From concern to grave concern
The media is notably quiet over the Australian hostage scenario in Irak this morning, though a previous kidnapping of an Australian Shi-ite cleric there has come to light to the public bewilderment of the Foreign Minister. Internationally it's a non-entity: Netscape's CNN news portal gives more attention to "slutwear" than Australian hostages. "The slut is out now. She's dead" according to one fashion guru - referring to the "trashy" clothing styles of certain celebrities known more for their amateur porn than their cultural contributions. The SMH has chosen obliquely to relive the Madrid bombings, perhaps mindfull of the parallels with the current Australian elections, publishing what is touted as the "first" picture of the actual explosion, and neatly placing the recent Jakarta attack in the same context as Atocha. The caption to the photo has a very curious final line: after the credits below the image is the phrase (sic) "** SPAIN OUT **".
Meanwhile the private war of a former Green Beret has resulted in the US administration cutting him adrift and allowing the Afghanis to roll him into jail. But it's one story that is not black and white - especially after reading Robin Moore's very uncritical "Task Force Dagger" in this context - and notably the earlier characterisation as "rebels" has been dropped. It's highly likely he has been the victim of murky local politics and the s.o.p of Intelligence agencies for deniable operations - particularly in view of the Pentagon's description of the men as "freelancers operating outside the law", which sounds very much like a calculated half-truth. And highly ironic given the conduct of the subsequent war in Irak, particularly issues with treatment of prisoners.
Yesterday saw Putin take the steps necessary to return to dictatorship in Russia, suspending democratic processes in favour of executive control, and becoming the next of the major powers to take his country down the road to tyranny on the pretext of fighting terrorism. Beslan was clearly the Russian 9-11, and the patterns of reaction and pretext are almost identical, except Bush and cohort seem more inclined to disguise or disinform than Putin. Pravda, perhaps wanting to illustrate the limitations of English language, reports the response from the Americans to Putin's actions as "expressing everything from concern to grave concern". And as the US edges closer to a military Draft, at least Kofi Annan on behalf of the UN has now openly recognised the Irak adventure that arose from that conservative dishonesty as "illegal". There is also growing recognition that the force which actually used and possessed WMD in Irak was the US, after the "deeply disturbing" and cancerous legacy of Depleted Uranium munitions have belatedly begun to be reported widely. One Afghani doctor speaks of newborns that "are barely recognisable as human" - providing another parallel with Vietnam after the huge increase in cancer and deformity following the use of Agent Orange in that conflict.
Item posted by AutoEditor at 10:53 am ::
