29. Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell
This book is part business book and part pop psychology. The book is about a concept that the author calls "thin slicing," or what we normals would describe as how it is that people can make decisions about both trivial and important things based on very little data and sometimes be right about their decisions.
Setting the sound bite nomenclature that the author makes up aside, I found this to be a somewhat interesting book. I didn't learn anything that I could use in business but I was fascinated by some of the people that the author describes and their peculiar talents for thin slicing. I was most taken by the guy who was so subconsciously pescient that he could read minute inflections in people's facial muscles and figure out if they are telling the truth or if they were mad etc.
This is an interesting book but probably not for the reasons that the author intended. There is also a spoof book that is out called, "Blank: The Power of not Thinking All."
30. The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin
This book is about an average man living in a futuristic version of the late 1990s who has the ability to dream things that subsequently become reality. For example, one night he dreams that he owns a secluded get away home near a forest somewhere and when he wakes up he not only owns a home but he has also changed history so that he has always had that home.
The protagonist, Geroge Orr, however, cannot control these dreams and becomes scared by them and starts taking various drugs to supress his ability to dream. The big brother like system busts him for drug abuse and sends him to an enterprising shrink for treatment. The shrink picks up on Orr's abilities and starts using them to change the world. By hypnotic suggestion he makes Orr dream what he wants, for example, in one of the sessions the shrink makes Orr dream that there are no overpopulation problems and Orr responds by dreaming of a plague that has killed two thirds of the world. Orr, however, is not a willing participant in the shrink's enterprising ways.
The shrink is akin to a benevolant dictator who is a mixture of a benefactor with good intentions and a power hungry maniac. Le Guin suffuses the story with a thinly veiled ethical argument about whether the shrink's activitst benevolance is the right way to go or whether Orr's pacifist approach is better.
Excellent book.
31. The Vanishing by Tim Krabbe
This book is the inspiration for The Shining. It is a short, edge of your seat kind of psychotic thriller. Highly recommended for a good afternoon read.
12.29.2006
The Beginning of the End?
There were news reports today that Canadian scientists discovered that the Ayles Ice Shelf snapped away from the coast of Ellesmere Island and became an ice island of its own. It happened in August 2005 but it took scientists 18 months or so to figure out when and how it happened. Apparently it took an hour for the ice shelf, which is the 66km in area or the size of 11,000 football fields, to break off.
12.27.2006
28. The War of the World: Twentieth Century Conflict and the Descent of the West by Niall Ferguson
Dr. Ferguson is a pop historian who’s stock is rising above even Simon Schama’s. This 1,100 page tome is a survey history of the late 19th and entire 20th centuries with a particular focus on the role of war in our society.
In general it is a good book but the problem with survey histories, I find, is that most readers will know a lot more about certain periods covered by the book than the author cares to get into, which means that sometimes hundreds of pages of the book should be skipped. For me, anyway, I found the book to be a little too much of a survey and a little short on the details that make history interesting.
If you’ve got the time, I would read it, but I wouldn’t make the time for it.
In general it is a good book but the problem with survey histories, I find, is that most readers will know a lot more about certain periods covered by the book than the author cares to get into, which means that sometimes hundreds of pages of the book should be skipped. For me, anyway, I found the book to be a little too much of a survey and a little short on the details that make history interesting.
If you’ve got the time, I would read it, but I wouldn’t make the time for it.
11.12.2006
22 to 27. Books I Read on Vacation
22. Red Lights by Georges Simenon - This book was flat out awesome, the guy is such an amazing writer. This is the story of a young married couple who set out one Labor Day weekend to drive to Maine from New York to pick up their two children from summer camp. Written in the 1950s when there were far fewer prohibitions against drinking and driving, the husband and wife get into an argument about the husband's need to stop at the road side bars for drinks. And it gets darker after that.
23. The Road by Cormac McCarthy - This is a PA novel about the life of a father and son as they travel westward after some kind of massively destructive event has burnt out and killed most of North America. It is a superficial but entertaining novel.
