May 24 - Iraq History Goebbels Spain Iran Soccer

Please help with my research

This message has been received: I recently watched a documentary called The Dance of Hope. The film is a documentary about Chilean exiles. I can see on the web site that it is in your Stanford Leland Junior University library. I can't find it anywhere else. I am not in the US and the film is not sold or shown here. The video that i watched was from overseas and it broke.

I need to get a copy of the film or to speak to someone who has watched it recently. Here is why: One of the women interviewed in the film is a lady who lost her daughter. She tells the story about how she took her family to live in Mexico after the coup in Chile. She talked about her life in general. She told stories including how she liked to play tennis as a child and how she met her husband during the night of an earthquake. She showed pictures of her family, including her son, who graduated as a doctor from Oxford University. She showed pictures of her daughter who went missing. While watching the film with my friend who is a Chilean exile, we recognised the face of the daughter who went missing. The information about the disappearance also seemed to add up as well. We would like to contact this Chilean woman with information about her missing daughter. The problem is that we can't be sure of the name of the woman who lost her daughter or what the daughters name was. I think that the woman's name was Fenella and her daughter was called Laura. Someone in the library or in film studies must have watched this film.

RH:Can anyone help? Possibly Carlos López?

Soccer (Ronald Hilton, US) The cover story of the June 2006 issue of the National Geographic is titled "The beautiful game. Why soccer rues the world. This month in Germany 32 teams will compete for the World Cup of soccer, a game that unites--and divides countries around the globe" The article is illustrated with a large two-sided map and description of the game. The Unied States is about the only country in the world where the games are not being followed passionately. One problem is that the US has become used to ruling the world, but it does not rule the world of soccer. It was just defeated by Morocco, which no doubt delighted the Arab and Muslim world, as well as sundry others, who like to see the US humbled. One oddity is that soccer, a man's game in most of the world, has become also a women's game in the US, the land of gender equality. What is odder is that the US women's team is doing better than the men's team.

This is then an appropriate time for WAIS to discuss soccer. First, the negative side. Soccer arouses primitive tribal passions. When I was a small boy in Winchester, England, we supported the Southampton soccer team and hated its arch-.rival Portsmouth. It was all very polite; soccer hooliganism, to which the National Geographic article devotes a section, is fairly recent, but it has become more widespread. Much more serious are the political consequences. Honduras and El Salvador once fought a soccer war. A photograph of a soccer mob shows the fight between supporters of two Croatian teams, Zagreb and Split. When A Belgrade team came to Zagreb in 1990, a riot was an early spark in the Balkan war which led to Croatian independence and the breakup of Yugoslavia. At the same time, soccer healed the Croatian wounds. Courtney Angela Brkic has a piece "Croatia: Group therapy: A Nation is Born". Something similar happened in Angola, Henning Mankell has a piece titled "Greater Goal: Healing a War-Torn Land". This is the beginning of the positive side of soccer.

The educational value of soccer is that it teaches teamwork and learning to play by the rules It even teaches fair play, despite the evils of financial exploitation of the game, which has given rise to a major scandal involving the Juventus team of Turin, Italy. Why is individualism called "rugged"?. In any case, the modern world requires teamwork, not oneupmanship. A team which does not play as a team loses. .Soccer also stresses equality.. In principle, sll players are equal. There is no hierarchy as in most organizations: the government, business, universities , the Church, The social impact of all this will be enormous. Saudi Arabia is proud of its soccer team, which will lead to the opening up of the country. Small boys in villages and slums around the world play soccer, firing them with ambition and making drugs less attractive, although Maradona has gone to pot after his years of glory.

There is a Russian ballet-like aspect of soccer, which contrasts with the brutality of American football. John Lanhester has a piece titled "Ballet with the ball: A Love Story".The millions who will go to Germany to see the World Cup series or watch the games on TV are proof that the world loves soccer. I remember as a boy seeing special trains carrying soccer fans to distant cities to see their team play. That may well be viewed as a misuse of family money. What does it tell us that ordinary people will travel thousands of miles to see the soccer games?

Ordinary American TV will not carry the games, but they will be shown on Spanish TV. I do not have the time or the inclination to watch them, but I will follow carefully any social or political consequences. I hope the games go off smoothly, and that the host country, Germany, gets due recognition. A peaceful soccer match is a contribution to international concordance.. A successful World Cup series would spread immense goodwill for Germany.

WAIS welcomes Benita McShan

WAIS welcomes Benita McShan, who heads a science writers organization in Atlanta, Georgia, the site of the US Center for Disease Control. Her bio reads: Our president, senior writer and staff coordinator, Benita McShan, MSA, has held staff writer positions with publications in Europe and the United States. Her writing has appeared in The Atlanta Journal, The Danville Commercial-News and The Louisville Times daily newspapers. She was also a regular contributor to the suburban London weekly, The Brentford & Chiswick Times Newspaper as well as Paris' Le Metro magazine and Atlanta's Venus magazine.

Ms. McShan received her journalism education at Clark College. Her professional writing skills were honed under the tutelage of the editors of the International Herald Tribune in Paris. She is a past president of the Georgia Writer's Association and has served as the chairperson of the prestigious annual Georgia Author of the Year competition. Ms. McShan is also the founder and executive director of the Southeastern Writing Resource Center, Inc, a non-profit organization that offers creative writing workshops to shut-in and recovery oriented populations.

Ms. McShan has a graduate degree and mastery certification in business disciplines. For several years, she was a senior manager of regional contract negotiations for Lucent Technologies Inc.

The Spanish Civil War

Angel Viñas writes: I thank Nigel Jones for his report on Antony Beevor's new book The Battle for Spain. Am I allowed to do a bit of self-promotion? In September/October Critica (Barcelona) is publishing my book La soledad de la República. El abandono de las democracias y el viraje hacia la Union Sovietica. It´s the first volume of a trilogy (La Republica en guerra y el contexto internacional). The second one (El escudo de la República. Ayuda exterior y discordia interna) will appear sometime next year, possibly before summer. In both of them I take Mr Beevor to task on the basis of a far more extensive Soviet, Spanish and other foreign documentation than he has ever dreamed of. My findings, I hope, supported by overwhelming primary evidence are rather contrary to his major thesis, and, I´m reluctant to say so among WAISers, to the late Burnet Bolloten´s. But History is implacable, and anything which can be discovered will eventually be discovered. Also with regard to Soviet and other foreign interventions. I wouldn´t leave it unstated that I don´t share Mr Jones´ view on Prof. Juan Negrin.

RH: Angel Viñas is a distinguished historian of the Spanish Civil War, and we look forward to the publication of his trilogy.

IRAN: The US hostages (Alain de Benoist, France)

Sardar Haddad (ex-Iran) wrote: Regarding Mahmoud Ahmadinejad‚s background: The information from the Americans who were held hostage by the mullah regime is correct about Mahmoud Ahmadinejad being one of the interrogators. Alain de Benoist asks: Any proof that this “information” is “correct”? RH: It seems to me that the hostages would know. Sardar Haddad also wrote: The Islamic republic controls the universities in Iran, and they have issued phony university degrees for many regime officials. Ahmadinejad‚s degrees are questionable. Alain de Benoist comments:– Comment: even in the (many) countries where phony university degrees are issued, at least some university degrees are authentic. Any proof that Ahmadinejad’s degrees do not belong to the second category? RH: It may be comparable to the honorary degrees that US universities bestow on public figures.

