Abutilon flowers
Nigella aka Love in a Mist
Malve Silvestris - Mallow
Mimi our youngest cat10 June 2006
More Flower and Cat Pictures
After a pretty wet May the sun is out with a vengeance and the temperature is in the upper 20s (low/mid 80s in Farenheit). As a result the garden is blooming with a vengeance. I took these photos this morning. The colours are as is but I have cropped a couple of the pictures a little. Even the common flowers like the Nigella add charm and since they self seed everywhere we save on new purchases (we do that anyway by growing most things from seed now).
Abutilon flowers
Nigella aka Love in a Mist
Mimi our youngest cat
Abutilon flowersNigella aka Love in a MistMimi our youngest cat
Americans in the SS
Compared with what is now available on the British Free Corps (BFC) there is a dearth of information on the Americans who fought for Germany in WWII. Frustrating as this is , what little there is out there is still quite interesting
There is no reliable estimate of the number of Americans who fought for the Reich. Marcus Wendel’s excellent Axis History Factbook notes that in 1940 there were five US citizens in the Waffen SS in May 1940 and at least eight Americans died in its service during the war. Only two Americans are named Martin Monti and Peter Delaney. Both served in the journalism unitSS Standarte Kurt Eggers and Delaney appears to have been killed in 1945.
There is more information about Martin Monti . A lieutenant in the USAAF, Monti was also a hard line catholic who viewed the Reich as the bastion against communism. In 1944 he deserted his unit in India and made his way to Italy where he was able to take an F5 (a reconnaissance version of the P38 Lightning fighter) and fly it to Milan which was still in Axis hands. He ultimately gained the rank of 2nd Lieutenant in the Kurt Eggers unit and broadcast on Italian fascist radio.
After the war Monti was initially tried only for theft of the aircraft and after a sentence of hard labour he was able to rejoin the newly formed USA, finally leaving 1948. It was only after this that he was arrested and convicted for treason. Sentenced to 25 years in prison he was paroled in 1960.
A post on a militaria forum lists 7 American citizens who gained officer rank in the SS
Hstuf (Captain). Josef Awender, a medical doctor in the “Frundsberg” born in Philadelphia in 1913,
Ustuf (2nd Lieutenant). Robert Beimes, a signal officer in the “Hitler Jugend” born in San Francisco in 1919, whose father was a translator in the SD,
Ustuf. Dr. Hans Eckert, born in Buffalo, NY in 1917 and assigned to the SS hospital at Dachau in November 1944,
Ostubaf (Lt Colonel) . Viktor Fehsenfeld, born in Elk Rapids, Michigan in 1984 and an administrative officer in the SS-WVHA,
Hstuf. Franz Stark, born in St. Louis in 1901 and assigned to the SD,
Hstuf. Eldon Walli, born in New York City in 1913 in the SS-Kriegsberichter
Abteilung (war reporters)
Hstuf. Paul Winckler-Theede, born in New York City in 1912 and who was a military judge in the “Das Reich” division.
It is claimed that their records are available in the Berlin Document Centre. Whether this is true or not I have no idea. There is no indication whether these had renounced their citizenship before joining the SS or if they were tried after the war.
There are rumours of an American SS unit called either the American Free Corps or the George Washington Brigade. However, this appears to be just a rumour and there is no evidence whatsoever the Germans attempted to recruit American POWs for a waffen SS unit
It is a shame that little research has been done on this subject. Perhaps a historian will take it up at some stage. There is rather more information on the Americans who broadcast for Germany and Japan during WWII and I will probably talk about them at a later date
There is no reliable estimate of the number of Americans who fought for the Reich. Marcus Wendel’s excellent Axis History Factbook notes that in 1940 there were five US citizens in the Waffen SS in May 1940 and at least eight Americans died in its service during the war. Only two Americans are named Martin Monti and Peter Delaney. Both served in the journalism unitSS Standarte Kurt Eggers and Delaney appears to have been killed in 1945.
There is more information about Martin Monti . A lieutenant in the USAAF, Monti was also a hard line catholic who viewed the Reich as the bastion against communism. In 1944 he deserted his unit in India and made his way to Italy where he was able to take an F5 (a reconnaissance version of the P38 Lightning fighter) and fly it to Milan which was still in Axis hands. He ultimately gained the rank of 2nd Lieutenant in the Kurt Eggers unit and broadcast on Italian fascist radio.
