Crashing the system II

I'm happy to see (via M. Thoma) that those who are crashing the systems are at least not making quite as much money.

Change is in the air for financial superclass, by David Rothkopf, Commentary, Financial Times: ...The re-engineering of international finance has been one of the transformational trends of our times – in just a quarter-century, capital flows became massive, instantaneous and controlled by a new breed of traders representing a handful of major financial institutions from a few countries. Their rewards have transcended any in history as shown by an estimate ... that the top hedge fund manager last year made $3bn.

The concentration of power has also steadily grown..., the key executives are in the US and Europe, underscoring the transatlantic nature of this elite. Change, however, is in the air. The history of elites is one of their rising up, over-reaching, being reined in and supplanted by a new elite. Several recent developments suggest that the financial crisis could signal the high-water mark of power for this group.

First, the crisis is prompting a re-regulatory drive. The power of financial elites had been evident in their ability to argue that global financial markets and markets in new securities should remain “self-regulating” (how many of them would hop into a self-regulating taxicab?), then when crisis comes ... these champions of less government involvement have then persuaded governments to cauterise their wounds.

Now, however, there are encouraging, if preliminary, signs of a push towards more effective collaboration between governments – the first steps towards creating the much needed checks on global markets... This could erode the agility of financial elites to play governments off against each other, with the weakest regulator setting the rules.

Checks on markets? Gosh, I wish someone had thought about that before.

Draft.Blogger: Dear Blogger

Dear Blogger,

When you post this, I'll be gone. Don't look for me because I'll be far away.

I won't forget you, but know that sometimes I need my freedom.

See you soon.

Roadkill Wednesday™

Vicke och döden
Originally uploaded by ida katari

If you noticed my blog entry yesterday with the beautiful and haunting dead bird, you probably know that sometimes I get disappointed with myself and, well, let's be honest, others. When I have a bad day, I usually blog the dead bird. It's symbolic of the death of innocence. My theory is that innocence never completely dies (and doesn't really exist, but that's another story), it just dies a little bit at a time.

In that tradition, I'm starting Wednesday Roadkill Blogging™. Roadkill happens to the little canaries and to the largest and most fearsome beasts. It is any combination of the following: sideswiping, crushing, flattening, deflating, splatting and crippling. It occurs both night and day, and may involve the complete awareness of the victim (the proverbial "deer in the headlights") or come as a total surprise.

In this vein, I will try to post tasteful pictures of roadkill. This is not an attempt to be gruesome or nonchalant about death. On the contrary, I really wish it didn't happen, especially to the innocent. But it does.

Think of this as therapy.
Think of this as homage.
Think of this as honesty.
Think of this as the highway.
Think of this as a mash-up.
Think of this as art.
Think of this as life.

Wednesday Roadkill Blogging™
"Because there is death on the highway of life."

Says it all...

One Boring Old Man:

As my father was known to repeat endlessly, "I don’t mind you peeing in my boot, but don’t tell me it’s water."

One of those days...again.

Brain Dead

Ok, people: enough! My brain is fried and, like you, I'm looking to summer. It's been a great year, but this semester has left me feeling like a baby seal in the clutches of a polar bear. I'm just glad to get out alive. (Oh, wait, I better not count those chickens [or baby seals] until they hatch [or escape from the jaws of the polar bear]. After all, there are still two days of school and some exams.)

But I'm thinking about summer. I've earned it too. I've taught overloads and I've been on more committees than you can shake a laser pointer at.

Without further ado, and in the fashion of the Pillow Book, here are some things I'm happy about:

• Giving money to Obama--more than I can afford, actually. I'll be Obama blogging more as the year goes on. Go Obama.
• Using Google reader. My daily news is much more closely linked to my brain now. How did it take me so long to get those RSS feeds coming in (and going out!). Rss is awesome. It provides for my glutonous cravings for news from France, Asia, and Africa; it brings Open Left and Firedoglake to my screen; it is seemless and fast; it is me; I am it.
• The Language Lab Photo Contest. We will have student art in the lab. So easy--why has no one ever done this before? (I'll put up a link to our web exhibit when I get the chance.)
• Working hard. I've worked hard.
• Moodle. I'll admit that I did not get to explore moodle as much as I wanted (because I was so busy), but, still, I've gained some insights into how to enhance some of my teaching.
• Not using moodle. That's right. There's a time and a place.
• Calling senators and congresfolk to lobby against torture and telecom immunity.
  