The Spanish Civil War

Nigel Jones writes: WAISERS might be interested to learn that the old debate about the extent of Stalin's takeover of the Spanish Republic has been re-ignited by the appearance of the historian Antony Beevor's new book The Battle for Spain. 'Beevor (of Stalingrad and Fall of Berlin' fame) has basically updated his earlier history of the Spanish Civil War with the addition of new information, much from previously closed Soviet archives. He has an article in today's London Times'detailing some of his findings, including correspondence and reports from figures such as Andre Marty, French-born Commissar of the International Brigades, reporting the shocking mass shootings of IB troops after they broke and fled in the battle of Brunete. Hundreds were killed by their own side.The book caused an uproar when it was published in Spain.

All this may be old news to WAIS scholars who have studied these events in depth, but it does represent, by a popular and best-selling historian, a long-overdue demolition of the still persistent myth that the Republic was an embattled democracy gallantly fighting for freedom against fascism. IN fact, as demonstrated long ago in the meticulous but overlooked work of the American historian the late Burnett Bolloten, the Republic started to sink in 1936 and finally foundered in 1937 when Premier Largo Caballero was replaced by the Communist-backed puppet Premier, Juan Negrin. Had the Republic triumphed, the result would have been a Stalinist Spain with all the horrors of mass murder, political persecution and totalitarian tyranny that that implies. It is at least arguable that Franco's dictatorship was by far the more preferable of two admittedly unpalatable options available to suffering Spain.

I welcome this tribute to the late Burnett Bolloten, one of the founding fathers of WAIS, and a man of total, self-sacrificing integrity.

Website Factual Errors - Magda Goebbels (Jan 2005)

Benitta Elena writes:

I was shocked by the inaccuracies appearing in the reprint of biographical information on Magda Goebbels, the reputed First Lady of the Third Reich, authored by Angela Mesna. The scholarship is extremely poor. I was horrified to read that the author was actually in college.

Examples of bio inaccuracies:

1. The bio states that Magda had seven children by Goebbels. She had six. Their names were Helga, Hildegarde, Helmut, Hedwig, Holdine and Heidrun,

2. Mesna bio does not mention that Magda was a divorcee with a child when she married Goebbels. Her first child was Harald Quandt, son of Gunther Quandt. Anyone studying German industry would be aware of the role of the Quandt family in supporting the Reich and shaping the post-war economy. The Quandts are multi-billionaires, possibly the wealthiest family in Germany, with major or controlling interests in BMW, Daimler-Benz, AFA and VARTA. Although Christopher Jones attempts to correct the number of children, he compounds the inaccuracy of reporting that Harald Quandt died in the bunker.

3. The bio states that Magda poisoned her seven children in the bunker that her family shared with Hitler. Harald, a Luftwaffe pilot, was in a POW camp in North Africa when the rest of the family died. He survived the war and went on to further build the family fortune.

RH: We thank Benita Elena for her comments:. Of course Goebbels had six children. However, beyond that there are sharp disagreements abut facts. Incidentally, The author of the postinbg was not a member of WAIS. I posted her message because she said something interesting. So much goes over my desk that I do not remember this discussion.

The WAIS "Learning History" project takes all kind s of turns, as is evident from "One for the textbooks" by Debra J. Sanders (San Francisco Chronicle, 5/21/06) As part of affirmative action, there were demands that the contributions of various ethnic groups be recognized. While indeed they should be, attempts to placate the various groups led to a gross distortion of reality. Do accounts of Italian contributions to America include the Mafia? What the groups want is flattery, which is not history.

I do not know the final outcome of the complaints by Asian Indians about the treatment of Hinduism in California textbooks. Debra Saunders calls our attention to new groups demanding that their contribution to America be recognized in history textbooks: gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. Incredibly, the bill, presented by openly lesbian Senator Sheila Kuehl (D., Santa Monica), passed the California Senate by a 22-15 vote. Soon left-handed and short people will be demanding that their contributions to America be ensconced in history textbooks. The possible list is endless.Some history teachers are accomplices in all this. Some years ago I wrote an article lamenting that Stanford courses on the Middle Ages stressed the grotesque oddities of the period with little reference to its greatness. Presumably it was what the students like.

May I take this opportunity to praise Eugen Weber of UCLA, whose "The Western Tradition" gives a splendid overview of history since antiquity. It is magnificently informative and balanced. He is emeritus, and I know no history professor now teaching who can compare with him. Incidentally, does a bisexual professor become emeritus or emerita? Let us settle for emeritum.

Re: IRAQ: War Unprovoked? Disastrous? A failure?

Vincent Littrell writes: The responses to my post defending the Iraq war were most interesting to read. All of them were thought provoking. I will address a few items. I have seen mention of Phyllis Gardner's response to my post though I have not been able to read it for technical reasons. I certainly would like to do so at some point. My writing was termed "curiously off-target" by one polite WAISer. I was actually quite on target for my purposes. I suspected my avoidance of President Bush's primary justification for war would provoke response. I wanted to cut to what I viewed as the purely moral argument without the clouds of politics surrounding it. For me, when dealing with brutal tyranny, the necessity to save human life from such oppression supersedes political wrangling (if possible). I know just that statement alone is one to cause debate in this forum. I won't elaborate now on it.

Siegfried Ramler's response was excellent, especially his concluding comments. In my post I did state multilateralism is preferable to unilateralism. I guess where he and I would disagree is that he seems to believe that even in the face of brutal tyranny, the UN should be the mechanism through which consensus is achieved before any type of action is executed like the invasion of Iraq. I would agree is desirable, except that the UN is dysfunctional and in need of serious reform before it is a viable enforcer of international law or effective executor of humanitarian intervention on a massive scale (there have been some successes like Sierra Leone, to some degree now even Democratic Republic of Congo etc.). A terrible paradox exists, on the one hand unilateral action is not preferable, yet really seems to be the only way to remove tyrants with speed when the resources and will exists to do so, on the other hand collective security mechanisms are not yet evolved to the point where they can take decisive, timely action (in most cases), though they are preferable to unilateralism.

David Crow's recent post to Nushin Namazi was excellent as well, where he makes the assumption of a "moral imperative" in dealing with oppressive regimes. I have absolutely held to that line of thinking for some time. There are essential, universal morals that cut across political, religious, ethnic, and cultural lines. This is why I am such a proponent of interfaith dialogue. Finding common ground between faiths and cultures is a necessary facet to the process of higher order political evolution for mankind in its totality.

Regarding Robert Whealey's comments: I am a-bit of a student in international relations theory. Dr. Whealey's writing strikes me as placing him somewhat into the 'realist' camp, while my views might be labeled as neo-liberal in some respects. I don't believe the international state system as it exists today is the same as it was prior to WWII. The state system has evolved and moral influences are playing a much greater role in global discourse. The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a perfect example of this. Though Woodrow Wilson's vision culminating in the development of the League of Nations failed politically, the morality of it, and the rightness of the ideal, certainly did not. The formation of the UN was in my view an advancement of the Wilsonian ideal though not necessarily an end state. Such ideals must be re-visited, and will continue to be over time. I will say that Whealey's discussion on my usage of the word "legitimate" is a valid one. I was not precise in my usage of that term. I will replace my usage of the word "legitimate" in regards the rule of tyrants to "morally legitimate."

In my professional capacity at NATO, I do get exposure to major players in international politics and high-diplomacy who do recognize the evolutionary nature of the advancement of the human condition. The moral imperative is very much alive in the minds of many senior leaders.

