Mazher Mahmoud, the News of the World reporter who has already fooled Sophie Wessex with this scam, posed as a sheikh interested in buying Prince and Princess Michael of Kent's agreeable Gloucestershire home, Nether Lypiatt.
If he hoped Princess Michael would say something mildly embarrassing, he got what he wanted. But, aside from referring to the late Princess Diana's alleged role, in Prince Charles' eyes, as a mere "womb" to bear royal heirs - a common enough aspersion, if distasteful and untrue - she came out of it perfectly well. The elegant Princess - daughter of Gunther von Reibnitz (who was dismissed from the SS in 1944 for his devout Catholicism), and mother of two charming children, Freddie and Gabriella Windsor - came out with the kind of stuff any of us might to pass the time of day with a fake sheikh, and the story Mahmoud has cobbled together reflects this. It isn't journalism, exactly, but it seems to keep the News of the World happy.
As it happens, Princess Michael is a distant cousin of the blog's, descending from Hero Oomkens "the Younger" (+1522) and his wife Armgard (née von Oldenburg) through their daughter, Onna Oomkens von Esens, who married Otto III von Cuyk-Rietberg. But such a descendancy is probably shared with dozens of people, and is certainly not the reason for the blog's warm feelings towards her. In fact, her persecution is yet another example of how powerful newspapers attack those who are in no position properly to fight back.
The News of the World is owned by rabid anti-royalist Rupert Murdoch, who pursues his vendettas tenaciously. But for all the spin the paper puts on the story, it reflects much more badly on the paper's own scummy sensationalism, and Murdoch's sour disrespect, than it does on Princess Michael.
Full story in:News Of the World - Online Edition
Monday, September 05, 2005
German Election Debate and the Prospects for Recovery
Angela Merkel, the CDU's centrist candidate, yesterday debated with Chancellor Schöder, leader of the tired, seven-year-in-office socialist administration. By German standards it was a reasonably lively affair. The expectation was that Schröder, the "media Chancellor" would "win" through being more relaxed and plausible, but Frau Merkel held her own.
As it happens, economic prospects are beginning to look brighter in Germany. It is now the biggest exporter in the world. Some labour costs are going down: in manufacturing, for example, unit labour costs have fallen by 4.4% over the last year. Nor is the share of GDP taken by the state as catastrophically high as in, say, France (Germany: 46%; UK: 45%; France: 56%). the problems in Germany are inflexible labour policies, Byzantine tax rules and excess bureaucracy.
Encouragingly, Angela Merkel has brought in Professor Paul Kirchof as her candidate for finance minister. He is a "flat rate" tax guru, an idea which has been successfully implemented in eastern Europe and is increasingly seen as a good move in the west. Kirchof also wants to take the axe to 90,000 arcane tax rules and exemptions which impede German business and add to bureaucratic overload.
Nevertheless, the debate never really caught fire. Merkel did not savage Schröder for his economic mismanagement - even if the 5 million unemployed and the record level of debt couldn't be avoided altogether. Nor did she rebuke the Chancellor for allowing his Green party colleague Trittin (German environment minister) to blame President Bush for the ravages of Hurricane Katrina, yet another sign of the German administration's loathing of Bush. Nor did she question the widom of the socialist party chairman, Chairman Müntefering, in attacking capitalists for their "locust-like" depredations on the German economy.
Instead, Merkel seemed concerned to appear calm and collected, a serious figure with rational solutions to the country's problems. She succeeded in this. Schröder, meanwhile, was grateful to be allowed to exude statesmanlike gravitas, dissociating himself from his government's many embarrassments. He was even given the chance to pose as the loving husband, justifiyng his wife Doris' impertinent remarks - that Angela Merkel's biography was not that of a typical German woman (Merkel is on her second marriage and remains childless). Chancellor Schröder - who has banned speculation about the uncannily black glossiness of his ageing hair - told the watching millions how dearly he loved Doris, his fourth wife.
A dull debate, therefore. But these politicians have a shrewd measure of what will appeal to the German voters, and have probably given it their best shot. The polls still show a narrow overall majority for a putative CDU/CSU/FDP coalition. Grounds for cautious optimism for the centrists, goodish news for Germany.
As it happens, economic prospects are beginning to look brighter in Germany. It is now the biggest exporter in the world. Some labour costs are going down: in manufacturing, for example, unit labour costs have fallen by 4.4% over the last year. Nor is the share of GDP taken by the state as catastrophically high as in, say, France (Germany: 46%; UK: 45%; France: 56%). the problems in Germany are inflexible labour policies, Byzantine tax rules and excess bureaucracy.