• Having the restraint not to buy a new computer.
• Walking to school.
• Inventing the word "disappointless."
  
• Going mostly vegan. (Ate meat last night. Emphasis on "mostly.")
• Neutering some stray cats.
• Several charitable donations.
• I really enjoyed my teaching this year even though I am worn out.

Things I am disappointed about:

• Not having the strength or insight to deal with personalities when the time was right.
• Working hard to no apparent end, as in "That was disappointless."
• Not talking to friends enough.
• Being holed up working all the time.
• Occasional endless pontificating in class.
• Being such a slow grader.
  
• Not writing enough. I have to carve out time more time for this activity.
  
• Not always setting an example of excellence for students.
• Not proofreading my blogging.
  
• Ever thinking that Hillary would end the primaries gracefully.
• Not getting enough exercise.
• The state of my office.

I'm sure there are more things I'm disappointed about, they are just not coming to my mind right now. Let's just call that a healthy attitude of denial.

L'été arrive enfin. I've got something like 3 conferences this summer, so that will keep me more than occupied. I will be writing (see list above). We've also got some good old-fashioned manual labor projects that should keep me busy too, and I need some of that to keep me sane and balanced... Expect to see lots of pictures from Morocco...

Globalization

B. Delong quotes a post from James Poulos that strikes me as common sense:

Globalization, in its natural, uncontrolled diversity, will be and should be an irregular process in which countries pragmatically adopt and appropriate a la carte things from elsewhere that work for them...

This view contradicts the average "proponents" of globalization as an economically inevitable, scientifically incontrovertible and longitudinally beneficial process(1). If one sees and empowers globalization as a dynamic and more or less democratic process, then I think Poulos has hit the nail on the head. Unfortunately, the Fareed Zakarias (and the majority of pro-globalization forces) tend to speak in the most utopian and abstract ways about globalization and it is from this that they promote a program, not a process. The key words here are "adoption" (democratic) and "à la carte" (signaling mutual benefit and optimization of comparative advantage).

Unfortunately, it is much easier to find globalization's dreamers in our public discourse than it is those who have serious critiques and who can speak to its upsides and downsides, for there are both.

(1) JMK: In the long run, we're all dead.

Obama: Fight Mediocrity and Mediatocracy

Here's, IMHO, the most important part of Obama's victory speech from last night:

This primary season may not be over, but when it is, we will have to remember who we are as Democrats . . . This fall, we intend to march forward as one Democratic Party, united by a common vision for this country. Because we all agree that at this defining moment in history – a moment when we're facing two wars, an economy in turmoil, a planet in peril – we can't afford to give John McCain the chance to serve out George Bush's third term. We need change in America. [...]

Yes, we know what's coming. We've seen it already. The same names and labels they always pin on everyone who doesn't agree with all their ideas. The same efforts to distract us from the issues that affect our lives by pouncing on every gaffe and association and fake controversy in the hope that the media will play along. The attempts to play on our fears and exploit our differences to turn us against each other for pure political gain – to slice and dice this country into Red States and Blue States; blue-collar and white-collar; white and black, and brown.

This is what they will do – no matter which one of us is the nominee. The question, then, is not what kind of campaign they'll run, it's what kind of campaign we will run. It's what we will do to make this year different. I didn't get into [this] race thinking that I could avoid this kind of politics, but I am running for President because this is the time to end it. . . .

This is all about media, voice and democracy. It's about the FCC, the FEC; it's about pundits and CEOs. Obama knows this and this is the subtext of his campaign. The media know this too--and they've been fighting back.

The last three weeks have been a virtual blackout of positive Obama news, a blackout of Obama himself. Indeed, Obama was presented only through the filters of the Kristols and the Crowleys, while smiling pictures of Hillary giving motivational speeches were aired.