24. Ernest Hemingway A Life Story by Carlos Baker - There are no shortage of Hemingway biographies but this one is widely acclaimed to be the best of the lot. Partially because it was written in the late 1960s when many of Hemingway's compatriots were still alive and were able to share stories about him and partially because the author doesn't hold back any punches. He portrays Hemingway as a literary genius but also shows him for the petulant self centered man that he was.
25. The Whistleblower of Dimona by Yoel Cohen - In 1986 Mordechai Vanunu gave information to the London Times who published a story disclosing, what many people already knew, that Israel was in fact a nuclear power. This book is the story of Vanunu his conflicted childhood and early adult years, his rejection of Judaism, his disclosure to the London Times and his eventual capture by Mossad agents. The author is a professor of mass communications so he spends a lot of the book discussing the details of how the Times handled the story which was not that interesting for me. The story of Vanunu himself, however, was fascinating.
26. Monsieur Monde Vanishes by Georges Simenon - This one is not as good as Red Lights but nonetheless it is better than most novels. This is the story of a successful business man in a loveless second marriage who one day disappears mysteriously and ends up living a seedy life in the south of France. It's a good quick read.
27. White Death by Robert Edwards - The badness of this book cannot be described and I was so looking forward to it. It is supposed to be the story of the Russian invasion of Finland in WWII but the author screws up the writing so badly that reading it almost resulted in my White Death.
23. The Road by Cormac McCarthy - This is a PA novel about the life of a father and son as they travel westward after some kind of massively destructive event has burnt out and killed most of North America. It is a superficial but entertaining novel.
24. Ernest Hemingway A Life Story by Carlos Baker - There are no shortage of Hemingway biographies but this one is widely acclaimed to be the best of the lot. Partially because it was written in the late 1960s when many of Hemingway's compatriots were still alive and were able to share stories about him and partially because the author doesn't hold back any punches. He portrays Hemingway as a literary genius but also shows him for the petulant self centered man that he was.
25. The Whistleblower of Dimona by Yoel Cohen - In 1986 Mordechai Vanunu gave information to the London Times who published a story disclosing, what many people already knew, that Israel was in fact a nuclear power. This book is the story of Vanunu his conflicted childhood and early adult years, his rejection of Judaism, his disclosure to the London Times and his eventual capture by Mossad agents. The author is a professor of mass communications so he spends a lot of the book discussing the details of how the Times handled the story which was not that interesting for me. The story of Vanunu himself, however, was fascinating.
26. Monsieur Monde Vanishes by Georges Simenon - This one is not as good as Red Lights but nonetheless it is better than most novels. This is the story of a successful business man in a loveless second marriage who one day disappears mysteriously and ends up living a seedy life in the south of France. It's a good quick read.
27. White Death by Robert Edwards - The badness of this book cannot be described and I was so looking forward to it. It is supposed to be the story of the Russian invasion of Finland in WWII but the author screws up the writing so badly that reading it almost resulted in my White Death.
11.10.2006
My Take on the Mid-Term Elections
Democrats across America are seemingly overjoyed by their election victory on Tuesday. They shouldn't be, because a big reason that the Democrats won was because they fielded right wing candidates. For example, in Philadelphia the Senate candidate who beat the incumbent and absurdly Christian Rick Santorum, is pro-gun, anti-gay and anti-abortion. The Senate candidates who won in Montana, Virginia and Ohio share the same vintage. Further evidence of this is that one of the few anti-war candidates, the Republican Senator from Rhode Island, lost in his bid for re-election.
What has happened is that the Republicans have maintained the shift to the right introduced by the Bush II Presidency and the Democrats have also shifted to the right leaving Americans to choose between the far right and the center right.
So, what has happened is not necessarily good for left leaning liberals.
The good thing about the election is that it has ended the rule of the Neo-Cons in Washington and ended the Bush Doctrine that America should proactively promote democracy in foreign countries. The Neo-Cons's demise is signaled by the departure of Donald Rumsfeld and his replacement with Gates who served under the first President Bush and by the Senate's stated refusal to confirm John Bolton as Ambassador to the UN. It is further reinforced by the increasingly important role that Bush I stalwarts such as James Baker are playing in setting strategy for the government. With the Neo-Cons gone so goes the Bush Doctrine.