May 23 - Moslems who march, Covert terrorists, Mexican children

WAIS May 23

Moslems who marched throughout the streets of London (Vincent Littrell, Belgium) General Sullivan wrote, "it's hard to imagine interfaith harmony and dialogue as Vincent Littrell discusses with scenes such as these. Below I have enclosed pictures of Moslems who marched throughout the streets of London during their recent Religion of Peace Demonstration. These pictures have never been shown in any of our American newspapers or television news programs because we should never appear to offend anyone!"

From Belgium, Vincent Littrell comments:The pictures that General Sullivan posts were, to say the very least, somewhat disconcerting for me to observe when they first were broadcast. They were all over the media here in Europe. CNN International, Euro-News and other stations were quite out-front with this particular crowd, while not reflecting the views with the same amount of air time of British Muslims who viewed such Muslim reactions to the Danish Cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad as utterly anathema and working against their intense intellectual and spiritual efforts to mitigate Islamophobia (there were some Muslim leaders interviewed but their time on air was minuscule compared to the extremists in the images, I think I can make such a statement with some accuracy as in my work center, CNN International and Euro-News are pretty much on all the time).

For me, being one who studies Islam quite seriously, they were frustrating images because I absolutely do not view those ignorant people as being representative of spiritual Islam. The fact is (despite prominent politically conservative middle-east scholar Daniel Pipe's website statistics on British Muslim views which admittedly in some respects, if reflecting actual truth, paint a worrisome view and actually further my belief in the need for interfaith dialogue) there are British Muslim scholars and community leaders desirous of positive inter-faith relations and who do involve themselves in problem solving discussions designed to bring Britain's kaleidescope of religious diversity into greater spiritual and communal unity. There is a vibrant and growing inter-faith culture developing in England, some of it recently spurred by such images such as those posted by General Sullivan.

I am aware that writers in the realm of American politically conservative punditry do with 'tongue-in-cheek' refer to Islam as "the religion of peace" while implying that the morally defunct if not outright savage behavior of ignorant people who call themselves Muslim is representative of Islam as a whole. Being one who absolutely believes in the strategic imperative of advancing the message of spiritual Islam, vice that which is propagated by those Muslims adhering to rigid dogmatic conservatism or puritanism, I find it problematic when those Muslims who are genuinely altruistic and of spiritual mind, who deplore the ignorant behavior of those represented in the pictures posted by General Sullivan, are not listened to by many of intellect and stature in the West, even when after being criticized for not speaking out against the savagery of the 'Islamic puritans', do speak out (many of them have been speaking out all along but have been drowned out or ignored). I do believe that the message and reality of spiritual Islam must be advanced as part of the process of bringing about cultural reconciliation and to defeat fanaticism. There are signs that the message of "liberal" Muslims is getting out there and worrying the puritans. Osama bin Laden in his latest speech lashed out at liberal Muslims. From an analytical perspective such lashing out by bin Laden is very intriguing, implying that he is worried about their message and influence.

The following quotes from the March 2006 edition of the National Security Strategy of the United States I hope strengthens my point: "While the War on Terror is a battle of ideas, it is not a battle of religions. The transnational terrorists confronting us today exploit the proud religion of Islam to serve a violent political vision: the establishment, by terrorism and subversion, of a totalitarian empire that denies all political and religious freedom. These terrorists distort the idea of jihad into a call for murder against those they regard as apostates or unbelievers -including Christians, Jews, Hindus, other religious traditions, and all Muslims who disagree with them. Indeed, most of the terrorist attacks since September 11 have occurred in Muslim countries - and most of the victims have been Muslims." (p. 9)

"The strategy to counter the lies behind the terrorists' ideology is to empower the very people the terrorists most want to exploit: the faithful followers of Islam. We will continue to support political reforms that empower peaceful Muslims to practice and interpret their faith. The most vital work will be done within the Islamic world itself, and Jordan, Morocco, and Indonesia have begun to make important strides in this effort. Responsible Islamic leaders need to denounce an ideology that distorts and exploits Islam for destructive ends and defiles a proud religion." (p. 11)

"The struggle against militant Islamic radicalism is the great ideological conflict of the early years of the 21st century and finds the great powers all on the same side - opposing the terrorists." (p. 36)

It is in my view clear that the National Security Strategy of the United States supports the advancement of spiritual, peaceful Islam as a counter to the fanaticism we see infecting the Islamic world (fanaticism is a scourge that infects other religions as well, obviously, I just make that point to be fair). Belittling those Muslims whose deeply seated faith is one of peace, tolerance, and belief that the purpose of religion is to advance the human condition spiritually strikes me as working against US national strategy towards winning the ideological battle with Islamic radicalism. We must strengthen spiritual Islam, not undermine it. We need to support those responsible Islamic leaders who do denounce the perversion of their religion. Many do and are not listened to or supported.

Moslems who marched throughout the streets of London (Michael Sullivan, US) General Sullivan writes:, I wish Vincent Littrell and people like him trying to bring inter-faith harmony great success in their endeavor. I agree with the rationale stated in the National Security Stategy of the US put forth in the March, 2006 edition. There is no other alternative than to stop this Islamic fanaticism or face continued destruction and loss of life. Regards, Mike

US: Covert terrorists (Joe Listo, Brazil) From Brazil, Joe Listo writes:The recent rebellions in 72 correctional facilities in Brazil (95% of which in the State of Sao Paulo) were an isolated event, led by a powerful drug-lord who happens to be somewhat more educated than the average Brazilian criminal and is thus able to exert some leadership. The vast majority of persons killed during the riots were convicted (or wanted) criminals. Around 10 were innocent bystanders and or hostages to the inmates. However, I share Tor Guimaraes´ concern about the lack of control in all Latin America borders, as pointed out in previous postings. Great care is seen at American embassies in screening the average traveler applying for a tourist visa, but it seems fair to conclude that terrorists would hardly adopt the same method for gaining entry to the US. American authorities should focus on the Southern-cone countries tri-border area, and from there all the way through Mexico. The lack of adequate control in the region surely facilitates the transit of terrorists (and weapons) who intend to enter the US. Easier said than done, most may comment, but the problem is there.

Moslems who marched throughout the streets of London (Tor Guimaraes, US) Tor Guimaraes writes: Vincent Littrell said: “Belittling those Muslims whose deeply seated faith is one of peace, tolerance, and belief that the purpose of religion is to advance the human condition spiritually strikes me as working against US national strategy towards winning the ideological battle with Islamic radicalism. We must strengthen spiritual Islam, not undermine it. We need to support those responsible Islamic leaders who do denounce the perversion of their religion. Many do and are not listened to or supported.”

That is very good advice. It would be just as good for the other side to realize that belittling/hurting those Jews/Christians whose deeply seated faith is one of peace, tolerance, and belief that the purpose of religion is to advance the human condition spiritually works against their strategy towards winning the ideological battle with Zionist/Christian radicalism. They must strengthen spiritual Judaism/Christianity, not undermine/hurt them. They need to support those responsible Jewish/Christian leaders who do denounce the perversion of their religions. Some do and are not listened to or supported.

The status of the children of non-nationals (RAndy Black US) Randy Black writes: On the topic of immigration and citizenship, the Associated Press ran this story yesterday, May 21, 2006. It seems that Mexico expects the USA to provide citizenship rights to Mexican illegals that Mexico provides to no one.

