Mick Hartley

A powerful piece at Pulse from Farouk Mardam-Bey, a Syrian historian, author and editor who has been living in exile in France since 1965:

But how could one fail to explode in anger when one reads statements in support of the regime of the Assads, father and son, issued by men and women who claim to stand on the left, and who should therefore sympathize with struggles for justice everywhere? How could one fail to become exasperated when one hears them praise the independence, secularism, progressive character, and even “socialism” of a lawless clan that took power in an army coup more than forty-five years ago and whose only concern is to keep exerting power forever? “Assad forever”, “Assad or nobody”, “Assad or we burn the country”, chant Assad’s partisans. And his “leftist” supporters nod approvingly under the pretext that there is no other choice: it’s either him or ISIS....

...neither jihadi intrusion nor the shortcomings of the self-proclaimed representatives of the Syrian revolution, nor any argument used to justify the unjustifiable, can invalidate two fundamental facts: that the Syrians had a thousand reasons to revolt, and that they did so with exceptional courage, under conditions of near-universal indifference, countering the ruling clan’s limitless terror, Iran’s imperial ambitions and, since September 2015, a US-approved Russian military intervention that has already killed several thousand civilians.... neither jihadi intrusion nor the shortcomings of the self-proclaimed representatives of the Syrian revolution, nor any argument used to justify the unjustifiable, can invalidate two fundamental facts: that the Syrians had a thousand reasons to revolt, and that they did so with exceptional courage, under conditions of near-universal indifference, countering the ruling clan’s limitless terror, Iran’s imperial ambitions and, since September 2015, a US-approved Russian military intervention that has already killed several thousand civilians.

How can anyone seriously describe as “secular” a regime that, since its beginning and in order to perpetuate itself indefinitely, has striven to poison relations between religious communities, held Alawis and Christians hostage to its policies, presided over the contamination of Syrian society by the most obscurantist form of Salafism, and has manipulated all sorts of jihadists, and not only in Syria?

How “progressive” is it to promote the wildest type of capitalism, impoverishing and marginalizing millions of citizens who barely survive in the suburbs of the main cities? These impoverished Syrians were the main social component of the revolution, and they became the main target of the regime’s heavy artillery, barrel bombs and chemical weapons. “Kill them to the last” demanded the Shabbiha (Assad’s thugs) from the beginning of the uprising, so that the new “progressive” bourgeoisie could securely plunder the nation’s wealth and pile up billions of dollars in fiscal paradises!

If the above is not enough, one can also remind Assad’s “leftwing” supporters of the crimes against humanity perpetrated with complete impunity by Bashar’s father, Hafez, during his thirty years of autocratic rule. Two locations summarize them: the city of Hama, where over 20,000 people, possibly 30,000, were massacred in 1982, and the prison of Palmyra, the equivalent of an extermination camp where the jailers used to boast about turning the men they tortured into insects. It is this same impunity that some on the left alas want to extend to Bashar Al-Assad, the principal culprit responsible for the ongoing disaster with over ten million displaced, hundreds of thousands of dead, tens of thousands imprisoned facing torture and summary executions in jail.

It hadn't occurred to me until I read this article by Jerry Saltz, but those photos taken by Burhan Ozbilici of the assassination of Russian ambassador Andrey Karlov in the Ankara art gallery are indeed rather remarkable:

[Photos: Burhan Ozbilici/AP]

They're beautifully framed, and they tell the story. First the somewhat smug features of the wretched ambassador, with his assassin out-of-focus, lurking behind. Then the really great shot: the killer triumphant. Then, he finishes the job. If it had been staged as a photo-op or some kind of publicity stunt the gunman couldn't have asked for better. 

The photographer seems completely unconcerned about his own safety. He will have assumed, no doubt, that the assassin would have no interest in shooting him - on the contrary, he would have wanted to have his audacity, and his message, captured on film. Still, how many of us would have risked that sort of sudden calculation, when faced with a madman with a gun which he'd just used? - and continued to use. 

