War is not a videogame
I might cover the eyes of my 2 yr old son watching those scene (I won't anymore in a few years, this is for sure), but I cannot believe that Mr. Blair expressed "horror" at the deaths and the broadcast of pictures of the bodies on Al Jazeera. If he doesn't want to see it on the telly, he better go there and watch with his own eyes. But this will never happen obviously, the times when country leaders where on the frontlines of their armies during wars are over, now our leaders are showmen waiting for their makeup to be done before the war bulletins.
Scary
I was reading yesterday a few rather dull, predictable articles about how this was the first "internet war" where people could get more information faster without the censorship of established media.
Well it doesn't seem to have lasted long now the war is going a bit 'off message' with like, surprise, dead bodies (that is what war is about - dead people and lots of them, not 'collatoral damage' and 'precision weapons').
CNN wasted little time in forcing their reporter in North Iraq to cease his weblog as soon as the invasion started.
Yellowtimes.org was shut down by it's ISP yesterday for showing "inappropriate graphic material". Yep you guessed it - that's censorship speak for dead bodies. From google news -
"Yellow Times - 19 hours ago
Somebody doesn't like hearing the truth. ... We are sorry to notify
you of suspending your account: Your account has been suspended because ... "
Al Jazeera published pictures (as did Dutch news channels here) of what really happens to 'the boys' on both sides in a war and innocent people mutilated by the bombs and now its website is stuggling to stay up. Some say its is under attack from the US, others say its just too busy because people want to see what really happens, not the gung ho sanitisted CNN version. Even their reporters are being thrown out of the New York Stock exchange.
What is Bush allegedlly fighting for - freedom, liberty? Funny doesn't look like that mixes to well with censorship? Bit like the words Rumsfeld, Geneva convention and Camp X-ray....
Something worth watching
Finally, that body of safe conservatism gets an acceptance speech with a real message!
Moore for US president in 2004?
Protect your website from terrorism, nuclear war
Trolling around looking at web hosting deals today and was gob-smacked by the Cyberbunker, a web hosting service built into an underground "nuclear command centre" built here in the Netherlands in 1955. The company's website is so damn amateur gaudy I figured it had to be an elaborate spoof, containing such cloak and dagger statements as:
"For security reasons we do not reveil [sic] the location of the bunker."
Sales pitch: "More and more Businesses are securing computer files in nuclear resistant bunkers."
Hmmmm....
Very good article
Eduardo Galeano, a Uruguayan writer, wrote a very good article for an Argentinian newspaper called Página/12.
It's in spanish, if you understand the language, I seriously recommend you read it... Worth it.
A friend, John, found that ZMag translates most of his columns and you can find the one I mention here.
Their translation is much better than my pathetic attempt to translate it ;)
Thanks John!
Something good
On a black day for the planet here is a tiny spot of good news. Looks like while Bush is busy chasing Iraq oil he took his eye off the ball and let the few voices of sanity prevail in US Senate by blocking Bush's dream of trashing the Arctic refuge for oil. Ahh poor Bush…
Ready.gov
An absurd war has to be accompanied by absurd information.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security encourages all the Americans to get ready for terrorist attacks.
They probably didn't expect that, in order to maximize the message, people decided to contribute in many visible ways. Some might argue about the usability of their visual guides, thus tried to help with more accurate instructions.
In any case, whatever happens, follow the main advise: stay calm!
Tomahawks at dawn
This morning at 4am Amsterdam time I woke up, unable to sleep. My four year old son was sleeping the sleep of a child, exhausted from a day of imagining "Power Ranger" combat scenes alongside picnics with Winnie the Pooh, in his world of extraordinary make-believe violence and beauty.
I walked downstairs, switched on the BBC, and saw the world had changed utterly.
More than a war began a few hours ago -- a new era of American empire is slouching toward Baghdad to be born. An empire of military might, built of the very weapons that in other hands belong to "terrorists." I thought about
the children, like my son, waking up in that city to the fear of being attacked for
nothing they have done wrong, and trying to understand it.
Doon woke up at 6:30, walked into the living room and found me watching the Baghdad skyline flashing with anti-aircraft fire. As he cuddled up on the couch he asked what I was watching. I said "You remember when we went on the march, to tell those guys not to fight?"
"Yes. We yelled."
"That's right. Well those guys didn't listen, and they're fighting now. See that city? In that city there's real bombs falling, and little kids that are probably really scared right now."
"Are they going to be dead? Really dead?"
I heard the worry in his voice and took a breath. There's death in his pretend world every day -- but when he said "really dead" he said it as if he knew the difference. This was a tough moment: take the edge off or tell him the truth.