From the AP: If Arnold Schwarzenegger had migrated to Mexico instead of the United States, he couldn't be a governor. If Argentina native Sergio Villanueva, firefighter hero of the Sept. 11 attacks, had moved to Tecate instead of New York, he wouldn't have been allowed on the force.Even as Mexico presses the United States to grant unrestricted citizenship to millions of undocumented Mexican migrants, its officials at times calling U.S. policies "xenophobic," Mexico places daunting limitations on anyone born outside its territory. In the United States, only two posts the presidency and vice presidency are reserved for the native born. In Mexico, non-natives are banned from those and thousands of other jobs, even if they are legal, naturalized citizens. Foreign-born Mexicans can't hold seats in either house of the congress. They're also banned from state legislatures, the Supreme Court and all governorships. Many states ban foreign-born Mexicans from spots on town councils. And Mexico's Constitution reserves almost all federal posts, and any position in the military and merchant marine, for "native-born Mexicans." Recently the Mexican government has gone even further. Since at least 2003, it has encouraged cities to ban non-natives from such local jobs as firefighters, police and judges. Mexico's Interior Department which recommended the bans as part of "model" city statutes it distributed to local officials could cite no basis for extending the bans to local posts.

After being contacted by The Associated Press about the issue, officials changed the wording in two statutes to delete the "native-born" requirements, although they said the modifications had nothing to do with AP's inquiries. "These statutes have been under review for some time, and they have, or are about to be, changed," said an Interior Department official, who was not authorized to be quoted by name. But because the "model" statues are fill-in-the-blanks guides for framing local legislation, many cities across Mexico have already enacted such bans. They have done so even though foreigners constitute a tiny percentage of the population and pose little threat to Mexico's job market.

The foreign-born make up just 0.5 percent of Mexico's 105 million people, compared with about 13 percent in the United States, which has a total population of 299 million. Mexico grants citizenship to about 3,000 people a year, compared to the U.S. average of almost a half million. "There is a need for a little more openness, both at the policy level and in business affairs," said David Kim, president of the Mexico-Korea Association, which represents the estimated 20,000 South Koreans in Mexico, many of them naturalized citizens. "The immigration laws are very difficult ... and they put obstacles in the way that make it more difficult to compete," Kim said, although most foreigners don't come to Mexico seeking government posts.

J. Michael Waller, of the Center for Security Policy in Washington, was more blunt. "If American policy-makers are looking for legal models on which to base new laws restricting immigration and expelling foreign lawbreakers, they have a handy guide: the Mexican constitution," he said in a recent article on immigration. Some Mexicans agree their country needs to change.

"This country needs to be more open," said Francisco Hidalgo, a 50-year-old video producer. "In part to modernize itself, and in part because of the contribution these (foreign-born) people could make."

Others express a more common view, a distrust of foreigners that academics say is rooted in Mexico's history of foreign invasions and the loss of territory in the 1847-48 Mexican-American War.

Speaking of the hundreds of thousands of Central Americans who enter Mexico each year, chauffeur Arnulfo Hernandez, 57, said: "The ones who want to reach the United States, we should send them up there. But the ones who want to stay here, it's usually for bad reasons, because they want to steal or do drugs."

Some say progress is being made. Mexico's president no longer is required to be at least a second-generation native-born. That law was changed in 1999 to clear the way for candidates who have one foreign-born parent, like President Vicente Fox, whose mother is from Spain.

But the pace of change is slow. The state of Baja California still requires candidates for the state legislature to prove both their parents were native born.

The status of the children of non-nationals (David Crow US) David Crow writes: There's no gainsaying that Mexican law is very restrictive on who can hold political office, but the AP article is wrong when it states, "Mexico places daunting limitations on anyone born outside its territory. . . . Foreign-born Mexicans can't hold seats in either house of the congress." Articles 55 and 58 spell out the requirements for deputies (the equivalent of a U.S. representative) and senators, respectively. One requirement is to be Mexican "by birth". However, this does not imply being born in Mexico.

Article 30 delineates the circumstances under which one is a Mexican citizen by birth. These circumstances are 1) being born in Mexico, regardless of the nationality of one's parents; 2) being born abroad and having at least one parent who is Mexican by virtue of having been born in Mexico; 3) being born abroad and having at least one parent who is Mexican by naturalization; and 4) being born on Mexican ships or flights.

Taken together, these constitutional provisions are quite clear that one may hold many political offices in Mexico, including those mentioned in the AP article, without being a "native-born" Mexican (defined as being born in Mexican territory). I will never defend Mexican xenophobia, reflected clearly in the prohibition on naturalized citizens from holding political office, but let's base on criticisms on the facts.

RH: David is right, but the AP story is essentially true.

US: Immigration (Robert Whealey, US) Robert Whealey writes: I've had my differences with Randy Black on Iraq and on the Republican Party. But I agree with him on Mexico. Native born US citizens have no obligation to commit suicide.

Both parties and the mass media are kidding the voters on this crisis. The exception is Lou Dobbs. What the voters think regarding immigrants of all ethnic backgrounds is 1. Annual limit of immigrants. 2. Legal immigrants from Europe standing in line should have first preferace at citizenship. 3. The fundamental problem is class and education, not race. 4. Congress is in paralysis. 5. The Republican leaders want cheap labor. 6. The Democratic leaders want more voters. 7. Second generation Mexican-Americans like Attorney General Gonzalez have a weak understanding of democracy and the American Constitution.

M3 measure (Jordi Molins, Spain) Jordi Molins sends this In relation to the discontinuation by the Fed of the M3 measure:

Global stock markets have gone into a coordinated swan dive in the past two weeks, with the biggest gainers (emerging markets) suffering the biggest losses (a 15 percent decline, according to the Morgan Stanley Emerging Markets Index). While each region or country can boast a unique reason for falling share prices -- a drop in metals prices and noise from China's central bank about slowing growth was poison for Asian bourses -- the fact that prices are slumping simultaneously suggests something else is afoot. On May 10, the Dow Jones Industrial Average came within 80 points of its all-time high of January 2000, only to see a 4.6 percent pullback. Where is the PPT?'' wonders Jim Bianco, president of Bianco Research in Chicago. ``Now that the Fed isn't publishing data on M3, it's a perfect opportunity to intervene.''For uninitiated readers, PPT stands for Plunge Protection Team, which is either a committee of government officials and individuals from private financial institutions created by President Ronald Reagan after the 1987 stock market crash; or a nefarious cabal of the same characters that intervenes surreptitiously to reverse a slide in the stock market. According to conspiracy theorists (CTs), the PPT has been sighted in currency and gold markets as well.

And as for M3, the broadest monetary aggregate, the Fed announced in November it was discontinuing publication as of March 23. Like all government statistics, M3 came up for its once-every-three-year review and flunked the cost/benefit analysis. M3 went the way of 100 other Fed-produced data series, including debt and liquidity.

Married to M3

For the CTs, the demise of M3 was a signal the central bank was gearing up to run the printing presses 'round the clock without leaving any footprints. While most of the M3 components are captured in other statistical releases, one component, repurchase agreement liabilities of depository institutions,''or repos, is not. And that, according to the CTs, is the key to PPT intervention. The PPT's ``main resource is the money the Fed prints,''writes PPT theorist Robert McHugh on Safehaven.com. ``The money is injected into markets via the New York Fed's repo desk, which easily showed up in the M-3 numbers, warning intervention was nigh.''No, the money injected via Fed repos shows up on the Fed's balance sheet, reported every Thursday. That's what tells us what the Fed is doing. The repos in M3 tell us what the banks are doing with the raw material the Fed provides.