After the war Monti was initially tried only for theft of the aircraft and after a sentence of hard labour he was able to rejoin the newly formed USA, finally leaving 1948. It was only after this that he was arrested and convicted for treason. Sentenced to 25 years in prison he was paroled in 1960.
A post on a militaria forum lists 7 American citizens who gained officer rank in the SS
Hstuf (Captain). Josef Awender, a medical doctor in the “Frundsberg” born in Philadelphia in 1913,
Ustuf (2nd Lieutenant). Robert Beimes, a signal officer in the “Hitler Jugend” born in San Francisco in 1919, whose father was a translator in the SD,
Ustuf. Dr. Hans Eckert, born in Buffalo, NY in 1917 and assigned to the SS hospital at Dachau in November 1944,
Ostubaf (Lt Colonel) . Viktor Fehsenfeld, born in Elk Rapids, Michigan in 1984 and an administrative officer in the SS-WVHA,
Hstuf. Franz Stark, born in St. Louis in 1901 and assigned to the SD,
Hstuf. Eldon Walli, born in New York City in 1913 in the SS-Kriegsberichter
Abteilung (war reporters)
Hstuf. Paul Winckler-Theede, born in New York City in 1912 and who was a military judge in the “Das Reich” division.
It is claimed that their records are available in the Berlin Document Centre. Whether this is true or not I have no idea. There is no indication whether these had renounced their citizenship before joining the SS or if they were tried after the war.
There are rumours of an American SS unit called either the American Free Corps or the George Washington Brigade. However, this appears to be just a rumour and there is no evidence whatsoever the Germans attempted to recruit American POWs for a waffen SS unit
It is a shame that little research has been done on this subject. Perhaps a historian will take it up at some stage. There is rather more information on the Americans who broadcast for Germany and Japan during WWII and I will probably talk about them at a later date
08 June 2006
05 June 2006
Letting the Side Down British Traitors of WWII
I have just finished Sean Murphy’s excellent Letting the Side Down which is the first book ever to attempts to cover the full range of treachery and collaboration perpetrated by Britons during WWII.
Most people here in the UK could name Lord HawHaw (aka William Joyce who was actually American.); a few could name John Amery the son of hLeopold Amery a member of Churchill’s wartime cabinet, and some will know of the British Free Corps, the tiny SS unit created in 1944. In fact there were around 200 Britons collaborated with the Reich WWII, a figure which excludes the Channel Isles the only British soil to come under German occupation.
The book commences with a brief account of the pre war fascists and Nazi supporters including, of course, Oswald Mosley,Archibald Ramsay, the Conservative MP who was interned after the Tyler Kent Affair and who conducted parliamentary business from Prison, Lord Londonderry and Unity Mitford. Less well known though were the pre war spies like Jessie Jordan, the Dundee hairdresser, and Joseph Kelly the labourer who tried to sell the plans of an ordnance factory to the Germans but got 10 years hard labour for his troubles.
The wartime penalties for pro German activity were far harsher: Rex Freeman, a railway worker and BUF (British Union of Fascists) member was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment for printing and distributing stick labels that advertised the frequency the New British Broadcasting Service, a German propaganda station. Duncan Scott- Ford, a merchant seaman, was executed for passing on shipping information to the Germans in Lisbon while George Armstrong paid the ultimate price merely for writing to the German Consul in Boston offering to place himself at the disposal of the Reich.
Dozens of Britons made broadcasts for german radio during WWII. William Joyce is well known. Less well known is Norman Baillie Stewart who had gained notoriety pre war for passing secrets to Germany and perhaps was the person for whom the title Lord Haw haw was actually invented. Joyce and Baillie Stewart acted of their own volition, others were coerced: The actor Jack Trevor (real name Anthony Steane) and Ralph Powell, nephew of Lord Baden Powell both claimed to have made broadcasts after substantial threats from the Gestapo.
