Monthly Archive

A fascinating column in the Economist on the use and abuse of history by Europe’s politicians and “Eurocrats” in advancing the EU project. But different uses of history seem to coming into conflict as the EU expands.

 Just as pioneering Eurocrats toiled to create single European markets in widgets or wheat, their political masters crafted something approaching an approved single European history (challenged only in awkward-squad Britain, where the war was a matter of national pride). This history portrayed a smooth moral progression from nationalism and conflict (bad) to the sunny uplands of compromise, dialogue and border-free brotherhood (good).

Enlargement is now challenging all this—especially the recent expansion to 27 countries, including ten former communist ones. The clumsy reactions of old EU members are partly to do with ignorance. Enlargement has introduced lots of alien grievances, sending old Brussels hands scurrying to their encyclopedias to mug up on the 1920 Treaty of Trianon (hated in Hungary) and Carinthian plebiscite (it makes Slovenes fume). But less forgivably, some of the insensitivity of older club members carries a whiff of moral superiority, a sense that it is un-European (not to mention uncouth) to bear historical grudges.

European politicians have always been quick to use post-war reconciliation as a cudgel to pre-empt further debate. This can get pretty shameless. Josep Borrell, then president of the European Parliament, once dismissed campaigners against the parliament’s nonsensical monthly trek from Brussels to Strasbourg, because they were Swedish: how could Swedes understand that Strasbourg, a much fought-over border city, symbolised Franco-German reconciliation, he asked. This “historic dimension” was lost on a country that “did not participate” in the second world war (though nor did Mr Borrell’s—he is from Spain).

 As they say, read the whole thing. Fascinating stuff…

From the archives of From the Archives. You know a review is approaching greatness when it can sensibly talk about Coasian bargains and the Sandman in the same breath.

 But in my books, the best review of any work in any medium has to go to Matt Taibbi’s hilarious review/takedown of Tom Friedman’s The World is Flat from a couple of year’s ago. Choice morsels from that well-stocked pantry:

On page 174, Friedman is describing a flight he took on Southwest Airlines from Baltimore to Hartford, Connecticut. (Friedman never forgets to name the company or the brand name; if he had written The Metamorphosis, Gregor Samsa would have awoken from uneasy dreams in a Sealy Posturepedic.) Here’s what he says:

I stomped off, went through security, bought a Cinnabon, and glumly sat at the back of the B line, waiting to be herded on board so that I could hunt for space in the overhead bins.

Forget the Cinnabon. Name me a herd animal that hunts. Name me one.

This would be a small thing were it not for the overall pattern. Thomas Friedman does not get these things right even by accident. It’s not that he occasionally screws up and fails to make his metaphors and images agree. It’s that he always screws it up. He has an anti-ear, and it’s absolutely infallible; he is a Joyce or a Flaubert in reverse, incapable of rendering even the smallest details without genius. The difference between Friedman and an ordinary bad writer is that an ordinary bad writer will, say, call some businessman a shark and have him say some tired, uninspired piece of dialogue: Friedman will have him spout it. And that’s guaranteed, every single time. He never misses.

Our own Jajabor does great reviews as well. Check out his review of The Namesake , if you haven’t already.

Been meaning to post this last couple of days, now that I am done with my exams. But I’ve been laid low by a severe case of hay-fever. Somewhere in the middle of the weekend, the allergy medicines just stopped working. I actually had to go and get new medication earlier today. The weather’s been gorgeous here, but my immune system, apparently, hates it when I’m happy. (Well, immune system, I hope you are happy when I’m done scratching my eyes out and you have to deal with gangrenous pus forming yellowish-green pools in the empty sockets…) I’ve also had some odds and ends to take care of now that exams are done. But hopefully, some time in the next couple of days, the new medicinces will kick, all necessary errands will have been completed, and and I should be able to get back to posting regularly. Jajabor too assures me that he should be back to blogging when he’s done with his paper.