"Yes, some of them are going to be dead."
"Because we didn't yell enough?"
I felt like somebody had hit me full on in the stomach.
"No, Doon, it's not because we didn't yell enough. It's because somebody didn't listen."
Attacks its neighbours, threaten peace and security in the region, and has weapons of mass destruction. Strange how Bush can be so selective when Sharon meets many of the 'axis of evil' criteria. Here is a very interesting piece from the BBC on Israel's secret nuclear programme.
In the these times when a few huge companies own most major media outlets and will be even more full of US government propaganda than usual, its good to see public broadcasters still going against the flow. For those with access to the BBC I can only recommend the excellent programme - 'Holidays in the Axis of Evil'.
Blix on Climate change
"To me the question of the environment is more ominous than that of peace and war. We will have regional conflicts and use of force, but world conflicts I do not believe will happen any longer. But the environment, that is a creeping danger. I'm more worried about global warming than I am of any major military conflict." Read the full article.
Good for the goose?
So, the French say that if Saddam uses chemical or biological weapons it will change their perspective on whether or not to join in the war efforts.
Well, now, I support opposition to the use of chemical and biological weapons. And maybe we should alert France that Tommy Franks refused to rule out American use of "non-lethal" weapons, illegal under the 1992 Chemical Weapons Convention and the 1928 Geneva Protocol, like the "harmless" sleeping gas that was used in the raid in Moscow which killed 67 people and put another 42 in hospital.
Alors, mes amis! What's bien for the ganso is bien for the gander! There's compelling evidence that the US has illegal weapons, and that they plan to use them... new world, new rules: Why not launch a pre-emptive war on the US RIGHT NOW -- that will stop the US using biological or chemical weapons, and stop Saddam at the same temp. Liberate all those freedom fries and french toast! Allons!
Good for the goose?
So, the French say that if Saddam uses chemical or biological weapons it will change their perspective on whether or not to join in the war efforts.
Well, now, I support opposition to the use of chemical and biological weapons. And maybe we should alert France that Tommy Franks refused to rule out American use of "non-lethal" weapons, illegal under the 1992 Chemical Weapons Convention and the 1928 Geneva Protocol, like the "harmless" sleeping gas that was used in the raid in Moscow which killed 67 people and put another 42 in hospital.
Alors, mes amis! What's bien for the ganso is bien for the gander! There's compelling evidence that the US has illegal weapons, and that they plan to use them... new world, new rules: Why not launch a pre-emptive war on the US RIGHT NOW -- that will stop the US using biological or chemical weapons, and stop Saddam at the same temp. Liberate all those freedom fries and french toast! Allons!
Best no-war quote
By the always-great Michael Moore:
"Dear Governor Bush,
...
5. Of the 535 members of Congress, only ONE (Sen. Johnson of South Dakota) has an enlisted son or daughter in the armed forces! If you really want to stand up for America, please send your twin daughters over to Kuwait right now and let them don their chemical warfare suits. And let's see every member of Congress with a child of military age also sacrifice their kids for this war effort. What's that you say? You don't THINK so? Well, hey, guess what ? we don't think so either!"
The power of pictures
Yesterday's news about the killing of activist Rachel Corey, ran over by a bulldozer while trying to stop it from destroying a Palestinian home, made me feel miserable. Miserable because it seems we need to see these pictures, portraying young, active, western women, dying for their ideals, to realize what is going on in the middle east. This stuff happens every day, especially in the third world, but we don't notice it because images of non-western dramas are not "attractive" for the media, and that's where I think the Internet, being unmediated, can play a big role.
Sad but true, we need more of these pictures. Hopefully none to come but a catalogue, a whole library, an online display, of what happened so far in these areas of the world and watch with our own eyes the uncensored (by media and govt's), unpolite, sickening, true face of death. We need people to understand more the horror of battles and wars and bulldozing homes. And we need to do something to change this world, soon.
Now what?
Second resolution withdrawn. It doesn't come as a surprise but still it's upsetting to hear threats of the kind "diplomacy is dead".
Plus I start to feel (already) overwhelmed by all the info about this war (no-war), newspapers, tv news, magazines and obviously weblogs are proliferating. Will there be one single place not smelling of gun-powder in the near future?
Greenpeace in the news
On the right side of this page you can see now a new link "Greenpeace in the news", this will lead you to a list of Greenpeace-related news headlines. Quite interesting if you are into catching up with enviro/activism news.
If you want to syndicate this feed, here's the url. And thanks to Rob, David and the other folks in Canada who gather all these info.
