June 2008

by 0 comments on "I’m a worse bastard than the fucking shite that I am, and that’s saying something"

Finally, we have the best possible argument against the dire Counter-Terrorism Bill. Unfortunately, it’s one that by definition we couldn’t have had before last week’s pornographic nightmare of a vote. It’s a sort of recursive critique. Think about it – by far the worst feature of the damn thing is the awful “concession” that Parliament…

Read More I’m a worse bastard than the fucking shite that I am, and that’s saying something
by 3 comments on "selling the dummy"

Here’s an interesting question about the finally-released Senate Intelligence Committee Phase II report about the use of intelligence on Iraq. The “Shorter” for Phase II A is quite simply that “yes, it was all bollocks”, and specifically that it was all bollocks in the same way it was in the UK – caveats were removed,…

Read More selling the dummy
by 1 comment on "The Switzerland of the Middle East (for some periods of Swiss history)"

There is a fascinating post at Pat Lang’s about a study trip to Lebanon which involved meeting some interesting and alarming people (Samir Geagea, described here as “a bit Lyndon LaRouche” – well, whatever hard things have been said, quite understandably, about the latter, he never commanded a militia that cut huge crosses in the…

Read More The Switzerland of the Middle East (for some periods of Swiss history)
by 0 comments on "Using up SCIRI"

I’ve repeatedly suggested that there is an emerging alignment between the Sadrists and political factions close to the NOIA insurgents and ex-insurgents. Here’s some news – a new coalition including Sadr, various mix’n’match factions including the Dialogue (close to NOIA), a chunk of Dawa that has split from SCIRI, and the Allawi fanclub (yes –…

Read More Using up SCIRI
by 4 comments on "Indecent behaviour at a police station, TPCA 1847"

This essay by Ian McEwan in the Guardian Review shows precisely why the Decent influence on British intellectual life is so damn depressing. You may think, and I would say the AaroWatch crew are guilty of this, that they are just a bunch of wankers left behind with their blogs after history moved on. But…

Read More Indecent behaviour at a police station, TPCA 1847