For those of you who are fellow sufferers from spring-time pollen and suchlike - I’ve found out that irrigating your sinuses with salt water is excellent relief.  They sell these things at the pharmacy called “Saltaire’ that gently push water into the back of the nostril. Five minutes of this, and my sinuses felt clear and my breathing unobstructed for the first time in three weeks. Even my eyes stopped itching for about 10 minutes.  Being a lawyer in the making, I should probably add a  disclaimer or two here: You’d be a fool to follow any medical advice I give here without consulting your doctor. Don’t be a fool.

They are unmasking themselves and revealing their true faces. Notwithstanding vociferous protestations, increasingly they are making clear who they really are. History may or may not be repeating itself. One thing is becoming clear though: we are not in a good place, and given their manifest instincts and indicated intentions, we will not be in a good place for a while.

Tasneem Khalil has been arrested.  The signals are unmistakeably clear.

Apropos Jajabor’s post, and Asif’s comment, Eaton’s Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier is available online (if you want to save yourself $24.95) It’s an interesting read. Jajabor’s going to be discussing it in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, “The Holy Roman Empire was neither Holy, nor Roman nor an empire. Discuss.”

Been wondering about ol’ Blighty and their role in this whole palaver that’s been the last six years. Is Blair the bastard it could be suggested or is he the one looking at a bigger picture? America the Isolationist is a worthy harbinger of the apocalypse. America Isolated could be it eventuated. Imagine the school-yard bully with not a single friend. So naturally not even a friend-of-a-friend. Not bound by anything to anyone, answerable to no-one and towering over everyone, he can claim that ice-cream you were dying for in the sun, that tape you mixed for your girl, that lunch packed by your mum , that magazine which seeing with the boys would be fun and whetever else he might fancy most times with the swipe of his arm, sometimes the clenching of his fist, and other times the friction between it and a brave boy’s skin. Isn’t the bully, the man, the entity without a friend infinitely more dangerous than the one that roams alone?

An ex-flatmate from Shrewsbury once said to me, a few weeks before Bush v Kerry,  ’Half the (world’s) problem’s Bush and Blair. We’ve got to get rid of them’. I remember agreeing with him then, but now I’m not so sure. Blair, I’ve just talked about. Bush, he’s just an easy target. More hate’s wasted on him everday than electricity in our tenement. The man’s no more than just the figurehead for an idea. An idea he probably can’t quite grasp himself. If there was evidence to suggest it was even partly shaped by him, I would feel the hatred I myself once felt towards him had succeeded in giving him at-least one nightmare from which he’d woken up in a cold sweat. Preferably right when the missus had nipped off to get a late snack. And the wind was howling. And there was a sh… I should stop.

Bush is not ‘evil’ as he has been described. Evil requires some intellect. This man clearly has none. Evil moulds National Socialism. It cannot be a mere pawn of Neo-Conservatism. I sound like I’m hating on Bush. Okay, there was a shadow falling on the window.

I’d hoped ‘Sego’ would take ‘Sarko’. But she was always chasing the game, and never looked likely. Sarkozy’s just one of those guys you know are born to be President. He’s got that perfect blend of tough rhetoric and easy charm. The Socialists needed a better candidate, but at-least she kept Le Pen out of the finale.

Can’t quite get my head around what’s heppening back home. But at-least its uniting, not dividing. I wonder if Sheikh Hasina has taken a box of chocolates back for Khaleda Zia. As ever in Bangladeshi politics, nothing can be taken for granted. So much for Dr. Yunus’ stance. He never struck me as much of a potential leader. But I didn’t expect him to be so cowed, so early.

The Spider Man duo were on Jonathan Ross couple of weeks ago. Tobey Maguire was totally out of his league. Didn’t get a single joke and really just made a fool of himself. Some of these Americans just get lost when the Brits lay on their distinctive humour. Not Kirsten Dunst though. She was a darling. Maybe dating Razorlight frontman Jonny Borrell helped her, although he’s always struck me as a bit of a ponce despite two quite solid albums. I do predict here and now though, that the next Razorlight record will be crap. Full of ballads and forays into new directions that ultimately get nowhere. Borrell’s got what he’s in it for. And that spells the end for art.