PG Wodehouse who had been interned after the fall of France also made a number of innocuous broadcasts intended for his American following. While this act generated a considerable amount of hostility in Britain it was accepted that his actions were naïve rather than malicious. In the end the worst penalty he faced was being denied a knighthood until just before his death in 1975.
Perhaps one of the most squalid events was the creation of the British Free Corps more for propaganda value than anything else. The brainchild of John Amery, it was created in January 1944 and attracted from the British and Commonwealth POW population a motley crew of Nazi sympathisers, anti communists, and opportunists looking for an easier life with access to alcohol and women. Later in its existence the ranks were supplemented by a number of POWs who had committed offences (mainly consorting with German women) and were given the option of joining the BFC as an alternative to prison or the firing squad. 55 people passed through the BFC during its history but it never once reached the critical figure of 30 members. At this point it would have become an active unit and pressed into combat. While one or two members may have seen some combat in the final stages of the war the BFC was an utter failure - Its propaganda value was negligible, its fighting capabilities were less. I will write at greater length about the BFC in a future post.
Sean Murphy lists also the activities of Theodore Schurch who was hanged for Treachery, Thomas Cooper, the only Briton to receive a German combat decoration and Harold Cole who was perhaps the very worst traitor of all. Abandoned in France by the British Expeditionary Force after being imprisoned for theft, Cole become involved in running escape lines for other British and commonwealth servicemen. Ultimately,however, he betrayed the organisation to the Gestapo, an act that led to the death of approximately 50 of his former comrades. For this he would almost certainly have hanged had he not been killed in a shoot out with French police after the end of the war.
After the war the many of the traitors were put on trial. Amery and Joyce were executed for treason. Four Britons were executed for treachery. Thomas Cooper was one of two others sentenced to death but their sentences were commuted to life imprisonment. Others received a range of sentences from Life imprisonment to a few months imprisonment. Others still, including Ralph Powell, escaped punishment.
The actual damage done to the Allied war effort by these traitors was negligible but had Britain been overrun during WWII we would have seen collaboration on the scale seen in other occupied countries. The Final Solution would have wiped out the Jewish population and the size of the BFC that would certainly have fought on the Eastern Front would have been in the order of thousands. It is perhaps very fortunate that so few Britons in WWII were given the opportunity to play on the Nazi team.
For further Reading
Adrian Weale’s Superb Renegades: Hitler’s Englishmen is essential reading
There are numerous BFC related sites on the internet including This (although currently under reconstruction) and This I cannot vouch for the political orientation of some of the sites out there
The memoirs of one former member of the BFC were published posthumously. Hitler's Bastard by Eric Pleasants. Pleasants escaped punishment after the war on account that he had been been imprisoned as a spy by the Soviets. It was considered that he had been punished enough for his actions.
Stephens Study Room has a wealth of information on the trials of Joyce, Amery,
Cooper et al and is well worth a visit
Finally the transcripts of P G Wodehouse’s broadcasts can be read Here
Most people here in the UK could name Lord HawHaw (aka William Joyce who was actually American.); a few could name John Amery the son of hLeopold Amery a member of Churchill’s wartime cabinet, and some will know of the British Free Corps, the tiny SS unit created in 1944. In fact there were around 200 Britons collaborated with the Reich WWII, a figure which excludes the Channel Isles the only British soil to come under German occupation.
Archibald Ramsay
The book commences with a brief account of the pre war fascists and Nazi supporters including, of course, Oswald Mosley,Archibald Ramsay, the Conservative MP who was interned after the Tyler Kent Affair and who conducted parliamentary business from Prison, Lord Londonderry and Unity Mitford. Less well known though were the pre war spies like Jessie Jordan, the Dundee hairdresser, and Joseph Kelly the labourer who tried to sell the plans of an ordnance factory to the Germans but got 10 years hard labour for his troubles.
The wartime penalties for pro German activity were far harsher: Rex Freeman, a railway worker and BUF (British Union of Fascists) member was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment for printing and distributing stick labels that advertised the frequency the New British Broadcasting Service, a German propaganda station. Duncan Scott- Ford, a merchant seaman, was executed for passing on shipping information to the Germans in Lisbon while George Armstrong paid the ultimate price merely for writing to the German Consul in Boston offering to place himself at the disposal of the Reich.