Others weren't so brave:

[Photo: Burhan Ozbilici/AP]

You can almost sense Ozbilici's disdain for these cowering observers as he leaned over them and clicked. Though I do rather like the man on the right, who has the look of someone who's seen it all before, and is wondering why he keeps bothering to come to these official affairs. Hasn't he learnt by now? - they always end badly.

How do galleries compete with this? It does rather puts the Turner Prize to shame. 

I browsed this photography book yesterday in the Tate Modern bookshop - The Walk: August Eriksson. Lovely photos:

[Photos © August Eriksson]

It took me a while to work out that this walk wasn't in Eriksson's native Sweden at all, but was in fact in Japan: Kumano Kodō, to be precise - a series of ancient pilgrimage routes. That's because the actual location of the walk is not - as you might naively think - of any significance whatsoever. It's all about the philosophy:

The Walk entails a tension, indeed a paradox, between the subject and the medium. The subject, the walk, is about process, physical movement, step after step further along the path; while the medium, the photograph, is an arrested moment of seeing. August Eriksson captures the corporeal movement by seriality and repetition. Sixty-six images follow one after another, all with the same strict composition: the path, seen from the eye level of the walker, disappears into the vanishing point of the image. The images urges me on to browse further, to continue moving from spread to spread, following along in the repetition and variation in the images.

It can't be long before your neighbour's holiday snaps will be similarly presented....

"I was trying to emphasise the paradoxical nature of the photography of tourism, whereby the actual flowing physical corporality of the holiday is broken up into frozen serial moments in time, with Debbie and the children pictured by the hotel swimming pool in brief staccato tableaux, interspersed with seemingly random images in a restaurant, or in front of a church, or on a boat, in which you the viewer are tantalisingly there-yet-not-there - Heidegger's famous da-aber-nicht-da, which captures so perfectly the modern existential dilemma of the tourist - from which a narrative may be constructed, captured somehow by the very seriality and repetition of the pictures, which, inevitably I think, compels further exploration..."

"Yes, well, I'm not sure about that Brian. Good lord, is that the time? We'll have to be getting back I'm afraid...."

Down the Lea:

More from the Daily NK:

An unprecedented conference was recently held in Seoul, focusing on the abusive reality of North Korea's human rights violations as relayed by the perpetrators themselves rather than the victims. The event underscored the systematic nature of oppression in the country and the need for a unique and determined response.

  The event saw defectors who previously served as officials belonging to the Ministry of People’s Security (North Korea’s police force) and Group 109 (a department that suppresses anti-socialist activity) in North Korea confess their past involvement in human rights violations. The evening was co-hosted on December 19 by the organizations North Korea Intellectuals Solidarity and Citizens' Alliance for North Korean Human Rights. Despite the diverse experiences of the speakers and the spectrum of human rights violations described, each speaker consistently stated that Kim Jong Un is ultimately responsible for every crime against humanity in North Korea and should be tried by the International Criminal Court (ICC). 

  “When I was in North Korea, I used to punish people who were regarded as ideologically compromised, members of anti-Party groups, promoters of capitalism, and other law-breakers in North Korean society,” said a defector who referred to himself as Mr Kim. Kim was part of a surveillance unit tasked with ferreting out ‘anti-socialist’ elements in addition to his job as a professor at Hamhung Computer Technology University.

  Mr. Kim also conveyed detailed information on the human rights violations he engaged in, and his efforts to prevent North Koreans from accessing the outside world.

  "In 2000, I caught three middle school students watching the Korean TV series 'Hourglass' during a random house search in the Donghungsan District of Hamhung City. It turned out that the videotape was bought by the son of a Provincial People's Committee's secretary so we interrogated the father. During the interrogation, he was tortured every day and beaten with clubs, with all of his fingers broken." 

