First June 06 Posting: Handke.... Politics....

FIRST JUNE BUG...
My favorite quote on the ongoing Handke controversy
http://www.swans.com/library/art12/ga210.html
comes from the powerful intellect Botho Straus: ""Was bleibt schließlich von dem angeblichen Sänger des grossserbischen Reichs, Peter Handke? Nicht nur der sprachgeladenste Dichter seiner Generation, sondern wie nur Überragende es sind, ein Episteme-Schaffender (nach dem Wortgebrauch Foucaults), eine Wegscheide des Sehens, Fuehlens und Wissens in der deutschen Literatur."
For those whose Kraut has rotted during the long winter months or is a bit rusty:
"What, in the end, will be what's left from the alleged troubadour of the great Serbian nation, Peter Handke? Not only the linguistically richest poet of his generation, but - as are only those who tower above all the rest - someone profoundly epistemically creative [in Foucault's use of that word], one of the great divides in seeing, feeling and ways of knowing in German literature."
My man Handke, thus continues to make waves, possibly while walking around the Chaville Foret grinning to himself, if so his cheeks might just split one of these days; or maybe he is running around furiously like one of the wild boars! Actually: he is making nice. Here is yet another fine piece, in English, on the two controversies, presently bouncing back and forth across the Rhine, Heine keeping the guard, the wacht .
http://www.swans.com/library/art12/ga210.html
no end of material is being placed in German, French, and Spanish at http://www.handke.scriptmania.com
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now on to standard u.s. politics
This has been/ continues to be the "Enron Presidency" - read the fine piece in they NY Times Sunday, June 4 [biz section] by kurt eichenwald.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/04/business/yourmoney/04enron.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1149540039-zHQajfjQh0EJkukwtdD/+g
but i think the fellow is on the ropes, that's why he's "scraping the top" as paul krugman put it so well in a column last week, advising Paulson not to be fooled by the guys affable side as he comes aboard a sinking ship. so why is this man and his vice president and the entire cold war crew and their cold war mindset - rumsfeld, negroponte, abrahams, etc etc. - still in power? most immediately because of the moral indifference of the great majority of the people's representatives; secondly, because of general moral indifference of the people, the shoppers... thirdly, because the world court has not the power to bring him to trial... and for a few other even more obvious reasons... but certainly not for lack of any nastiness of mine!
the most recent "oh my god some of the semper fideles guys have committed an atrocity" story entirely forgets, within the span of three years the story of the devolution of the once great city of Fallujah. It began when the First Division there, several times, shot up several of those wonderful Iraqi wedding celebrations, kalishnikov's popping like champagne corks. then the fallujah children tossed that g.i. candy back at the g.i.s, had never happened before, not even during the 19th century u.s. indian wars, and some of you may recall the rest of the fallujah story while some ny times correspondents in Mesopotamia are beginning to bury it in their national morgue of forgetfulness, whereas it of course be resuscitates, as the wages of Agent Orange were this week. All those photos - say at army times http://www.armytimes.com/ - of g.i.s entering iraqi homes jack boots first: they have them in their morgue too, but no longer feature them. the army manual said: "treat every Iraqi like a colonel." Me: "The U.S. Army treated me just like an Iraqi Colonel." Alas, the rest of the things that i found of interest during my limited reading can be found at: http://summapolitico.blogspot.com





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Collateral Damage
The "Incident" at HadithaBy Tom Engelhardt
http://www.tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?emx=x&pid=88850
Arianna Huffington on what the Haditha killings mean for America's safety and the 2006 elections.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/what-haditha-means-to-our_b_22257.htmlif anyone can recall anything that occurred in Iraq as long as three years ago: within weeks of the occupation of fallujah the first infantry division killed 15 Iraqis who were celebrating a wedding, the way that Iraqis do with the sound of Kalashnikovs being fired into the air replacing popping champagne corks... these killings happened on several occasion... so the population that appeared to have accepted the initial occupation turned sour. kids threw candy back at the g.i.s this pathetic all purpose way of befriending the conquered Indians didn't work, perhaps for the first time. eventually four American contractors were killed in fallujah and there were the reprisals that resulted in the near total destruction of the city which - surprise surprise - had turned into a "hotbed for insurgents". the hatred among g.i. of what they call "the haj" is on the same order of that expressed for their Vietnamese or Korean opponents during that war. does anyone remember all those photos of g.i.s jack booting their way through broken doors when looking for insurgents??? this war is a major atrocity, a war crime from its inception as a "shock and awe" operation to the present atrocities committed out of the personal frustration of the idiots who enlisted and got themselves sent there. i have no sympathy whatsoever for them. "shock and awe", a truly schlocky form of heroism of cowards was perpetrated on a country whose infrastructure was being bombed on a daily basis, whose army had never recovered from the first gulf war. it was a cowardly war, just like Grenada or panama, it was a typical Reagan bush type war. it was an unnecessary war since the united nations option for disarming and neutering iraq existed. bush and co. all those cold warriors would be hanged by the equivalent of a Nuremberg tribunal. oh yes: the army manual says: "treat every Iraqi like a colonel"...