Encouragingly, Angela Merkel has brought in Professor Paul Kirchof as her candidate for finance minister. He is a "flat rate" tax guru, an idea which has been successfully implemented in eastern Europe and is increasingly seen as a good move in the west. Kirchof also wants to take the axe to 90,000 arcane tax rules and exemptions which impede German business and add to bureaucratic overload.
Nevertheless, the debate never really caught fire. Merkel did not savage Schröder for his economic mismanagement - even if the 5 million unemployed and the record level of debt couldn't be avoided altogether. Nor did she rebuke the Chancellor for allowing his Green party colleague Trittin (German environment minister) to blame President Bush for the ravages of Hurricane Katrina, yet another sign of the German administration's loathing of Bush. Nor did she question the widom of the socialist party chairman, Chairman Müntefering, in attacking capitalists for their "locust-like" depredations on the German economy.
Instead, Merkel seemed concerned to appear calm and collected, a serious figure with rational solutions to the country's problems. She succeeded in this. Schröder, meanwhile, was grateful to be allowed to exude statesmanlike gravitas, dissociating himself from his government's many embarrassments. He was even given the chance to pose as the loving husband, justifiyng his wife Doris' impertinent remarks - that Angela Merkel's biography was not that of a typical German woman (Merkel is on her second marriage and remains childless). Chancellor Schröder - who has banned speculation about the uncannily black glossiness of his ageing hair - told the watching millions how dearly he loved Doris, his fourth wife.
A dull debate, therefore. But these politicians have a shrewd measure of what will appeal to the German voters, and have probably given it their best shot. The polls still show a narrow overall majority for a putative CDU/CSU/FDP coalition. Grounds for cautious optimism for the centrists, goodish news for Germany.
Saturday, September 03, 2005
Instant Judgment on New Orleans Hurricane: "Genocide" and "Holocaust" on Halliburton's Behalf
The rush to instant judgment was underway even before the true extent of what had happened was known. We dealt with Jürgen Trittin's conspicuously inane contribution last Thursday, when the Green German environment minister blamed Bush for Hurricane Katrina. And the spectacle of party hacks seeking to make capital from a human tragedy continues unabashed:
The blacks abandoned to the flooded horror of what was New Orleans are being raped, beaten, shot dead, and left to die of thirst and disease. It is nothing less than a holocaust, although it is not inaccurate to describe it as "genocide."
The writer goes on to speculate that Halliburton may get a contract to help rebuild New Orleans. Go figure, eh?
So, the hurricane's aftermath, far from being an unprecedented natural disaster, was in fact a carefully thought-out plan to kill and dispossess poor black people. They lived in the lowest-lain parts of the city, which were developed only because of the Federal Flood Insurance scheme. They couldn't escape because they didn't have cars. Their land is needed for shopping malls. QED.
The dispiriting thing about this kind of twaddle is not merely that it shows a lack of taste, pontificating whilst the dead float through the streets of New Orleans. It is a tired and predictable narrative. It betrays an unwillingness to learn from what's really happened. The guilt of the Federal government, big business and the Republicans is blithely and unthinkingly assumed. This kind of approach can never lead to new insights or accurate conclusions, but will merely entrench existing prejudice.
Link to the Choire Sicha blog.
The blacks abandoned to the flooded horror of what was New Orleans are being raped, beaten, shot dead, and left to die of thirst and disease. It is nothing less than a holocaust, although it is not inaccurate to describe it as "genocide."
The writer goes on to speculate that Halliburton may get a contract to help rebuild New Orleans. Go figure, eh?
So, the hurricane's aftermath, far from being an unprecedented natural disaster, was in fact a carefully thought-out plan to kill and dispossess poor black people. They lived in the lowest-lain parts of the city, which were developed only because of the Federal Flood Insurance scheme. They couldn't escape because they didn't have cars. Their land is needed for shopping malls. QED.
The dispiriting thing about this kind of twaddle is not merely that it shows a lack of taste, pontificating whilst the dead float through the streets of New Orleans. It is a tired and predictable narrative. It betrays an unwillingness to learn from what's really happened. The guilt of the Federal government, big business and the Republicans is blithely and unthinkingly assumed. This kind of approach can never lead to new insights or accurate conclusions, but will merely entrench existing prejudice.
Link to the Choire Sicha blog.
Friday, September 02, 2005
Michel Foucault's Misunderestimated Islamist Insights
The Nation features an article on Michel Foucault, "the gentle apostle of radiant uncertainty."