PPT MIA

If McHugh is right, this is the PPT's big chance to intervene, to prop up stock prices anywhere and everywhere they may be falling, and to use the Treasury's untraceable slush fund at a time when no one will ever know. I was just about to check some conspiracy Web sites to find out why the PPT was MIA, allowing stock markets around the world to tumble, when a reader sent me a link to some deep, darkbackground stuff that made the PPT seem mundane.Written sometime in April, a posting on OSS.net by Sterling Seagrave, co-author of ``Gold Warriors,'' says that, according to ``sources in the U.S. Treasury, the White House has secretly ordered the Federal Reserve to print two trillion dollars immediately, and put into circulation!'' Because M3 data are no longer being reported, there is no way for the public, investors and bondholders to know how much currency exists -- and no way to gauge how much a `dollar' is truly worth,'' according to the posting.

No Black Helicopters?

Funny, the folks in Weimar Germany didn't need weekly publication of money numbers to break the news on hyperinflation. Somehow they knew. One week it took a wheelbarrow full of German marks to buy a loaf of bread. The next week, consumers had to enlist both a wheelbarrow and a baby carriage to haul enough worthless paper money to buy the same loaf. No data release required. For all his bluster, Mr. Seagrave seems to be living in a time warp. He says the dollar-flooding operation was the reason a Treasury secretary quit several months ago (Would that be Paul O'Neill, who was shown the door in December 2002?) and Alan Greenspan resigned several weeks ago.'' (Most CTs consider Greenspan the villain, not the hero.)

There's more: an imminent attack on Iran; compromising photos of President George W. Bush when he was a drunken teenager in Beijing with his father the Ambassador'' (the U.S. didn't have a full ambassador to China then, and W. was in his late 20s at the time); and something about certificates for Yamashita's gold being stashed away at Citibank. And, oh yes, the ``super-rich'' were probably`tipped in advance, just as many were before 9/11.'' It's enough to make me want to run out and stock the larder, put my finances in order and convert all my holdings into gold.Then again, if the PPT is going to push the gold price down, maybe I'll wait before jumping in.

Can a post be added by yahoo?

This is to test communication between yahoo mail and the WAIS blog. Please ignore it. (-Tom Grey) __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Read only the mail you want - Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard. http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail

Mormons in Russia

Randy Black tells us about the Mormons in Russia: "The Mormons have been active in Russia since I was living there a decade ago. They attempt to spread their version of religion throughout Russia, as do the Baptists, Presbyterians, various evangelical groups and all the rest. Foreign religions are perceived by the Orthodox as interlopers who pose a danger to the Orthodox monopoly on the proletariat. Make no mistake about it when considering the Russian Orthodox Church�s objection to these religions. This is about money and monopoly, something that the Orthodox Church does not want to share with anyone, not even the Salvation Army, which has fought for the past decade to keep its presence known in Russia, after having been marched into the streets and shot by the Bolsheviks 85 years ago".

Waltzing Matilda

John Gehl's posting on Banjo Patterson was Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark, since he did not give the text of "Waltzing Matilda " by 'Banjo' (A.B.) Patterson, c. 1890, so here it is: Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong Under the shade of a coolibah tree And he sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled You'll come a-waltzing matilda with me Waltzing matilda, waltzing matilda You'll come a waltzing matilda with me And he sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled You'll come a-waltzing matilda with me Down came a jumbuck to dri-ink at that billabong Up jumped the swagman and grabbed him with glee And he sang as he stuffed that jumbuck in his tucker-bag You'll come a-waltzing matilda with me Up rode the squatter, mounted on his thoroughbred Up rode the troopers, one, two, three "Where's that jolly jumbuck you've got in your tucker-bag?" You'll come a-waltzing matilda with me Up jumped the swagman and sprang into that billabong "You'll never take me alive!", said he And his ghost may be heard as you pa-ass by that billabong You'll come a-waltzing matilda with me The refrain is repeated after each verse. In each case, the third line of the refrain is the same as the third line of the preceding verse. And the last two lines of the last verse are performed in a hushed tone, before bursting back into the jollity of the refrain. RH: This informal Australian national anthem seems to idealize a poacher. That's as odd as the "English". is. Who is matilda, and why doesn't she rate a capital M? John spelt Paterson with one t. Here are subjects for a scholarly dissertation.

AUSTRALIA: Banjo Paterson:

To atone for our neglect of Australia, we are happy to post John Gehl's bio of the Australian icon Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson (1864-1941), who composed the internationally famous ballad, "Waltzing Matilda," which by popular acclaim became Australia's informal anthem. Paterson first achieved popular success as a writer in 1895 when he published The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses, which sold out its first edition within a week and went through four editions in six months, making Paterson second only to Rudyard Kipling in popularity among living poets writing in English. Paterson became the premier folk poet of Australia, having produced a body of work that included seven volumes of poetry and prose, a children's book about animals, in addition to his journalistic writings. His poetry continues to sell well today and the recent popular film, "The Man from Snowy River," has rekindled interest in his many engaging ballads about Australia and its people. Banjo Paterson was born in Narrambla, near Orange, New South Wales, Australia. He was called Barty by his family, but acquired the nickname Banjo (the name of his favorite horse) because he used that pseudonym to conceal his identity as a solicitor when he published his early verse in Sydney's newspapers. Paterson's parents were graziers in the Yass district of the Australian bush. He received his early education at home and at the Sydney Grammar School. When he turned 16, he was apprenticed as a clerk to a Sydney legal firm for training as a solicitor. Admitted to the bar in 1886, he formed the legal partnership, Street and Paterson. While working as a solicitor, Paterson also made time to write verse, and int1895 with the publication of The Man from Snowy River his unexpected literary celebrity caused him to lose interest in continuing his legal career. In 1899 Paterson accepted an assignment as a special war correspondent for the Sydney Morning Herald to cover the Boer War in South Africa, later traveling on assignment to China and the Philippines. Before returning to Sydney in 1902, Paterson also visited London at the invitation of Rudyard Kipling. Back in Australia, he finally abandoned the law and took an editorial job with the Sydney Evening News, remaining in newspaper work until 1908 when he left to take up ranching. In 1903 he traveled to Tenterfield, New South Wales, where he met and later married Alice Walker. They had two children, Grace born in 1904 and Hugh in 1906. When World War I broke out, Paterson returned to newspaper work, traveling to Europe for the Sydney Morning Herald. Frustrated at not being able to reach the front, he volunteered to drive an ambulance for the Australian Voluntary Hospital in France. Later, returning to Australia he was commissioned a major in the Australian army's remount division to procure horses. After the war he returned to journalism and the writing of verse and prose. He retired from newspaper work in 1930, but continued his other writing until he died just short of his 77th birthday. See <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000062XG0/newsscancom/ref=nosim> for the DVD version of The Man From Snowy River.

