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Microsoft buy Sega?

The Beast of Redmond, and the games company EA, are both considering buying the troubled Sega. According to this Reg report Microsoft may seek an established software house like Sega to boost their beleagured Xbox line. EA may also add to their portfolio of companies, Sega shares climbed by 15% on talk of a buyout or merger.

War as first resort: Simon Tisdall

Simon Tisdall in the Guardian writes about the history of war, from the perspective of the US, and argues that war is always the first resort – never the last. He lists the litany of conflicts that have involved the US. This is an excellent article.

America has been fighting wars all our lifetimes, from Korea, Vietnam and the Gulf to Serbia, Afghanistan and now, again, in Iraq. Its wars have flared hot and brief, as in Libya in 1986, Panama in 1989, and Somalia in 1992. They have run cold and long, as in its 40-year global confrontation with the Soviet Union. They have been fought by proxy, as in Angola and Mozambique, or behind the scenes as in Lebanon and Cambodia. They have been waged covertly as in Chile and Cuba, Nicaragua and El Salvador; or by invitation, as in the current Colombian “war on drugs” and the Philippines leg of the “war on terror”.

He then correctly draws a comparison with 19th century British and French colonial ambitions:

American presidents merely follow the example of earlier imperial powers, most obviously the 19th-century British and French gun boaters whose colonies, dependencies, satrapies and influence they have by stages usurped. Like them too, self-deceptively perhaps but with more objectively convincing reasons, the US also believes it acts for the greater good – to uphold values and ideals such as democracy and free speech upon which the republic was founded.

He then goes into the subject of war –

From Marathon to the Somme, from Agincourt to Austerlitz, around the world, war has been and often remains an option of first resort, not last. War may not be desirable in theory. War may be morally reprehensible. War may be hell. But as Hobbes pointed out, it is a brutal constant to which a ritual obeisance is paid.

Brilliantly and with great insight Tisdall says:

The US march on Iraq is merely the latest, sick manifestation of a world that for all its supposed modernity, remains addicted to war. Humankind’s self-destructive, self-interested apocalyptic urge is the real, abiding enemy within. Beware that old Armageddon buzz. It’s the thrill that kills.
I could not agree more – war is a part of humanity. Maybe someday we will grow out of it – if we do not, we are all doomed.

After the invasion: Jonathan Steele

Lots of good opinion pieces today. Jonathan Steele this time on the US and British plans for after the invasion, it is also well worth the read.

Blair’s “moral” case is a cynical gamble. Each of his ingredients – rapid collapse of Saddam Hussein, minimal casualties, cheering crowds and no post-war Tommy Franks – has its opposite. The war may last for months and provoke civil war and blood-letting. Tens of thousands may die or become refugees under the “shock and awe” avalanche of bombs. After victory, the US military may lord it over Iraq as insensitively as the Israelis do over the West Bank. A majority of people in Britain believe the gamble is immoral, even if it comes off as lightly as the prime minister hopes.

US imperialism tearing up the rulebook: George Monbiot

George Monbiot continues to amaze me in how closely we think alike. His article this week is not only the read of the day, but one of the best articles I have read so far this year. I will therefore quote from it extensively. I will take you through his main points.

On Saturday, President Bush warned the UN security council that accepting a new resolution authorising a war with Iraq was its “last chance” to prove “its relevance”. Four days before, a leaked document from the Pentagon showed that this final opportunity might already have passed. The US is planning to build a new generation of nuclear weapons in order to enhance its ability to launch a pre-emptive attack. This policy threatens both the comprehensive test ban treaty and the nuclear non-proliferation treaty – two of the principal instruments of global security – while endangering the international compact that the UN exists to sustain.

If the Pentagon document is true, it marks a turning point in global affairs – one of the biggest changes since the Second World War. It will completely shift the nature of nuclear weapons – and may make their use more regular – and frighteningly more normal in the future.

The Republicans’ victory in the mid-term elections last November was secured with the help of $60m from America’s big drug firms. This appears to have been a straightforward deal: we will buy the elections for you if you abandon the concession you made in Qatar. The agri-business lobbies in both the US and Europe appear to have been almost as successful: the poor nations have been forced to discuss a draft document which effectively permits the rich world to continue dumping its subsidised products in their markets.

I had not realized that drug companies donations before the mid-term elections had been so huge. It looks like the Bush administration has done an about turn – after getting some money. Nothing new there then.

Of course an economically weakened nation in possession of overwhelming military force remains a very dangerous one. Already, as I suggested last week, the US appears to be using its military machine to extend its economic life. But it is not clear that the American people would permit their government to threaten or attack other nations without even a semblance of an international political process, which is, of course, what the Bush administration is currently destroying.

I am speechless by now. Not only is Monbiot is right, he is reading the situation correctly and applying that reading to the future, I believe. Truly brilliant writing – read it.

How CNN censors the news

Robert Fisk has an article this week on the editorial process now being used within CNN. The new process is startling.

Indeed, reading a new CNN document, “Reminder of Script Approval Policy”, fairly takes the breath away. “All reporters preparing package scripts must submit the scripts for approval,” it says. “Packages may not be edited until the scripts are approved… All packages originating outside Washington, LA (Los Angeles) or NY (New York), including all international bureaus, must come to the ROW in Atlanta for approval.”

I knew CNN was bad for this kind of thing – but they just got 10 times worse.

Irish government secretly retained data

Karlin has a new story over on techno culture about data retention:

Data Protection Commissioner Mr Joe Meade revealed that former Minister for Public Enterprise Ms O’Rourke issued secret Directions for data retention last April when a dispute arose between the operators and her office over how long they should hold such data.

Apparently Irish telcos were told back in April 2003 to retain data on their customers, but to keep it a secret.

Bernie also comments on the story. As he correctly points out Cabinet level talks are kept secret for 5 years. But in another example of Irish corruption, Bertie Ahern, the Irish Premier wants that to be extented – to more than 10 years, much longer than the lifetime of a government. He cited concerns about revealing things about the Peace Process – but this is not allowed anyway.

Another indication of corruption in Irish life – I am so used to it – but I get no less angry.

Blogging archives on Radio

It is quite frustrating that the calender on the right of this page says I only really started blogging on the 11th of Feb. In fact I started blogging back in September – but I was not using Radio Userland. Can any Radio users help me? Is there anyway I can go back in time and alter my archives? I would have no problem blogging for each day back in time – but I can’t seem to find a facility to do that.

Can Dave Winer or anyone in Radio Userland help?

Secular Europe: Regis Debray

In this thought-provoking piece, Regis Debray, a former adviser to President Mitterand, essentially argues that the US has yet to mature as a political entity. I am inclined to agree about the religous zeal coming from the Bush administration. I am not sure however if you could apply that to the entire nation of America. But I have to agree with him on how Bush seems to perceive the world – in black and white.

“Old Europe” has already paid the price. It knows that the planet is too complex, too definitively plural to suffer insertion into a monotheistic binary logic: white or black, good or evil, friend or enemy.

Leave the cave-dwelling to Osama: Tom Friedman

Tom Friedman writes a somewhat humorous pieceon living in the US. He manages to get things in perspective while not being too dismissive about any threat. I love his taking the piss out of a survival kit:

The only survival purchases I’ve made since Code Orange is a new set of Ben Hogan Apex golf irons, and why my all-America survival kit would include: a movie guide, a concert schedule, Rollerblades, a bicycle – plus a reminder to attend local parent-teacher meetings, Little League baseball games, neighbourhood block parties and your book club and to get plenty of tickets for your favourite sports team.

Leave the cave-dwelling to Osama bin Laden.


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