At the Bush-Putin news conference:
PRESIDENT PUTIN: We certainly would not want to have the same kind of democracy as they have in Iraq, I will tell you quite honestly. (Laughter.)
PRESIDENT BUSH: Just wait.
And, what kind of sales pitch was Putin responding to with this?
PRESIDENT PUTIN: I have already mentioned that we will not participate in any crusades, in any holy alliances.
Saturday, July 15, 2006
Friday, July 14, 2006
La testata de tutti testata
Last evening's news on RAI (Italian TV) showed the Zidane headbutt 7 times, followed by another 6 showings of an apparent comedy routine based on the headbutt. This is a full 4 days after the already legendary move. It's not very hard to find the video on their website either.
[and yes, the grammar in our title is probably dreadful]
[and yes, the grammar in our title is probably dreadful]
This one goes up to 11
Bertie Ahern shows George Bush how mangled econ-english should be done:
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said yesterday higher inflation was a sign of a strengthening economy: "In actual fact the reason it's on the rise is because probably the boom times are getting even more boomer."
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said yesterday higher inflation was a sign of a strengthening economy: "In actual fact the reason it's on the rise is because probably the boom times are getting even more boomer."
Thursday, July 13, 2006
The NatWest 3
With the 3 now in Houston, the hometown Houston Chronicle will be recommended reading for those interested in tracking their fate. The sidebar to their story on the 3 has an excellent set of links, including to the actual indictment. The indictment makes clear what the 3's supporters have always said: that any fraud was against NatWest and that the US jurisdiction is quite flimsy (arising from faxes, e-mails, and a wire transfer travelling in US territory).
Furthermore, one can virtually guarantee that (assuming the 3 can afford good legal representation) that a professor of finance will be on the witness stand. The entire case rests on the fact that a corporate vehicle to hedge financial risk, which by construction has an economic value of zero when set up (because its risks are exactly offsetting), can gain or lose value over time as the price of the assets it holds fluctuates. Indeed, it seems from the indictment that the hedging vehicle was still exposed to risk when the three bought it, which will surely be part of their argument that NatWest was not defrauded by the purchase price.
UPDATE: The 3 got bail (which seems to be $100,000) pending a longer hearing next week on whether they can return to the UK until the trial date. Gary Mulgrew posted his bail mostly in the form of shares in Glasgow Celtic FC!
More on the Celtic connection here; at the end, Mulgrew's mother makes reference (though the story doesn't explain) to the fact that government MPs referred to the 3 as the "Enron 3," a clearly prejudicial tag in view of their trial in Texas. Michael Howard got Home Office Minister Mike O'Brien to stop doing it during the debate on Wednesday.
Furthermore, one can virtually guarantee that (assuming the 3 can afford good legal representation) that a professor of finance will be on the witness stand. The entire case rests on the fact that a corporate vehicle to hedge financial risk, which by construction has an economic value of zero when set up (because its risks are exactly offsetting), can gain or lose value over time as the price of the assets it holds fluctuates. Indeed, it seems from the indictment that the hedging vehicle was still exposed to risk when the three bought it, which will surely be part of their argument that NatWest was not defrauded by the purchase price.
UPDATE: The 3 got bail (which seems to be $100,000) pending a longer hearing next week on whether they can return to the UK until the trial date. Gary Mulgrew posted his bail mostly in the form of shares in Glasgow Celtic FC!
More on the Celtic connection here; at the end, Mulgrew's mother makes reference (though the story doesn't explain) to the fact that government MPs referred to the 3 as the "Enron 3," a clearly prejudicial tag in view of their trial in Texas. Michael Howard got Home Office Minister Mike O'Brien to stop doing it during the debate on Wednesday.
Would they have said that 'Alexander' was a turkey?
Irish state broadcaster RTÉ fell the wrong side of this latest decision of the Broadcasting Complaints Commission (ireland.com, subs. req'd):
The fake fly-on-the-wall satire "The Unbelievable Truth - Colin Farrell's darkest secrets" was labelled a tasteless and vulgar display that made a mockery of the Catholic faith in a complaint by a priest.
