Over at Teekay’s

According to a piece in Monday’s Süddeutsche Zeitung, the English-language service of Al Jazeera aims “to offer a counterweight to the worldview of the Anglo-Saxon programs.” Whatever this may mean, they seem to be succeeding. I turned on twice last Thursday (or was it Friday?), the first time to find Riz Khan interviewing Harold Pinter at great length about what a great place the Middle East was before the Yankees screwed it all up a few years ago, and the second time to find two guys described as “bloggers from mediachannel.org” talking about how censorship in the U.S. makes it impossible for anyone interested in world affairs to gain an accurate picture. One of the guys actually compared President Bush to Joseph Stalin. The video you’ll find at the top of their website, by the way, is a commercial (presumably a freebie?) for Al Jazeera that includes the memorable slogan, “watch out CNN, watch out Fox News, watch out BBC, watch out world — because this week, Al Jazeera International is going live on television and in English.” (The dude is identified as “Danny Schecter” in the video caption and as “Danny Schechter” just opposite the page. Either way, no idea who he is.)

I have a feeling I might pass this one up for the time being.

Putting Dayton to Bed
by Mirna Skrbic and T.K. Vogel
29 September 2006
TRANSITIONS ONLINE

SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina | A few impatient Bosnian youths could not wait until the general election of 1 October to express their feelings about the country’s institutions. Just days before the vote, they splashed the presidency building in downtown Sarajevo with paint balloons, in colors that stood for Bosnia’s three “constituent peoples” as well as the group of “others,” which is not represented in Bosnia’s three-member presidency.

The heavy-handed reaction by policemen guarding the building sparked protests in the city. The public seemed to be mostly sympathetic to the pranksters as the presidency commands little respect. But will they vote accordingly in Sunday’s poll?

Read the whole thing here.

In Bosnia, War by Other Means
By T. K. VOGEL
September 29, 2006
WALL STREET JOURNAL

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — “I’m not anti-Serb,” Slobodan Popovic said. “I’m just trying to be a normal Serb.”

The difference is important to Mr. Popovic. He’s a senior lawmaker in the parliament of the Serb Republic, one of Bosnia’s two “entities” that were put under a very thin federal roof by the 1995 Dayton peace accords. His Social Democrats are Bosnia’s only truly multiethnic, countrywide opposition. In Sunday’s elections, they are campaigning against a Serb Republic government that nominally is from the same camp — fellow members of the Socialist International. But Prime Minister Milorad Dodik’s specialty is to play the ethnic card. “Dodik aspires to lead all Serbs, not just in Bosnia,” Mr. Popovic said, with just a bit of hyperbole. “It reminds me of the way Milosevic took power, by projecting the image of someone who can solve all problems,” he told me at a pit stop outside the Serb Republic capital Banja Luka in between campaign appearances.

Read the whole thing here.

Update: The piece iss now behind a subscription firewall. Sorry!

I have expressed my skepticism about the “new” UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) before, here and here. France’s behavior in particular has been disgraceful though at some level understandable; I suspect what happened was that the Foreign Ministry drafted the relevant parts of Security Council Resolution 1701 and handed them over to Defense to implement only once it had been passed. The military planners then got cold feet because of the various holes in 1701.

Today’s news only seem to confirm that 1701 will not deliver the “robust mandate” some had claimed it would. According to the Neue Zürcher Zeitung and other newspapers, the deployment of the German contingent for UNIFIL (a navy unit) is being delayed by various conditions the Lebanese government has imposed: UNIFIL patrol boats should not be allowed near the coast and should only be able to search suspicious vessels after receiving permission from the Lebanese government (of which Hezbollah, of course, is a member).

The issue is so delicate that the Germans have now bounced the Lebanese conditions back to the UN for a review whether they are compatible with 1701.

During the war it sounded like the Lebanese and the Europeans couldn’t wait to get a force in place. Now, it sounds as if everyone were just fine with the status quo.

