We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.
Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]
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Dissident Frogman magnificently fisks outpourings of several ‘human shields’ about their belated emotional blossoming…
A longish posting but well worth the read, it reminds me of why I support the US and the UK in taking on Saddam and makes the suffering and deaths of American and British soldiers more meaningful, if not less painful.
And what really upsets me is that, consequently and as always, it’s the silent, the weak, the downtrodden, those who stand next to the common graves, waiting for the bullet, those who die slowly, feet first in plastic shredders, screaming in inconceivable pain, those who are forced to watch their wives raped or their children tortured, or those who are “just” condemned to a life in misery and deprivation of their most basic rights who are sacrificed while the anti-war movement is dancing to Samba music in the streets, enjoying a grand day out with elaborated costumes and signs in the comfort of a democratic state that guarantees their right to criticize it without reserve.
Unfortunately, I also have to agree with Dissident Frogman in his last bitter paragprah as there is indeed an unlimited supply of simpletons for many more rounds in Iraq and elsewhere:
The freedom of the Iraqis is closing now, despite the “anti-war” efforts, and Daniel’s emotional blossoming won’t change a thing.
I’m way more concerned with the fact that when this is over and when the coalition of the willing starts to deal with other declared threats, using force or not, I’m pretty sure there will be an Iranian student or a North Korean citizen with nothing but grass to feed on, that will end up hearing “Bush bad, war bad” with an expression of incredulity, just before the “I’m not with the CIA – I just can’t help you” tagline comes out.
And that really upsets me.
Our faithful readers may have noticed that Samizdata.net was down. Hopefully, the problem is fixed now and we shall be blogging our hearts out… from a critically rational libertarian perspective, obviously.
Some of us have also joined the ranks of warbloggers at The Command Post as we collectively surf the breaking news.
Click for on-target news
Polish Ambassador Maciej Kozlowski said yesterday that Europe should remember what America has done in the last 80 years, twice saving Europe from calamity. He brushed aside French President Jacques Chirac’s harsh criticism of those European countries which support the war, insisting that France and Germany are misreading the political situation.
In a mostly symbolic move that exemplifies the pro-American stance that Poland has taken, the Polish army sent some 200 troops including special commando forces, navy, and chemical warfare experts to buttress the primarily American and British forces. The country’s small contingent of special forces, which also operated in Afghanistan, is reportedly now in action in Iraq.
Declaring that each country has deeply different historical remembrances, Kozlowski, who came to Jerusalem without a gas mask, said that Poland remembers America opposing communist and other brutal dictatorships.
As such, we accepted as inevitable the war with Saddam, who by everybody’s account is a brutal dictator.
Refreshingly straightforward.
Last Friday, the Mises Institute published a special edition of their daily article containing nothing else but quotes by von Mises on the subject of war.
The quotes are hard to disagree with, apart from their mistaken application to the current situation. No distinction is made between using war as a means of conquest, expanding one’s power and using war as a defensive measure, protecting one’s security, freedom etc. For those who believe the US and the UK are engaged in the former, I shall leave them to their struggle against the neo-imperialists…
For the rest, I retaliate with a small collection of quotes that make such a distinction:
We make war that we may live in peace.
– Aristotle
I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy.
– John Adams
War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse.
– John Stuart Mill
That all war is physically frightful is obvious; but if that were a moral verdict, there would be no difference between a torturer and a surgeon.
– G.K. Chesterton
I cannot see how we can literally end War unless we can end Will. I cannot think that war will ever be utterly impossible; and I say so not because I am what these people call a militarist, but rather because I am a revolutionist. Absolutely to forbid fighting is to forbid what our fathers called “the sacred right of insurrection.” Against some decisions no self-respecting men can be prevented from appealing to fortune and to death.
– G.K. Chesterton
OK, this is not going to win the war, but it will have to do while we are waiting for our logins for The Command Post warblog!
When Robin Cook resigned from the Cabinet last week in protest at Tony Blair’s decision to authorise military action without the backing of the United Nations, it was obvious he was positioning himself as the potential leader of the Labour Party. The calculation runs as follows:
- If Iraq turns into a political-military disaster and Blair’s political career is over, everyone will remember the noble Mr Cook resigning ‘on a point of principle’ and look to him for the kind of pseudo-moral stance Blair has managed to employ successfully in the early stages of his office. And at least, Gordon Brown will not be the only obvious, if unpopular choice.
- If Blair is vindicated and Saddam’s regime quashed, the process may be so bloody that it will eat away much of its political capital. With the end of Iraq war, the reality in Britain’s backyard will start to bite – the French, the EU, the crime, the schoolsandhospitals etc.
- The Labour Party has been having its rude awakening as to the nature of Blair’s leadership for some time and there is an increasing number of Labour MPs becoming more vociferious in their disagreement on a range of issues.
And they need a leader! – Mr Cook concludes and exactly a week after his ‘principled’ resignation he hints that “he is prepared to act as leader of centre-Left discontent in the Labour Party as he promised to fight for more ‘radical’ and ‘progressive’ policies from the backbenches”. How public spirited of him!
Cook says that Britain now finds itself in a diplomatic position ‘that it will come to regret’. Too close to America, too far away from Europe. This is his worldview:
Where should we be looking for the future direction of Britain’s strategic international relations, for me the answer is Europe, to make sure that we are a major player and we are passionate that Europe speaks with a strong voice which means we try and speak without a divided voice.
There are many reasons for that but the need to have an alternative pole, not a rival, but an alternative pole within international affairs is one of them. I have always been strongly committed to a multilateral system. We must respect international institutions.