This period seems to be over and the media has seen the momentum shift for the final time. They saw it on Bill's face last night.

Does this mean the fight against Obama is over? Hardly--the long hard slog is beginning. We will see more of the same: Wright, few excerpts from speeches and first-person Obama, little talk of Obama's incredible and populist fundraising. The media narrative will "stay the course" in that Obama will be portrayed as elitist, disconnected, different, radical and strident, while McCain will be fluffed beyond belief.

Can they keep him off the air? Can they keep him on the defensive? I don't think so, but they will try.

The goal now, short of preventing Obama's election, is to limit his mandate and define what he can talk about.

Cognitive Heat Sinks...

Here's Shirky elaborating on his ideas in "Here Comes Everybody."



Gin, television, cognitive heat sinks... It's worth a viewing, even if you've already checked out his work.

I'm always pleased to see France leading the way again--well, not always. Case in point: this amusing list of insults. What can a French professor do? I could get mad, but instead I will just laugh and fight this battle elsewhere. Luckily for France, I think the term "blogger" is close to becoming the single most potent insult in the English language. While that does not help me, it will help France, and for that I am happy, for few other "peoples" get insulted as much, especially by those ninny-hammers on Capitol Hill.

Here's the list:

1. FRENCHIFY (v)

Definition: 1) To make French in quality or trait 2) To make somewhat effeminate, and 3) To contract a veneral disease (a 19th century slang).

Analysis: We have the English to thank for this word. Most people implicitly understand that it means to become more like the French, but not a lot know the second or the third meaning. We’re still not sure which is more insulting.

2. BESCUMBER (v)

Definition: To spray with poo.

Analysis: Actually bescumber is just one of many words in the English language that basically mean “to spray with poo”. These are: BEDUNG, BERAY, IMMERD, SHARNY, and the good ol’ SHITTEN. In special cases, you can use BEMUTE (specifically means to drop poo on someone from great height), SHARD-BORN (born in dung), and FIMICOLOUS (living and growing on crap).

Alternative: If that is too vulgar, you can use BEVOMIT and BEPISS, which meanings should be obvious to you, as well as BESPAWL (to spit on).

Oh, and if you want to say poo without looking like you're saying it, you can use ORDURE, DEJECTION, and EXCRETA. To mean something more specific, you can use MECONIUM (first feces of a newborn child), MELAENA or MELENA (the abnormally tarry feces containing blood from gastrointestinal bleeding), LIENTERY (diarrhea with undigested or partially digested food), and STEATORRHEA (fatty stool that's hard to flush down).

Here are some words along the same line that may one day prove to be useful for you: TURDIFY (turn into turd), COPROPHAGIA (eating of feces [wiki]), and COPROPHILIA (Think 2 Girls 1 Cup [wiki - don't worry, SWF], if you don't know what this is, I shan't corrupt you any further).

Let's end entry number two with these two amazing words COPREMESIS and MISERERE, both of which mean fecal vomiting. Yes, fecal vomiting. It's a medical emergency caused by the obstruction of the bowel (source).

3. MICROPHALLUS (n)

Definition: An unusually small penis.

Analysis: Self explanatory.

Alternative: Insulting a man’s private part is a very reliable way to put him down (if he’s smaller than you) or to get beat up (if he’s larger than you). Usually, even a dimwit can decipher the meaning of this word, after all, it’s just a combination of “micro” and “phallus”.

So, to insult a physically larger opponent, we recommend you use these words instead: PHALLOCRYPSIS (retraction or shrinkage of the penis), CRYPTORCHID (undescendend testicles), and PHALLONCUS (tumor of the penis).

4. COCCYDYNIA (n)

Definition: Pain in the butt.

Analysis: It's a real medical term: coccydynia is pain in the coccyx or tailbone. Most people simply call it "buttache."

Similar: PROCTALGIA, PROCTODYNIA, PYGALGIA and RECTALGIA all mean pain in the butt.

Alternative: CERVICALGIA (pain in the neck), PHALLODYNIA or PHALLALGIA (both mean pain in the penis), and PUDENDAGRA (pain in the genitals).