Apologies
Although it seemed so, I wasn't sailing on the Rainbow Warrior. It was Tracy instead, but I posted that entry for her and I forgot to login as her. Well, at least she's enjoying the real sailing while I'm stuck on my virtual boat..
Dow: doh!
Asking the public to protest online is a true right. Asking to do it against a greenwash site is even more right imho. The Dowethics appeal seems to have created some "dramatic" effect. The Bhopal.com site is (currently 5.00pm GMT +1) down.
Dunno if this happened because of a system breakdown or because Dow decided to bring it down. Either case I think it's good news, hopefully they'll re-write the site with more meaningful and detailed info about the bhopal disaster.
UPDATE (6.00pm GMT +1): apparently what happened is the following: Dow "noticed" the Dowethics protest and decided to modify the code of all the pages on Bhopal.comin order to get around the "framed" accesses. This doesn't stop you from paying them a visit.
Tell them what you think about greenwash...
For the price of a burger
I know many people who bring their children to McDonald's (why!? why!? prepare a nice pasta al forno for your son!) but giving away hi-speed wireless Internet connection at the price of a burger implies that many bring their laptops too, scary.
Soon, we'll be offered also with free TV, a couch, a filled gas tank, a packet of cigarette, just for the price of a burger. Remember, it's not about the product, it's all about the brand.
The Theater of the Absurd
Despite the seriousness of the impending war on Iraq, its hard not to laugh at the absurdity of some of the arguments and statements being bandied about. Here are a few of my favourites:
An article in the Washington Post quoted Rumsfeld on the issue of peace activists who have traveled to Iraq as peace shields: Deploying human shields is not a military strategy. It's murder, a violation of the laws of armed conflict and a crime against humanity, and it will be treated as such," Rumsfeld said last week. Now thats an interesting twist I hadnt considered.
The article noted that the activists, who number about 200, according to one organizer, reject that notion and point out that they are volunteers. They accuse the U.S. government of war crimes, if it attacks. Id like to know how the US intends to prosecute anyone for war crimes given that Bush unsigned its accession to the International Criminal Court shortly after he assumed the Presidency. Oh, I forgot the Bush Administration doesnt need to prosecute anyone, they just invade, round up the suspects, lock em up and throw away the keys.
An article in the San Francisco Chronicle of 26 February says: The retired general [Jay Garner] tapped by the Bush Administration to oversee rebuilding of post-war Iraq was, until just a few weeks ago, an executive at a leading defense contractor working on missile systems that would be used to bomb Baghdad. The article goes on to say Bush administration officials said Monday that a new Gulf War could produce 2 million Iraqi refugees. Garner's deputy, Ronald Adams, told reporters that the government is "stockpiling blankets, water, ladders, shelter supplies, medicines and other relief items at this point to serve about a million people. Um, and the other million are going to do what precisely?
I especially liked this one from the Financial Times in early February: Downing Street was forced on to the defensive yesterday as critics questioned the legality of the "undeclared war" being waged by British and US aircraft patrolling Iraq's southern no-fly zone. Number 10 said attacks in recent days on "legitimate military targets" were justified self-defence, rather than attempts to soften up the Iraqi defences ahead of an invasion. Ummm, American and British patrols over the no-fly zone, which have regularly bombed Iraqi targets since the last war, have never been authorised by the UN and are therefore minor point I realise illegal. How so self-defence?
This one WOULD be funny if it werent so utterly depressing. According to an AFP headline: US plans preliminary tests of new-age nuclear weapons a reference to so-called bunker busters. The article says, These bombs, capable of penetrating deep underground and eviscerating enemy command and control centers, ammunition dumps and secret leadership hideouts, are seen by some military experts as useful tools in fighting the spread of weapons of mass destruction. Can these people really not see the irony in this?
The US has responded favourably to suggestions from some Arab countries that exile for Saddam Hussein could prevent war. This option was recently repeated by Kofi Annan in an interview in Al-Hayat, and reported by AFP. If the guy is really as evil as hes reported to be, and regime change is an act founded on moral principles, why would anyone agree to a solution which did not force him to be put on trial at the International Criminal Court? Oh sorry, I keep forgetting... But how about the UK? The ever-moral Tony Blair apparently isnt really as morally motivated as he appears. AFP reported last week that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein can stay in power if he fully complies with UN Security Council demands that he disarm, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Thursday. "In an ideal world, we would like to see a different government running Iraq," Straw told a news conference. "But the purpose of council Resolution 1441 is to secure the disarmament of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction," he said, adding: "That and that alone." It would appear that the British public may soon be hoping to see a different government running the UK as well.