William Joyce
Dozens of Britons made broadcasts for german radio during WWII. William Joyce is well known. Less well known is Norman Baillie Stewart who had gained notoriety pre war for passing secrets to Germany and perhaps was the person for whom the title Lord Haw haw was actually invented. Joyce and Baillie Stewart acted of their own volition, others were coerced: The actor Jack Trevor (real name Anthony Steane) and Ralph Powell, nephew of Lord Baden Powell both claimed to have made broadcasts after substantial threats from the Gestapo.
PG Wodehouse who had been interned after the fall of France also made a number of innocuous broadcasts intended for his American following. While this act generated a considerable amount of hostility in Britain it was accepted that his actions were naïve rather than malicious. In the end the worst penalty he faced was being denied a knighthood until just before his death in 1975.
BFC recruiting poster used in POW and internment camps
Perhaps one of the most squalid events was the creation of the British Free Corps more for propaganda value than anything else. The brainchild of John Amery, it was created in January 1944 and attracted from the British and Commonwealth POW population a motley crew of Nazi sympathisers, anti communists, and opportunists looking for an easier life with access to alcohol and women. Later in its existence the ranks were supplemented by a number of POWs who had committed offences (mainly consorting with German women) and were given the option of joining the BFC as an alternative to prison or the firing squad. 55 people passed through the BFC during its history but it never once reached the critical figure of 30 members. At this point it would have become an active unit and pressed into combat. While one or two members may have seen some combat in the final stages of the war the BFC was an utter failure - Its propaganda value was negligible, its fighting capabilities were less. I will write at greater length about the BFC in a future post.
BFC members Kenneth Berry (left) and Alfred Minchin (Centre) in uniform
Sean Murphy lists also the activities of Theodore Schurch who was hanged for Treachery, Thomas Cooper, the only Briton to receive a German combat decoration and Harold Cole who was perhaps the very worst traitor of all. Abandoned in France by the British Expeditionary Force after being imprisoned for theft, Cole become involved in running escape lines for other British and commonwealth servicemen. Ultimately,however, he betrayed the organisation to the Gestapo, an act that led to the death of approximately 50 of his former comrades. For this he would almost certainly have hanged had he not been killed in a shoot out with French police after the end of the war.
After the war the many of the traitors were put on trial. Amery and Joyce were executed for treason. Four Britons were executed for treachery. Thomas Cooper was one of two others sentenced to death but their sentences were commuted to life imprisonment. Others received a range of sentences from Life imprisonment to a few months imprisonment. Others still, including Ralph Powell, escaped punishment.
The actual damage done to the Allied war effort by these traitors was negligible but had Britain been overrun during WWII we would have seen collaboration on the scale seen in other occupied countries. The Final Solution would have wiped out the Jewish population and the size of the BFC that would certainly have fought on the Eastern Front would have been in the order of thousands. It is perhaps very fortunate that so few Britons in WWII were given the opportunity to play on the Nazi team.
For further Reading
Adrian Weale’s Superb Renegades: Hitler’s Englishmen is essential reading
There are numerous BFC related sites on the internet including This (although currently under reconstruction) and This I cannot vouch for the political orientation of some of the sites out there
The memoirs of one former member of the BFC were published posthumously. Hitler's Bastard by Eric Pleasants. Pleasants escaped punishment after the war on account that he had been been imprisoned as a spy by the Soviets. It was considered that he had been punished enough for his actions.
Stephens Study Room has a wealth of information on the trials of Joyce, Amery,
Cooper et al and is well worth a visit
Finally the transcripts of P G Wodehouse’s broadcasts can be read Here
04 June 2006
Will Common Sense Prevail?
Moving away again from music and back to matters Iranian, today’s Observer carried a report which indicated that Iran may be backing away from a confrontation with America and Europe over its nuclear programme: senior officials and politicians in Tehran said yesterday that proposals put forward last week might form the basis for negotiation. Iranian television reported that President Ahmadinejad had told UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan that a deal was feasible, provided Tehran kept a minimum right to atomic energy.
Meanwhile, the EU foreign affairs chief, Javier Solana, is due to arrive in Tehran shortly to hand a new negotiating offer which is backed by all major Western powers. Details of the deal have not been made public, but it is believed to include massive assistance with a civilian nuclear programme and a series of major trade concessions.
