A hungover glance at the web

** Firstly, apart from a linkback for which we are grateful, the apostropher notes that "if you think that parts of this administration aren't actively looking for an excuse to roll tanks toward Damascus, remember that Doug Feith and Richard Perle carry huge weight in this administration a couple years after publishing this report for the Israeli Institute for Advanced Strategic & Political Studies that recommends "rolling back" Syria. Convenient how they put it all down on paper, rendering conspiracy theories passé."

Exactly. No need for conspiracy theories - it's all there. Oh, and the paper is here. Great find Jesse, thanks.



** Syriaspeak remains prominent as Gulf states warn US over Syria - "Ties between the US and Syria have long been strained Six key pro-Western Gulf Arab states have called on the United States to stop threatening Syria in the wake of the war in Iraq."

Also worth a read is Fisk's analysis of the situation:

"But Syria just might have provided a transit station for the Baath officials from Iraq. To where? My own favourite is Belarus – because its capital, Minsk, is awash in whisky, corruption and damp apartments (the first two of which would appeal to most Iraqi Baathists). Vladimir Putin, of course, would be asked to help to retrieve them and hand them over to Washington. And he would have a price, no doubt, a price involving oil concessions and Russia's already signed oil contracts in Baghdad ..."



** FAIR.org brings a great analysis of the NYT manufacturing consent - When "Doves" Lie - The New York Times plays down anti-war opinion

"After the invasion began, when more than 100,000 people in New York City demonstrated on March 22, it was front-page news the next day in the Washington Post and the Boston Globe. But the New York Times, whose offices are two blocks away from where the anti-war march started, placed the story on page B11."



** More media: How the White House plays the game

"It's the first full day of the war against Iraq, and the White House's much-vaunted discipline is in full flower. "The president isn't taking any risks with his message," says Martha Joynt Kumar, an expert on presidential communication at Towson University in Maryland, who attends most White House briefings. "So, no questions."" (liberalartsmafia.com)



** Doing the US's dirty work - Interesting expose of Colombian paramilitary carnage, inspired by the Israeli structure.

"As it stands now at the time of this writing, if Uribe and the US Embassy have their way, the AUC paramilitaries will now be demobilized as the AUC per sé and then transformed into legal entities of the Colombian state as "peasant soldiers;" trained by the army, but living in villages and not at military bases. Thus Castaño’s men will become retrained and legitimized and continue the counterinsurgent war under the aegis of the Colombian Army with the direct assistance of the United States, their bloody hands washed in State Department PR."



** And before I go off (am very tempted to cure hangover at home all day... aber es muss sein):

Habermas on Dutschke:

"Hat die Kugel das Attentaeters ihn doch noch erreicht? Damals, 1969, war Dutschke aus einem Leben der Kreativitaet herausgerissen worden. "Weitermachen", hatte Marcuse ihm am Krankenbett zugerufen, und weitergemacht hatte er dann, mit grosser Energie die Sprache, Wort fuer Wort wiederlernt - seine Vitalitaet wiedergewonnen."

In short, Marcuse at Dutschke's bedside after his assassination: "Carry on!"

Shiver down spine - Amen.