The EU perspective is hard to figure out considering various stories which ran last week. AFP reported that EU Foreign Affairs envoy Javier Solana said no military intervention against Iraq should occur without authorisation from the United Nations, and that this position was shared across the 15-member European Union. Another AFP story reported on the joint press conference held by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder the same day that Solana made his comment. According to that article, Berlusconi said "A second resolution is not necessary but desirable just the same," and noted that Resolution 1441 allows UN weapons inspectors to continue their work "not only for months, but also for years." Isnt this the same guy that signed on to Aznars letter backing Bush? You could forgive Solana for being confused about the Italian position, but the UK's? The Financial Times reported on March 5th that Britain is prepared to join the US in a war against Iraq even if France and Russia veto a new resolution at the United Nations Security Council, Tony Blair said yesterday. In a sign of mounting diplomatic tension over French-led efforts to block a new resolution authorising military action, the prime minister made it clear for the first time that - like the US - Britain would not be held back even if there were more than one "unreasonable" veto. I wonder how Blair would define a reasonable veto. And I wonder how Solana defines should perhaps therein lies the answer.
Finally, in the category of Who are These People Trying to Kid comes (from AP also last week), Bush said he had not decided whether to invade Iraq. On top of everything else, I wish they wouldnt insult our intelligence.
Dow gets an online wake up call
Dow chemical is busy trying to prevent survivors of the Bhopal disaster protesting against the ongoing pollution at the abandoned factory site. So theyesmen have decided to give the chemical giant a taste of what might happen if Dow succeeds in preventing actual protests. As the saying goes where there is a will there is a way.
So take part in the virtual
sit in of Dow's greenwash central website, bhopal.com and lets see if we
can pursued Dow to drop this ludicrous case. Just in case Dow takes its more
tried and trusted route of trying to shut down the protest you can download
this zip and post the protest on your own site.
Defectors
I used to be IT Director at Greenpeace, and one of my happier failures was my inability to root out an infection of Apple computers that was contaminating our otherwise pristine Microsoft on the desk, Unix/Linux-on-the-servers environment. It was whack-a-mole at its worst, and just when I thought I'd nailed every argument for why we needed a consistent platform, somebody came along with a reason, impossible to counter, for why that G2 or Powerbook was an absolute necessity. (Apple fans, please read on before flaming infidel...)
The depth of allegiance by smart people on these things finally turned me around, and I finally got it and gave up trying to irradicate them when somebody said you don't think of them as aberrant platforms on your network, you think of them as an alternative device, like a scanner or a printer or a fax, which hangs on the network with a specialised purpose.
So it was heartening to me to see in Wired today how futile my quest was. The greatest paradigm of conformity, the US Army, which will measure your freaking haircut to make sure it complies to their standard, has let a Mac slip through the ranks of thousands of presumably olive-drab intel/MS boxes because it simply does a specified job better.
But hang about, what's a Powerbook doing aiding and abetting the invading forces? Perhaps we need a campaign to liberate it from the hands of Dr. Strangelove and bring it home to a place where Peace is PC. I know a few folks here in the Greenpeace building who would be happy to retask it.
Cook with Google
And now, for something completely different (and also to test the new category icons that you can see on the right side of each new entry): Google cooking.
Instructions:
1) Open your fridge.
2) See what's left (most likely you'll start wondering why the empty space in your fridge exceeds 80% of its capacity).
3) Remove anything green/purplish, furry or that moves.
4) Enter the name of the ingredients you see in the fridge in the search box.
5) Choose the recipe.
At this point you have other three options:
1) Cook it yourself
2) Ask someone to do it for you, just in case you don't trust your culinary skills.
3) Call for a pizza, most likely you can find the number of the nearest pizzeria on Google....
The Value of bombing Iraq
Here's a nifty multiple choice questionairre to demonstrate the value of bombing Iraq. There's only ONE question, so it's quick and easy. Thanks to Stephanie for this.
World History 101 - Mid-term exam
Here is a one question multiple choice test. In the answer you will
find the value of bombing Iraq.
This test consists of one (1) multiple-choice question (so you better
get it right!) Here's a list of the countries that the U.S. has bombed
since the end of World War II, compiled by historian William Blum:
China 1945-46
Korea 1950-53
China 1950-53
Guatemala 1954
Indonesia 1958
Cuba 1959-60
Guatemala 1960
Congo 1964
Peru 1965
Laos 1964-73
Vietnam 1961-73
Cambodia 1969-70
Guatemala 1967-69
Grenada 1983
Libya 1986
El Salvador 1980s
Nicaragua 1980s
Panama 1989
Iraq 1991-99
Sudan 1998
Afghanistan 1998
Yugoslavia 1999
----------------------------------------------
In how many of these instances did a FREE government, respectful of
human rights, occur as a direct result?