From today’s Observer:

Somalia inches towards war

(Warning: unwarranted generalizations ahead)

Went to a lecture by John Searle tonight. The guy’s amazing: he’s ancient but more agile than half of the folks in the room. (Not difficult since they were mostly Germans.) He spoke for an entire hour without notes, walking around all the time with one of those little mikes pinned to his chest. He talked a lot about his Bernese Sennenhund named Gilbert. (Previous dogs were named Frege, Russell, and Ludwig, in that order.) Gilbert is a likeable fellar but dumb as a tree trunk — a real beast with no language. He (Searle) kept 900 Germans on the edge of their seats. How come half of the room was sound asleep after twenty minutes last time I heard Habermas? Anyway, it made me want to go back to an American graduate school. I know it’s delusional and don’t worry, won’t happen, but I sure feel like it. This guy could even drag me back into a philosophy seminar.

No sooner had I posted a little item over at East Ethnia talking about the curious fact that both Peter Handke and Noam Chomsky, people who professionally deal with words, manage to tie themselves in knots every time they actually use same, than Diana Johnstone rushed to Handke’s defense since he is so evidently incapable of making his case himself.

Let me cut straight to the heart of the matter.

After criticizing the natural tendency of “every community involved in a civil war to see itself as pure victims” and the West’s echoing of the “charge that the Muslims of Bosnia were the target of a deliberate project of ‘genocide,’ because this justifies their illegal 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia,” she goes on:

It would be more helpful to point out that wars lead to massacres, and that evacuating women and children to safety (as the Serb forces did when they captured Srebrenica) is not a usual feature of what most people understand by “genocide.” There have long been indications of Serb willingness to admit guilt for whatever really happened at Srebrenica, but only for what really happened, and in return for recognition that atrocities of the same sort were committed on all sides. If the desire for revenge (against earlier massacres of Serb villagers by Muslim forces based in Srebrenica) spurred the massacres at Srebrenica, revenge now also motivates the insistence of the Bosnian Muslim party on branding the Serbs as “genocidal.” Muslim leaders in Bosnia hope it will enable them to force Serbia to pay billions of dollars of reparations — a prospect which would be about as helpful in promoting peace as the reparations imposed on Germany after World War I, which led to the Nazi victory.

Srebrenica was a “massacre” (the quotation marks are mine, of course) and it cannot have been a genocide since the Serbs also expelled women and children. (That’s a line of argument Handke also uses, by the way.) Atrocities “of the same sort” were committed “on all sides.” Attempts by “the Bosnian Muslim party” to “brand” the Serbs as genocidal (perhaps this is a reference to the genocide lawsuit before the ICJ) is “revenge.” And finally, the Serbs’ trump card whenever the going gets tough, insisting on Serbian responsibility would lead to the emergence of fascism in Serbia. (I’ll admit that that’s my interpretation of the last sentence in the quoted paragraph, but I don’t think I’m reading too much into it. Just comforting to know that Johnstone agrees that the SRS are Nazis.)

At least nobody can accuse her of obfuscation.

That’s what I tell people when I’m having them over for dinner. It’s usually fairly inexpensive, fairly decent stuff. But would you bring along 12-dollar bottles when visiting the President of the United States, as a certain dignitary from the Caucasus has done, according to a listing in the Federal Register?

Bosnian lawmakers tonight delivered a stunning blow to the country’s main parties by failing to endorse constitutional amendments by the required two-thirds majority. 26 deputies voted in favor, 16 against, mostly the now dominant HDZ splinter group “HDZ 1990″ but also deputies from the Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) Party for BiH and apparently at least one member of the Bosniak SDA.

It will be interesting to see what course those who rejected the amendments because they didn’t go far enough will now recommend. If modest reform cannot happen, why would radical reform fare any better?

It will also be interesting to see the reaction of those who claim Bosnia’s political establishment is fully capable of governing the country without outside pressure. This appeared hardly like a demonstration of “local ownership,” at least not in any meaningful way.

April 25th was supposed to be an historic day for Bosnia: for the first time, the country’s constitution, which it had acquired through the Dayton peace agreement, was to be overhauled. (The current constitution was drafted in English, and no one ever bothered to produce an official translation into Bosnian.)

Some, like the editors of Transitions Online, argue believe that the proposed amendments, though “modest to the point of being uninspiring,” are a “positive development” and that “it is hard to come up with any legitimate reason why anyone should be opposed.” But opposition was strong enough for the Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) Party of Democratic Action to propose, in the wee hours of this morning, to adjourn the session (which had lasted from 10am to 1:40am) until later today so they can try to get sufficient support.

What went wrong?