  "At the time, I was not aware of the fact that torturing people was against international law. I want to make an atonement to the people who were tortured, if they are still alive," Mr. Kim added.

Never mind "against international law". Did it not occur to him that torturing people was just plain wrong?

The anti-surveillance body carrying out these acts was created in 1983, comprising the most loyal personnel selected from the Party, military, and security organs under Kim Jong Il's direct orders. Mr Kim testified that agents including himself had to report every censorship infraction and punishment to the Party and were only able to act on the Party's orders.

Another defector, who previously worked for the Hamhung Railway Ministry as a safety agent stated, "I regret the anti-human crimes I committed during my days in North Korea. In North Korea, there is no concept of human rights, so beating people under the name of the state is actually considered patriotic. North Korea is not much different to a society of slaves where people cannot complain, even if someone is beaten to death for no reason."...

Carla Thomas's break-out hit, from 1966:

It's an unusual and unforgiving close-up to start with, then after 30 seconds we pull back - and see that she's surrounded by a bunch of hippies, on a beach. We immediately understand why they concentrate on the close-up. She bravely makes the best of it, despite that grumpy kid behind her.

Daughter of Rufus "Walking the Dog" Thomas, Carla wrote this when she was just fifteen:

Although this single would eventually chart within the Top 10 on the pop chart and within the Top 5 on the R&B chart, it had an inauspicious beginning. Initially recorded at the Thomas family home, Rufus shopped the song to Vee-Jay Records in Chicago. Vee-Jay never followed through or actively pursued securing the distribution rights. Because of his belief in the song's potential, Rufus returned to Memphis and in the summer of 1960, Thomas would cut the teen love song that she wrote when she was only 15 years old. The song was released by Rufus and Carla in October 1960, to not much fanfare. However, by February 1961, the song was being distributed nationally through Atlantic Records just as Thomas was in the midst of her first year at Tennessee A&I University in Nashville. The success of the single also propelled Thomas into the spotlight, as she performed on American Bandstand. According to Thomas, “The record was young-sounding, romantic and it expressed what a lot of people wanted to say at that age, but still, I was surprised at how well it did”. Not only did this song provide a launching pad to Thomas' first album, but it also gave Stax Records national exposure and label recognition.

Her greatest musical legacy is probably King and Queen, the 1967 album of duets she did with Otis Redding:

Tramp
Bring It On Home To Me
Tell It Like It Is

Corrugations:

After that disgraceful letter on Syria to the Times yesterday, it's perhaps worth recording today's letter on the same subject. It's a major improvement:

Sir, The Syrian regime remains determined to pursue a military solution regardless of the civilian bloodshed and devastation caused by its violent tactics. Faced with the world’s greatest humanitarian disaster, world leaders must address the suffering of the one million people trapped and starving under siege, the thousands being displaced from their homes on a daily basis, and the children cowering as bombs rain down on their communities.

At the European Council last week, European leaders renewed sanctions on the Russian Federation for its actions in Ukraine but missed another chance to impose targeted sanctions for Russia’s actions in Syria and its continued support of the Syrian regime. These could have included freezing the assets of, and imposing travel bans on, Russian individuals involved in the country’s actions in Syria.

We urge the leaders of our four nations to come together and use all the levers at their disposal to ensure that there are consequences for the atrocities committed in Aleppo. This should include exploring options for targeted bilateral sanctions, and pushing for action at the UN general assembly to hold perpetrators of war crimes in Syria to account. If our leaders continue to rely on words alone, we are not only failing the Syrian people, we are complicit in the slow dissolution of the international rules that protect humanity from the worst horrors of war.

Madeleine Albright, former US secretary of state; Lloyd Axworthy, former foreign affairs minister, Canada; Emma Bonino, former foreign affairs minister, Italy; David Miliband, former British foreign secretary

Ah, David Miliband....surely one of the biggest "what ifs" of recent UK politics. What if the unions hadn't intervened to install Ed instead of David as Labour leader? Would Labour have won the 2015 election? Would we have been spared Jeremy Corbyn? 