What has happened is that the Republicans have maintained the shift to the right introduced by the Bush II Presidency and the Democrats have also shifted to the right leaving Americans to choose between the far right and the center right.
So, what has happened is not necessarily good for left leaning liberals.
The good thing about the election is that it has ended the rule of the Neo-Cons in Washington and ended the Bush Doctrine that America should proactively promote democracy in foreign countries. The Neo-Cons's demise is signaled by the departure of Donald Rumsfeld and his replacement with Gates who served under the first President Bush and by the Senate's stated refusal to confirm John Bolton as Ambassador to the UN. It is further reinforced by the increasingly important role that Bush I stalwarts such as James Baker are playing in setting strategy for the government. With the Neo-Cons gone so goes the Bush Doctrine.
10.23.2006
21. Parliament of Man by Paul Kennedy
This somewhat superficial political history of the United Nations essentially concludes that it is a flawed entity but that it has been the source of much good in its 60 odd year history.
The author divides the work of the UN into three broad categories: world security, economy and charity.
The security council is the center of the UN's activities and its most powerful body but the ability of a single state to veto a security council resolution and, most recently, America's decision to do things without security council backing have left it quite impotent. The author is a little more kind on it than I am.
Throughout the cold war, as the Russians and Americans jockeyed for position the security council was totally hamstrung as either the Russians or Americans would veto resolutions backed by their adversary. There was a short rebirth after the collapse of the Soviet Union when the security council did a lot (some of it quite poorly) such as Bosnia, Somalia and Iraq 1 but with the emergence of Putin and the new order of world wide power politics that died. And today, as we see by the council's inability do anything difinitive against North Korea and Iran it is once again largely impotent.
Those countries unable to influence the security council embraced the economic and charitable realms of the security council where, again, the UN has done a lot of good but has been plagued by inneficiency and graft.
This is a reasonable book but one doesn't close the back cover feeling like you've learned something new.
The author divides the work of the UN into three broad categories: world security, economy and charity.
The security council is the center of the UN's activities and its most powerful body but the ability of a single state to veto a security council resolution and, most recently, America's decision to do things without security council backing have left it quite impotent. The author is a little more kind on it than I am.
Throughout the cold war, as the Russians and Americans jockeyed for position the security council was totally hamstrung as either the Russians or Americans would veto resolutions backed by their adversary. There was a short rebirth after the collapse of the Soviet Union when the security council did a lot (some of it quite poorly) such as Bosnia, Somalia and Iraq 1 but with the emergence of Putin and the new order of world wide power politics that died. And today, as we see by the council's inability do anything difinitive against North Korea and Iran it is once again largely impotent.
Those countries unable to influence the security council embraced the economic and charitable realms of the security council where, again, the UN has done a lot of good but has been plagued by inneficiency and graft.
This is a reasonable book but one doesn't close the back cover feeling like you've learned something new.
10.07.2006
20. The Scarlet Plague by Jack London
Another book that Mount Benson suggested that I read. This is one of Jack London's few science fiction books (although at 62 pages I think that it really is more of a short story). It was first published in 1912 London magazine and later as part of a book. It is the story of the world after almost all of its population has been killed by a devastating pandemic called the Scarlet Plague. The main character is an old man who is the last known person to have lived in the old world.
The author focuses on the general - moral, physical and sociological - decay of the world after the pandemic and is fascinated by how, in such a short period of time, civilization has been set back tens of thousands of years and has to rebuild itself to its previous majesty.
Even though it was written in 1912, London is stunningly prescient about what the future would look like. At the time of the pandemic which happened in about 2008 (note that today pandemic fears are all the rage) the world had eight billion people and there were motor cars everywhere according to London.
I highly recommend this book.
The author focuses on the general - moral, physical and sociological - decay of the world after the pandemic and is fascinated by how, in such a short period of time, civilization has been set back tens of thousands of years and has to rebuild itself to its previous majesty.
Even though it was written in 1912, London is stunningly prescient about what the future would look like. At the time of the pandemic which happened in about 2008 (note that today pandemic fears are all the rage) the world had eight billion people and there were motor cars everywhere according to London.
