hilzoy

Broken

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by hilzoy Finally, four months after his nomination, Harold Koh has been confirmed by the Senate as the State Department's legal advisor. Various Republican Senators have put holds on Koh. They threatened to filibuster, and 31 of them voted against cloture.  The Republicans who voted in favor of his nomination were Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, … Read more

R. I. P.

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by hilzoy First, Farrah Fawcett: She was enough of a star that she didn't need to make The Burning Bed, and the kind of star (all-American sex symbol) who might justifiably have wondered what effect it might have on her career. But she made it anyways, and it had an enormous effect of bringing the … Read more

Obligatory Sanford Post

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by hilzoy Well, someone has to write one. I watched his news conference, and I thought he looked at or near the end of his rope. I admire him for taking responsibility for what he did, though I don't at all admire what he did, either the 'betraying your wife and four kids' part or … Read more

One Good Move (But We Need More)

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by hilzoy I'm no happier about most of Barack Obama's record on LGBT issues than anyone else. That makes me pretty unhappy. But this, at least, is very good news: "Lawyers for President Obama are quietly drafting first-of-their kind guidelines barring workplace discrimination against transgender federal employees, officials said Tuesday. The guidelines will be in … Read more

The Past Is Past, And Thank God For That

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by hilzoy I just wanted to take a moment to give thanks for the fact that we truly don't have Dick Nixon to kick around anymore: "On Jan. 23, 1973, when the Supreme Court struck down state criminal abortion laws in Roe v. Wade, President Richard M. Nixon made no public statement. But privately, newly … Read more

How Much Will Cap And Trade Cost?

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by hilzoy Remember how cap and trade was supposed to "cost every family as much as $3,100 a year in additional energy costs"? Surprise, surprise:  "CBO estimates that the net annual economywide cost of the cap-and-trade program in 2020 would be $22 billion—or about $175 per household. That figure includes the cost of restructuring the … Read more

The Idea Of An Islamic Republic

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by hilzoy

Andrew Sullivan posted an email from a reader that I think is interesting but wrong. Its author disagrees with the idea that Mousavi and his followers are essentially trying to restore the Islamic Republic. He writes: "Mousavi, insofar as he is a vessel of Iranian contempt for and rage at Khamenei, is the undoing of the 1979 revolution, not its restoration." Partly this is because the author thinks that the Islamic Republic is identical with "the institutions created after 1979". I wouldn't describe any change to those institutions as the abandonment of the Islamic Republic, but I suppose that if one did, one might argue that that might be Mousavi's goal, though he would not describe it that way. 

However, the author also says this:

"In this contest, there is a claim on both sides for the spirit of the 1979 revolution. But there is also a recognition, I think for Mousavi, that the Islamicness of the Islamic Republic has led Iran to this depraved state of affairs."

I am not privy to Mousavi's innermost thoughts, but it would surprise me if this were true of him or of most of his followers. If you believe in Islam, the problem cannot be that the Islamic Republic is too Islamic. It has to be something else — for instance, that the Islamic Republic is insufficiently Islamic, not in the sense of not having enough mullahs in positions of power, but in the sense of not being set up in the way that a proper understanding of Islam would suggest.

What is true, I think, is that the current events in Islam will force a reexamination of the theological underpinnings of the Islamic Republic. 

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“What The Hell Do I Know!”

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by hilzoy NIAC has published an interesting account of yesterday's demonstrations. It's really worth reading. One bit that stood out: "There is a woman who is being beaten. She's horrified and hysterical but not as much as the anti-riot police officer facing her. She shrieks, 'Where can I go? You tell me go down the … Read more

More Things That Do Not Involve People Dying

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by hilzoy Here's Steven Walt's IR Guide To Parenting, in which we discover how the study of international relations helps you understand what's going on with your kids. For instance: "Once the kids are mobile, you learn about another key IR concept: the window of opportunity. You're feeding or changing Kid #1, and Kid #2 … Read more

In A Moment Of Neglect I Might Fly

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by hilzoy The woman who wrote the letter I posted last night made it through the demonstrations, and has posted another letter, about the woman who was shot in the video: "I'm here to let you know I'm alive but my sister was killed… I'm here to tell you my sister died while in her … Read more

Iran: Saturday

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by hilzoy Barack Obama: "The Iranian government must understand that the world is watching. We mourn each and every innocent life that is lost. We call on the Iranian government to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people. The universal rights to assembly and free speech must be respected, and the United … Read more

6:45 am In Tehran

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by hilzoy Via Nico Pitney, Carnegie Endowment Iran analyst Karim Sadjadpour: "The weight of the world now rests on the shoulders of Mir Hossein Mousavi. I expect that Khamenei's people have privately sent signals to him that they're ready for a bloodbath, they're prepared to use overwhelming force to crush this, and is he willing to … Read more

Coming To You Live From An Alternate Reality …

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by hilzoy Today the Washington Post, fresh from canning one of its best writers, lets Charles Krauthammer send us a dispatch from the alternate reality in which he lives. In that reality, apparently, Iranian demonstrators "await just a word that America is on their side." Joe Klein, just back from the real Tehran, asks: "They … Read more

Neocons Vindicated?

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by hilzoy

Andrew Sullivan links to " a smashing column" by Daniel Finkelstein:

"I am a neocon. Given all that has happened over the past ten years, I am sure my PR consultant would advise me to drop this label. But I don't employ a PR consultant. So, stubbornly, I cling on to the designation. It declares my belief in two things — that in every country in the world, wherever it may be and whatever its traditions, the people yearn for liberty, for free expression and for democracy; and that the spread of liberty and democracy (not necessarily through the barrel of a gun) is the only real way to bring peace to the world. I believe that what we are seeing on the streets of Iran now is a vindication of these neoconservative ideas."

Hmm. If that's what neoconservatism is, then I suppose I must be a neoconservative, or something very like one. I do not believe that everyone yearns for liberty, free expression, and democracy. I think that it took a lot of time for people to work out what, exactly, a free government would be like, and that before that happened, people could not possibly be said to have yearned for one. (Did people yearn for democracy in 12th century France?) 

On the other hand, we have worked that out now, more or less; and the idea of democracy is available to anyone who is in contact with the broader world. It's a natural idea to turn to when one's own government seems unsatisfactory, and once a people start asking why they should have no say in their government, I think it's hard for them to un-ask it, or to accept without hesitation a country in which their voices are completely excluded. So I suppose I am, for practical purposes, on board with this part of the neoconservative program.

Similarly, while I'm not sure I'd agree that "the spread of liberty and democracy (…) is the only real way to bring peace to the world", I think it would certainly help a lot. So I suppose I'm on board with that as well. This, according to Mr. Finkelstein, makes me, if not a real neoconservative, at least a pretty close approximation of one.

Which is, of course, absurd.

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There But For The Grace Of God …

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by hilzoy Charles Brown at Undiplomatic picks up a gem from John McCain that I missed yesterday (Brown's emphasis): "DAVID GREGORY: Let's get right to it on Iran. How does the U.S. deal with an emboldened Iranian President Ahmadinejad? SENATOR JOHN McCAIN: Well, we lead; we condemn the sham, corrupt election. We do what we … Read more

You’d Think This Would Settle It …

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by hilzoy In a sane world, the absence of any evidence that the Obama administration was considering reinstating the Fairness Doctrine would have prevented people from talking darkly about the end of talk radio and freedom of speech. Regrettably, we do not live in a sane world. But this exchange seems clear enough to put … Read more

A Mystery Solved!

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by hilzoy Slate answers a question about Iran that came up in comments: "In many photos, riot police wear uniforms with the English word police on them. Ambulances, too, bear the word ambulance in English. Why not use Persian words instead of their English equivalents? Because everyone knows English. Like many capital cities, Tehran has … Read more

Each Country Is What It Is, And Not Another Country

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by hilzoy There's an Eastern European theme developing on the right. Here's one version: "Someday a future president may have to apologize to Iranians for Mr. Obama's nonfeasance, just as Mr. Obama apologized for the Eisenhower administration's meddling. But the better Eisenhower parallel is with Hungary in 1956. Then as now a popular uprising coalesced … Read more

The Berlusconi Thing

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by hilzoy Note to self: Do not get on Jose Saramago's bad side (h/t): "The Berlusconi Thing by José SaramagoI don’t know what other name I could give it. It’s a thing that looks dangerously like a human, a thing that throws parties, that organises orgies and rules a country called Italy. This thing, this … Read more

Realism

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by hilzoy George Packer has written that rare thing: a thoughtful, serious, and interesting post with which I almost completely disagree. It's on the tension between realism and idealism as manifested in the Obama administration's response to Iran. I start disagreeing here: "For eight years, George W. Bush maintained that there was no tension, let alone … Read more

Tehran

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by hilzoy Here's video of the demonstration in Tehran. As you watch it, bear in mind not just that the demonstration had been banned, which means that all these people are breaking the law, but that there were rumors on various Iranian Twitter feeds that the demonstration had been cancelled, that the police had been … Read more

Iran: Sunday

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by hilzoy Laura Rozen: "Iranian opposition presidential candidate Mir Hussein Moussavi is planning a march of his supporters at 4 p.m. Monday in Tehran, Iranian sources said. He apparently went to see the supreme leader Sunday to seek a permit for it, but one hasn't yet been obtained. If he is prevented from getting permission, … Read more

Fish!

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by hilzoy From the Toronto Star (h/t CharleyCarp): "After almost eight years of captivity, each step of Khelil Mamut's freedom is a little overwhelming. The ocean, which he could hear only on windy days when the waves crashed beyond Guantanamo's razor wire rimmed fence, is now something he can wade into. People call him by his name, … Read more

Iran

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by hilzoy I don't have any more idea than anyone else what's happening in Iran. (Note to news media: please do a better job of covering this!) People who know a lot more than I do are convinced the election was stolen. (Gary Sick, Suzanne Maloney, Juan Cole, a source of Steve Clemons'.) Gordon Robison … Read more

Bermuda Does What We Will Not

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by hilzoy Yesterday, four of the Uighur detainees at Guantanamo were transferred to Bermuda. Some or all of the rest might go to Palau. Apparently, the British government is upset, and some Bermudans are worried about the effects on the tourist industry: ""When an American is watching an ad (for Bermuda) it hits my mind … Read more

Fighting Words

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by hilzoy I am trying to figure out what would possess Erick Erickson to write something like this: "You only thought leftists got excited when American soldiers got killed. As I’ve written before, leftists celebrate each and every death of each and every American solider because they view the loss of life as a vindication … Read more

Shooting

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by hilzoy The victim: "Colleagues called Stephen T. Johns "Big John," for he was well over 6 feet tall. But mostly friends recalled the security guard's constant courtesy and friendliness. "A soft-spoken, gentle giant," said Milton Talley, a former employee of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, where Johns was killed yesterday in the line of … Read more

Pirates In Parliament!

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by hilzoy I love Sweden. First the annual burning of the Christmas Goat, and now this: "Sweden's Pirate Party has won a seat in the European Parliament. The group — which campaigned on reformation of copyright and patent law — secured 7.1% of the Swedish vote. The result puts the Pirate Party in fifth place, behind … Read more

Ross Douthat Makes No Sense

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by hilzoy Ross Douthat has a very peculiar column on abortion in the New York Times. In it, he asserts, falsely, that "under current law, if you want to restrict abortion, post-viability procedures are the only kind you’re allowed to even regulate": in fact, it is possible to regulate abortions before viability, and the Supreme Court … Read more

Outing Publius

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by hilzoy Publius and others have said most of what needs saying on the topic of outing bloggers. However, I did want to address this little gem from Ed Whelan: "Law professor John Blevins (aka publius) and others seem to assume that I owed some sort of obligation to Blevins not to expose his pseudonymous blogging. … Read more

“Natural Growth”

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by hilzoy One Congressman seems to be confused about what freezing "natural growth" in West Bank settlements would mean: "Rep. Gary L. Ackerman (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House foreign affairs subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, said focusing on settlement activity "detracts" from top U.S. goals in the region. However, he added: "I … Read more

The Cairo Speech: 2

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by hilzoy This bit from Obama's speech also struck me as very strong: "Palestinians must abandon violence. Resistance through violence and killing is wrong and does not succeed. For centuries, black people in America suffered the lash of the whip as slaves and the humiliation of segregation. But it was not violence that won full and … Read more

The Cairo Speech

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by hilzoy I thought Obama's speech was really good. There was a lot to it, but I thought the key to the whole thing was this: "I am convinced that in order to move forward, we must say openly the things we hold in our hearts, and that too often are said only behind closed … Read more