Michel Foucault, as a talismanic French intellectual superstar, is often misunderestimated by people who suspect he may have been an obscurantist, overpartial to left-wing dogma. But this is emphatically wrong: the reverse is true.
Foucault was driven by a deep scepticism about self-congratulatory Western "narratives" of modernity and progress. He saw obscurity as "a kind of despotism," even whilst admitting that his own writing sometimes suffered from effects of cafouillage (obscuram per obscurius, or making something more confused by one's explanation).
In his sole venture into journalism, Foucault went to Iran before the revolution there in 1979, and he gained some notable insights, most of which were misunderestimated, in their turn, by Foucault's leftist opponents back in Paris.
Foucault saw that the revolution was not so much against the ideas of "progress" - which many Western observers saw as represented by the Shah - but more against the corruption to which the Shah's regime had succumbed.
Additionally, Foucault was powerfully struck by Islam's "political spirituality" and saw that this could not be reduced to a retrogressive step back into anti-rationalist religiosity.
Both of these insights went counter to the approved leftist take on the Iranian revolution, and both are doubly relevant to an understanding of politicised Islam - and its declension into Islamism - today.
The Treason of the Clerics
Michel Foucault, as a talismanic French intellectual superstar, is often misunderestimated by people who suspect he may have been an obscurantist, overpartial to left-wing dogma. But this is emphatically wrong: the reverse is true.
Foucault was driven by a deep scepticism about self-congratulatory Western "narratives" of modernity and progress. He saw obscurity as "a kind of despotism," even whilst admitting that his own writing sometimes suffered from effects of cafouillage (obscuram per obscurius, or making something more confused by one's explanation).
In his sole venture into journalism, Foucault went to Iran before the revolution there in 1979, and he gained some notable insights, most of which were misunderestimated, in their turn, by Foucault's leftist opponents back in Paris.
Foucault saw that the revolution was not so much against the ideas of "progress" - which many Western observers saw as represented by the Shah - but more against the corruption to which the Shah's regime had succumbed.
Additionally, Foucault was powerfully struck by Islam's "political spirituality" and saw that this could not be reduced to a retrogressive step back into anti-rationalist religiosity.
Both of these insights went counter to the approved leftist take on the Iranian revolution, and both are doubly relevant to an understanding of politicised Islam - and its declension into Islamism - today.
The Treason of the Clerics
Thursday, September 01, 2005
Jürgen Trittin Blames Bush Again: Bad Science, Bad Morals, Bad Blood, Bad Electioneering
Jürgen Trittin, an ex-communist, is, incredibly, a minister in Chancellor Schroeder's leftist government, agitating on behalf of the environment. His appalling article this week in the Frankfurter Rundschau has received a lot of publicity. Trittin blames President Bush for Hurricane Katrina.
This is a most strange intervention on the part of one country's environment minister, reacting to the awful climatic misfortunes in another. But with an election looming on September 18th, Trittin clings to the talismanic faith this doomed German government places in anti-Americanism and its purportedly foolproof potency at winning votes.
Trittin, of course, is catastrophically wrong on all possible counts. His remarks are bad science: even if "man" (read: USA, in Trittin's view) has a significant effect on global warming, global warming has absolutely no connection with the formation of hurricanes. None. And even Trittin's beloved, handwringing, inutile Kyoto agreement, to which America doesn't subscribe, would, if implemented, have no effect on global warming for the foreseeable future.
Morally, the blog finds queasily repugnant Tritttin's crowing on the sidelines as thousands die, are injured and made homeless. Trittin should be soundly rebuked: it is simply no business of a minister - silly nitwit or not - to display Schadenfreude at such a time.
Trittin's regrettable handwringing is merely the latest installment of agitprop from a government which has never made the slightest effort to mask its deep-seated anti-Americanism - from Fischer's "we are not convinced" petulance, to the ex-Justice Minister's comparison of Bush to Hitler.
Trittin, a Green, is completely out of his depth as environment minister, hardly the most tasking of jobs. But he's not the only dud in the Bundestag - this has been the worst ever post-War German government, led by the weakest ever post-War Chancellor, and when they are all consigned to the dustbin of history on September 18th, it will be good riddance to bad rubbish in almost every conceivable way.
Frankfurter Rundschau online
This is a most strange intervention on the part of one country's environment minister, reacting to the awful climatic misfortunes in another. But with an election looming on September 18th, Trittin clings to the talismanic faith this doomed German government places in anti-Americanism and its purportedly foolproof potency at winning votes.