A scene from the fictional programme showed a man dressed in priest's vestments pretending to handout Holy Communion to a group of men. But instead of saying Body of Christ, the character announced Body of Colin Farrell, and a close-up showed it was Viagra, not sacred hosts, that was being handed out ...
RTÉ said the programme, narrated by comedian Colin Murphy, was by its nature iconoclastic, designed to attack popular or traditional beliefs, presenting fictional biographies of high profile Irish celebrities.
That's a remarkable, apparently self-granted, mission statement for a state-funded broadcaster; what stands out in particular is its cowardice posing as bravery given that Colin Farrell is in fact popular whereas the Catholic Church is an easy target. Unfortunately, the upholding of the complaint will probably only confirm the Dublin 4 rebels in their self-image as part of the avant-garde.
The fake fly-on-the-wall satire "The Unbelievable Truth - Colin Farrell's darkest secrets" was labelled a tasteless and vulgar display that made a mockery of the Catholic faith in a complaint by a priest.
A scene from the fictional programme showed a man dressed in priest's vestments pretending to handout Holy Communion to a group of men. But instead of saying Body of Christ, the character announced Body of Colin Farrell, and a close-up showed it was Viagra, not sacred hosts, that was being handed out ...
RTÉ said the programme, narrated by comedian Colin Murphy, was by its nature iconoclastic, designed to attack popular or traditional beliefs, presenting fictional biographies of high profile Irish celebrities.
That's a remarkable, apparently self-granted, mission statement for a state-funded broadcaster; what stands out in particular is its cowardice posing as bravery given that Colin Farrell is in fact popular whereas the Catholic Church is an easy target. Unfortunately, the upholding of the complaint will probably only confirm the Dublin 4 rebels in their self-image as part of the avant-garde.
The Leader of the Free World
and his "press corps" are having great fun in east Germany:
Q On both of these [Lebanon and Iran]. Does it concern you that the Beirut airport has been bombed? And do you see a risk of triggering a wider war?
And on Iran, they've, so far, refused to respond. Is it now past the deadline, or do they still have more time to respond?
PRESIDENT BUSH: I thought you were going to ask me about the pig.
Q I'm curious about that, too. (Laughter.)
PRESIDENT BUSH: The pig? I'll tell you tomorrow after I eat it.
UPDATE: Dan Froomkin shares in the astonishment that this is what passes for diplomacy. Incidentally, it continues the recent insulation of the extended White House bubble (reporters included) from Israel-related issues.
Q On both of these [Lebanon and Iran]. Does it concern you that the Beirut airport has been bombed? And do you see a risk of triggering a wider war?
And on Iran, they've, so far, refused to respond. Is it now past the deadline, or do they still have more time to respond?
PRESIDENT BUSH: I thought you were going to ask me about the pig.
Q I'm curious about that, too. (Laughter.)
PRESIDENT BUSH: The pig? I'll tell you tomorrow after I eat it.
UPDATE: Dan Froomkin shares in the astonishment that this is what passes for diplomacy. Incidentally, it continues the recent insulation of the extended White House bubble (reporters included) from Israel-related issues.
The Italian job
Thursday's Wall Street Journal (subs. req'd) has an impressive story about a man who comes with the billing "the Iranian Ahmad Chalabi" -- which is not a compliment (it would be if it appeared as a WSJ editorial). The man in question is Manucher Ghorbanifar, who's had opaque connections to the Iranian government since he left the country following the Islamic revolution in 1979.
Since then, he has figured repeatedly in mishaps in American-Iranian relations. He was the middleman in the Iran-Contra scandal, having been introduced to Reagan's White House by the neocon Michael Ledeen (noted recently playing up the Iranian role in Iraqi Sunni terrorism). That scandal blotted his copybook in US eyes but as in other areas, 9/11 changed everything and he was soon back in business:
Michael Ledeen ... -- says he received a call from Mr. Ghorbanifar. He offered assistance safeguarding American forces that had moved into Afghanistan, which borders Iran. Mr. Ledeen says Mr. Ghorbanifar told him he had Iranian contacts with intelligence on Iran's terrorist infrastructure inside Afghanistan and on Tehran's plans to use it.
