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julen 2002

Vi sticka i brand. Vi spränga itu.
Vi civilisera med krevader.
Här ligga de civiliserade nu
i långa, tysta rader.

Heligt krig 

Bo Bergman, Gamla gudar, 1939

Iraqi Governing Council representative Mowaffaq al-Rubaie told a press conference on the sidelines of the summit that Iraq needed an "immediate infusion of cash".

Pledges already made include:

• $20bn from the United States
• $5bn from Japan
• $3bn-$5bn from the World Bank
• $1bn from Saudi Arabia
• $1bn from Kuwait
• $835m from Britain
• $300m from Spain
• $231m from the European Union
• $200m from South Korea
• $174m from Italy
• $150m from Canada
• $32.6m from Sweden
• $5.9m from Belgium

"The Iraqi people need finance, not promises," he said. He said the task ahead of the Iraqis was "huge", pointing to the re-emergence of previously eradicated diseases such as bilharzia and malaria. He also blamed unemployment in Iraq for "nurturing terrorism".

BBC rapporterade detta fredagen den 24 oktober 2003. 
De broar över Tigris som amerikanarna bombade tidigare i år ska alltså svenska arbetare och
skattebetalare bygga och betala. Alldeles som broarna över Donau (1999).
Detta tycker jag är svekfullt löfte från Görans sida. 
När pengar i övrigt saknas till angelägna behov inom landet!

Age of empires

Various invaders conquered the land after Nebuchadnezzar's death, including Cyrus the Great in 539BC and Alexander the Great in 331BC. In the second century BC, it became part of the Persian Empire, remaining thus until the 7th century AD, when it was captured by Arab Muslims (Abbasids). The capital was moved to Baghdad which became an important commercial and cultural centre in the Middle Ages.

Mongol invaders in AD1258 sacked Baghdad and murdered the Abbasid caliph. After much conflict over supremacy, the country was conquered by the Turks in the 17th century and became part of the Ottoman Empire. Turkish rule continued unchecked, and with very little development, until the end of the 19th century.

Källa: Arab Net

Lawrence av Arabien

en legend

Lawrence wrote two major works, each very different. Both have achieved widespread recognition.

Seven Pillars of Wisdom describes Lawrence's experiences while serving as a liaison officer with the rebel forces during the Arab Revolt of 1916-18. The book exists in two texts. The earlier, completed in 1922, runs to 334,500 words. Sometimes called the "Oxford" text, it remained unpublished until 1997. From this 1922 text Lawrence made a revised abridgement, cutting the length down to 250,500 words. He issued this abridgement in a private edition for subscribers in 1926. After his death in 1935, it was published for general circulation. It has since become a world classic, and was the principal source for David Lean's film Lawrence of Arabia (1962). Well over a million copies have been sold, and the book has been translated into many languages. Revolt in the Desert is, in Bernard Shaw's words, an "abridgement of an abridgement" of the original 1922 Seven Pillars. It was published in 1927 in order to pay off debts that Lawrence had incurred while producing the lavishly illustrated subscribers' Seven Pillars. Revolt was very successful, but was superseded when the whole subscribers' text was published for general circulation in 1935. There have, nevertheless, been a number of recent editions. There is a more detailed account of the 1922 Seven Pillars text on the Castle Hill Press website.

The Mint, a much shorter book than Seven Pillars, is in three parts. The first two describe Lawrence's experiences as an enlisted recruit in the RAF in 1922. The third part describes a later period of his service life, when he was serving at the RAF Cadet College, Cranwell, in 1925 and 1926. This book too has been translated into several languages.

He suggested that if I wanted to know more of the facts I could start with a book called Seven Pillars of Wisdom, A Triumph by Thomas Edward (T.E.) Lawrence. Seven Pillars is the true story of Lawrence of Arabia by the Lawrence himself. He said the book told an exciting story, and contained a great deal of information about the roots of the current socio-political situation in the Middle East. I agreed to read the book, and we dropped the subject.

A week or so later I was exploring the shelves of my favorite used bookstore and found an old paperback edition of Seven Pillars. I had a little trouble getting into the book at first. Some of the syntax was difficult to understand, and some references lost on a modern reader. However, any difficulty with syntax was soon compensated for by the unfolding adventure story.

The Foundations of the Arab Revolt

Seven Pillars begins with an overview of Arab history, starting with a short description of the Moslem conquest in the seventh century, and outlining events through the Arab's eventual overthrown by the Turks in the eleventh century. The Turkish empire were still overlords in Arabia during the First World War, and allied with the Germans against Britain and France. In 1916 Sherif Hussein of Mecca, (leader of the Arabs) declared a rebellion against the Turks.