We need to engage in an international community that can bring to international forums and state with clarity the type of European values that are certainly not shared by many of those in the Bush administration.
Firstly a respect for multilateral protocols, secondly if we are going to achieve a world governed by rules then we need to respect international process. There are two other European themes: a respect for global environmentalism and that the priorities of the international community reflect the massive priority of tackling poverty.
I smell a rat. Or a Tranzi. Oh, wait, it is the same thing…
image by the amazing Scrofula!
An authoritative analysis of the ups and downs of the US-UK coalition campaign in Iraq. Puts all the dispiriting or bad news into perspective.
We’re winning, the Iraqis are losing, and the American people have executive seats for what may prove to be the most successful military campaign in history.
I do recognize that the majority of our journalists are doing their best to cover this war accurately and fairly. But, with a few admirable exceptions, even seasoned reporters lack the perspective needed to judge the war’s progress. Few have read military history. Even fewer have served in the military. They simply don’t understand what they are seeing.
…
As long as the American people keep their perspective – which they will – it really doesn’t matter how many journalists lose theirs.
(via The Command Post)
We are getting to the stage where the constant stream of news does not join the dots and leaves much unanswered. I found The Command Post warblog very good for instant updates with the kind of questions that I’d ask and the reporters don’t seem to, investigated. Instapundit is constantly linking to it too, so this is just for those who missed it.
Click for on-target news
The reason why there has been a relatively small number of posts on Samizdata.net is the simple fact that we have been glued to our TV screens. We don’t have better access to facts and news than the media and there will be time for analysis later…
For those who have not yet heard of Salam Pax, here is his latest entry:
the all clear siren just went on.
The bombing aould come and go in waves, nothing too heavy and not yet comparable to what was going on in 91. all radio and TV stations are still on and while the air raid began the Iraqi TV was showing patriotic songs and didn’t even bother to inform viewers that we are under attack. at the moment they are re-airing yesterday’s interview with the minister of interior affairs. THe sounds of the anti-aircarft artillery is still louder than the booms and bangs which means that they are still far from where we live, but the images we saw on Al Arabia news channel showed a building burning near one of my aunts house, hotel pax was a good idea. we have two safe rooms one with “international media” and the other with the Iraqi TV on. every body is waitingwaitingwaiting. phones are still ok, we called around the city a moment ago to check on friends. Information is what they need. Iraqi TV says nothing, shows nothing. what good are patriotic songs when bombs are dropping
Add another perspective to the real-time war on our screens…which is, by the way, an astounding technological feat.
Although a system may cease to exist in the legal sense or as a structure of power, its values (or anti-values), its philosophy, its teachings remain in us. They rule our thinking, our conduct, our attitude to others. The situation is a demonic paradox: we have toppled the system but we still carry its genes.
-Ryszard Kapuscinski, Polish journalist, 1991
In the past few weeks we have all indulged in a spot of frog bashing, which will continue, I hope, until Jacques Chirac steps down from his UN soapbox, from which he is currently preaching Justice, World Peace and Morality.
This may be yet another nudge to kick him off the moral highground that only the French themselves seem to take seriously. Not even Peter Hain, one of Britain’s leading Federasts, is fooled by France’s posturing. The Telegraph reports:
For the next four-and-a-half months, the former top brass of Elf, the [French] oil giant, will have to explain what happened to hundreds of millions of pounds diverted from company accounts for bribes and personal enrichment.
President Chirac is reported to be deeply concerned that France is not embarrassed as it tries to establish itself as an alternative to America’s global leadership.
I bet he is! Watching him wriggle out of this one should be interesting. French interests? Oil? Bribes? Moi? Elf was founded by General de Gaulle as a state-owned company until 1994. Its original purpose was to serve as cover for operations the French government wanted to keep secret, whether bribing African and Latin American leaders or funnelling money into Swiss accounts for domestic political backers.
The key defendants are the former chief executive of Elf, Loik le Floch-Prigent, its former director of general affairs, Alfred Sirven, and Andrèc) Tarallo, known as Elf’s Monsieur Afrique because of his deep ties to the continent. In his testimony, Le Floch-Prigent says he urged M Mitterrand in 1989 to turn off the bribery tap. “Ah non,” he claims M Mitterrand told him. “Let’s carry on with what General de Gaulle started.”
If M Mitterand did not want to upset de Gaulle ‘legacy’, what are the chances that M Chirac, with his Gaullist tendencies, would have done so during his time in power? I wonder whether there may be an Iraq-Elf connection. Or is that just too much to hope for? In any case, Chirac’s fall, whenever it happens, is bound to leave an oily slick on the ground…
Here is a game to fill the time between newsflashes – Dr. Strangeblix…Or How I Learned to Start Worrying and Look for Bombs.
You are ice cool Chief U.N. Weapons Inspector, Dr. Hans Blix. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to enter a not-so-secret PacMan-style Iraqi laboratory and hunt down weapons-grade plutonium canisters, all the while avoiding the sentries and trying to keep your stress level at a minimum. You can try and distract the guards by throwing volumes of your ‘U.N. Resolutions’ around, but beware, there are only limited copies available. If you should fail your mission, Dubya’s gonna start “bomberizing” Iraq. Phew! Talk about pressure…
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We are also a varied group made up of social individualists, classical liberals, whigs, libertarians, extropians, futurists, ‘Porcupines’, Karl Popper fetishists, recovering neo-conservatives, crazed Ayn Rand worshipers, over-caffeinated Virginia Postrel devotees, witty Frédéric Bastiat wannabes, cypherpunks, minarchists, kritarchists and wild-eyed anarcho-capitalists from Britain, North America, Australia and Europe.
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