Choose one of the following:
(a) 0
(b) zero
(c) none
(d) not one
(e) a whole number between -1 and +1
Saddamnation
Tom Robbins wrote in one of his books that there are only three mantras in life: "Yum, Yuck, and Yikes." If we can apply that to periods of history, I know which one we're in now.
Today's New York Times carries a Journalistic self-confession op ed which claims the mainstream media is out of touch with the American Mainstream, since 46% of the American public are evangelist Christians. According to the article, there are more Americans who believe in Satan than who believe in evolution. Now the truly scary part is that the leader of the most powerful nation on Earth is one of them, and those beliefs are informing his war on Iraq.
Who needs the United Nations when you have God on your side?
Who needs allies when you have God on your side?
Who needs to worry about picking up the pieces in Afghanistan or Iraq when every story featuring Christian Soldiers has a happy ending and God will sort it all out in the end?
Who needs to worry about enemy casualties when you're never going to see THOSE heathens in heaven?
Bush greets late arrivals at White House meetings by saying "We missed you in Bible Class this week..." Personally, I think that if Bush has been going to Bible class he's been listening the wrong lessons. Maybe he should consider canning Richard Perle as his spiritual advisor.
Everyone has a right to their beliefs. It's when that right isn't conferred on others that things get messy.
And messy is what things are going to get if the White House continues to consider Revelations the primary text governing their nuclear weapons policy rather than the text of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Fundamentailist Nooklearism (Bush word, Bush pronunciation) states that God's chosen must defend the Christian world against infidels, and therefore Nukes shall be used to deter Communists, Ayrabs, Ko-reans, and other such heathen forces from getting God's Weapon.
Unfortunately, that wasn't the covenant that the US made with the world in 1965. The Non Proliferation Treaty was a direct challenge to nuclear fundamentalism, saying no country had a right to nuclear weapons and all would renounce them. Fundamentalists believe they're special, chosen, Right, and therefore subject to different rules. Whether it's Christian, Islamic, or Nuclear, that's the line that, once crossed, always gets us into trouble.
That's when examples like February 15th and Turkey's recent refusal to cow-tow to the Bush administration are truly inspiring: they remind us that while you can never underestimate the depths to which ultimate power will stoop, you can never underestimate the resistance that power will engender.
I should have been arrested...
... at least a thousand times in my life, since it seems that in Guilderland, New York, near Albany, wearing a "peace" t-shirts is almost a crime. I wonder what would happen to go there wearing any Greenpeace t-shirt.
"We owe it all to superstud Genghis - Warlord Khan has 16m male relatives alive now"
It's a wonder he had any time for all that fighting as well
We have been anchored not far from Southampton for a few days waiting for bad weather to pass. Not far from here a few weeks back the Rainbow Warrior and its crew protested the build up of war supplies leaving from the Marchwood military port. So it wasn?t much of a surprise that a small police boat came by not long after our arrival near the port.
But all the war supplies have now left Marchwood, they are well on the way to the Gulf now, and we are just hiding out in this inlet behind the Isle of Whight waiting for the weather to pass.
Some of the crew got to know the police quite well while they were here before, and so when the radio operator called up with a bit of a cheeky request, they obliged and when they dropped by again yesterday afternoon they brought us a few Sunday papers to catch up on news from the outside world.
I've never really been to sea before, a few ferry crossings and time on some small family fishing boats that never lasted more than 24 hours. And my last time on a Greenpeace ship we were on the Amazon river so land was always in sight and we never encountered a wave big enough to make the tea in my cup sway. But I am learning fast.
I knew absolutely nothing about sailing, even though I have been on a couple sail boats (again for no more than a day). But the silly fools let me move the forward boom into position the other day when we set the sails. It all went smoothly though and was quite proud that I was able to move the boom. Then they let me handle a couple of ropes they call resistors, to help control the boom as it is being moved. I also learnt about winches and how to set the sails, although I think it will be sometime, if ever, that I am allowed to do that myself.
And I have now mastered a few basic knots. Nothing fancy, just practical stuff. So my sailing knowledge is picking up quickly having started at zip.
In between all of that I have made rhubarb and apple crumble and pancakes, painted a forest scene in the smallest toilet (dare I say it is now the prettiest toilet in the fleet?), sanded and varnished Dave the dolphin at the bow of the ship and scrubbed the toilets a few times.
I've also experienced a swagger down the alleyways worse than any drunken family member, a bit of greening at the gills and a few salt sprays. But for my first time at sea, I seem to be fairing pretty well, the crew may say differently though. However, it isn?t over yet and I pray that it is smooth sailing most of the way.