When it's Cool to be a Historian

I read the following paragraph recently from Martin Gilbert's A History of the Twentieth Century (Volume Three, 1952-1999) and thought about how much fun he must have had writing it.

The section is about the invasion of Kuwait by the army of Iraq in 1990 and the response of the global community to it. Quoting President Bush (senior) from his memoirs, Gilbert writes:

"In the first few weeks of the crisis, I happened to be reading a book on World War II by the British historian Martin Gilbert. I saw a direct analogy between what was occurring in Kuwait and what the Nazis had done, especially in Poland....I saw a chilling parallel with what the Iraqi occupiers were doing in Kuwait."

I can imagine a fictitious conversation in the future:

What did you do during the war, granddad?

Well son, I used the excellent facilities of Merton College, Oxford to write books that influenced world leaders. Now bring me my slippers, there's a good lad.

Marvellous.







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Clean Coal

Humour aside, NewScientist reports today that the World Bank's Clean Technology Fund (CTF)is coming under increasing criticism because of its funding of coal power stations in developing countries. The new US administration has withdrawn funding from the CTF.

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Stephen Fry, Pre-Columbian Art and Bristol's Bookbarn

Two unrelated threads came together this week as I was rummaging through the leftovers of Bristol's Bookbarn, which is closing its vast doors and giving away its remaining stock free of charge to anyone who turns up to take it.

One of my interests is early American history, so I was pleased to pick up from the musty warehouse two titles on pre-Columbian civilisations of America.

Meanwhile, right on cue, Twitter celebrity Stephen Fry (he's also a writer, actor and broadcaster, I believe), who has been tweeting this week about his current trip to Baja California to film Last Chance to See for the BBC, uploaded the following photo of pre-Columbian cave art from his travels.

Astonishing coincidences.

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Feeling Happy? Help is at Hand

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Satanic Verses - 20 Years On

A few links from commentators marking the 20th anniversary of the fatwa issued by the Ayatollah Khomeini against British writer Salman Rushdie over the publication of his novel The Satanic Verses.

A brief summary of the issue from the BBC web site.

Lisa Appignanesi comments on the ban from a non-censorship perspective.

The legacy of the fatwa was to make public criticism of Islam as a religion politically and socially unacceptable, says Kenan Malik.

Interview with Salman Rushdie from 1990.

The Times of India on the challenges of publishing "offensive" books post-Rusdie.

Members of the Iranian Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission explain why they believe the fatwa is still in force and should be implemented.

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British Journalists in Mass Photography Protest Outside Met Police HQ

Recent years have seen an increase in the use of police powers to interfere with the right of British citizens and journalists to take photographs in public places.

Of particular concern is a clause within the Counter Terrorism Act which sanctions the arrest and imprisonment of anyone whose pictures are "likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism."

Even before the Act becomes law on Monday 16th Feb, police have been accused on several occasions in recent months of attempting to interfere with journalists and members of the public taking photographs in public. Recent examples include:

• photographer Jess Hurd had her camera forcibly removed and was arrested for 45 minutes while taking photographs of a wedding in London's Docklands in December 2008. National Union of Journalists spokesman Jeremy Dear said of the incident: "Despite the government’s warm words about the right to photograph in public and new Home Office guidelines it appears the routine abuse of these powers goes on."
• a Metropolitan Police Sergeant attempted to forcibly remove the camera of NUJ member Justin Tallis while photographing an anti-BBC demonstration on January 24th. Full story here.
• also in January, an amateur photographer was stopped by police while taking photos of ships in Cleveland. He was asked if he had any terrorist connections and told that his details would be kept on file.
  

Meanwhile, in March 2008, Austin Mitchell MP obtained 190 signatures for an Early Day Motion
protesting the recent spate of incidents involving police officers, police community support officers or wardens attempting to confiscate cameras and other equipment or otherwise interfering with the right of citizens to take photographs in a public place.

In response to these trends, and on the day the above law officially comes into effect, photographers from across the country will be conducting a mass picture taking session outside New Scotland Yard, home of the Metropolitan Police.

The photo shoot is supported by the National Union of Journalists and the British Journal of Photography.

The event also has a facebook page here.

An opportunity for some happy snapping.

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Gaddafi, the AU and the Trials of the NGO

The following quote from Edith Jibunoh, Senior Manager of Africa Outreach, is a good example of the thin line that NGO's often have to tread when they build partnerships with national governments and international political bodies.

On the one hand, they do not want to alienate host nations by making critical remarks which might result in their humanitarian work being undermined or permission to work denied. On the other hand, if they are tasked with reporting on a specific event - in this case the recent African Union summit in Addis Ababa - then they cannot exactly say nothing at all.