The people who initiated the process of constitutional amendments, based at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington, have been criticized for expending valuable political capital on an issue that ultimately just isn’t that serious. Indeed, the Dayton constitution did not create the division of Bosnia — Bosnians did — nor would it necessarily have to be a brake on development, as the creation of several new ministries and the delegation of authority from the entities to the central government have shown in the past. There’s some truth to the accusation, then, but I would still maintain that it was worth trying.

However, should the demagogues, led by Haris Silajdzic, prevail and the amendments be voted down, this would send a very bad signal indeed, not least to the EU which is worried that Bosnia’s cumbersome structures of governance can simply not deal with the demands of EU integration. Silajdzic opposes the amendments because they don’t go far enough and abolish the entity structure (read: Republika Srpska). By voting no, he will ensure that no change, as modest as it may be, will take place for years to come.

Expect the cajoling and bribing to continue through the day. A vote should take place sometime this evening.

It’s a funny thing, the diffusion of ideas.

This time we really mean it
headline, Over at Teekay’s, February 27, 2006

This Time We’re Serious
headline, Transitions Online, February 27, 2006

What gives?

One aspect of the cartoon kerfuffle that is receiving more and more attention is the suspicion that the outcry, while certainly reflecting genuine feelings, may be steered. Both Iran and Syria — which are both in the middle of a showdown with the Security Council, over nuclear shenanigans in Iran’s case and over the Hariri investigation in Syria’s — have an obvious interest in trying to discredit any Western action as a crusade, and vilifying Denmark (which is a non-permanent member of the SC for 2005 and 2006) seems as good a course of action as any. The time lag between the publication of the stupid cartoons and this whole outpouring is rather interesting.

It’s perhaps also noteworthy that Europe’s oldest Muslim communities (not counting Turkey, parts of Russia, and parts of the Caucasus) seem rather unruffled by the whole affair, and I believe that’s due to the fact that these are open societies (unlike most in the Middle East) and that Muslims there are not part of a disaffected underclass (unlike in Western Europe) — even though considering three waves of “ethnic cleansing” directed at them in the last three decades, they would certainly have every reason to be bitter.

You can read a somewhat expanded version of this argument — slightly black and white but essentially true, I believe — over at TechCentralStation.

Technorati Tags: Islam, Muslim, Cartoons, Sarajevo, Balkania

The Danish government may have been slow on the uptake, but it’s getting there re: the cartoon controversy. The Prime Minister’s analysis unit has now submitted its findings, and here they are:

Denmark’s Rasmussen Says Cartoons Prompted Crisis
Bloomberg.com Europe

Vladimir Zhirinovsky has told Pravda.ru what’s really behind U.S. foreign policy, and Pravda.ru gracefully chose to share it with us. Money quote:

“Such women are very rough. They are all workaholics, public workaholics. They can be happy only when they are talked and written about everywhere: “Oh, Condoleezza, what a remarkable woman, what a charming Afro-American lady! How well she can play the piano and speak Russian! What a courageous, tough and strong female she is!

This is the only way to satisfy her needs of a female. She derives pleasure from it. If she has no man by her side at her age, he will never appear. Even if she had a whole selection of men to choose from she would stay single because her soul and heart have hardened. Like Napoleon, Genghis Khan, Tamerlane, or Alexander the Great of Macedon Ms. Rice needs to fight and release tough public statements in global scale. She needs to be on top of the world.

Condoleezza Rice needs a company of soldiers. She needs to be taken to barracks where she would be satisfied. On the other hand, she can hardly be satisfied because of her age. This is a complex. She needs to return to her university and teach students there. She could also deal with psychological analysis.

The true reason of Ms. Rice’s attack against Russia is very simple. Condoleezza Rice is a very cruel, offended woman who lacks men’s attention. Releasing such stupid remarks gives her the feeling of being fulfilled. This is the only way for her to attract men’s attention,” Vladimir Zhirinovsky said.

(Thanks to Kurt for bringing this to my attention.)

Gunmen blocked the EU office in Gaza yesterday to demonstrate against cartoons that in the view of one British Muslim spokesman speaking on BBC World “demonized” Muslims as terrorists.