The word "butt" is highly versatile in its vernacular use - you can say "butt face" or "hairy butt" - dem are fightin' words - but it's much better to use these instead: ANKYLOPROCTIA (stricture of the anus, the state of "tight-assity"), STEATOPYGOUS (fat-assed), DASYPYGAL (having hairy buttocks), and CACOPYGIAN (having ugly buttocks).

nbsp;

5. NINNYHAMMER (n)

Definition: A fool or a silly person.
Analysis: The word "fool," unless you're Mr. T, is sometimes woefully inadequate to express the stupidity of the person you're talking about. So use Ninnyhammer. Or at least NINNY.

Alternative: The English language is chockful of colorful words meaning stupid person, such as: DUMMKOPF, IGNORAMUS, JOBBERNOWL, GOWK, and WITLING.

For mental retardation, eschew the ubiquitous 'tard - rather, use AMENTIA (extreme mental retardation because of inadequate brain tissue), CRETINISM (mental retardation associated with dwarfism, caused by the deficiency of a thyroid hormone, a person with cretinism is a CRETIN), and MORONITY (used to mean mild retardation of having a mental age of 7 to 12 years, now it's an obsolete term though we still use the word moron).

There's more!

Religious Right Tells Pastors Christianity Being Suppressed

Yes, Christianity is being repressed! It is so difficult to be Christian in the U.S. right now. If you don't believe me, watch these serious thinkers conflate religion, fear of others, and nationalism into neat little packages.

From Firedoglake:

"Hate the liberals and the gays" has a resurgence, just in time for the election. Shocking.

For the power pastors of the religious right, it's about maintaining their hold on power and the illusion of control of political dialogue. For with such control and the trappings of power come large and regular donations. And those donations perpetuate their hold on power.

PFAW's Right Wing Watch put this YouTube clip together of a Coral Ridge Ministries program designed to motivate pastors to involve their congregations in electoral politics:

On Saturday, Coral Ridge Ministries—the televangelism empire of the late D. James Kennedy—broadcast a special program to encourage pastors to involve their churches in this year’s elections. While the panelists—Tony Perkins of Family Research Council, Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel, Jordan Lorence of Alliance Defense Fund, and Gary DeMar of American Vision—offered the usual admonishments that there’s no such thing as separation of church and state, the theme of the evening was that Christianity is being “suppressed” in this country by liberals and the “militant homosexual agenda.”...

This is the persecuted majority syndrome: the idea that it’s a whole lot simpler to convince people to join your political program if you convince them that their faith is “under attack.” This has been one of the Religious Right’s dominant themes over the last few years through campaigns such as FRC’s “Justice Sunday,” a series of televised, church-based rallies to support President Bush’s most radical judicial nominees, who the Right claimed were being opposed because of their religion.

Oh, please. Why do they still have tax exempt status when they are very clearly operating as a shell wing of the Republican party, motivating their flocks through fear of damnation to vote for the GOP? Personally, I find using denial of salvation as a means of political whipping offensive, and a contemptible, shameful abuse of the power of faith. And I'm not alone in thinking this.

After watching the Rev. Wright media hoohaw, why do the "pastors of the right" continually get a pass? Especially when they deliberately and provocatively insert themselves into the political process with a vengeance? Hypocrisy, much?

As Emproph at Pam's House Blend puts it:

Just like the thief who thinks everyone is stealing from them...
Just like the liar who thinks everyone is lying to them...
Jordan Lorence of the Alliance Defense Fund thinks...

the ACLU and the homosexual activists, who are into coercing unwilling people to do things, and to silence them, and all of that. There is an authoritarianism to that, that they are in total denial about

Ever heard of projection, Jordan? You may want to look it up.

Amen. Having uncovered DOJ personnel decisions by political and sexuality hiring purity tests, and with an office of religious dole in the White House dispensing public funds for church programming, I think I can safely say that their version of "Christian persecution complex" is a load of election year hooey. Shouldn't the religious right be called out for lying to their flock? Or is bearing false witness no longer a sin?