Here’s hoping something good comes out of this. I will certainly be keeping my fingers crossed.
Meanwhile, the EU foreign affairs chief, Javier Solana, is due to arrive in Tehran shortly to hand a new negotiating offer which is backed by all major Western powers. Details of the deal have not been made public, but it is believed to include massive assistance with a civilian nuclear programme and a series of major trade concessions.
Here’s hoping something good comes out of this. I will certainly be keeping my fingers crossed.
Robyn Hitchcock- De Chirico Street
This video is on Youtube features Robyn Hitchcock and violinist Deni Bonet performing the song De Chirico Street which originally apeared on his 1996 album Moss Elixir. The video is taken from Deni Bonet's public access show Duets with Deni.
03 June 2006
Shirin Ebadi and Reza Aslan
Continuing with the Iranian theme there were two items of particular interest in today’s papers. The Guardian carries an article by Reza Aslan entitled “A Giant Awakes” while the Independent carries an article about Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi
Nobel Prize winner accuses US of double standards over Iran
Shirin Ebadi is currently in London to promote her memoir Iran Awakening in which she intendeds to show correct Western stereotypes of Islam, especially the image of Muslim women as "docile, forlorn creatures”..
Mrs Ebadi wishes to see an advanced and open democracy established in Iran even though she has few illusions about it happening. She argues that this is the way to end the standoff between Iran and the West over her country's nuclear programme. "No government needs nuclear weapons, neither Iran nor America. The Iranian government claims they want a peaceful use, but the world does not accept this," she says. Therefore, if the Iranian government wants the world to trust it, it must establish a more advanced democracy at home. She believes the first step towards this must be the abolition of the Guardian Council, the religious body that vets political candidates and which barred many pro-reform politicians from running in the 2004 parliamentary election and the presidential polls last year.
Despite being viewed as an American Stooge in Iran (qv) Shirin Ebadi is highly critical of the Bush administration’s double standards over the Iran Nuclear programme:
"America says that Iran would pose a threat if it gains access to nuclear weapons because it is not a democratic country, and because its government is fundamentalist, and this could pose a danger to the whole region," she says. "But America has forgotten that Pakistan has nuclear weapons, and Pakistani Muslims are much more fundamentalist than Iranian Muslims, and Pervez Musharraf [the Pakistan President] did not come to power as a result of an election. The only difference between Iran and Pakistan is that Pakistan is friendly towards America and obeys America, while Iran does not obey America. This double standard is something that the Iranian people cannot understand."
A giant awakes
Reza Aslan, a scholar of comparative religion and the author of "No god but God - The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam." Argues that Iran’s position in the Middle East has hardly been stronger and that this is due primarily to the recent American foreign policy.
The removal of the Taliban and Saddam has effectively eliminated Iran’s two nearest enemies and has allowed it to secure its interests in Iraq and Afghanistan. Through its ties with Hizbullah, Iran has also managed to fill the vacuum left by Syria's withdrawal from Lebanon. At the same time it has taken advantage of the cut in international funding to the Palestinian authority to make up its economic shortfall, giving it a firmer foothold in the Palestinian territories.
He argues that those who imagine that bombing Iran would lead to regime change are displaying an utter ignorance of the Iranian mindset:. Unlike Iraq, which is in many ways an artificial state, Iranians, whle fragmented in other ways, are united by a distinct sense of nationalism that transcends politics or piety. The surefire way to rally the people of Iran behind a much despised regime would indeed be to drop bombs on the country
Although Iran may never have had such influence in the region it is in many ways a disunited nation: many Iranians, including some powerful conservatives, are incensed with the way negotiations with Europe have broken down under the leadership of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The merchant class is up in arms at the prospect of suffering even greater international isolation while the prominent cleric and politician Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, has gone so far as to publicly denounce the president (something unheard of in Iranian politics) for essentially destroying any hope Iran may have had to pursue its nuclear research in peace. In the meantime, the chorus of voices in Iran calling for a negotiated settlement is growing louder by the day.
