Newspeak Watch

"Quiet Shells"

Essential Reading

Senate Armed Forces Committee report on torture. Blame for this hideous violation of decency and, not coincidentally, massive blow to US national interests, goes all the way to the top. Yes, I'm looking at you, W and Rummy. Oh, and the usual suspects in the neocon cabal - Feith, Wolfowitz et al. It's not a long read, and is an important one.

In other news, capitalism is eating itself, in the form of rapacious financial operators running around looking for people to blame for their own collective and individual failings. Farce.

Ostrich Syndrome

Transsexual diva Bülent Ersoy joins a long line of prominent public figures, including Orhan Pamuk, in undergoing prosecution for thoughtcrime. Criticizing the military is, as the BBC's Sarah Rainsford points out, a gamble. But what the military and its allies in the judiciary have to realize is that they have lost this one. It is no longer feasible, let alone desirable, to suppress all criticism of how the Turkish state has managed its Kurdish problem. If uncritical admiration of the military was ever established hegemonically, it has broken down by now. This is not in itself a problem. There is plenty to admire about the Turkish military. It should realize that criticism is not the enemy - that there are worse enemies, including complacency and paranoia. Let the Diva voice her concerns, let the writers examine the problem and propose solutions. The debate will be healthy. More to the point, it is already going on and is unlikely to be stopped now. So the best move is to get heads out of the sand and into the discussion.