I highly recommend this book.
10.02.2006
19. Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison
Written in 1967 and set in 1999 New York city, this is the story of a cop, a beautiful woman and a Chinese boy as they struggle through their lives. By 1999 the world is severely over populated and replacable resources have come to an end. England is one giant city, New York has a population of 35 million, the rest of the US is similarly over populated, water has to be rationed, there is no more food as we know it today and people are basically at each other's throats.
I am not going to reveal the plot of the story as it would be too easy to spoil it for you. I do recommend this book it is an entertaining read.
9.20.2006
17 and 18. Scarlet Surf at Makaha and Hang Dead Hawaiian Style by Patrick Morgan
I will quote what my good friend Mt. Benson had to say, "[n]eedless to say, you get more groovy babe-ballin', ass-kickin' surfer action once again with Bill Cartwright, agent for the secret undercover organization: Operation Hang Ten!" Both Excellent surfing action books.
9.19.2006
Coup d'Etat
Wow! It's been a long time since we had a good old cold war/third world style coup d'etat. The PM was in New York so the army, allied with the King, came in and overthrew him, took control of the television and radio stations and we're off to the races!
9.06.2006
16. Globalized Islam by Oliver Roy
As with many books written in English by Frenchmen this is written in exceedingly complicated English to the point that many sentences deserved a second read.
The main thesis of the author is that Moslems living in Western Europe feel deterritorialized and their paradoxical way of Westernizing Islam is by reaching back to an imaginary super pure form of Islam that has never existed. Consequently these Western Moslems are becoming even more extreme than their counterparts living in countries with a Moslem majority.
Similarly, Moslems living in the Middle East have become disenchanted with the ossification of Islam in the hands of the ruling elite and are reacting by also reaching back to a similar super pure form of Islam.
I am not educated enough on this subject to be able to tell you that his arguments are sound but they do sound reasonable.
Roy also makes another interesting point. He explains that Western intellectuals often search for an explanation for the current world in Islam itself and suggest that it is an extreme religion which has always put violence on a pedestal. He argues that this kind of thinking is wrong. Instead he posits that the ruling elite of the Middle Eastern countries have taken command of Islam and have prevented it from growing with the times as other Western religions have grown. He says that Islam has become an instrument of the Middle East elite and is not something that controls the elite.
I firmly believe in this part of his argument.
The main thesis of the author is that Moslems living in Western Europe feel deterritorialized and their paradoxical way of Westernizing Islam is by reaching back to an imaginary super pure form of Islam that has never existed. Consequently these Western Moslems are becoming even more extreme than their counterparts living in countries with a Moslem majority.
Similarly, Moslems living in the Middle East have become disenchanted with the ossification of Islam in the hands of the ruling elite and are reacting by also reaching back to a similar super pure form of Islam.
I am not educated enough on this subject to be able to tell you that his arguments are sound but they do sound reasonable.
Roy also makes another interesting point. He explains that Western intellectuals often search for an explanation for the current world in Islam itself and suggest that it is an extreme religion which has always put violence on a pedestal. He argues that this kind of thinking is wrong. Instead he posits that the ruling elite of the Middle Eastern countries have taken command of Islam and have prevented it from growing with the times as other Western religions have grown. He says that Islam has become an instrument of the Middle East elite and is not something that controls the elite.
I firmly believe in this part of his argument.
Shameless!
WASHINGTON -- President Bush acknowledged the existence of previously secret CIA prisons around the world and said 14 high-value terrorism suspects -- including the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks -- have been transferred from the system to Guantanamo Bay for trials.
Mr. Bush said the "small number" of detainees that have been kept in CIA custody include people responsible for the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000 in Yemen and the 1998 attacks on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, in addition to the 2001 attacks.
![[George Bush]](http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/HC-GF294_Bush_20060320154605.gif)
"The most important source of information on where the terrorists are hiding and what they are planning is the terrorists themselves," Mr. Bush said in a White House speech with families of those killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks making up part of the audience. "It has been necessary to move these individuals to an environment where they can be held in secret, questioned by experts and, when appropriate, prosecuted for terrorist acts."