I’m hoping the new Arctic Monkeys record will be fab though. Its just come out, some of you may have heard the single off it, ‘Brainstorm’. The riff’s got an arch-spy vibe to it, but I’m sure Turner’s rambling more about scummy men up in Sheffield than men in suits in in Monaco. If that is where Sean Connery seduces that woman in red playing baccarat in Dr. No. Anyway, the Monkeys released an EP in between that phenomenal first album and this latest one, in which they themselves ask, ‘In five years’ time, will it be/Who the f___’s Arctic Monkeys?’ My answer to that is a resounding ‘No’. Definitely a band to check out, if you haven’t already. Mardy Bum, A Certain Romance, Despair in the Departure Lounge, When the Sun Goes Down and Who the F___ are Arctic Monkeys? are especially recommended.

Sir Alex Ferguson is my man of the week. What a class act. I suspect this 9th premiership crown will be his sweetest. To build one of the great teams in history and reach the pinnacle is one thing. To see that team break down, overtaken by the new kids on the block, then build another team and take the title back from the touts in  the grandest fashion by staying true to your principles is quite another. Never has this man gotten hold of a talented youngster and let him go to waste. His charges show a refinement, a maturity and a loyalty that belies the typical modern footballer’s instincts. What separates him from Jose Mourinho is that while Mourinho is  only coaching footballers, Sir Alex Ferguson is also grooming men. Respect.

There is a reason why Australia are so dominant in cricket these days. There is enough talk on how they’ve taken the game to the next level. Well, what is this next level? Is it just better batting, better bowling and better fielding? In a sense, yes. But rather than the next, I would describe it as a different level. A different level where power reigns supreme. There are two ways through which the rest can now catch up. Either match them on power(noticeable isn’t it how the only time Australia have lost something significant is when a team playing at its best matched them on power as well-I am of-course talking of the Ashes in 2005 with England led by the likes of Flintoff and Pietersen) or take the game towards another, different level. As a purist, I hope and pray this different level is based less on power. However, the right and the ability to steer a spor in a certain direction accrues only to the leader. So whoever does it has to take the throne from Australia first, and this they have to do on Australia’s terms. But I don’t see that happening too soon. The lack of any serious sort of competition at all in this great sport is nothing short of a shame. And its just-concluded showpiece, such a shambles.

Not unlike me at 4 am.

“The owners of CNG-run auto-rickshaws have reduced driving hours for the drivers to maintain the daily deposit amounting to Tk 450 fixed by the government.”

See the whole story here. Perhaps the regulation was motivated by good intentions. But this was entirely predictable. Who are the fools who come up with stuff like this?

And they say that the SOE government is headed by an economist…

I don’t make lists of books to read. The problem with lists is that you lose them. But I do have a mental pile that I have to work through somewhere along the line. I usually don’t just dump things on top of the pile in chronological order. The pile does have different levels, based on how urgently I think I need to read particular things. This year’s been particularly bad for getting things off the pile and onto the “Been-there-done-that” pile. But there is the summer to look forward to…

Three recent books have definitely (definitively?) entered the reading pile - right near the top too:

1. The new Tolkien book, Children of Hurin. I’ve read LOTR around 20 times since Matthew K. Barton (where are you, Matthew K. Barton?) introduced me to Tolkien in fifth grade. This likely makes me a dork - but what can I say? I’ve found something new in the book every time I’ve read it, a new approach to the book at every new stage of my life. (No, I don’t speak Quenya. Sindarin may be, not Quenya.)

2. This new biography of Joseph Schumpeter, of creative destruction fame.

3. Professor El-Gamal’s  book on Islamic finance. He’s always a provocative thinker.

I’m now going to go back to reading about the felony-murder rule, which is interesting only when you’re not being tested on it. I do have a lot of venting to do somewhere along the line about Professor Yunus pulling out of politics. Venting, however, will be depressing (though necessary) exercise - and one that will take more time than I have right now.

NB: Always feel free to leave suggestions for the reading pile in the comments!