Especially when their hold on power within the GOP is tenuous -- or is being honest about their declining influence not something of interest?

The Coming Collapse of the Middle Class

Educate yourself to live.

Selective Prosecution and Enforcement, part II

As if right on cue, my Google Reader leads me to Pandagon, who brings home the issue of understanding structural violence and instututional bias right here in L.A.:

Uh huh. Here’s yet another reason why there is distrust out there about law enforcement “protecting and serving” everyone equally.

Los Angeles Police Department officials announced Tuesday that they investigated more than 300 complaints of racial profiling against officers last year and found that none had merit — a conclusion that left members of the department’s oversight commission incredulous.

It is at least the sixth consecutive year that all allegations of racial profiling against LAPD officers have been dismissed, according to department documents reviewed by The Times. I’m sure the vast majority are claims that cannot be proven since you have to prove the officer’s intent to say, pull over a black driver more often than a white one. But the LAPD has a sorry history, and that makes it difficult for some to believe the outcome of the report.

In February, the inspector general released a report that concluded investigators frequently failed to fully investigate citizen complaints against allegedly abusive officers, often omitting or altering crucial information.

The report, and extensive media attention, sparked calls by commissioners for a review of the complaint investigation process. The issue of racial profiling reaches back into one of the department’s darkest periods. Since 2000, the department has been working to implement scores of reforms included in a federal consent decree that stems from the Rampart corruption scandal. As part of the decree, the department is required to gather and analyze racial data involving vehicle and pedestrian stops.

But conclusive figures that might indicate whether systemic racial profiling is a problem in the LAPD have remained elusive. Department and city officials early on acknowledged that the raw data collected by officers when they make a stop are unhelpful because they do not include factors such as the race of the officer, the predominant race of the neighborhood in which the stop was made, and whether the stop resulted in an arrest and conviction.

Of course it’s hard to prove, but none of the cases had any merit? Come on, let’s be real. The problem here is that the profiling is less about race in some instances, but a focus on a particular demographic (dressed in hip-hop wear, in the “wrong” neighborhood, etc.), and in that case, you will end up with young minority youth getting pulled over or searched more often. When does a law enforcement officer’s “hunch” cross the line into straight-out bias — remember, as Francis Holland pointed out in an earlier post, you can be a black police officer and be color-aroused. Check out the comments in the LAT article’s thread — they run the gamut.

The question here is about the effort to curtail the bias. Collecting all the data about the officer and the suspect/victim doesn’t

Selective Prosecution and Enforcement

Whittier College is consistently ranked as the most diverse liberal arts college in the U.S. Teaching topics such as globalization and first-year seminar here, I frequently encounter one of the challenges/strengths of having a diverse student body. For example: while Whittier students are definitely engaged, entrepreneurial, and have a very good sense of social justice, many of them, like me, come from upper-middle class backgrounds and are not exposed to structural or institutional violence such as police repression, severely underfunded schools or selective prosecution of crimes. Therefore, helping people to see through other lenses and to look at their society in novel ways has become a veritable leitmotif of my teaching, regardless of the context (global studies, language courses, first-year seminar, theater, etc.).

Well, here's a case even the most privileged can understand. The RIAA has been sending out thousands and thousands of letters to universities and colleges around the country. Somehow, Harvard has been exempt. Something tells me that it's not because Harvard freshmen are significantly more honest than the average person, so there must be something else afoot. Read to the end of the Wired posting for their take, which I tend to agree with.

It must be the water at Harvard University.

Illegal online trading of digital music files is running rampant in universities across the nation, but not at Harvard, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.

The RIAA, the legal lobbying group for the music industry, has sent out hundreds if not thousands of letters to universities asking them to "remove or disable access" to infringing materials the RIAA has detected on IP addresses linked to schools ranging from MIT, Stanford, University of Chicago to UC Berkeley and dozens more.

THREAT LEVEL reported Wednesday that there is a sudden surge in these so-called take-down notices, which often are the precursors to legal action by the RIAA seeking the student's identity behind the IP address who is oftentimes then sued.