Bush and his cronies are taking liberal democracy turning it upside down and inside out all for the advancment of their own marginal and extreme ideologies. Absolutely reprehensible.
Mr. Bush said the "small number" of detainees that have been kept in CIA custody include people responsible for the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000 in Yemen and the 1998 attacks on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, in addition to the 2001 attacks.
"The most important source of information on where the terrorists are hiding and what they are planning is the terrorists themselves," Mr. Bush said in a White House speech with families of those killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks making up part of the audience. "It has been necessary to move these individuals to an environment where they can be held in secret, questioned by experts and, when appropriate, prosecuted for terrorist acts."Bush and his cronies are taking liberal democracy turning it upside down and inside out all for the advancment of their own marginal and extreme ideologies. Absolutely reprehensible.
9.02.2006
15. The Foreign Correspondent by Alan Furst
This is the first book that I have read by Furst who, annoyingly, refers to himself as the "pre-eminent historical spy novelist of our time." I don't think so. Notwithstanding his ego, the book is an excellent if short read. It is the story of a group of Italian political resistors living in Paris in 1938 and 1939 as Mussolini strengthened his power in Italy and became ever more closely allied with Nazi Germany. The resistors main business is publishing an underground liberal paper in Italy until the Italian secret service starts killing members of their editorial committee. The resistors are naive in the world of spy craft and almost accidentally get involved in it.
It is a well written book, good summer reading.
It is a well written book, good summer reading.
9.01.2006
Is Rumsfeld such an Idiot?
I preface all of my remarks with a disclaimer that I have never been a fan of Rummy. I find his support for the war in Iraq, going into Iraq without a long term plan, thinking that he is a movie star more than the Secretary of Defense and his general neo-conservativeness quite abhorrent. But I read an op/ed piece that he wrote for the LA Times today and I wholeheartedly agree with this part of his assessment:
"The enemy we face today is different from the enemies we have faced in the past, but its goal is similar: to impose its fanatical ideology of hatred on the rest of the world."
I disagree with how he proposes to deal with "the enemy" but I don't disagree that we face this enemy and we must deal with it. Interestingly, he never actually defines this enemy other than to call it terrorism, maybe he is afraid of offending Arab Americans or our Saudi allies. So, in case anyone is unsure, the enemy he refers to is fundamentalist Islam spread from the Middle East to South East Asia.
"The enemy we face today is different from the enemies we have faced in the past, but its goal is similar: to impose its fanatical ideology of hatred on the rest of the world."
I disagree with how he proposes to deal with "the enemy" but I don't disagree that we face this enemy and we must deal with it. Interestingly, he never actually defines this enemy other than to call it terrorism, maybe he is afraid of offending Arab Americans or our Saudi allies. So, in case anyone is unsure, the enemy he refers to is fundamentalist Islam spread from the Middle East to South East Asia.
8.26.2006
14. Dirty Snow by Georges Simenon
This book is one of Simenon's psychological thrillers unrelated to his world famous Maigret detective stories. It is an amazing book both in its writing and in its story. Frank is an eighteen year old son of a prostitute coming of age in an unknown country in occupied Europe. He is morally bankrupt - murdering people without forethought or regret, inflicting emotional pain on women when they are desperately in love with him and emotionally torturing anyone who comes in contact with his life.
WARNING SPOILERS BELOW
The first half of the book relates Frank's exploits: the night he kills an army officer just for his pistol, the multiple times he screws the prostitutes in his mother's whore house and leaves them longing for some emotional output from him, the night he arranges for Sissy, his young virgin girlfriend, to be raped by Kromer and the night he kills the woman who brought him up as a child when his mother was absent just to steal a watch collection that she had.
All of this eventually catches up with him and one of the sections of the occupation authorities arrests him, and the second half of the book relates the story of his slow psychological breakdown and decay as he is held and tortured in a school converted to a prison.
This is a thoroughly 'entertaining' and well written book. I highly recommend that you read it.
WARNING SPOILERS BELOW
The first half of the book relates Frank's exploits: the night he kills an army officer just for his pistol, the multiple times he screws the prostitutes in his mother's whore house and leaves them longing for some emotional output from him, the night he arranges for Sissy, his young virgin girlfriend, to be raped by Kromer and the night he kills the woman who brought him up as a child when his mother was absent just to steal a watch collection that she had.
