Article concerning the final interrogation of Saddam Hussein. It leaves me with a feeling that execution of colourful people like this is itself rather unfortunate as he could have been the source of more information. Death as a sentence is damaging to the validity of the history that is then only recorded by the victor. You can not help but get the feeling upon reading Saddam’s point of view that the truth lies between what he claims and rationales and responsibility of the Bush Administration that abused it’s power going to war with Iraq, possibly more so than has previously been revealed, if some of what Saddam Hussein says is to be believed. Oh, you can not believe a leader who stoops to torture and WMD, I hear you say.

Death as a sentence is damaging to the validity of the history that is then only recorded by the victor.

The Independent (UK)

Is North Korea so insecure that it believes that it needs to threaten the United States in order to maintain its independence? The answer is most probably yes. As a new younger “dear leader” is anointed to the most heavily defended right of privilege in the world, ironically the ultimate product of the last communist state is the reinvention of dynastic heritage by right. God Kings do not present a very stable record. And the last couple of “dear Leaders” have been the typically paranoid delusional type that wants to barricade their country as though their culture is threatened by outside forces. What can we expect from the next?

If we define a cult as being an organisation that breeds adherents according to a political philosophy then North Korea’s gargantuan military is a tremendously successful cult that locks itself away from the rest of the world. It may be a China’s patsy – there to deflect possible aggression from USA/Japan? It is hard to understand why else China should put up with this nuclear armed expensive and recalcitrant menace on its borders. If it does fire a salvo of nukes the odds are some will go off locally and of course it would affect China badly as their missiles are not reliable enough to predict what will happen to them. If one were to land on the Chinese mainland for example, then North Korea would find itself worse than completely isolated.

Threatening the world with a nuclear showdown is a dumb path to suicide. North Korea must learn the power of diplomatic negotiation.

See also:

UK Guardian

Don McGlashen is rightfully pissed off and so he should be. TVNZ chose his song “Anchor Me” to back a “celebration” of the moment of ascension of the National Party to power. McGlashen, a leftie and proud of it is horrified that his song was used in this way. Symbolically, it brands the song as a right wing anthem which is surely is not. This branding – if it is ever used consciously by the National Party should afford a significant payment to Mr McGlashen as it is more than just playing rights at stake here. It is the politically assimilation of a very popular song.

Lay Legal assessment: It may be within terms of copyright, per se, however TVNZ may still be accountable for the political branding it has bestowed on the song, and thus conferred upon the artist. It has to consider this when representing a political change of climate, and its own ability to go beyond a single quotable use and into needing to repeat that branding and thus advance their use of the song from (albeit out of context) illustrative to a new level of meaning, that of a branding. For that – they would need to pay McGlashen the millions such rights to the song is worth.

Counter assessment: TVNZ are acting within the laws of copyright. They have paid to use the song as part of a bulk deal with the record company. This gives them editorial rights on the use of the song, in a neutral sense, so their use is not obstructed by interpretation.

Twenty years ago, there seemed to be some political alignments on both the left and right, being reflected on both sides of the world. These days – the world is more torn across the central divide. As the US ushered in a new era of left wing management and Barack Obama – the first actual human to be president since Abe Lincon perhaps – in that Obama did not come from any sort of privilege – New Zealand has voted in a very right wing government – National (i.e. conservative) is the party that now has the power, ACT is the king maker (although its credentials hang on the reputation of its leader – Rodney Hide – the yellow jacketed WASP – who gained popularity by slimming down, getting his teeth fixed and famously lumbering about on “Dancing with the Stars” – all good fodder for the mindless supermarket aisle press – who’s triumphant return carried the very right wing ACT back to power with Roger Douglas (the Freedman monitarist who out-Thatchered Thatcher) advising on Finance, no doubt – and of course the leadership of National – John Key – a stock broker who worked for Merril Lynch in New York trading currencies – these pointy head “economists” are going to dig NZ out of the looming recession by reducing taxes and slicing Government spending.

The New Deal the US has reinvoked with its democratic decision is historically the correct medicine. Key has spoken about investment in infrastructure – which is “new dealish” and will be very welcome in the difficult months ahead – as unemployment starts to rear an ugly face.

It is the end of NZ’s most successful Prime Minister – Helen Clark is destined for political sainthood in the form of a UN posting? Very likely.

DisturbingTrends welcomes the new National led government, with a hope that this political animal now out in the open will no longer camoflauge its intentions – political honesty is the best way to be reelected.

Prediction: The NZ dollar will again be overvalued and interest rates will rise? Or will it drop as foreign exchange dealers do not agree with the electorate. Bit early to see – but I wonder now if the FTA with the USA is going to be a casualty?

This conspiracy with Tama Iti is a bit of a “have”. The thought of Maori taking part in Para-Military training is not a new concept. Let me highlight a couple of things first. The New Zealand defence organizations I mean all of them the Navy, the Air-force and the Army including the S.A.S are made up of predominantly Maori or people of a high ratio of Maori blood. Check the figures out you will find I am right. This is the way New Zealand’s defence forces have been for awhile made up of predominantly Maori. Now the rumour mill has been charging along for years with rumours of an old Army truck doing the rounds throughout New Zealand, what I am saying is this truck was going from city to town to city rounding up disadvantaged Maori youth and taking them into the bush to teach them survival training. With our defence forces made up with so much Maori blood does this concept seem unbelievable? That rumour has been circulating along time before Tama Iti started doing his version. So why the big come down on him? So why has the New Zealand Police force suddenly made an example of him? They have known about this for years they never chose to prosecute anybody else. Why have they dropped the Terrorism charges and only charged his group with firearm charges. 9-11 impacted the world all over and this lead to the government in New Zealand changing their laws on how their treatment of terrorists would be. Tama is for Maori sovereignty, he could use some manners at times but I don’t believe him to be a killer. I don’t believe he has applied his signature to anybodies death. Who can blame him for taking Maori away from a life full of disadvantage and teaching them survival skills in the bush? This seems to be a test case for the New Zealand Police Force that has failed before it has even got to a hearing status. Really what are they going to do when Osama shows up at Auckland Airport? Zaoui got held when he arrived but they have since let him free. They thought he was a terrorist maybe he was but he is now free there is a thin careful line between Freedom Fighter and Terrorist. So what is the Government going to do when it happens for real the law in this country regarding terrorist’s needs to be updated for when the real threat does arrive?

On the brink

As the days tick by, the world seems to be waiting for the relief of the battle between Barack Obama and John McCain. The disquieting suspense of the inevitable is becoming unbearable, but if Hillary Clinton now wins, well…

It does seem to me that she is more likely to take the Presidential election and that Barack Obama will have to decimate McCain on the pulpit of leadership. It is what emerges from that fight that will need to then defeat a far larger dragon.

It seems to me that Barack Obama has it over the other two in terms of command presence. John McCain is too likely to have ideas based on the history of the Middle East and Europe and antagonise a war between East and West – whereas Barack Obama is the only leader who sees his country’s many problems as a non-unique status in the world.

He is the one leader who can reconcile the American dream so that it does not appear like a nightmare to the rest of the human race.

Labels: Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton, John McCain