Such is the madness of the media cycle these days that if you’re going to write about a significant event whose occurrence is predictable (say, an annniversary or a milestone), you have to get in a few days early to get noticed. Gary Younge has been pondering Obama’s first 100 days. Younge is one of the best (British) journos writing about American politics, and his writing has justly been collected in book form. So while an enormous amount of tosh will no doubt be scribbled on Wednesday (and a lot of it will probably refer to Obama’s last 100 seconds instead), I am, in this instance, pleased that Younge has got in early.
Tag Archive for 'Obama administration'
In the 2005 “dramatic documentary” The American Ruling Class, big oil heir turned Harper’s editor turned armchair socialist Lewis Lapham narrates the career choices confronting a group of shiny young Yale graduates. With their future at the crossroads, Lapham asks, will the nation’s brightest pursue private riches or commit to a pious life of public service?
Lapham, playing himself, leads his empty vessels through the streets of Manhattan, counterposing up-scale parties with wait staff slaving for tips. It’s a savvy piece of emotional manipulation designed to guilt the young rich into acknowledging the class structure that, above all else, got them to where they are. In one party scene, the hubris is intoxicating as a tipsy Ivy League cohort prepares, like their parents, to ascend to the heights of commerce, industry and influence.
Of course, this constructed ‘choice’ transcends the personal, reading as an obvious allegory for the nation as a whole. If the American working class has nothing to lose but their chains, Lapham clearly hopes a new generation will hand them the bolt cutters — a naive appeal to altruism perhaps, but one that continues to resonate as the economy tanks. Lapham’s choice is now more pressing, in that conditions have got much worse, and much easier in that elite opinion is again extolling the virtues of public service, always a potent (if submerged) strain of America’s DNA.
This post provides space for a continuation of the discussion on the previous thread about the Israeli attacks on Gaza.
As a discussion starter, there’s a wealth of interesting commentary at Open Democracy. Paul Rogers looks at the current situation and how it’s developing, and traces the US’ involvement over the last decade or so with Israeli state policy and the IDF. In another piece, Rogers tries to find some hope amidst the ruins. Vera Gowlland-Debbas examines the role of international law in the conflict, and asks whether the “Responsibility to Protect” doctrine is being shown to be mere rhetoric. Daniele Archibugi reviews the role of domestic politics in Israeli decision making. And, finally, Avi Shlaim places the current events within a historical context.
Hilzoy has something pointed to say about the “pornography of destruction” engulfing the Gaza strip and adjacent areas of Israel:
One of the many things that makes the Israeli/Palestinian conflict so utterly dispiriting is that it’s impossible to think of anything good coming of any of this. Worse than that, it’s hard to imagine that even the people involved think anything good will come of it.
What, exactly, do the Palestinians lobbing rockets into Sderot think they will accomplish? That the Israelis will look about them and say: Holy Moly, I had no idea this place was so dangerous!, and leave? Do the Israelis think: even though we’ve bombed the Palestinians a whole lot, and it’s never done much good before, maybe this time it will be different! Maybe Hamas will say: heavens, this is a pretty serious round of attacks; maybe we should just sue for peace — ? Or what?
Any form of peaceful resolution to the conflicts in Palestine and Israel has been blocked for a long time by a range of factors – including but not limited to internal Israeli politics and the decomposition of its party system, the legacy of past atrocities, an effective economic blockade of Palestine, the power balance in the Middle East and the hypocritical and empty promises of the Bush administration. If there is a “peace process”, its outlines were frozen in time long ago. Unfortunately, I think it’s probably too much to hope for that there’ll be any sort of progress under the Obama administration, particularly with Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State.

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