All of this eventually catches up with him and one of the sections of the occupation authorities arrests him, and the second half of the book relates the story of his slow psychological breakdown and decay as he is held and tortured in a school converted to a prison.
This is a thoroughly 'entertaining' and well written book. I highly recommend that you read it.
8.20.2006
"We Are Hizbullah"
Let me point some things out about these placards. First, how big is the woman in the forefront's mouth, amazing. Second, there's a placard that says, "support a caliphate." Which means that one should support a Pan-Islamic/Pan-Arab regime focussed on Sunni Islam to take over the Middle East. This is something that this is really deserving of our support. Third, we have the previously mentioned "We are all Hizbullah" poster shamelessly using injured innocents to promote an agenda that is very far removed from peace. These people make me sick.
13. The Shia Revival by Vali Nasr
Nasr's main argument is that intertwined with the general anti-Americanism and anti-Israelism of the Arabs and Iranians is a deep seated rivalry between Sunni and Shi'a Muslims.
For background, after the death of the Moslem prophet Mohammad two sects of Islam began to take shape: the Sunnis and the Shi'as. The main difference between the two is that the Sunnis believe that after Mohammad Islam should be governed by caretaker Caliphs who do nothing more than insure that Koran is implemented throughout Islamic life; while the Shi'as believe that after Mohamad's death his sons and relatives took over the administration and execution of Islam and that they continued to interpret Islam as it applied to the world. Most Shi'as believe that after Mohamad there were twelve Imams (prophets or relatives of Mohamad) who presided over their religon and they believe that the twelfth Imam disappeared before he died and will reappear in the future when Mohamad is about to return to earth. Sunnis believe in the Caliphate structure and believe that there were a number of important Caliphs after Mohamads death. The concept of Caliphs has been somewhat subordinated in today's world.
The bitterness between the two sects began immediatly after Mohamad's death but became more fierce in about 700 CE when the Shi'a Imam Hussein was on his way to what is now Saudi Arabia to claim the Caliphate but was ambushed by an army of Sunnis who killed him in Karbala in what is now Iraq.
Since then there has been a bitter divide between Sunnis and Shi'as.
Nasr believes that there is a great divide between Sunnis and Shi'as that explains much of the dynamic of current Middle East affairs. He argues that after the revolution in Iran when Khomeini was trying to export his Islamic republic to Saudi Arabia, the Arabs countered Khomeini's Shi'a ideology by promoting fundamental Sunni ideology instead. So, Saudi Arabia financed the nuclear bomb in Sunni Pakistan, supported the Taliban in formerly Sunni Afghanestan, supported (or simply did not criticize) Sunni led Iraq and tried to isolate Shi'a led Syria. The Saudi Arabian strategy led to somewhat out of control fundamentalist regimes throughout the Middle East and the current 'civil war' in Iraq.
In the mean time, Nasr argues, Iran, which is the largest Shi'a nation in the world, understood that it had lost the battle with the Saudis and focused its energies internally. Nasr claims that today Iran is ascendant, it is culturally the most vibrant country of the Middle East, it is politically the most democratic and it is intellectually the most advanced. Furthermore, Iran is now surrounded by Shi'a dominated Iraq which is being assailed by a Sunni onslaught and Shi'a dominated Afghanestan which is finding its way in the world. Nasr argues that the real battle in the middle east will be between the Sunnis and the Shi'as as they fight for influence over Iraq and Afghanestan and, to a lesser extent, Syria and Lebanon. He almost suggests that the anti-western rhetoric and actions of the Islamic fundamentalists is a by product of the greater Sunni-Shi'a war.
I personally don't believe in this great divide theory for a variety of reasons. First, the author provides little in support of his argument. He conceeds at the beginning of the book that it is a book of "big ideas" written for a mass audience so he will not be providing much support for his ideas which is okay, except that if he really wants me to buy into his arguments then I need the support. Second, there are a number of cases where his theory breaks down in real life. For example, based on his theory, Sunni Hamas should not be working with Shi'a Hezbollah - but they work very closely with each other.