Letters on Tariq Ramadan

Christopher Jones forwards two letters on Tariq Ramadan. "Ramadan's vital work" The Guardian (9/1/04) The department of homeland security's de facto veto of the University of Notre Dame's appointment of the Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan to a chair in the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies is offensive, not least as a denial of academic freedom (An oft-repeated 'truth', August 31). This revocation of Ramadan's work visa bears the imprint of those influential supporters of Israel's rightwing government in the Pentagon. These pro-Sharon neocons have been at the centre of the Bush administration's foreign policy. A close scrutiny of Ramadan's work reveals an erudite, provocative scholar; one committed to the further evolution of Islam's understanding of its revelation and religious practice. Moreover, he is concerned to facilitate the discussions that must ensue if Judaism, Christianity and Islam are to build mutual respect en route to developing some common ground. We must examine the tactics of Ramadan's accusers. While they offer no evidence that he is a threat to US security, he is readily charged with being anti-semitic - a tactic widely used by pro-Sharon elements in the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and those in the Pentagon who would intimidate and silence critics of the current government of Israel. This tactic is being widely used by neoconservatives, for example Daniel Pipes, whose campuswatch website encourages students to report professors who contest Israel's policies. In short, criticism of Israel is now glibly equated with anti-semitism. (Ramadan's offence, inter alia, was to have rebuked French Jewish intellectuals for their silence on Israel's murderous tactics in the occupied territories.) What is more, it is not only Muslim leaders and other non-Jewish opponents of Israel's continued control and settlement of the territories who are targeted in this manner. Jews in the peace movements who protest Sharon's policies also find themselves smeared as anti-semitic, "self-hating Jews". Prof Peter Walshe Fellow of the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame, Indiana, USA Ramadan has pointed out that an oft-repeated assumption becomes the "truth". For that reason, not only is he now a terrorist sympathiser, but also his accusers, by withdrawing his visa, are maintaining the illusion that they are conducting a war on terror. They are thus neatly reversing the actual truth, while ensuring that the culture under attack, Islam, is never understood by the people whose leadership is intent on global hegemony. David Clarke London

Tariq Ramadan and his name

I asked if Ed Jajko has any comment on the Tariq Ramadan case. "Ramadan" means the hot month, surely an odd family name. Ed replies: "No comment on the case. Ramadan was originally the hot or parched month, but since the Muslim calendar was made lunar and rotates around the solar year, Ramadan can be in the heat of summer or the chill of winter. This year's Ramadan begins on or about 16 October. It's no more unusual a family name than March, May, or August in English or German*. But Mr. Ramadan is of Egyptian origin, and so Ramadan may be his family name only because of European, not Egyptian, practice. There are Egyptians who bear family names -- Boutros Boutros-Ghali and his brothers and other relatives, for example -- but most Egyptians have three names: given name, father's name, grandfather's name. With each new generation, a new name is tacked on in front and the father's name takes the place of the grandfather's. Ramadan is an acceptable given name for a Muslim boy. Not a common one, but quite acceptable. Once Ramadan has a son, whom he names Tariq, the son becomes Tariq Ramadan. In Egypt and the Arab world he is known as Tariq or Mr. Tariq. Europe and the Western world require him to become Mr. Ramadan. (The name of the grandfather, Hasan al-Banna, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, has been omitted.) I find it interesting that he bears the name of Tariq ibn Ziyad, the Berber who defeated Visigoth Spain in 711, who gave his name also to Jabal Tariq, the Mountain of Tariq, i.e. Gibraltar. Ramadan seeks to create a new European Muslim identity. Tariq ibn Ziyad had much the same mission". RH:* The only names of months commonly used as family names in English are March and May. Similarly only a few colors are used as last names: White, Black, Grey, Green, but not pink, purple, etc. These selectivities should be studied. When I said how pleased I was that Randy Black had met Jaqui White, Philip Huyck remarked "Black and White". Red (read) all over? There is no WAISer named "Red". That Tariq ibn Zayad was a Berber lures us into the complex racial and religious history of Muslim Spain. We should also examine the history of Ramadan. It made sense during the hot month to extend the siesta to embrace the day and to live it up at night, but to move Ramadan to suit the lunar calendar makes no sense.

Women in parliaments

For a long time, Sweden was the leader of the Inter-Parliamentary Union's ranking of women in parliament. But, in the latest survey of June 2004, Sweden no longer boasts the highest percentage of female MPs. At 45.3%, Sweden still ranks first among highly-industrialized nations. It is followed by its fellow Nordic states: Denmark 38%), and (37.5%), the Netherlands 36.7%) and Norway (36.4%). Although many people would automatically point to the United States as the leading country in terms of historic achievements for women's liberalization, it lags behind in electing women to political office. With 62 women holding legislative seats in the 435-member House of Representatives, the United States ties for 58th place with Andorra at 14.3%. Cuba just misses a top-five ranking by a narrow margin. It boasts 36% of women in Parliament, while Norway ranks just above with 36.4%. Still, Cuba has the highest percentage of women in legislative seats among the countries in the entire Americas region. Costa Rica (35.1%) and Argentina (34%) follow Cuba as the next countries from the Americas with the highest percentages. With 219 women in a Lower House seat out of 609, Cuba also boasts the highest total number of women in parliament behind China. There, women claim 604 out of a total of 2,985 seats. Women are also numerous in the parliaments of sib-Saharan Africa RH: These figures are surprising. That the number of women representatives is high in Scandinavian countries and low in Muslim countries was to be expected, but what about the high number in China, Cuba and black Africa?

Poverty in the US

From Paris, Carmen Negrin sends a Reuters article in Spanish saying that there are 36 million poor in the US, and she comments: "Don't you think that a discussion about this sort of matter as well as on the cost and consequences of G. W. Bush's irresponsible and illegal foreign policy is far more important than discussing Mrs- Kerry's personal life? Contrary to what G. W. says in his propaganda, the world is not safer, nor is the US stronger (tremendous unprecedented debts and the poor mentioned in the article), nor are we any freer than before the Patriot Act": RH: Both are important. The number of poor is a matter of great concern. We need to study the background and ideas of Mrs. Kerry, since, if Kerry is elected, she will have a great influence.  That is of course a big IF.

Maria Teresa Thierstein Simoes-Ferreira Heinz

Regarding the name Maria Teresa Thierstein Simoes-Ferreira Heinz, John Wonder correctly says: " In Brazil, at least, the patronymic does not come first as in Spanish".  RH: We made the correction: Thierstein was her mother's name-  Her father was Simoes Ferreira.

Re: The Overseas View of the US presidential race . . .

John Heelan from the UK and Christopher Jones from France  both sent messages titled "The overseas view of the US presidential race".  Paul Davis adds. "If WAISers haven't seen the excellent "This Land" parody on www.jibjab.com, they are missing out. While extremely funny, it satirises the puzzling triviality of the race as viewed from outside; by myself at any rate".

Your comments are invited. Read the home page of the World Association of International Studies (WAIS) by simply double-clicking on:   http://wais.stanford.edu/
E-mail to hilton@stanford.edu. Mail to Ronald Hilton, Hoover Institution, Stanford, CA 94305-6010. Please inform us of any change of e-mail address.

Re: The Politics of Terrorism

I asked "Were American Minute Men terrorists?". John Heelan replies: "It depends from which viewpoint they are being regarded, that of the British of the time or that of latter-day Americans.  If they killed civilians (not armed militia)- then they would have had a"terrorist" tinge.  To broaden the historical picture of American combatants- were the Native Americans "terrorists" when they killed civilians  in the Indian Wars or "freedom fighters"?  Perhaps it would not be politically correct to term "terrorists" the ancestors of today's Native Americans. While driving the blacktops in New England I found many plaques describing individual and multiple massacres of settlers and their families; was that "terrorism" or "freedom fighting"?   Which of those terms would one use to define the "Trail of Tears"- or would one say "ethnic cleansing and/or genocide"?  The combination of slippery semantics and histories written by victors confuses the picture".

Your comments are invited. Read the home page of the World Association of International Studies (WAIS) by simply double-clicking on:   http://wais.stanford.edu/
E-mail to hilton@stanford.edu. Mail to Ronald Hilton, Hoover Institution, Stanford, CA 94305-6010. Please inform us of any change of e-mail address.