These differences would be cast aside the moment the first American bomb lands on Iranian soil. Political dissent would be stifled and the regime given unchecked wartime authority to do whatever it thought best to "protect" the country. Already those activists, like the Nobel peace prize winner Shirin Ebadi, who call for an end to the nuclear showdown with the west, have been labelled American stooges and possible threats to Iran's national security.
Mr Aslan argues that the way forward for US-Iranian relations would be to put in place a package of security guarantees and economic incentives in exchange for international cooperation with its civilian nuclear programme, i.e. what is being offered to North Korea. He argues that despite its unsavoury influences Iran is no longer a rogue state teetering on the brink of a popular revolt. For better or worse, Iran is now a sturdy and stable political powerhouse in an increasingly volatile region. It is long past time for the Bush administration to begin treating it as such.
If the US can put aside its ideological reservations and confront Iran the way it confronted the Soviet Union and China - with an aggressive policy of interdependent trade relations in the hope that economic growth will foster democratic change - it could do so much more than reign in Iran's nuclear ambitions. By forcing the country out of its isolation and giving Iranians access to the global market, the US could achieve the very regime change it has been striving for all these years.
Nobel Prize winner accuses US of double standards over Iran
Shirin Ebadi is currently in London to promote her memoir Iran Awakening in which she intendeds to show correct Western stereotypes of Islam, especially the image of Muslim women as "docile, forlorn creatures”..
Mrs Ebadi wishes to see an advanced and open democracy established in Iran even though she has few illusions about it happening. She argues that this is the way to end the standoff between Iran and the West over her country's nuclear programme. "No government needs nuclear weapons, neither Iran nor America. The Iranian government claims they want a peaceful use, but the world does not accept this," she says. Therefore, if the Iranian government wants the world to trust it, it must establish a more advanced democracy at home. She believes the first step towards this must be the abolition of the Guardian Council, the religious body that vets political candidates and which barred many pro-reform politicians from running in the 2004 parliamentary election and the presidential polls last year.
Despite being viewed as an American Stooge in Iran (qv) Shirin Ebadi is highly critical of the Bush administration’s double standards over the Iran Nuclear programme:
"America says that Iran would pose a threat if it gains access to nuclear weapons because it is not a democratic country, and because its government is fundamentalist, and this could pose a danger to the whole region," she says. "But America has forgotten that Pakistan has nuclear weapons, and Pakistani Muslims are much more fundamentalist than Iranian Muslims, and Pervez Musharraf [the Pakistan President] did not come to power as a result of an election. The only difference between Iran and Pakistan is that Pakistan is friendly towards America and obeys America, while Iran does not obey America. This double standard is something that the Iranian people cannot understand."
A giant awakes
Reza Aslan, a scholar of comparative religion and the author of "No god but God - The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam." Argues that Iran’s position in the Middle East has hardly been stronger and that this is due primarily to the recent American foreign policy.
The removal of the Taliban and Saddam has effectively eliminated Iran’s two nearest enemies and has allowed it to secure its interests in Iraq and Afghanistan. Through its ties with Hizbullah, Iran has also managed to fill the vacuum left by Syria's withdrawal from Lebanon. At the same time it has taken advantage of the cut in international funding to the Palestinian authority to make up its economic shortfall, giving it a firmer foothold in the Palestinian territories.
He argues that those who imagine that bombing Iran would lead to regime change are displaying an utter ignorance of the Iranian mindset:. Unlike Iraq, which is in many ways an artificial state, Iranians, whle fragmented in other ways, are united by a distinct sense of nationalism that transcends politics or piety. The surefire way to rally the people of Iran behind a much despised regime would indeed be to drop bombs on the country
Although Iran may never have had such influence in the region it is in many ways a disunited nation: many Iranians, including some powerful conservatives, are incensed with the way negotiations with Europe have broken down under the leadership of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The merchant class is up in arms at the prospect of suffering even greater international isolation while the prominent cleric and politician Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, has gone so far as to publicly denounce the president (something unheard of in Iranian politics) for essentially destroying any hope Iran may have had to pursue its nuclear research in peace. In the meantime, the chorus of voices in Iran calling for a negotiated settlement is growing louder by the day.
