The field of vision has always seemed to me comparable to the ground of an archaeological excavation.

- Paul Virilio

Mr Jozef Smole, the head of the Slovene Socialist Alliance, accused Mr Milosevic of 'pouring manure' on Slovenia in a speech that portended a Serbian 'crusade' against the northern republic, widely viewed as the most liberal part of the country. 'I am deeply offended,' said Mr Smole. 'One would not expect the president of Serbia to lower himself to such slander.'

- Ian Traynor from Vienna, in The Guardian, 25th May, 1989

'Out of Afghanistan: incredible stories of the boys who walked to Europe'

devastating - here

It is undeniable, however, that foreign influence in the forms of militarism and tourism has played a very prominent role during the past few decades in making prostitution a prominent industry in Thailand.

- Sinith Sittirak

---

"It's the last place in the world where you can still be a white man"

(German bar owner resident in Thailand.)

Mr Corbett disclaimed having started anything new. The sanctuary movement had been around for more than 3,000 years, he said, strengthening or fading according to the demands of the time. As the countries south of the United States border have become less brutal, the movement has faded. In Europe, the widespread hostility to those seeking asylum from countries as far away as China and Afghanistan has touched some consciences, perhaps presaging another sanctuary movement. But a new Jim Corbett has yet to emerge to speak of the unity of humanity and such unpopular themes.

(via and).

Gëzuar Ditëlindjen!

now you are four

Class war in Britain, 2012.

To live in Westminster is a privilege, not a right

(via CH.)

Evening 11th April, 2003:

a pair of RAF CH47 Chinook helicopters swept over Iraq's western desert towards a remote rendezvous point beside Route 10, the highway that begins life on the outskirts of Baghdad before running for mile after mile towards the border with Jordan...The helicopter crews had been told that a number of detainees were under armed guard at the side of the highway. They were to pick them up after dark and take them to a prison camp. What followed was far from routine: before the night was out, one man had died on board one of the helicopters, allegedly beaten to death by RAF personnel.

[...]

By the time the helicopters had reached their destination, two of the prisoners "were found to be unresponsive", according to the squadron leader, while "there was some commotion at the front of the aircraft" because a third prisoner, a disabled man, had somehow parted company with both his prosthetic legs.

here.

Once upon a time there was a river which flowed into another river which one day men would call the Rhine. But in those days there were no men, no names and no North Sea and no island called Great Britain and the only beings who knew this river which flowed into the nameless Rhine were the fishes which swam up and down it

- Graham Swift, 15. About the Ouse, 'Waterland'

The last speaker of an ancient language in India's Andaman Islands has died at the age of about 85, a leading linguist has told the BBC.
The death of the woman, Boa Senior, was highly significant because one of the world's oldest languages, Bo, had come to an end, Professor Anvita Abbi said.
She said that India had lost an irreplaceable part of its heritage.

about two years gone

chasing the wrong priority

Back to front: Jennifer Rubin in the WaPo with her appending of Polisario and Western Sahara to a laundry list of Islamist grievance.

obviously, what else should we expect from Rubin? fair rejoinder. i have no answer.

a quote from her own column, though, lights the way.

i mean, really.

He warns: “No. 1 is the humanitarian issue.And No. 2 is the national security issue,”

here we are.

He warns: “No. 1 is the humanitarian issue.And No. 2 is the national security issue,”

fixed that for ya.

also: Polisario bundled with AQIM.

yeah?

i mean.

Andrew Lebovich: "Ask yourself why only b-siders and Rubin talk so much abt the Polisario and terrorism in North Africa"

harsh employer employee relations (coercion, punitive) in the informal economy

in the wider setting of racialised structural inequality *

(see chapter 4 of Sen's Development as Freedom for discussion of the higher death rates for African-Americans over white Americans, adjusted for income factors, and certainly not just in the category of violent deaths of young males, but all men and women, "more explanation is needed than violent deaths can provide".)

great scene



technical side-note: in the question of British and Irish actors enjoying major roles in The Wire the American accent that Idris Elba (above) takes off is some way better than that of Dominic West's plod McNulty, or Aidan Gillen's city pol Tommy Carcetti

* this would be news to Newt Gingrich, who completely elides structural racialised inequality and deprivation in his native USA in his analyses of individuals and the market