Lawrence Goes To Mecca

Lawrence was sent to Mecca by the British military command in Cairo to conduct a fact-finding mission. The quality of his reports and the strong relationships he formed with the Arab leaders led to his ultimate assignment as British liaison officer, serving with forces of Emir Feisal, one of Hussein's four sons. Lawrence describes Feisal as the only Arab leader with the "necessary fire" to successfully lead the revolt.

The Arab Revolt

Lawrence chronicles the Arab revolt starting with his 1916 mission to Mecca. He describes his efforts to help Feisal unify the feuding Arab tribes against the Turks. He recounts missions of up to 1000 miles a month on camel back, traversing the harshest desert terrain through extremes of cold and heat. He describes several successful guerrilla campaigns against the Turkish railroad that played a key role in the ultimate victory.

Lawrence profiles British leaders including General Sir Edmund Allenby, the brilliant Commander-in-Chief of British forces in Egypt and Palestine in 1917 and 18. He compares the British "regulars," disciplined professional soldiers fighting for duty and empire, and the Arab "irregulars," undisciplined amateur soldiers fighting for freedom and the spoils of war. Seven Pillars ends with the Arab army's victorious capture of Damascus, but that's not the end of the story.

Hidden Agenda

During his years in Arabia Lawrence rode the razors edge between his duty to the British empire, and his moral duty to Feisal and the cause of Arab independence. The British military leadership believed an Arab uprising against the Turks would aid their war with Turkey's ally, Germany. Arab leaders were lead to believe the British were sincere in their desire to free the Arab people from the Turkish yoke. Unfortunately for the Arabs, the British agenda was governed by the politics of empire, not the aspirations of the Arab people. Several times in Seven Pillars Lawrence expresses his shame at dealing with the Arabs under false pretenses.

Immediately after the fall of Damascus Lawrence returned to England. In 1919 he served in the British Delegation at the Paris Peace Conference, working closely with the Feisal to secure Arab independence. The Arabs had helped the Allies win their war with Germany, but now it was time for England and France to get back to empire building. The French were determined to rule Syria, while the British had similar ambitions in Palestine and Iraq. In the ultimate betrayal, Syria, Palestine and Iraq were given over to France and Britain as mandated territories - colonies in all but name. Feisal, who ruled in Damascus after the war, was ousted by the French in 1920.

Exhausted and disappointed after the Paris Peace Conference, Lawrence returned to England. He had begun work on his chronicle of the Arab revolt while in Paris. He published the first edition of Seven Pillars of Wisdom, A Triumph in December of 1926.

To Trust or Not to Trust

Ned | Upp

Günter Grass über George W. Bush

"Eine Bedrohung des Weltfriedens"

Mit scharfen Worten hat der Literatur-Nobelpreisträger Günter Grass den US-Präsidenten George W. Bush für seine Politik in der Irak-Frage kritisiert. Außerdem unterstellte er Bush, dass er aus privaten Motiven handele.

In der Zeitung "Welt am Sonntag" verglich der 75-jährige Schriftsteller Grass den US-Präsidenten mit einer jener "Gestalten in Shakespeares Historiendramen, deren einziger Ehrgeiz es ist, vor den Vater, den alten, sterbenden König zu treten und zu sagen: "Siehe, ich habe deine Aufgabe vollbracht".

Bush jr. werde in der aktuellen politischen Situation "von privaten, familiären Motiven geleitet", sagte Grass. "Die gefährliche Kombination aus familiären, wirtschaftlichen und politischen Interessen in diesem einen Politiker hat ihn zu einer echten Gefahr werden lassen", fügte er hinzu.

Nach Ansicht von Grass ist der Terrorismus eine Konsequenz des Zorns und des Hasses der so genannten Dritten Welt auf den Überfluss der ersten Welt. Er forderte eine "Weltordnung, bei der die entwickelten und unterentwickelten Länder am gleichen Tisch sitzen und sich die Rohstoffe, die Technologien und das Kapital dieser Welt in der gerechtesten Weise teilen."

SPIEGEL ONLINE - 28. Dezember 2002, 15:33


URL: http://www.spiegel.de/politik/debatte/0,1518,228757,00.html

Nobelpristagaren i litteratur

Upp — Norman Mailer

URL:	 http://blompottan.se/TEL/3747/sony.html
Update:	 2010 08 23 [2015 obsolete page]