HAAKON CHEVALIER

Christopher Jones asked if anybody knows when Haakon Chevalier died.  RH: He died in 1985.  Here is his bio: Born  1902, in Lakewood, NJ; died 1985, in Paris, France; son of Emile and Therese (Roggen) Chevalier; married Ruth Bosley, 1922 (divorced, 1931); married Barbara Lansburgh, 1931 (divorced, 1950); married Carol Lansburgh, 1952; children: (first marriage) Jacques Anatole; (second marriage) Suzanne Andree, Haakon Lazarus; (third marriage) Karen Anne. Education: Student, Stanford University, 1918-20; University of California, A.B., 1923, A.M., 1925, Ph.D., 1929. Memberships: P.E.N., Authors League of America, Association Internationale des Interpretes de Conference, Association des Traducteurs Litteraires de France.University of California, Berkeley, Calif, professor of French, 1929-46; French interpreter, United Nations Conference, San Francisco, CA, 1945, War Criminals Trials, Nuremberg, West Germany, 1945-46, United Nations, Lake Success, NY, 1946; full-time translator and author, beginning 1946.
Publications:
The Ironic Temper: Anatole France and His Time, Oxford University Press, 1932.
For Us the Living, Knopf, 1949.
The Man Who Would be God, Putnam, 1959.
Oppenheimer: The Story of a Friendship, Braziller, 1965.
The Last Voyage of the Schooner Rosamond, Deutsch, 1970.

Translator:

Andre Malraux, Man's Fate, Smith & Haas, 1934, reissued, Random House, 1961, 1968.
Malraux, Days of Wrath, Random House, 1936, McGraw, 1964.
Louis Aragon, The Bells of Basel, Harcourt, 1936.
Aragon, Residential Quarter, Harcourt, 1938.
Salvador Dali, The Secret Life of Salvador Dali, Dial, 1942, 3rd edition, Vision Press, 1968.
Vladimir Pozner, The Edge of the Sword, Modern Age Books, 1942.
Pozner, First Harvest, Viking, 1943.
Gontran de Poncins, Home is the Hunter, Reynal & Hitchcock, 1943.
Andre Maurois, Seven Faces of Love, Didier, 1944, reissued, Doubleday, 1962.
Dali, Hidden Faces, Dial, 1944.
Joseph Kessel, Army of Shadows, Knopf, 1944.
Denis de Rougemont, Devil's Share, Pantheon, 1944, published as The Devil's Share: An Essay on the Diabolic in Modern Society, Meridian Books, 1956.
Maurois, Franklin: The Life of an Optimist, Didier, 1945.
Vercors, Three Short Novels by Vercors, Little, Brown, 1947.
Simon Gantillon, Vessel of Wrath, Putnam, 1947.
Dali, 50 Secrets of Magic Craftsmanship, Dial, 1948.
Dali, Dali on Modern Art: The Cuckolds of Antiquated Modern Art, Dial, 1957.
(And editor) Stendhal, A Roman Journal, Orion Press, 1957.
Rene Grousset, Chinese Art and Culture, Orion Press, 1959.
Michel Seuphor, The Sculpture of this Century: Dictionary of Modern Sculpture, Zwemmer, 1959, published as The Sculpture of This Century, Braziller, 1960.
Louis Aragon, Holy Week, Putnam, 1961.
Seuphor, Abstract Painting: Fifty Years of Accomplishment, From Kandinsky to the Present, Abrams, 1962 (published in England as Abstract Painting from Kandinsky to the Present, Prentice-Hall International, 1962).
Henri Mixchaux, Light Through Darkness, Orion Press, 1963, published as Light Through Darkness: Explorations among Drugs, Bodley Head, 1964.
Seuphor, Abstract Painting in Flanders, Arcade (Brussels), 1963.
Robert Descharnes and Jean-Francois Chabrun, Auguste Rodin, Macmillan, 1968.
Bob Claessens and Jeanne Rousseau, Our Breugel, Fond Mercator(Antwerp), 1969.
Pierre Galante, Malraux, Cowles, 1971.
Jerzy Szablowski, Sophie Schneebalg-Perelman, and Adelbrecht L.J. van de Walle, The Flemish Tapestries at Wawel Castle in Cracow: Treasures of King Sigismund Augustus Jagiello, Fond Mercator (Antwerp), 1972.

Contributor to various magazines. See The New York Review of Books, July 2, 1970.

Obituary notice:

Born September 10, 1901, in Lakewood, NJ; died July 4, 1985, in Paris, France. Educator, translator, and author. Chevalier was a professor of French at the University of California, Berkeley, from 1929 until 1946, when he resigned under political pressure. In 1942 Chevalier was reportedly asked by George Charles Eltenton to obtain details, presumably for the Soviets, of secret atomic research then being conducted at Berkeley's radiation laboratories. Chevalier allegedly approached his friend, nuclear scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer, with the proposal, but was rebuffed by Oppenheimer, who termed the scheme "treasonable." Oppenheimer's delay in reporting the incident was to later contribute to his own difficulties in obtaining security clearances vital to his work. The revelation resulted in Chevalier's becoming one of the first persons to be investigated by the House Un-American Activities Committee. Though Oppenheimer later withdrew his allegation, Chevalier was subsequently pressured to resign from his teaching post. He then worked as a translator for the United Nations for several years before moving to France in 1950. Chevalier translated numerous books, including Andre Malraux's Man's Fate, Louis Aragon's The Bells of Basel, and Salvador Dali's The Secret Life of Salvador Dali. He was also the author of several novels, including For Us the Living and The Man Who Would Be God, and a 1965 memoir, Oppenheimer: The Story of a Friendship.

RH: He was at Berkeley when I was there. Since I started out as a professor of French, I knew the French department well, but I saw and spoke to Chevalier only a few times. He moved in a different circle, primarily left wing physicists like Oppenheimer, with whom he had a strange relationship.  Although an active communist, he cut a dashing figure in his open car. His married life was clearly not stable.  Since he was an interpreter at Nuremberg, I wonder if Siegfried Ramler met him there. His list of publications and translations gives a good idea of the circles he frequented. Although he was of French ethnicity, he was active in promoting the independence of North Africa, which was part of the communist agenda.  I wonder what the French think of him.

RE: Portugal: Salazar and Africa

Christopher Jones writes: "Salazar is inseparable from the African colonies, and he was no mere "front man", to use Marxist language.  He correctly recognized that Portugal in the community would be just a small, poor country on the edge of Europe.  And that is exactly what it is today: a poor backwater on the edge of Europe with incredible social tensions.  Instead, Salazar wanted to maintain Portugal's historic colonial relationships and went so far as to keep up the image of Goa and Dao long after Indian troops had taken back these towns.  For him, the Portuguese empire was the only way to prevent Portugal from becoming a small, poor country on the edge of Europe.  This idea was even picked up in Portugal e o Futuro by General Antônio de Spínola, who advocated the transformation of the empire into a sort of strengthened commonwealth.  Even Spínola, the man who was chosen by the radical Marxist officers of the MFA (Movimento das Forças Armadas) saw that Portugal without her colonies and integrated in Europe would become even more dependent on the big families.  What has become of Portugal?  It is now a playground for the wealthy, sporting some of the continent's best golf courses.  it also has grinding poverty, an almost non existent social welfare system and stratospheric real estate prices that in Lisbon means that many Portuguese can no longer afford the rent".

RH:  This ties in with Mrs. Heinz Kerry's denunciation of the Portuguese dictatorship, I wonder what she thought in the decades of chaos following the "liberation" of the Portuguese African colonies.  What does she think of  the Soviet destabilization  of the continent and Castro's armed intervention there?  While Angola and Mozambique fell into chaos, Portugal itself seems to be doing better than Christopher suggests.

COLOMBIA: FARC & the Politics of Terrorism

Jon Kofas says: "Colombia's FARC is not made up boyscouts, but neither are the right-wing death squads, going back to the era of La Violencia. The question is what gave birth to and what sustained FARC all these years? Was it adventurism on the part of young men and women? Was it the belief that Colombian society historically is made up of a few families that enjoy privileges in the same manner as the French aristocracy before 1789, while the masses endure hardships?
WAIS may wish to take up the issue of social justice and explore it further.
Is social justice the same to all societies and all cultures?
Is social justice gender neutral?
Is social justice based on religious foundations, or secular?
Are there common philosophical foundations of social justice?
Is social justice a vague concept that is so subjective that it is meaningless, or is it universally recognized from the jungles of Colombia to Yonkers, New York, to Paris, to Moscow, to Lagos, Nigeria?" 

RE: ZOROASTER:

Randy Black quotes this: "ZOROASTER c.630 - c.550 BC. Persian Prophet.  Zoroaster, also called Zarathustra, was an ancient Persian prophet who founded the first world religion - Zoroastrianism. According to the Zend Avesta, the sacred book of Zoroastrianism, he was born in Azerbaijan, in northern Persia. He is said to have received a vision from Ahura Mazda, the Wise Lord, who appointed him to preach the truth. Zoroaster began preaching his message of cosmic strife between Ahura Mazda, the God of Light, and Ahriman, the principle of evil. According to the prophet, man had been given the power to choose between good and evil. The end of the world would come when the forces of light would triumph and the saved souls rejoice in its victory. This dualism was part of an evolution towards monotheism in the Middle East. Zoroaster's teaching became the guiding light of Persian civilization. After Alexander the Great conquered Persia, Zoroastrianism began to die out in Persia, but it survived in India where it became the basis of the Parsi religion".

RH: This raises two questions.  That Zoroaster was born in Azerbaijan is "a legend. Modern scholarship does not support this legend".  See P, M. Sykes, History of Persia. The Azeri language is Turkic, whereas the Zend AAvesta is written in Persian. It is commonly  said that the Arabs crushed Zoroastrianism, which however declined after the conquest by Alexander the Great.  The history of that period is very confused, but presumably Alexander brought the Greek religion with him.  An expert on the Persia of that period may  have some comment.

Teresa Heinz Kerry, Ken Lay and Enron

Randy Black says "Despite the fact that the Kerry campaign criticized Dubya for his personal friendship with Ken Lay (Enron), Mr. Seeley is obviously not familiar with the fact that Mrs. Kerry invited Mr. Lay to serve on the Board of Directors of the Heinz Foundation prior to his fall from grace. Further, John and Teresa Kerry owned $250,000 of Enron stock dating to the late 1990s. Even after the Enron scandal, Mrs. Kerry served on a different charity board with Mr. Lay. Additionally, John Kerry accepted campaign donations, never returned, from Enron executives.  Lay stayed on the board (of the Heinz Foundation) after Enron's collapse and a Heinz Foundation spokeswoman defended Lay in news reports amid the fraud accusations as having “a good reputation in the environmental community.”
 
Source: http://news.bostonherald.com/national/view.bg?articleid=34958
 
As far as Bill Clinton’s speech, he is the only man in America who can convince the 50 percent of the American taxpayers who pay no taxes that the Republicans have stolen their tax payments".  RH: What about those who do pay taxes?
 

Farm subsidies: cotton

Randy Black says: "Christopher Jones  Jones may not be aware that the USA does not have a monopoly on farm subsidies when it comes to cotton. In fact, Greece and Spain subsidize cotton production at a rate that is five times than the US. Seven countries that together account for one-half of world cotton production offered direct income and price support in 2002/03, including the USA, China, Mexico, Greece, Spain and Turkey. During this period, the USA subsidized cotton production at the rate of 22 cents per pound while Greece and Spain offered subsidies of $1 per pound. Further, while the US is a major exporter of cotton, more than 70% of cotton fabric used in clothing in the US is imported from other countries.  The venue for the negotiation of reductions in government measures that distort cotton production and trade is the World Trade Organization (WTO). An agreement to reduce subsidies that distort production and trade in agriculture will not be easy. Cotton is important to the history and culture of the USA, and cotton production is also important to farmers in Greece and Spain. Within the USA, cotton farming occurs in some of the lower-income states and counties, often in areas where economic alternatives are not attractive. The impacts of farm spending on the regional economies of low-income states are substantial".
 
 
 

---

From: Ronald Hilton [mailto:hilton@stanford.edu]
Sent: Wednesday, July 28, 2004 5:58 PM
To: hilton@stanford.edu
Subject: RE: Laws of History: Economic Determinism
 
Christopher Jones writes: "I couldn't disagree more with the opinions on globalization expressed by Robert Crow.To date, globalization's greatest success stories are the illegal trade in narcotics, al-Qaida and military hardware including landmines, not to mention some other, even more lethal "exports."  The effects of at least one of these sterling products of the global economy has been documented in a Michael Moore style documentary called "Supersize Me!"  The film examines the effects of one month of "fast food" consumption -- from McDonald's -- on the human body.  Director Morgan Spurlock volunteered to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner at McDonald's and ended his 30 day investigation with stratospheric cholesterol values (+62 points), 25 additional pounds, bad skin and an insipient heart problem.  On top of that and just to confirm the "pusher" mentality of the global economy, Spurlock suffered "withdrawal" pain when his experiment came to an end. 
 
The first duty of any government is to protect its own people from perceived danger.  This is the essential raison d'être of the state.  It is government's primary duty to preserve jobs at home.  Any political system that tolerates the export of prosperity to please plutocrats is doomed.  Finally, while Americans whine about "Free Trade" they continue covert "protectionist" measures at home like massive farm subsidies in agricultural products like cotton.  Historically, the US has never had a good trading record and always ran a trade deficit.  Rather than promote true "free trade," America follows a "one way" free trade policy designed to keep foreign money rolling into the US to finance its deficits. When that ends, it will resemble the economic collapse of the Roman empire"

RH: Mohammed  boasted that he was the last of the prophets.  Obviously he was wrong..

Your comments are invited. Read the home page of the World Association of International Studies (WAIS) by simply double-clicking on:   http://wais.stanford.edu/
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Re: The Politics of Terrorism

I asked "Were American Minute Men terrorists?". John Heelan replies: "It depends from which viewpoint they are being regarded, that of the British of the time or that of latter-day Americans.  If they killed civilians (not armed militia)- then they would have had a"terrorist" tinge.  To broaden the historical picture of American combatants- were the Native Americans "terrorists" when they killed civilians  in the Indian Wars or "freedom fighters"?  Perhaps it would not be politically correct to term "terrorists" the ancestors of today's Native Americans. While driving the blacktops in New England I found many plaques describing individual and multiple massacres of settlers and their families; was that "terrorism" or "freedom fighting"?   Which of those terms would one use to define the "Trail of Tears"- or would one say "ethnic cleansing and/or genocide"?  The combination of slippery semantics and histories written by victors confuses the picture".

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E-mail to hilton@stanford.edu. Mail to Ronald Hilton, Hoover Institution, Stanford, CA 94305-6010. Please inform us of any change of e-mail address.