David's still, at 51, a mere slip of a lad in political terms. Will he be riding in on his Blairite charger to slay the dreaded Corbyn after Labour gets pulverised at the next election? Or will Labour by that stage be beyond repair?

Good stuff from Gary Kent - Can liberal interventionism be rescued?

Liberal interventionism has been in the dog house since the invasion of Iraq in 2003 but the Syrian charnel house is driving a new alliance of MPs and others to revive the concept. Last week, a passionate debate in the Commons was prompted by the "complete meltdown of humanity" in Aleppo - "the Srebrenica of our time." It highlighted the failure of the doctrine of the responsibility to protect that was supposed to underpin the mantra of "Never Again" after such atrocities. Labour's John Woodcock also spoke about "the irretrievable breakdown of the United Nations."

Former Chancellor George Osborne made his first speech as a backbencher and gave the debate increased authority. He argued that "the tragedy in Aleppo did not come out of a vacuum; it was created by a vacuum—a vacuum of western leadership, including American and British leadership" - the failure to punish Assad for using chemical weapons in 2013.

He warned that "we have come to a point where it is impossible to intervene anywhere—we lack the political will, as the west, to intervene." He detailed the price of inaction as thousands killed, millions of refugees, neighbouring countries destabilised, rising fascism in eastern Europe and extremism in western Europe, and Russia a decisive player in the region for the first time since the 1970s.

Labour's Anna Turley argued that "we cannot be frozen by the guilt surrounding well-intentioned military action of the past" and should learn the right lessons from Iraq which are "when the potential for military action arises we should not commit until it is clear that it can be achieved. We should properly prepare for what comes afterwards and work better with regional partners."

Turley added "we must pledge never again to turn our backs, never again to be ground down or put off by the length or difficulty of the struggle, never to give in to moral equivalence between brutal fascist dictatorships and a people’s struggle for self-determination and freedom. We must pledge never to be so determinedly full of self-indulgent self-loathing for the west that we do not believe that we can play a positive role for the good of the world. Never again should we lack a sense of responsibility to humanity, wherever it is and however hard the struggle."...

One parliamentary debate will not by itself change widespread aversion to liberal interventionism - a gamut of military and non-military options. But continued passivity is becoming discredited. We still have no idea what approach the new American administration of Donald Trump will take. The UK may be on its way out of the European Union but that does not mean that it lacks the power, alone or in concert with other European powers, to do the right thing. It is high time we began listening to the Kurds and others as partners in liberal interventions against fascism.

And this, from Abdulfattah Alkhaled ("a manager at Kesh Malek, a Syrian advocacy group, and a board member of Shaml, a coalition of Syrian civil society organizations"), in the LA Times - Message from Syria to the United States: We’ll never again believe your lofty rhetoric.

The United States representative to the United Nations, Samantha Power, gave an impassioned speech last week asking Russian and Syrian representatives whether they felt “any shame at all” for their actions in Aleppo, and whether there is “no execution of a child that gets under [their] skin?” For Syrians, these statements were infuriating. Americans should be asked the very same questions. You, too, have blood on your hands.

Over the past few years, you have deceived us with your empty promises. From the first day of the 2011 revolution to the most recent breakdown of a life-saving evacuation effort, the killing of Syrians has been met with consistent U.S. inaction, or worse: U.S. acquiescence to Russian aggression. While the Assad and Russian regimes are responsible for the vast majority of Syrian bloodshed, by no means should you feel entitled to lecture the world based on your supposed “moral superiority.” You have let us down again and again....

President Obama and President-elect Trump, your silence is deafening and has set a dangerous global precedent. You should be ashamed.