This is an interesting and educational book and provides a different perspective of what is going on and even though I don't agree with all of the author's arguments, I recommend that you read it.
For background, after the death of the Moslem prophet Mohammad two sects of Islam began to take shape: the Sunnis and the Shi'as. The main difference between the two is that the Sunnis believe that after Mohammad Islam should be governed by caretaker Caliphs who do nothing more than insure that Koran is implemented throughout Islamic life; while the Shi'as believe that after Mohamad's death his sons and relatives took over the administration and execution of Islam and that they continued to interpret Islam as it applied to the world. Most Shi'as believe that after Mohamad there were twelve Imams (prophets or relatives of Mohamad) who presided over their religon and they believe that the twelfth Imam disappeared before he died and will reappear in the future when Mohamad is about to return to earth. Sunnis believe in the Caliphate structure and believe that there were a number of important Caliphs after Mohamads death. The concept of Caliphs has been somewhat subordinated in today's world.
The bitterness between the two sects began immediatly after Mohamad's death but became more fierce in about 700 CE when the Shi'a Imam Hussein was on his way to what is now Saudi Arabia to claim the Caliphate but was ambushed by an army of Sunnis who killed him in Karbala in what is now Iraq.
Since then there has been a bitter divide between Sunnis and Shi'as.
Nasr believes that there is a great divide between Sunnis and Shi'as that explains much of the dynamic of current Middle East affairs. He argues that after the revolution in Iran when Khomeini was trying to export his Islamic republic to Saudi Arabia, the Arabs countered Khomeini's Shi'a ideology by promoting fundamental Sunni ideology instead. So, Saudi Arabia financed the nuclear bomb in Sunni Pakistan, supported the Taliban in formerly Sunni Afghanestan, supported (or simply did not criticize) Sunni led Iraq and tried to isolate Shi'a led Syria. The Saudi Arabian strategy led to somewhat out of control fundamentalist regimes throughout the Middle East and the current 'civil war' in Iraq.
In the mean time, Nasr argues, Iran, which is the largest Shi'a nation in the world, understood that it had lost the battle with the Saudis and focused its energies internally. Nasr claims that today Iran is ascendant, it is culturally the most vibrant country of the Middle East, it is politically the most democratic and it is intellectually the most advanced. Furthermore, Iran is now surrounded by Shi'a dominated Iraq which is being assailed by a Sunni onslaught and Shi'a dominated Afghanestan which is finding its way in the world. Nasr argues that the real battle in the middle east will be between the Sunnis and the Shi'as as they fight for influence over Iraq and Afghanestan and, to a lesser extent, Syria and Lebanon. He almost suggests that the anti-western rhetoric and actions of the Islamic fundamentalists is a by product of the greater Sunni-Shi'a war.
I personally don't believe in this great divide theory for a variety of reasons. First, the author provides little in support of his argument. He conceeds at the beginning of the book that it is a book of "big ideas" written for a mass audience so he will not be providing much support for his ideas which is okay, except that if he really wants me to buy into his arguments then I need the support. Second, there are a number of cases where his theory breaks down in real life. For example, based on his theory, Sunni Hamas should not be working with Shi'a Hezbollah - but they work very closely with each other.
This is an interesting and educational book and provides a different perspective of what is going on and even though I don't agree with all of the author's arguments, I recommend that you read it.
8.18.2006
The French Committment
The Financial Times reported the following:
France has said it will command the UN force, but on Thursday announced it would send just 200 engineers immediately to help with the deployment of Lebanese army forces in southern Lebanon.
They have also said that they might provide naval support.
Nice.
France has said it will command the UN force, but on Thursday announced it would send just 200 engineers immediately to help with the deployment of Lebanese army forces in southern Lebanon.
They have also said that they might provide naval support.
Nice.
Israel, Lebanon and the Idiot Bush
When the latest war between Israel and Lebanon began I said (and I have witnesses) that America should pursue one of two strategies: either they should come down hard on the Israeli's immediatly after the conflict began and make them stop or they should let Israeli move forward unchecked and allow them to destroy Hezballah.