Trittin, of course, is catastrophically wrong on all possible counts. His remarks are bad science: even if "man" (read: USA, in Trittin's view) has a significant effect on global warming, global warming has absolutely no connection with the formation of hurricanes. None. And even Trittin's beloved, handwringing, inutile Kyoto agreement, to which America doesn't subscribe, would, if implemented, have no effect on global warming for the foreseeable future.
Morally, the blog finds queasily repugnant Tritttin's crowing on the sidelines as thousands die, are injured and made homeless. Trittin should be soundly rebuked: it is simply no business of a minister - silly nitwit or not - to display Schadenfreude at such a time.
Trittin's regrettable handwringing is merely the latest installment of agitprop from a government which has never made the slightest effort to mask its deep-seated anti-Americanism - from Fischer's "we are not convinced" petulance, to the ex-Justice Minister's comparison of Bush to Hitler.
Trittin, a Green, is completely out of his depth as environment minister, hardly the most tasking of jobs. But he's not the only dud in the Bundestag - this has been the worst ever post-War German government, led by the weakest ever post-War Chancellor, and when they are all consigned to the dustbin of history on September 18th, it will be good riddance to bad rubbish in almost every conceivable way.
Frankfurter Rundschau online
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
How to Win in Iraq
An article in Foreign Affairs, by Andrew F. Krepinevich, argues that the US should put the primary focus in Iraq on providing security - rather than confronting the terrorists - and that this approach will take at least a decade to be successful.
Link:Foreign Affairs - How to Win in Iraq - Andrew F. Krepinevich, Jr.
Link:Foreign Affairs - How to Win in Iraq - Andrew F. Krepinevich, Jr.
French FM Attacks Euro-Bank's Political Independence
The French Foreign Minister, Philippe Douste-Blazy, has called on the European Central Bank to be more repsonsive to the blandishments of national politicians. The bank's low inflation strategy has kept interest rates low and unchanged for the past 27 months, despite this not being in the interests of some EU countries, Italy especially.
The trouble is that the ECB was explicitly set up to be free from political pressure, and given a mandate to ensure price stability and a strong euro. That this is not always in the interests of the participating countries was patently clear before the euro's introduction, and was one of the main objections to it.
At Germany's instigation, the euro was to be protected by a Stability Pact, to curb free-spending, high-debt countries with an elaborate system of checks and fines. Germany has since been the worst offender against the Pact, today announcing that it will, for the fourth year running, exceed the deficit. As we noted here on January 17th, the Pact is dead, and its passing has undermined the euro's chances of survival.
If the ECB were to bow to the demands of individual countries, the currency would become the plaything of the biggest countries, who would scrap among themselves to set the monetary policy best suited to them. No-one could possibly win from such a change of tack.
The alternative is to abandon the euro and revert to national currencies. Whilst a breakaway is looking increasingly plausible, again in connection with Italy, it would represent a huge loss of face for the EU Commission and its predecessors, and an enormous setback to dreams of ever closer union. But it is high time for a feasibility study into the matter, so that European taxpayers can evaluate for themselves whether it's worth paying the price to correct this premature, crumbling monument to hubristic pan-European government.
EUobserver.com
The trouble is that the ECB was explicitly set up to be free from political pressure, and given a mandate to ensure price stability and a strong euro. That this is not always in the interests of the participating countries was patently clear before the euro's introduction, and was one of the main objections to it.
At Germany's instigation, the euro was to be protected by a Stability Pact, to curb free-spending, high-debt countries with an elaborate system of checks and fines. Germany has since been the worst offender against the Pact, today announcing that it will, for the fourth year running, exceed the deficit. As we noted here on January 17th, the Pact is dead, and its passing has undermined the euro's chances of survival.
If the ECB were to bow to the demands of individual countries, the currency would become the plaything of the biggest countries, who would scrap among themselves to set the monetary policy best suited to them. No-one could possibly win from such a change of tack.
The alternative is to abandon the euro and revert to national currencies. Whilst a breakaway is looking increasingly plausible, again in connection with Italy, it would represent a huge loss of face for the EU Commission and its predecessors, and an enormous setback to dreams of ever closer union. But it is high time for a feasibility study into the matter, so that European taxpayers can evaluate for themselves whether it's worth paying the price to correct this premature, crumbling monument to hubristic pan-European government.
EUobserver.com
New Orleans Flooded as Levees Break
The initial impact of Hurricane Katrina wasn't as cataclysmic as the hype had predicted. But in the aftermath, the levees and dykes protecting New Orleans have broken under pressure from the sea's storm-surges, flooding 80% of the city. A terrible disaster has occurred in this place of beauty and grace.