Harvard, however, seems immune from the RIAA's file-sharing campaign that commenced last year against universities. Perhaps it's something in the water system at the Cambridge, MA.-based university that is hindering Harvard students from doing what their fellow students area doing at other universities.

"Harvard hasn't gotten prelitigation letters or subpoenas asking for identification of an IP address," said Wendy Selzter, a Berkman Center for Internet & Society fellow. (A prelitigtion letter is one in which the RIAA sends to the school, and asks the school to forward to its students asking them to settle for thousands of dollars or face court action.)

Whether it’s the water, the RIAA says Harvard students are exercising file-sharing restraint.

"While we have detected incidences of theft on the Harvard network, the levels are not sufficient enough to warrant legal action. Of course, this could always change, depending on what we find," RIAA spokeswoman Cara Duckworth tells THREAT LEVEL.

Duckworth said no school was "immune," not even Harvard.

"We try to manage our program in the most efficient and effective way possible with the resources that we have," Duckworth said. "When we detect certain levels of piracy on school networks we reserve the right to bring legal action."

Seltzer had her own theory about the RIAA's tactics. "It might be that somebody doesn’t want to go against the Harvard legal team or endowment or law faculty or brand," she said.

Perhaps the RIAA doesn't wish to make waves with the next-generation of the rich and powerful. Also, Charles Nesson, of the Berkman Center at Harvard, has told the RIAA in an open letter "to take a hike." [my emphasis]

Nesson, as part of his evidence class, also requires students to draft motions quashing a subpoena from the RIAA demanding the identity behind a university IP address.

Friday Word Blogging: Disappointless

Disappointless (adj.):

Used to describe a feeling or situation that is simultaneously disappointing and pointless. Example: "After months of frustrating effort without result, the committee could only term the situation as 'disappointless.'"

Mission Accomplished

As Juan Cole reminds us, it's been 5 (f-i-v-e) years since Bush was flown onto an aircraft carrier and gave a speech in front of a "Mission Accomplished" sign.

Throughout the years, I've often wondered whether the administration actually thought it was that simple, or whether they knew and hoped for what has been happening. The truth probably is in the middle, but either way those of us who have lived to witness the unfolding war have seen one of the great criminal enterprises of our time--planned and executed by our leaders at the cost of thousands of solidier's lives, and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.

Here's Juan Cole's excerpt from the speech. His comments can be found [].

. . . major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed. . .

And now our coalition is engaged in securing and reconstructing that country. . .

In this battle, we have fought for the cause of liberty and for the peace of the world. . .

Because of you our nation is more secure. . . [Note that he is trying to attribute to the poor enlisted men his policies.] . . .

In the images of fallen statues we have witnessed the arrival of a new era. . . [The statue was pulled down by the US military and the whole thing was staged before a tiny Iraqi crowd, the small size of which media close-ups disguised.] . . .

In defeating Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, Allied forces destroyed entire cities, while enemy leaders who started the conflict were safe until the final days. Military power was used to end a regime by breaking a nation. Today we have the greater power to free a nation by breaking a dangerous and aggressive regime. With new tactics and precision weapons, we can achieve military objectives without directing violence against civilians. . . [The US has probably directly killed about 200,000 Iraqis and destroyed the city of Fallujah as well as damaging and repeatedly bombing others. Bush's fascist attempt to reconfigure warfare as a humanitarian gesture is the biggest lie of all] . . .

Men and women in every culture need liberty like they need food and water and air. [Foreign military occupation is not generally considered 'liberty' by most people.] . . .

We've begun the search for hidden chemical and biological weapons, and already know of hundreds of sites that will be investigated. [The sites were being investigated before the war, and nothing was being found, so Bush pulled out the inspectors and went to war. Nothing ever was found.] . . .

Our coalition will stay until our work is done and then we will leave and we will leave behind a free Iraq. [When will that be exactly?] . . .

In the battle of Afghanistan, we destroyed the Taliban . . . [ Maybe not so much; this 'mission accomplished' passage has not been sufficiently criticized] . . .