Bush and the idiot Rice did neither. Instead they let the conflict go on for a few weeks, Israel did not emerge as the victor and it did not manage to destroy Hezballah. The result of this policy is that the one thing that was going well in the Middle East, Lebanon, is now a disaster on a similar scale as Iraq.
By virtue of the fact that Israel did not achive its objectives, Hezballah has emerged victorious and is now the effective ruler of southern Lebanon and Lebanon is no longer a real country. This is reinforced by the deal that the Lebanese government has struck with Hezballah "allowing" them to keep their weapons so long as they don't show them off to the world. Hezballah's victory has undermined the legitimacy and power of the elected moderate and largely secular Lebanese government. Finally, the investigation into Rafik Harriri's assasination has all but ended in failure.
Bush's policy results in a loss for Israel, a victory for Hezballah and, most importantly, a victory for Hezballah's backer, Iran.
Seperately, I want to draw your attention to a couple of funny or ironic things that I saw during this conflict.
First, when I was looking over the pictures of the anti-war protests in London, I saw a bunch of pasty yellow toothed English people carrying sings that read, "we are Hezbollah." What does that mean? We are a bunch of people who launch missiles with the sole aim of killing Israeli civilians? We are a bunch of people who use innocent Lebanese villagers as human shields to launch these missiles? We are a bunch of people who receive arms and money from Iran? I am sick and tired of the panzys who don't understand the gravity of what is going on in the Middle East.
Second, after the war ended and after the French had committed to the UN peacekeeping force that will be going into Southern Lebanon, the French leadership come out and state that they will not provide any soldiers until Hezballah has been disarmed. Who is supposed to disarm them - the good for nothing Lebanese military or perhaps some mysterious alien force? This French request is so disingenuous that I cannot find words to describe it.
Bush and the idiot Rice did neither. Instead they let the conflict go on for a few weeks, Israel did not emerge as the victor and it did not manage to destroy Hezballah. The result of this policy is that the one thing that was going well in the Middle East, Lebanon, is now a disaster on a similar scale as Iraq.
By virtue of the fact that Israel did not achive its objectives, Hezballah has emerged victorious and is now the effective ruler of southern Lebanon and Lebanon is no longer a real country. This is reinforced by the deal that the Lebanese government has struck with Hezballah "allowing" them to keep their weapons so long as they don't show them off to the world. Hezballah's victory has undermined the legitimacy and power of the elected moderate and largely secular Lebanese government. Finally, the investigation into Rafik Harriri's assasination has all but ended in failure.
Bush's policy results in a loss for Israel, a victory for Hezballah and, most importantly, a victory for Hezballah's backer, Iran.
Seperately, I want to draw your attention to a couple of funny or ironic things that I saw during this conflict.
First, when I was looking over the pictures of the anti-war protests in London, I saw a bunch of pasty yellow toothed English people carrying sings that read, "we are Hezbollah." What does that mean? We are a bunch of people who launch missiles with the sole aim of killing Israeli civilians? We are a bunch of people who use innocent Lebanese villagers as human shields to launch these missiles? We are a bunch of people who receive arms and money from Iran? I am sick and tired of the panzys who don't understand the gravity of what is going on in the Middle East.
Second, after the war ended and after the French had committed to the UN peacekeeping force that will be going into Southern Lebanon, the French leadership come out and state that they will not provide any soldiers until Hezballah has been disarmed. Who is supposed to disarm them - the good for nothing Lebanese military or perhaps some mysterious alien force? This French request is so disingenuous that I cannot find words to describe it.
8.12.2006
12. The Chinese Bell Murders by Robert Van Gulik
A highly entertaining detective story. Written in the 1920s by a Dutch diplomat living in China but set in an unknown period in ancient China, this, and other stories in the series, follow Judge Dee as he solves crimes in the town of Poo-Yang. Judge Dee is the head of the local tribunal and seems to also serve as the head detective of the local police force. The Judge and his four loyal servants solve the Half Moon Street rape-murder, the case of the dishonest buddhist temple and the long running dispute between the Lin and Liang families. I highly recomend that you read this.
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