(Image courtesy of CNN.com)

I’m sure this will do a lot to correct that impression. But more amusingly, it follows the logic behind this article, which appeared in the Onion in 1997:

Crazed Palestinian Gunman Angered By Stereotypes

March 5, 1997 | Issue 31•08

HEBRON, WEST BANK—In an emotionally charged press conference Monday, crazed Palestinian gunman Faisal al Hamad expressed frustration over the stereotyping of his people.

Enlarge ImageCrazed Palestinian Gunman Angered By Stereotypes

Faisal al Hamad, seen here shrieking anti-U.S. slogans, says that “not every crazed Palestinian gunman is exactly alike.”

“As a crazed Palestinian gunman, I feel hurt by the negative portrayal of my people in the media,” said al Hamad, 31, a Hebron-area terrorist maniac. “None of us should have to live with stereotyping and ignorance.”

He then began screaming and firing into a busload of Israeli schoolchildren.

“It hurts that in this supposedly enlightened day and age, people still make assumptions about other people,” al Hamad said. “We should not rely on simple generalizations. Each crazed Palestinian gunman is an individual.”

French would-be visitors to the US are in trouble because they can’t get biometric passports, which means they need a US visa. The union of government printers has blocked the government’s plans to have the new documents printed by private firm.

France is the only one of 27 countries with visa-free travel to the US that has not managed to produce biometric passports in time.

The Trib reports on the fallout, featuring some great quotes.

In the meantime, the union’s secretary, Jacques Floris, tips his hat to his French comrades standing in the cold, waiting their turn for a visa. But the government, he said, has to respect the union’s rights.

That’s small comfort for Xavier Leclerc, who joined the line for visas and passports at 7:30 a.m. and later abandoned his place to get to work on time. In January, he missed a training conference in the United States with his new employer, Google, because he couldn’t obtain a visa. So did another colleague in sales.

“I know that this is happening because of the strike-related problems here,” he said. “But to be honest, French people are a bit proud and it makes me feel a little like I’m coming from a third world country to get a visa. And now I will have to wait again in line in the cold.”

Perhaps he could try the French embassy in Sarajevo to get the genuine experience of coming from a third-world country and being humiliated by arrogant, corrupt staff because you had the absurd idea of visiting their country, or better still any Western embassy in Africa?

Under that awful title, a bunch of worthies from politics and culture gathered in Salzburg last week as part of the Austrian attempt to re-define a European identity, or something like that. The best performance came no doubt from French PM de Villepin, who according to the FT flew in with a dozen French journalists, gave a speech that was almost incomprehensible due to all the name-dropping and way too long to boot, then left the proceedings to attend some cultural thing and flew back to Paris a bit later, without participating in any of the proceedings.

There were good moments of genuine debate, but the whole event just demonstrated how utterly out of touch Europe’s leaders — most of them, anyway, an exception being the Commission’s Barroso — are with the real problems afflicting the continent.

For a more rounded take on things, check out what I wrote on TechCentralStation.

Technorati tag: EU

My pal Kurt Bassuener, of the Democratization Policy Council, has an op-ed in today’s Trib calling for a no-fly zone over Darfur and bemoaning the “appalling policy vacuum on the part of the United States and Europe toward Darfur.” Money quote:

If the West is serious about stopping the mayhem in Darfur and offering real protection to the uprooted civilian population, it needs to summon the fortitude to cease treating Darfur as collateral damage of the Iraq war and other policies that create friction with the Muslim world, and offer the sort of assistance that only it can provide - both in the air, and on the ground.

Technorati Tag: Darfur

The revised text of a talk I gave in Vienna last November is now available here. It talks about the decisive events in Bosnia and Kosovo that 2006 might bring, though — as alluded to even in November — one of them, the Hays talks on Bosnia’s constitution, look considerably less grand than they might have then.

There’s been a gradual shift away from the hack of lore to clean proper guys and gals with journalism degrees from prestigious universities. Gone is the generalist who’d do the police beat for the first couple years, then switch into a foreign posting, and come back to the national desk. I’m not sure that’s a good development, but it’s not up to me to judge. What I can judge, however, are headlines, and I’m not sure they’ve gotten better. (Maybe they’re all written by the lone surviving hack in the newsroom?) I mean, what do they teach the kids in headline writing 101 if this is the result?

Abduction of U.S. Reporter Underscores Risks in Iraq
New York Times, January 23, 2006

Technorati Tag: Iraq