Read between the lines of Ms Jibunoh's report for an insight into future debates (heated ones!) that the AU will face in the coming few years and also the opportunities for NGO's to further hone their diplomatic skills.

The summit also announced the appointment of Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi as Chairman of the AU and Gaddafi used the opportunity of his inauguration to restate the case for an African Union government. Gaddafi’s position insists that the only way Africa can meet the challenges of globalization and the fight against poverty, without Western interference, will be through a united government, with Africa speaking with one voice. Gaddafi would also like to see a single passport for free movement of African citizens, and a single military force for the continent. Gaddafi has strong support from Senegal’s President Wade but he faced strong opposition from other nations, led by South Africa, who reported that African countries were not ready and the idea was a long way off from implementation.

The discussions were lengthy and heated at times, but the final agreed resolution was to change the AU Commission into an Authority, after leaders rejected the initial proposal to transform the commission immediately, into a union government. Former Chairman of the AU, President Kikwete of Tanzania, said an adoption of a union government had to be preceded by a study of the legal ramifications so that the sovereignty of the member countries would not be compromised. The details of the structure for the new authority will be agreed at a special session in the next three months with plans to formally launch at the next AU summit in July. Views on the desired speed of integration from AU authority to AU government varied from nine to thirty-five years but all leaders agreed that the continent needed to speak with one voice on international issues, especially trade and climate change.

Presumably, the Colonel won't still be President of Libya in thirty-five years, despite being granted the grand title of King of Kings by African tribal chiefs in 2008.

Source.

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Cluster Bombs - Why the World Needs the Ban

News that Sri Lanka's last functioning hospital in the country's northern war zone has been hit by cluster bombs is a grim reminder of why the world needs to implement the treaty signed in Dublin last year banning the production, transfer, stockpiling and use of cluster munitions.

Reports of the bombing of the hospital in the area of Puthukkudiyiruppu were communicated by U.N. spokesman Gordon Weiss who said that despite the earlier evacuation of the hospital, 15 U.N. staff members and 81 members of their families were apparently trapped in the immediate area, which is one of the last regions of Sri Lanka to remain under control of the Tamil Tigers movement. Tamil fighters have been fighting for an independent homeland in the north of Sri Lanka for over 25 years. Casualty figures for this latest attack are currently unknown.

Disputed video footage from an alleged earlier cluster bomb attack in Sri Lanka appears to show fragments of munitions with cyrillic markings, indicating a possible Russian source to the cluster bombs allegedly owned by the Sri Lankan military.

The 2008 Dublin agreement was signed by 111 countries despite the absence at the conference of the major producers of cluster bombs - the United States, China, Russia, Israel, India and Pakistan.

Cluster bombs scatter smaller munitions across a wide area on impact, causing widespread destruction. Such weapons also cause a long-term danger to civilians, especially children, who may pick up unexploded bomblets by mistake.

The government of Sri Lanka publicaly denies using cluster munitions in its long campaign against the Tamil seperatist movement. Sri Lanka is not a signatory to the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions.

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Gaddafi - Head of African Union?

Diplomatic sources in Egypt are quoted as saying that Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has been elected by member states as the head of the African Union who have been meeting this weekend in Addis Ababa.

If true, the news is a significant achievement for Libya's head of state, who came to power in a military coup in 1969 and is the world's longest-standing head of government. As reported on this blog, the Colonel has been making efforts in recent years to reintegrate Libya into the international community following years of diplomatic isolation and UN sanctions. These efforts included hosting African tribal chiefs in Libya last summer, a gathering which included the acclamation of Colonel Gaddafi as "king of kings".

The African Union's aims include accelerating "the political and socio-economic integration of the continent" while Colonel Gaddafi himself has advocated the introduction of a common African currency. The Colonel is clearly not an Afro-skeptic.

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Random Links

Tried ecocho yet?

If you were unsettled by the recent academic study by Harvard physicist Alex Wissner-Gross on the amount of CO2 generated by each Google search, ecocho may be of more than passing interest.

Powered by Yahoo, the search engine takes a portion of its ad revenue and uses it to pay for trees to be planted.

With over 6,000 trees currently planted, the site is a modest step in the right direction of helping to green the internet, a project which is currently in its infancy.

The carbon offsetting is verified by accounts KPMG and by Australia's Global Carbon Exchange.

Ecocho can be easily integrated into IE and Firefox though I found the code for embedding it into iGoogle was incomplete.

I use it most days to supplement my Google searches if I know more or less what I'm looking for and need a simple way in to the right URL.

Make sure you use the right country option on the top right of the home page and why not give it a try.

As the page says, "You search, we grow trees."

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