hominem.

When an organized and well-funded right-wing noise machine drowns out lonely voices of dissent, the context and meaning of personal injury are lost. Why put yourself at risk of bodily harm if a (god forbid) assault against you would be seen as an unfortunate but isolated event by most Americans, rather than the predictable outcome of a series of well-planned, funded, and orchestrated actions?

The progressive blogosphere offers a slight counterbalance to the rightwing monolith, but the Net also provides a breeding ground for rightwing extremists. Extremists who are, like the larger rightwing, much better at suppressing internal dissent and presenting a unified front to opponents.

The end result of all this is that, were Melissa or Amanda harmed by some rightwing lunatic inspired by Donohue’s mad ravings, the vast majority of Americans would remain ignorant, unconcerned and solidly convinced that America remains the “best democracy in the world.”

Last but not least, when I hear news that another woman has been murdered somewhere across the globe for acts of resistance, such as Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, Afghani teacher Safia Amajan, Irish reporter Veronica Guerin, and many many others, I find myself awed by their incredible courage. Would I think less of them had they decided instead to put their own lives or those of their families first and flee or remain silent in the face of injustice?

No, with the proviso, “As long as they weren’t actively collaborating with the forces of repression.” Every person has the right to chose their fights, especially those that carry the risk of injury or death. My decision to walk in an anti-war march with tens of thousands of others carries little potential of harm beyond bad blisters. My choosing, on the other hand, to chain myself to the gates of the White House (probably not even possible in this era of “Free Speech Zones,”) is riskier. More dangerous still, would have been for Melissa or Amanda to continue working for the Edwards campaign in face of a deluge of death threats and surprise visits by enraged strangers.

In light of all this, I believe Melissa and Amanda were wise and totally justified in resigning from the campaign, and Dennis’ post, in this unusual instance, unreasonably harsh and judgemental.

I'm baaaack....

I've been missing in action for the past few months. No excuse, other than I was swept up in life and a bit burnt out.

Watching the co-dependent American media dutifully beat the drums of war, facilitating Bush's bloodlust to invade Iran—aping almost to the word the phrases the president used in his run-up to the last Iraq war!—has bummed me out and made me sick. Literally. (Seems I've got asthma.)

Wake up Americans! Can’t you see that your republic is slipping slowly into the waiting grasp of a right-wing Xristian cabal?

The recent assault on bloggers Melissa McEwan and Amanda Marcotte (the latter requires watching a short ad) has inspired me to start blogging again.

And “assault” is precisely what it was. Not only have the two women been subjected to the verbal bile spewing forth from the keyboards of anonymous right-wing thugs (who seem almost universally challenged by proper spelling!) but the threats have gone farther. Melissa reports that at least one stranger has driven up to her home (how the hell did they get her address?!), parked, got out, and tried to pound his way through her front door with his fists.

Fascism when it comes to America will not be dressed in brown shirts, goose-stepping and saluting “Seig heil” --although America has its share of neo-Nazis. No, from where I sit across the pond it looks like the American version will be wearing crosses and carrying bibles while they crash left-wing websites through DoS attacks (a modern form of book-burning?), force creationism into public schools, menace women as they enter abortion clinics, control the public discourse through their celebrity and reality-TV crazed corporate media, whip up fear by screaming "Terrorists!" at every turn, deny global warming til it’s too late, and ignite a nuclear holy war that will engulf the Middle East and beyond.

Their “Jews” will be lesbians, gays and transsexuals. Their gypsies, Arab and Mexican-Americans.

The way it’s going, if they don’t gain outright control of the US military through sheer numbers among recruits, likeminded chaplains, and Xristian operatives inside the Pentagon, they will simply outgrow and outgun the military with corporate militias like Blackwater USA, 3D Global Solutions, Critical Intervention Services, etc.

The Right’s dirty work—defacing campus lgbt centers, burning books, murder, and generally silencing anyone with the guts to criticize or oppose them—they’ll leave to the less mentally-stable among their ranks, whipping them into a frenzy through the loudmouthed ravings of the likes of Bill Donohue, Michelle Malkin, Ann Coulter, Michael Savage,…Ugh! The list is too long and too nauseating to cite.

Starting to blog again, I’m struggling against a debilitating sense that resistance is futile. When the borg collective suspended habeas corpus last October, enacting the Military Comhttp://beta.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifmissions Act of 2006 and the John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007), the US may have crossed a line of no-return--especially when you consider the Democratic Party's abject eagerness-to-assume a supine position.

My friends in America seem concerned, but not concerned, as in "We're on the verge of dropping nuclear bombs on a country that poses no military threat to us at all!"

Mostly my friends seem beaten down. As Chris Hedges points out in his brilliant book, American Fascists, the institutions that were strong and coherent the last time the American Right grew this powerful and threatened the foundations of the republic, such as labor unions, liberal churches, public schools, small-town communities, and an independent, diverse and courageous press, have all been weakened or utterly destroyed during the past 25 to 30 years. It’s no wonder my friends are exhausted and disheartened: outnumbered, isolated, and surrounded by an apathetic, ignorant or hostile population they’re resisting well organized, funded, and energized right-wing forces.

I wonder if this is how concerned Germans felt, in the 1920’s and 30’s as they tried in vain to warn their friends and family of the looming threat of Nazism?

Cool T-shirts....

And the profits go to my friend--an awesome blogger and role-model to us all--Melissa, at Shakespeare's Sister.

The mouse moves more right....

From today's Irish Times:

With only two days to go before its opening night, a play to be staged by a gay and lesbian students' society at NUI Galway had to be pulled yesterday after organisers received notice from entertainment conglomerate Disney threatening legal action if the production went ahead.

Members of the university's GigSoc were in final rehearsals for a production "loosely adapted" from the Disney film Sister Act, which was to debut at the Black Box Theatre in Galway tomorrow after six months of preparatory work.

But yesterday afternoon, in a letter sent via a Dublin-based solicitor, Disney informed the students that the performance would breach its intellectual property rights and threatened legal proceedings if the play went ahead, according to GigSoc.

The play's producer, Jeff Rockett, said cast members were "completely devastated" when told the news at a meeting yesterday afternoon.

Way to go, Disney.

Complete story here.

I am Spartacus.

Go here. And here.

And damn the forces of reaction!!!

Classic Father Ted...!

I bought the three seasons of Father Ted for my dad for Xmas and kept copies for myself. What a brilliant show!

Here's a taste.