Mahler's Prodigal Son

Although it has gained little media coverage in Australia, the French go to an election this week with President Chirac standing down after many years in office. Whether one likes the French or not, it is a country not be discounted or overlooked, certainly in the European Union. Also, not to be forgotten is that France has a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. The Independent has an interesting analysis and background to the up-coming election: "France faces a momentous choice this week - and knows it. In the calamitous presidential election of 2002, the country fell asleep at the wheel. It took little interest in the campaign and woke up after the first round of voting to find itself in a moral ditch. The far-right leader Jean-Marie Pen sneaked into the second round five years ago partly because so many people failed to vote and partly because so many left-wing votes scattered to minor candidates. This time the country is wide awake. Voter registration is up by ...

The news this morning of a shooting, on campus, at a Virginian University, resulting in the death of at least 33 and injuring 29, leaves one aghast and shocked. See the latest report from the NY Times here . But, is there a lesson in there somewhere? - that is, that the US must do something about the Constitutional right to bear arms. Rather bizarre too, that it is 8 years this week that America suffered the horror of Columbine. It would seem though that that shooting at Columbine and all the other campus shootings since - and let's not forget the random rampages in shopping malls and elsewhere - has not been a wake-up call to Americans. The latest carnage will doubtlessly re-ignite the topic of gun control - as Reuters reports here . And what does the great George Bush say? He is reported in AHN thus: "White House deputy secretary Dana Perino said: "He was horrified and his immediate reaction was one of deep concern for the families of the victims, t...

A lot has already been written about author Kurt Vonnegut , who passed away last week. On the Breakfast program of ABC Radio National this morning an insight into the author from his erstwhile neighbour and friend, John Irving, himself a noted best-selling writer. "Kurt Vonnegut, one of America's most important writers of the 20th century, died last week after suffering a fall. He was 84 years old. As a soldier in the US liberating forces during the Second World War, Vonnegut was captured by the Germans and held in a former slaughterhouse in Dresden. A quarter of a century later, he wrote about that experience in a novel that defined a generation. Published in 1969, Slaughterhouse Five became an instant bestseller. One fellow writer who Kurt Vonnugut knew well is John Irving. He studied creative writing with him before becoming his friend and then neighbour. John Irving is the author of many bestsellers including The World According to Garp, and he joined us this morning fro...

Harper's Magazine has this piece by Ken Silverstein: "As I've written before, the Bush Administration is most definitely drawing up contingency plans for a military strike against Iran, and while that doesn't mean the plans will be carried out it does show how very seriously the White House is weighing the option. Now, I've learned from a highly reliable source that a conservative thinktank was recently asked to carry out analytical modeling for a potential conflict in Iran, focusing on the likely economic impact of war. The thinktank evaluated a series of likely scenarios, including a blockage by Iran of the Straits of Hormuz—through which moves about 16 million barrels of oil per day, about 20 percent of world production—for a period of six months or more in the event of a high-level conflict. An underlying assumption employed by thinktank analysts was of sustained U.S. aerial bombardment of Iran for 6 weeks, with periodic follow up thereafter. The thinktank co...

It is reported this morning that BBC correspondent Alan Johnston, situated in Gaza, and kidnapped 4 weeks ago, has been executed by a previously unknown Palestinian group. Read the report in Aljazeera here . The reports of Johnston's death have not been verified. If Johnston has been killed - senseless and outrageous as that would be - then the repercussions are vast. Not only will the pr cause of the Palestinians be set back, but doubtlessly Western workers in Gaza and the West Bank - such as those employed by the UN giving aid to the people - will be tempted to leave. Additionally, reporters will be loath to stay in, or even enter, Gaza or the West Bank. The Palestinians will thereby lose a valuable source of information about their plight being reported to the outside world.

For some reason the tabloids haven't been onto this story, although the broadsheets have to an extent. As a result of an investigation undertaken by the Washington Post yet another example of the US military attacking civilians, some of them young children, in Afghanistan last month. "A preliminary U.S. military investigation indicates that more than 40 Afghans killed or wounded by Marines after a suicide bombing in a village near Jalalabad last month were civilians, the U.S. commander who ordered the probe said yesterday. Maj. Gen. Frank H. Kearney III, head of Special Operations Command Central, also said there is no evidence that the Marine Special Operations platoon came under small-arms fire after the bombing, although the Marines reported taking enemy fire and seeing people with weapons. The troops continued shooting at perceived threats as they traveled miles from the site of the March 4 attack, he said. They hit several vehicles, killing at least 10 people and woun...

It is amazing how thing can move in mysterious ways - in many respects aided by the power of harnessing the world wide web. Enter Mia Farrow and Stephen Spielberg, and a mobilised Hollywood, who have taken a worthy and seemingly successful tentative step to seeing something happen in Darfur. Read on as the IHT report s : "For the past two years, China has protected the Sudanese government as the United States and Britain have pushed for United Nations Security Council sanctions against Sudan for the violence in Darfur. But in the past week, strange things have happened. A senior Chinese official, Zhai Jun, traveled to Sudan to push the Sudanese government to accept a UN peacekeeping force. Zhai even went all the way to Darfur and toured three refugee camps - a rare event for a high-ranking official from China, which has extensive business and oil ties to Sudan and generally avoids telling other countries how to conduct internal affairs. Why? Credit goes to Hollywood - in part...