These differences would be cast aside the moment the first American bomb lands on Iranian soil. Political dissent would be stifled and the regime given unchecked wartime authority to do whatever it thought best to "protect" the country. Already those activists, like the Nobel peace prize winner Shirin Ebadi, who call for an end to the nuclear showdown with the west, have been labelled American stooges and possible threats to Iran's national security.
Mr Aslan argues that the way forward for US-Iranian relations would be to put in place a package of security guarantees and economic incentives in exchange for international cooperation with its civilian nuclear programme, i.e. what is being offered to North Korea. He argues that despite its unsavoury influences Iran is no longer a rogue state teetering on the brink of a popular revolt. For better or worse, Iran is now a sturdy and stable political powerhouse in an increasingly volatile region. It is long past time for the Bush administration to begin treating it as such.
If the US can put aside its ideological reservations and confront Iran the way it confronted the Soviet Union and China - with an aggressive policy of interdependent trade relations in the hope that economic growth will foster democratic change - it could do so much more than reign in Iran's nuclear ambitions. By forcing the country out of its isolation and giving Iranians access to the global market, the US could achieve the very regime change it has been striving for all these years.
Iranian Art - Minoo Emami
From Minoo's war galleryA week or so ago I wrote about Elahe Heidari and the impact her work has had on me. Minoo Emami's work has very much the same effect.
Like Elahe, Minoo lives and works in Tehran. She is a highly regarded artist who has exhibited extensively both in Iran and abroad. Again I can thank Redwine for drawing my attention to her work.
In particular I was (and still am) blown away by her war galleries which were inspired by the personal consequences of the Iran-Iraq war, an eight year long conflict started by Saddam which cost over one million lives. For me the images of false limbs and combat fatigues are in their own way as damning an indictment of war as the poetry of Wilfred Owen.
Once again Minoo reminds us of that we should not just dwell on what is produced by American or European artists. There is an enormous wealth of talent elsewhere in the world.
Click here to access Minoo's website
Like Elahe, Minoo lives and works in Tehran. She is a highly regarded artist who has exhibited extensively both in Iran and abroad. Again I can thank Redwine for drawing my attention to her work.
In particular I was (and still am) blown away by her war galleries which were inspired by the personal consequences of the Iran-Iraq war, an eight year long conflict started by Saddam which cost over one million lives. For me the images of false limbs and combat fatigues are in their own way as damning an indictment of war as the poetry of Wilfred Owen.
Once again Minoo reminds us of that we should not just dwell on what is produced by American or European artists. There is an enormous wealth of talent elsewhere in the world.
Click here to access Minoo's website
02 June 2006
Lynching Amnesty Over the Death Penalty
Earlier in the week I posted “All roads must lead to Euston” from Nick Cohen’s Observer column (scroll down my blog). I was quite pleased to receive comments from Crowsdell who put forward some very valid concerns about aspects of the Euston Manifesto. In one of his posts he pointed to an article on the Harry's Place . Quoting analysis undertaken by Brett Lock
the author proceeds to lambast Amnesty International for lumping the USA along with Saudi Arabia, China and Iran as the world’s top executioners in 2005.
According to the author, Brett Lock shows that if the bald figures are analysed, then the per capita death penalty rate in the USA is not only much lower than the other three states listed but also many other nations that executed criminals last year
The author also points out that the USA does not execute people for political dissent, or for minor crimes as other executing nations and casts doubts on the reliability of the Amnesty’s statistics given that while the USA is open about the number of people it kills other nations are not so forthcoming.
In addition the author puts forward the idea that Amnesty ".. can’t be seen to be condemning gross human rights violations anywhere without having a dig at the US too" as possible reason then quotes a section of the Euston Manifesto which berates the left’s tendency to portray lesser abuses with far greater abuses elsewhere including a reference to an earlier statement from Amnesty where Guantanamo was equated to the Soviet gulags.
I have read this article several times and as someone who analyses figures for a living I know full well that raw figures can be misleading. Looking at the Amnesty report (see below for link) it is also clear that by far and away the biggest executor is China and that the figures provided for this country and others may well be considerably understated. All in all the author of the Harry’s Place article may have a point and including the USA in with the worst offenders may indeed be an exercise in America bashing on Amnesty’s part………..