The liberation of Iraq is a crucial advance in the campaign against terror. We have removed an ally of Al Qaida and cut off a source of terrorist funding. [There was no operational connection between Iraq and al-Qaeda. None. And the US occupation of Iraq gave al-Qaeda a new lease on life ] . . .

We are committed to freedom in Afghanistan, Iraq and in a peaceful Palestine. . . [90% of the world fell down laughing at that point in the speech; only gullible, self-righteous Americans could even think about taking this snow job seriously] . . .

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Le Pen: Gas Chambers are a "detail"

Ah, fascists:

Selon Jean-Marie Le Pen, les chambres à gaz sont décidément bien "un détail de l'histoire de la Seconde guerre mondiale". Revenant dans le mensuel Bretons du mois de mai, sur sa déclaration faite le 13 septembre 1987 au grand Jury RTL-Le Monde qui lui a valu d'être condamné à 1,2 millions de francs (183 200 euros) d'amende, le président du Front national lance : "J'aurais parlé, même de très loin, du génocide vendéen, personne n'aurait été choqué. J'ai dit que les chambres à gaz étaient un détail de l'histoire de la seconde guerre mondiale : ça me paraît tellement évident. Si ce n'est pas un détail, c'est l'ensemble. C'est toute la guerre mondiale alors."

Aux journalistes, Didier Le Corre, rédacteur en chef, et Tugdual Denis qui lui rappellent "le processus : déporter des gens, les amener dans des camps juste pour les faire tuer", Jean-Marie Le Pen répond : "Mais, ça, c'est parce que vous croyez à ça. Je ne me sens pas obligé d'adhérer à cette vision-là. Je constate qu'à Auschwitz il y avait l'usine IG Farben, qu'il y avait 80 000 ouvriers qui y travaillaient. A ma connaissance ceux-là n'ont pas été gazés en tout cas. Ni brûlés.

France: Loosing its foothold

Of course, France lost its official "foothold" on african colonies in the 50's and early 60's, but globalization is now rendering the remaining linkages more tenuous according to Le Monde:

Comme deux vieilles connaissances fatiguées l'une de l'autre, l'Afrique et la France ne se comprennent plus. Non seulement Paris perd pied sur le continent noir, mais son image se dégrade. Objet de débat depuis quelques années, cette réalité est désormais officiellement reconnue et préoccupe le sommet de l'Etat. Multiforme, le constat est dressé dans un ensemble de télégrammes rédigés à la demande du Quai d'Orsay à l'automne 2007 par 42 ambassadeurs en poste en Afrique, et dont Le Monde a pris connaissance. Pareil état des lieux tend à plaider en faveur de la "rupture" dans la politique de la France en Afrique promise par Nicolas Sarkozy. "Rupture" que des proches du président français semblent remettre en cause.

L'image de la France "oscille entre attirance et répulsion dans nos anciennes colonies, au gré du soutien politique ou des interventions, militaires notamment, dont ont fait l'objet ces pays", constate un télégramme de synthèse. "La France n'est plus la référence unique ni même primordiale en Afrique. Les Français ont du mal à l'admettre", ajoute un diplomate qui a participé à ce travail. A l'entendre, tout se passe comme si le temps s'était arrêté : les Africains "jugent la France à l'aune des travers du passé alors que Elf, c'est fini".

De leur côté, les Français ignorent que les Africains entrent dans la mondialisation "plus vite qu'on ne le croit" et sont désormais courtisés par tous les pays émergents (Chine, Inde, Brésil) et par les Etats-Unis. "Loin de la pensée misérabiliste, (...) les progrès accomplis par l'Afrique sont importants et largement sous-estimés par l'opinion et les observateurs", estime le document, élaboré pour tenter de remédier à l'effet désastreux produit par le discours de Nicolas Sarkozy à Dakar en juillet 2007.

Of course, obtaining true financial, intellectual and cultural independence (to the extent that such a thing is possible anywhere on the planet) is a right that all countries should have, so I am not arguing for maintaining post-colonial colonialism. Interesting to note, though, the extent to which Sarkozy undermines everything he touches...

Friday Spam Blogging

Makes four servings.