New Orleans is the blog's favourite American city, and we pray for all the victims, and hope the looting doesn't get out of hand.
Guardian Unlimited Special reports Death toll rises amid the devastation
New Orleans is the blog's favourite American city, and we pray for all the victims, and hope the looting doesn't get out of hand.
Guardian Unlimited Special reports Death toll rises amid the devastation
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
The Cunning Contentlessness of Intelligent Design
One problem with Intelligent Design is that it doesn't posit any hypotheses of its own, beyond the claim that the universe was intelligently designed. As George Gilder, a long-time affiliate of the (pro-Intelligent Design) Discovery Institute, has said: "Intelligent design itself does not have any content."
Lacking content, Intelligent Design is impossible to refute. Cunning, that.
Daniel C. Dennett explains the approach in detail in:Edge: SHOW ME THE SCIENCE by Daniel C. Dennett
Read Claude de Bigny's take on religious faith and evolution here.
Update: The Case of the Female Orgasm and Intelligent Design
Lacking content, Intelligent Design is impossible to refute. Cunning, that.
Daniel C. Dennett explains the approach in detail in:Edge: SHOW ME THE SCIENCE by Daniel C. Dennett
Read Claude de Bigny's take on religious faith and evolution here.
Update: The Case of the Female Orgasm and Intelligent Design
Monday, August 29, 2005
Peter Mandelson's Bra-Wars
Peter Mandelson has finally broken off his jaunt in Italy to help sort out the European retailing crisis he has caused in the matter of clothes imported from China.
Mandelson erected the EU's protectionist barrier to hinder cheap Chinese imports and to protect textile producers in France and Italy. Despite strong protests from Holland and Denmark, warning that a crisis would result, Commissioner Mandelson rushed through his ill-thought-out legislation.
The result is what has been described as "the worst retailing crisis since WWII". Countless orders placed by retailers before the new restrictions came into force, and already paid for, have been held up at customs for the past weeks.
Mandelson is now in China with his EU team, hoping to sort out the mess. "I hope member states will cooperate and won't prevent the speedy passage of those procedures," he said, placing the blame for his legislation squarely on the nations involved.
Whilst everyone will wish Mandy well, we must ask whether it is wise for the EU Commission to employ such men. Mandelson was a laughing stock in the UK long before his EU appointment, having twice been sacked from the British cabinet by his dear friend Tony Blair after unsavoury financial scandals.
People like Mandelson often end up being "promoted" to Brussels. It is wrongly believed they can cause less harm there. This time it is the turn of European retailers to pay the price.
Guardian Unlimited The Guardian Mandelson plan to end Chinese trade row
Mandelson erected the EU's protectionist barrier to hinder cheap Chinese imports and to protect textile producers in France and Italy. Despite strong protests from Holland and Denmark, warning that a crisis would result, Commissioner Mandelson rushed through his ill-thought-out legislation.
The result is what has been described as "the worst retailing crisis since WWII". Countless orders placed by retailers before the new restrictions came into force, and already paid for, have been held up at customs for the past weeks.
Mandelson is now in China with his EU team, hoping to sort out the mess. "I hope member states will cooperate and won't prevent the speedy passage of those procedures," he said, placing the blame for his legislation squarely on the nations involved.
Whilst everyone will wish Mandy well, we must ask whether it is wise for the EU Commission to employ such men. Mandelson was a laughing stock in the UK long before his EU appointment, having twice been sacked from the British cabinet by his dear friend Tony Blair after unsavoury financial scandals.
People like Mandelson often end up being "promoted" to Brussels. It is wrongly believed they can cause less harm there. This time it is the turn of European retailers to pay the price.
Guardian Unlimited The Guardian Mandelson plan to end Chinese trade row
Flat Tax "on the March Across Europe"
The appreal of a flat tax-rate is growing. First championed in the ex-East bloc nations of Europe, the idea is gaining high-profile adherents across Europe. In Germany, for example, Chancellor-candidate Angela Merkel of the centrist CDU has appointed Professor Paul Kirchhof, a prominent flat-rate guru, to her election team as economics spokesman. Whilst noone thinks Kirchhof will be able (should Merkel win) to translate his thinking into instant policy, it is a clear signal that Europe's largest market, and most sclerotic economy, is opening up to new fiscal approaches.
Telegraph | Opinion | Whatever Brown says, the flat tax is coming
Telegraph | Opinion | Whatever Brown says, the flat tax is coming
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