Now it is our turn to lecture you. Next time you trumpet the American commitment to human rights, remember how far you have fallen. In the early days you claimed to support our protests as legitimate expressions of the desire for change. But you only supported us with words, not actions, and now activists in Aleppo are sending their final goodbyes before they’re executed, forcibly displaced, raped, tortured, or killed in an airstrike.

The fall of Aleppo is only the beginning. Russia and the Assad regime have a far more ambitious end goal: complete military victory at any cost. The atrocities committed in Aleppo this week will undoubtedly be followed by similar cleansings in other areas.

In the past, I might have ended such a letter by making specific demands for U.S. action and leadership. But now I know better. All I can do is loudly proclaim that Syrians are no longer blind to the emptiness and cruelty of U.S. foreign policy.

This is your legacy, Obama, one that Trump seems happy to continue. Is there nothing that can shame you? Are there no acts of barbarism against civilians, no execution of a child that gets under your skin?

Nick Cohen - The uses of terror:

Under the Tsars, Bolshevism and now Putin’s mixture of gangster capitalism and orthodox nationalism, hatred of the West has always been a defining feature of Russian ideology. When a Turkish police officer killed a Russian diplomat in Ankara this week – yelling ‘Don’t forget Aleppo!’ moments after the murder – Russia’s politicians and lickspittle ‘journalists’ instantly blacked out his real motives so they could fit him into their anti-Western story.

Even by the abysmal standards of Russian propaganda, the response to the assassination was breathtaking. It was either the result of Western protests about the Russian destruction of Aleppo or the direct result of a plot by ‘Nato secret services’. Despite helping Donald Trump to victory, and despite having the support of every far right party in Europe and Jeremy Corbyn’s contemptible British Labour party, Russia still has to regard the West as an enemy with supernatural powers. The propaganda is too deep-rooted and too useful to change. The naïve who think that Putin can be placated should watch it. Russia is telling us that not only that it cannot be appeased, it does not want to be appeased either. I doubt even a Trump presidency will stem the paranoid hatred.

The lie that the Turkish regime reached for was to implicate Fethullah Gulen, the Trotsky for Erdogan’s Stalin, and at once blame one of his followers for the murder. The purge of real and invented Gulen supporters is the excuse the Turkish regime is using for extinguishing all centres of opposition to Erdogan after the failed coup. Thus, and before they could possibly know the truth, the authorities denounced the terrorist as a Gulenist.

If you think about it, Russia’s idea that he was a Nato agent, and Turkey’s idea that he was a follower of a banned Sunni cult are incompatible. But Russia and Turkey see no discordance, and the assassination is bringing them closer together. They show that the similarities between dictatorial regimes are always more important than their differences. They look at the shared interest in conspiracy theory and propaganda, the shared loathing of liberal democracy and find a common feeling that transcends divisions in religious and political ideology. This freemasonry of the oppressive, incidentally, explains why nominally left-wing politicians such as Jeremy Corbyn and Seumas Milne are so ready to ally with Trump and Le Pen and defend Putin. To their minds, any dictatorship is preferable to no dictatorship at all. It is better to stand alongside thieves, racists and imperialists than defend hard won freedoms...

The Daily NK is perhaps the only source now where you can get a glimpse into the lives of ordinary North Koreans. Here's the latest from "special correspondent" Kang Mi Jin:

Although people are always very busy trying to get by and accomplish their own goals, they nonetheless have to endure another year of draconian measures under their government, and it only gets more intense in December with the dreaded annual self-criticism sessions. The harsh truth is that the state simply cannot afford for its people to have free time.

December 17 marked the conclusion of the ongoing '200-Day Battle' enforced by the authorities, but the occasion was no cause for excitement among the people. It merely represents the passing of 200 days of stress for them, with their self-criticisms due at the end. The citizens are normally stressed about preparations for the anniversary of Kim Jong Il's death in December, but as it coincides this year with the end of the '200-Day Battle,’ I am hearing that there it’s being seen as a silver lining of sorts – that there is relief at the chance to get both ordeals out of the way at once.