By: mikerol on June 06, 2006 at 11:18am
US military moves to condone "humiliating and degrading" treatment of prisoners http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/jun2006/army-j06.shtml
http://www.pinr.comcontent@pinr.com+1 (312) 242-1874------------------------------06 June 2006In light of the Islamists taking over Mogadishu, PINR encourages the recent in-depth report on the fighting in Somalia:
"Somalia's Tangled Web Becomes Contorted"http://www.pinr.com/report.php?ac=view_report&report_id=496 http://www.swans.com/library/art12/ga210.html
no end of material is being placed in German, French, and Spanish at http://www.handke.scriptmania.com
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http://www.swans.com/library/art12/ga209.html
http://www.signandsight.com/intodaysfeuilletons/778.html
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As background to Peru's current election run-off, PINR suggests:
"Ollanta Humala Jolts Peru into Populism"http://www.pinr.com/report.php?ac=view_report&report_id=475
As background to Montenegro's calls for international recognition, PINR suggests:
"Intelligence Brief: Montenegro Votes for Independence"http://www.pinr.com/report.php?ac=view_report&report_id=494
Selected case files, statements of support and other background materials on the Butler case are available from the Federation of American Scientists here: http://www.fas.org/butler/index.html
See the Butler's petition for certiorari, filed at the U.S. Supreme Court on April 11, 2006: http://www.fas.org/butler/cert.pdf The petition was denied without comment by the Court in a May 15, 2006 order.
Could NYT Have Prevented 9/11? ( The American Prospect )Former editor Steve Engelberg and former reporter Judith Miller have both said publicly that in 2001 before 9/11, she had info from a high-level counter-terrorism source who said Al Qaeda was planning a major attack. Now Bill Keller says that word of the tip never made its way up the Times food chain.
http://www.prospect.org/horsesmouth/2006/05/post_50.html#002581
George Bush and the Haditha massacre http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/jun2006/bush-j02.shtml
Robot spyplanes to guard Europe's borders; and more in the June 5th World Media Watch
http://www.buzzflash.com/mediawatch/06/06/wmw06056.html
Conservatives blast war correspondents for reporting too much (LAT) http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/complete/la-et-rutten3jun03,1,1058202.column
Army Manual to Skip Geneva Detainee Rule
The Pentagon's move to omit a ban on prisoner humiliation from the basic guide to soldier conduct faces strong State Dept. opposition.
By Julian E. Barnes, Times Staff WriterJune 5, 2006
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-torture5jun05,0,7975161.story?coll=la-home-headlines
BuzzFlash Shreds to Pieces a Typical New York Times White House "Spin" Piece Disguised as Factual Journalism: Not for the Squeamish -- A BuzzFlash News Analysis
http://www.buzzflash.com/analysis/06/06/ana06038.html
The American Bar Association voted unanimously yesterday to investigate whether President Bush has exceeded his constitutional authority in reserving the right to ignore more than 750 laws that have been enacted since he took office
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/06/04/bar_group_will_review_bushs_legal_challenges/
To read that analysis, please see:
"Intelligence Brief: Iran and the U.S. Maneuver Carefully Toward Confrontation"http://www.pinr.com/report.php?ac=view_report&report_id=470------------------------------After Koizumi: Japan's Future under the Next Prime Minister Drafted By: Adam Wolfe http://www.pinr.com
Sidney Blumenthal A State Of Emergency: Bush a Danger To Constitution in His Wartime Capacity as Commander in Chiefhttp://www.commondreams.org/views06/0601-23.htm