| |
|
16. februar 2005
|
|
Will Collier has some very good thoughts on the relationship between mainstream media (MSM) and bloggers. No, we don't hate the MSM. In fact, bloggers are probably among their best customers. We just don't like being treated as idiots.
Getting back to the overall topic, what I'd like to see in the MSM is not an end to rancor, or controversy, or tough reporting. What's called for instead is an end to the myth of Olympian objectivity in the press. Reporters and editors are not higher beings--they are as subject to human foibles as anybody else--including those of bias, spite, ideology, and even hatred. It's long-past time to drop the charade and admit that fact of life. [...]
More to the point, do you really think everybody else in the world is so stupid as to believe you genuinely don't have your own opinions, or that those opinions don't affect the job you spend most of your time doing? Do you really believe that you and your peers, alone among the masses of the Earth, are specially blessed with the ability to completely separate your verbal and written communications from your personal opinions, at all times? Especially when you're talking about highly-charged, contentious issues and political races?
Disclosure and honesty, that is what we ask for.
11:58:38 PM 
|
|
Big celebrations among environmentalists across the world today, and a great excuse for the boo and the hiss towards the US (and Australia) for not ratifying the Kyoto agreement.
The really funny thing is that everybody, proponents and opponents alike, agree that the Kyoto agreement is merely symbolic. It will have no measurable effect whatsoever on the climate, even if the doomsday scenarios turn out to be correct.
Via Tim Blair: JunkScience has a Kyoto count-up page, showing us the cost of the agreement and the possible "benefits":
Firstly, the now widely acknowledged "saving" (amount of warming avoided) potential for complete implementation of Kyoto is ~0.07 °C by the year 2050. Since skeptics (e.g. Pat Michaels) and advocates (Kevin Trenberth, for example) alike have signed off on the figure we see no need to dispute it. Further, even though the US and Australia have sense enough to stay clear of energy rationing schemes like this we are prepared to cut The Protocol a great deal of slack and pretend that figure is achievable by the EU and fellow travelers.
For our cost values we basically went with the optimistic guesstimate of $150 billion per annum compliance cost.
A bloody expensive symbol which will achieve nothing of value.
US$408,372,859 and counting, fast!
And it's Bush that is the moron?
PS: If you wondered, headline is SIC.
10:22:03 PM
|
|
Dramatic report from Iran:
A large blast has been reported near the southern port city of Dailam in Iran, where the country has a nuclear power plant, according to Iranian state television.
The television report said witnesses claim Wednesday's blast was the result of a missile fired from a plane seen overhead.
"A powerful explosion was heard this morning on the outskirts of Dailam in the Bushehr province. Witnesses said that the missile was fired from an unknown plane 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the city," Iran's Arabic language Al-Alam said.
There was no immediate reaction from Iranian officials over the blast, Al-Alam said.
Senior Israeli security sources told Reuters news agency that Israel's military was not involved in any blast in Iran.
Same story from BBC News. Nothing is so far confirmed.
Update: BBC adds to the story.
Another said it may have been caused by a fuel tank dropping from an Iranian plane in the region.
It sounds quite unlikely that the US or Israel would attack now. And if there was an attack, it would have to be widely distributed to take out as many facilities as possible in one swoop. I would also expect at least some missiles to actually hit the facilities.
But this scare really emphasises the level of tension.
Update 2: Nothing to see here, Iranian officials say, move on everybody:
The interior ministry spokesman, Jahanbakhsh Khanjani, told AP: "An airplane flew over Daylam today. Minutes later, there was an explosion.
"But we have no reason to say it's a hostile attack. There is a big possibility that it was a friendly fire by mistake.
"Several such mistaken friendly fire incidents have been reported there in recent days."
Really? So the situation is very, very tense in Iran, then.
Update 3: More theories (the CNN story is constantly updated. Also check out MSNBC):
State-run television then quoted a top security official as saying the blast was caused during the construction of a dam, The Associated Press reported.
"The explosion that occurred in Dailam region was the result of detonating a path for dam-building operations," Ali Agha Mohammadi, a spokesman of the Supreme National Security Council, was quoted as saying by state television.
Mohammadi said Iran's enemies were not in a position to attack Iran. "Such reports are mostly a psychological war," he said.
If so, it appears to be working.
3:27:24 PM
|
|
Syria has now officially joined the vacancy left by Saddam Hussein in the axis of evil. The killing of Rafik Hariri in an apparent suicide attack has everyone pointing fingers at Damascus, even as there is no concrete evidence, yet. The US has recalled its embassador to Damascus, a very strong diplomatic "signal", as they say.