As our listeners know, Kim Jong Il died on December 17, 2011. Each year since, the government has required citizens to pay their respects, attend events, and display their loyalty. Due to these kinds of requirements, it would not be an exaggeration to say that December is the toughest month of the year for them...

The two most important are again the anniversary of the death of Kim Jong Il, and then the birthday of his mother Kim Jong Suk on the 24. Because these are related to the Kim family, they are both mentally and physically exhausting for the people. On the plus side, with these special events comes greater demand for certain products in the markets and thus greater profits for some people. We are even seeing people invest in part-time work in the markets to sell the items that are in demand.

For the anniversary of Kim Jong Il's death and the birthday of Kim Jong Suk, people are expected to present flowers at various designated spots of commemoration across the country. So we are seeing many more people selling flowers in the markets this month. I have heard that fresh flowers are being imported in from China in bulk, although domestic flower production is also up as many see the opportunity to make some extra money at the end of the year.

Since almost all people must attend these events and commemorations, there is likely to be a shortage of flowers available at the markets. But as we have come to expect from North Korea's shrewd and savvy merchants, many are preparing bouquets of artificial flowers in anticipation.

However, according to what I’ve heard from various people, some district and city leaders take note of those who bring artificial flowers to lay at the foot of Kim Jong Il's bronze statues throughout the country, and deem them as being less loyal to the party than those who bring real flowers. However, most people know the ramifications of not showing enough ‘loyalty,’ so many will scrape together the necessary funds for real flowers. In poorer rural areas, people will go out to the mountains and try to gather naturally growing, then take them home and prepare their own bouquets that way....

An extraordinary letter in today's Times [£] shows that the old diplomatic love of the strong-man is alive and well:

Sir, Those of us who have served as ambassadors to Syria or who have visited Syria recently remain deeply concerned by Britain’s continued support for the so-called moderate armed opposition and the British government’s commitment to impose regime change. Civilians in many parts of Syria fear that such intervention will create a political vacuum, providing a dangerous opportunity for Isis-related Islamist extremists.

We therefore urge the prime minister and foreign secretary to respect the right of the Syrian people as a whole to choose their own future. Failing to do so not only undermines the long-term stability of Syria but risks creating a chaotic situation similar to, or perhaps even worse than, those in Iraq and Libya.

Peter Ford, British ambassador to Syria 2003-06; Lord Green of Deddington, British ambassador to Syria 1991-94; Lord Wright of Richmond, British ambassador to Syria 1979-81; Baroness Cox, CEO, Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust.

A "chaotic situation similar to, or perhaps even worse than, those in Iraq and Libya"? What??? Don't these idiots read the news? Syria is ten times, a hundred times worse than Iraq or Libya. Syria doesn't even exist anymore. Close to half a million have been killed; half the population are refugees. Cities are being bombarded, civilians slaughtered...

Undermining "the long-term stability of Syria"!? Is this a joke? And what does respecting "the right of the Syrian people as a whole to choose their own future" even mean in the current situation?

Well, for our diplomatic friends it would seem to mean supporting mass-murderer Assad. Such happy memories of dining with the man and his lovely young wife Asma! What a charming couple! And how annoying of the people of Syria to protest, and then to keep getting themselves killed.

A choice between Assad and the Isis-related Islamist extremists....isn't this what Assad's been saying all along? He's lucky to have these British supporters getting his message across for him in the pages of the Times.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has officially announced next year's inductees: Pearl Jam, Tupac Shakur, Journey, Yes, Electric Light Orchestra and Joan Baez will all join the class of 2017. 

Because nothing says "rock'n'roll" like Joan Baez.

January 6, 1933. "Manhattan from St. George Hotel in Brooklyn to financial district, night view."

[Photo: Shorpy/Gottscho-Schleisner]

And here's almost the same view - again from St George Hotel, in 1933, taken by Samuel Gottscho - by day: