The first virtue of a young man today - that is, for the next fifty years perhaps, as long as we live in fear, and religion has regained its powers - is to be incapable of enthusiasm and not to have much in the way of brains.
StendhalTag: ambition 1820 2009 confederacyofdunces
This is what you get when you found a political system on the family values of Henry VIII. At a point in the not-too-remote future, the stout heart of Queen Elizabeth II will cease to beat. At that precise moment, her firstborn son will become head of state, head of the armed forces, and head of the Church of England. In strict constitutional terms, this ought not to matter much. The English monarchy, as has been said, reigns but does not rule. From the aesthetic point of view it will matter a bit, because the prospect of a morose bat-eared and chinless man, prematurely aged, and with the most abysmal taste in royal consorts, is a distinctly lowering one.
Christopher HitchensTag: politics foreign-policy henry-viii britain monarchy kings family-values ugliness 2009 thatcher british-monarchy british-royal-family charles-prince-of-wales anglican-church elizabeth-ii
There is one key area in which Zuma has made no attempt at reconciliation whatsoever: criminal justice and security. The ministers of justice, defence, intelligence (now called 'state security' in a throwback to both apartheid and the ANC's old Stalinist past), police and communications are all die-hard Zuma loyalists. Whatever their line functions, they will also play the role they have played so ably to date: keeping Zuma out of court—and making sure the state serves Zuma as it once did Mbeki.
Mark GevisserTag: justice crime police south-africa reconciliation national-security 2009 criminal-justice apartheid communications stalinism african-national-congress cronyism jacob-zuma minister-of-state-security thabo-mbeki
What in Mandela was seen as an almost saintly ability to conciliate could, in a lesser man, be read as weak-kneed populism.
Mark GevisserTag: populism south-africa nelson-mandela 2009 jacob-zuma conciliation
Even if Zuma was to develop the authoritarian impulses of a Mugabe, he would be checked—not least by his own party, which set a continental precedent by ousting Thabo Mbeki in 2007, after it felt he had outstayed his welcome by seeking a third term as party president. The ANC appears to have set itself against that deathtrap of African democracy: the ruler for life.
Mark GevisserTag: democracy africa authoritarianism south-africa 2009 zimbabwe african-national-congress jacob-zuma 2007 robert-mugabe
Remember one thing as South Africa prepares to go to the polls this week and the world grapples with the ascendancy of the African National Congress leader Jacob Zuma: South Africa is not Zimbabwe.
In South Africa, no one doubts that Wednesday's elections will be free and fair. While there is an unacceptable degree of government corruption, there is no evidence of the wholesale kleptocracy of Robert Mugabe's elite. While there has been the abuse of the organs of state by the ruling ANC, there is not the state terror of Mugabe's Zanu-PF. And while there is a clear left bias to Zuma's ANC, there is no suggestion of the kind of voluntarist experimentation that has brought Zimbabwe to its knees.
Tag: politics elections corruption government south-africa leftism 2009 zimbabwe african-national-congress jacob-zuma robert-mugabe kleptocracy sa-general-election-2009 voluntarism zanu-pf
I really look forward to that insane hour that we spend together. I really do.
Colin FarrellTag: sex speech insane hour january 2009 12th 66th award-show golden-globes
Hamas is regularly described as 'Iranian-backed Hamas, which is dedicated to the destruction of Israel.' One will be hard put to find something like 'democratically elected Hamas, which has long been calling for a two-state settlement in accord with the international consensus'—blocked for over 30 years by the US and Israel. All true, but not a useful contribution to the Party Line, hence dispensable.
Noam ChomskyTag: democracy united-states dissent terrorism israel consensus iran 2009 israeli-palestinian-conflict hamas israel-united-states-relations gaza-war
Of course all such conclusions about appropriate actions against the rich and powerful are based on a fundamental flaw: This is us, and that is them. This crucial principle, deeply embedded in Western culture, suffices to undermine even the most precise analogy and the most impeccable reasoning.
Noam ChomskyTag: hypocrisy reasoning other israel 2009 lebanon 2006 western-world the-new-york-times 2006-lebanon-war thomas-friedman
The new crimes that the US and Israel were committing in Gaza as 2009 opened do not fit easily into any standard category—except for the category of familiarity.
Noam ChomskyTag: united-states israel 2009 war-crimes israeli-palestinian-conflict israel-united-states-relations gaza-war gaza-strip
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