And then one has to consider that Amnesty is using the best available figures and while it admits they may not tell the full story, the USA is the fourth biggest executor on the planet (60 executions, number three was Saudi Arabia with 86 while Pakistan was at number five with 31). While that does equate to a far lower execution rate than other nations and it is very true that the USA does not execute political prisoners, petty criminals or gays, the fact remains that the USA, (the same applies to Japan too) is utterly out of step with other developed nations by retaining and using the death penalty.
While it was certainly ill advised to equate Guantanamo, bad as it is, with the horrors of Gulag I feel that all Amnesty has done here is to stop its list of worst offenders at number four which happens to be the USA. Neither Brett Lock nor the Harry’s Place author seem to consider is that if the USA did not execute people it would not be on that list in the first place!
Not to condemn one nation for committing an act yet condemning another nation for doing so is akin to the cultural relativism that is quite rightly opposed in the Euston Manifesto.
I do not support the gratuitous condemnation of the USA that is spouted by all too many fellow leftists. However, I utterly the oppose use of the death penalty and the USA is to be condemned on this point and in no way gives other executing nations a get out of jail free card.
Death Penalty in 2005 Amnesty International
the author proceeds to lambast Amnesty International for lumping the USA along with Saudi Arabia, China and Iran as the world’s top executioners in 2005.
According to the author, Brett Lock shows that if the bald figures are analysed, then the per capita death penalty rate in the USA is not only much lower than the other three states listed but also many other nations that executed criminals last year
The author also points out that the USA does not execute people for political dissent, or for minor crimes as other executing nations and casts doubts on the reliability of the Amnesty’s statistics given that while the USA is open about the number of people it kills other nations are not so forthcoming.
In addition the author puts forward the idea that Amnesty ".. can’t be seen to be condemning gross human rights violations anywhere without having a dig at the US too" as possible reason then quotes a section of the Euston Manifesto which berates the left’s tendency to portray lesser abuses with far greater abuses elsewhere including a reference to an earlier statement from Amnesty where Guantanamo was equated to the Soviet gulags.
I have read this article several times and as someone who analyses figures for a living I know full well that raw figures can be misleading. Looking at the Amnesty report (see below for link) it is also clear that by far and away the biggest executor is China and that the figures provided for this country and others may well be considerably understated. All in all the author of the Harry’s Place article may have a point and including the USA in with the worst offenders may indeed be an exercise in America bashing on Amnesty’s part………..
And then one has to consider that Amnesty is using the best available figures and while it admits they may not tell the full story, the USA is the fourth biggest executor on the planet (60 executions, number three was Saudi Arabia with 86 while Pakistan was at number five with 31). While that does equate to a far lower execution rate than other nations and it is very true that the USA does not execute political prisoners, petty criminals or gays, the fact remains that the USA, (the same applies to Japan too) is utterly out of step with other developed nations by retaining and using the death penalty.
While it was certainly ill advised to equate Guantanamo, bad as it is, with the horrors of Gulag I feel that all Amnesty has done here is to stop its list of worst offenders at number four which happens to be the USA. Neither Brett Lock nor the Harry’s Place author seem to consider is that if the USA did not execute people it would not be on that list in the first place!
Not to condemn one nation for committing an act yet condemning another nation for doing so is akin to the cultural relativism that is quite rightly opposed in the Euston Manifesto.
I do not support the gratuitous condemnation of the USA that is spouted by all too many fellow leftists. However, I utterly the oppose use of the death penalty and the USA is to be condemned on this point and in no way gives other executing nations a get out of jail free card.
Death Penalty in 2005 Amnesty International
Getting on the Not Wife's Good Side
the not-wife as Waterhouse's Ophelia accompanied by her dark minions Robyn and TedFive years ago I was at a loss as to what to buy the not-wife for her birthday. A good friend Suzy, a muralist who lives on the Wirral, came to my rescue by offering to do a portrait of her as Waterhouse's Ophelia, an excellent choice given the not-wife's love of the Pre-raphaelite style. The not-wife was delighted and I earned quite a few brownie points!
Suzy and I remain great friends and I look forward to attending her wedding next year. In the meantime it that time of year when I have to think what to offer the not wife as a birthday present. Not being able to top the portrait, it looks like greenhouse staging this time around......
the Waterhouse original
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