Author: Walter

Back to Iraq 2.0

I promised I wouldn’t make predictions about the start of the war, so perhaps I can make one about the end of it. When it’s over and the dust has settled, the United States will stand supreme in the world, powerful but hated, its boot on the throat of Iraq. The international frameworks built over the last 50 years, including the United Nations, will lie in ruins or will be about to collapse. Resentful young men, hearts full of fear, hate and Allah will find refuge and a raison d’etre as explosive martyrs. The world will be less safe — for everyone. And thousands of people — soldiers, civilians, innocent or not — will be dead. And for no good reason at all.

Christopher Allbritton is a independent journalist t blog-busking (I made up that word!) his way to the war. Independents are needed as there is censorship from the front by the other media. Let’s see how he goes.

An Item I wrote exploring the ways in which psychotherapy can be political.

There is a great little – http://home.netvigator.com/%7Ekwongkf/4070pg01.htm – paper that proposes that the Net is not like other media which conform to McLuhan’s insight that media are an extension of the human senses. Rather the Internet is an extension of all other media. Just as our senses are re-shaped by the development of the ordinary media so media is re-shaped by the Net. Amputate is a word that McLuhan uses. Media amputates our senses the corollary is that the Net amputates media.

All this came beautifully to mind while listening to Frank Miller talk on public radio via the Net of course, about Daredevil, the comic he reinvented and which is now a movie and which no doubt I could download with Kazaa months before it arrives here in NZ.

There is a new development happening I think where artists, directors, producers etc. are not just cashing in on the new environment but using it creatively. Adaptation (the movie) explores this to some extent. AI had a Net event? Imagine a “happening” that was as much a book as a film as a web phenomena, not one adapting to the other, but an integrated whole.

Here is the collection

I could not get audblog to work from our NZ phone but made a quick mp3: very simple to do! I can hear it easily in my quicktime plugin, but I imagine other devices cwould work. You could also download it and play it in winamp.

listen

Will put something new here from time to time.

MotherJones.com | Commentary
This is “republican” opposition to empire, imperialism and Bush? I wonder how important that rift is within the US?

One Battlefield, Two Wars, by Justin Raimondo

Interesting bit of insight into what bin Laden is on about AND how the media supress that to suit the Bushies.

Antiwar.com

Later:
Useful, as it has regular updates and insights I am not seeing readily elswhere. Interesting to note the editor’s politics, conservative, libertarian, see here. How interesting that there is this movement on the right, which like the socialist left opposes this war, UN sanctions or not, and like the left sees it as a move towards empire.

February 02, 2003 – February 08, 2003 Archives

Tom Morrow’s weblog. The reason for war in Powell’s speech, in one line.

Working for Change features Tom’s comic.

Otautahi Christchurch New Zealand Peace Action Network

We have now confirmed Victoria Square, 1pm on February 15th as the venue.

The next planning meeting will be 6:30 pm Tuesday February 11th at the WEA. We will be finalising Picnic For Peace organising, followed by a longer-term strategy discussion at 7 pm. This is an open meeting, all are welcome.

There is lots of discussion on organising this event on the PANNZ list (see contact details below) so we recommend you join the list if you want to be involved.