The killing of Hariri can hardly be ignored. He was a personal friend of Jacques Chirac, he had very good contacts with Washington DC, and he was married into the Saudi royal family. The self-made billionnaire made saviour of Lebanon (well, he made an attempt) had just incurred the wrath of terror-sponsering Syria, and then he is spectacularly killed by terrorists. The people of Lebanon are right now marching in the streets, following Hariri's burial, directly blaming Damascus.
Syria was already under fire for aiding the terroristm in Iraq. Evidence of direct involvement was reportedly found in terrorist nests in Fallujah. The heat was already up, even before this assassination. Now, as the Arab-Israeli conflict has entered a more constructive phase, the powder egg is just about to explode in Lebanon. One can't help wonder if there is a connection here.
Now Iran, the preeminent state sponsor of terrorism in this world, has announced that Iran and Syria will form a common front against overseas "threats." Syria is an occuppying power on Lebanon, and so is Iran through its terrorist group Hizbollah.
Update! Breaking news on CNN front page: "Iran state TV says unknown aircraft fires missile in deserted area in Bushehr province, where Iran has nuclear power plant."
Now, what is going on? More here.
PS: The Norwegian press is almost totally ignoring this development, instead concentrating on an alleged ice hockey game fixing scandal and the Kyoto agreement, that comes into force today. If a conflict in the Middle East that cannot be squeezed into the evil US/evil US story, the European press cannot bring itself to report it except on the most superficial level.
3:04:21 PM
|
|
Well-renowed historian Paul Johnson sees through the chaff and in his column Why Millions Say, Softly, God Bless America. The enemies of democracy are not limited to the genocidal jihadis and the old despots, because democracy has not firmly taken root in the heart of Europe, he says.
France and Germany have remained on the sidelines, greeting America's costly efforts to bring democracy to the Arab world with a mixture of vicious criticism, sneers and obstructive tactics. But then, neither nation has much of a democratic record.
The Germans have had democracy imposed on them twice by the victorious Allies, each time after a world war Germany started. German democracy is a superficial growth, and if the Socialists there continue to mismanage the economy and impoverish the people, who can say whether freedom in Germany will survive?
The French have had 12 written constitutions since 1789. None has given ordinary French people the feeling that they are really in charge of their affairs. If they have a real grievance they take to the streets and block the roads and ports, knowing from bitter experience that force is more likely to get results than arguments or votes. [...]
As for European intellectuals, who command so much power in the media, universities and opinion-forming circles, they have done everything they possibly could to abuse America's initiative in Iraq and to prevent the installation of freedom. Some make it clear that they would much prefer Iraq to be run by men like Saddam than by American-backed democrats. Of course, intellectuals pay lip service to free elections but in practice have a profound (if secret) hatred of democracy. They cannot believe that their votes should count for no more than the votes of "uneducated" people who run small businesses, work on farms and in factories and have never read Proust.
The intellectuals wanted the Iraqi elections to be defeated by terror. But now that the elections have actually taken place, they want the new government to fail. They want democracy to fail in Afghanistan as well so that they can smile smugly and say, "We told you so." For if democracy were to triumph everywhere, what role would there be for the intellectual critic? As Shakespeare put it, "Othello's occupation's gone."
Read all of it!
While you're at it, read Michael Ledeen's article hailing the new democratic revolution, and encouraging a referendum on Mullacracy in Iran. How exactly to convince Iran to let the people elect their real leaders, it does not say. Roger L. Simon believes bloggers should help start it by spreading and promoting the idea.
It is true. The new right has become the revolutionary force, the left the sneering naysayers who want stability and isolationism.
2:30:17 PM
|
|
President Bush has invited King Harald V and Queen Sonja of Norway to the White House.
The President and Mrs. Bush will host the King and Queen of Norway for lunch at the White House on March 7, 2005. The United States and Norway share a long history of friendship and a strong commitment to freedom. Norway is contributing to democracy and stability in Afghanistan, the Balkans and Iraq, and working with us to resolve conflicts and provide assistance in Sudan, Sri Lanka and elsewhere around the world. The visit of Their Majesties King Harald and Queen Sonja will mark 100 years of U.S.-Norwegian diplomatic relations.
Indeed, because 2005 marks the centennial of Norway as an independent country. In 1905 we dissolved the union with Sweden and invited a young Danish prince to become king of Norway. He became King Haakon VII after a popular referendum.
It is not the first time King Harald V visits the White House. Indeed, he practically lived in the White House before George W. Bush was even born. During World War II, when his father (to become Olav V) and grandfather king Haakon was exiled to London, the very young prince Harald was a guest of President Roosevelt in Washington DC.
2:49:33 AM
|
|
|
© Copyright 2005 Jan Haugland.
Last update: 01.03.2005; 01:30:32.
|
|
|