Mr. Ledeen says he was skeptical that the White House would sanction a meeting with Mr. Ghorbanifar because of his history. He says he suggested the meeting anyway to Stephen J. Hadley, then deputy national security adviser in the White House. The White House signed off on a Rome meeting, which Mr. Ledeen says surprised him. Mr. Hadley said it was worthwhile if it could save American lives, Mr. Leeden recalls. The State Department, CIA and other agencies approved the mission, according to Mr. Ledeen and a former Pentagon official involved in the meeting. Mr. Hadley, through a spokesman, declined to comment.
The Pentagon sent two Iran experts, Lawrence Franklin and Harold Rhode, to meet Mr. Ghorbanifar and other Iranians in Rome, according to two people who helped set up the meeting. Mr. Ledeen and representatives of Italy's military intelligence unit, Sismi, also attended. Mr. Ghorbanifar requested that no one from the CIA be present, says the former Pentagon official.
Mr. Ledeen declines to discuss what Mr. Ghorbanifar said at the meeting, as does a White House spokesman. Mr. Rhode held at least one more meeting with Mr. Ghorbanifar in Europe in 2003, according to the former Pentagon official. Mr. Rhode and a Pentagon spokeswoman did not respond to requests for comment. A lawyer for Mr. Franklin, who was convicted last year for passing classified information on Iran to pro-Israel lobbyists, says his client is barred from talking to the media.
A more tangled web of Middle Eastern interests would be hard to imagine. But things got a bit too hot after the meeting became public, so Ghorbanifar went to Plan B -- channels of communication to Congress rather than the White House. And again there was a market:
Starting in 2003, he and Mr. Mahdavi, the former Iranian minister [and his confidant], held a string of meetings in Europe with members of Congress, including Mr. [Curt] Weldon, the Pennsylvania Republican who had taken a keen interest in Iranian threats to American interests, according to congressional and intelligence officials.
Mr. Weldon's subsequent book was a wide-ranging indictment of Iran's alleged role in terrorism, and criticized the CIA for allegedly failing to act. In the book, Mr. Weldon cited as his primary source an Iranian exile he calls "Ali," whom he said served as a conduit for information from senior officials inside Iran. This source, wrote Mr. Weldon, is a "trusted associate" of Mr. Ghorbanifar, though Mr. Weldon said he was independent. In an interview, Mr. Weldon declined to identify Ali, and said it was "abhorrent" that anyone would leak information about his sources.
In a telephone interview in Paris, Mr. Mahdavi said he's Ali, and that he worked closely with Mr. Weldon on the book. He said much of the information he provided came from Mr. Ghorbanifar. Mr. Mahdavi said his identity was supposed to be kept secret, but that Mr. Weldon had included material in the book that helped identify him. The Washington-based magazine, "American Prospect," last year named Mr. Mahdavi as "Ali."
None of the concrete information about Iranian plots in Weldon's book has checked out. In fact what's most interesting about this extended episode is the tantalising circumstantial evidence it offers for a different issue: the still unresolved question of who provided the information that Saddam Hussein sought to buy uranium from Niger. It is known that the story travelled via Italy, with possible links to other European intelligence agencies, to the White House. Given the hatred between Iran and Saddam and Ghorbanifar's weirdly symbiotic relationship with the Iranian government, it would seem that Iran had motives, means, and opportunity to get the information to a place where it would be acted upon.
UPDATE 28 July: There's now a surge in stories about Ledeen's possible connection to the Niger claim; a Rolling Stone feature and a proxy response by Ledeen, via fellow National Review-ers. The latter refer heavily to the WSJ story above.
Since then, he has figured repeatedly in mishaps in American-Iranian relations. He was the middleman in the Iran-Contra scandal, having been introduced to Reagan's White House by the neocon Michael Ledeen (noted recently playing up the Iranian role in Iraqi Sunni terrorism). That scandal blotted his copybook in US eyes but as in other areas, 9/11 changed everything and he was soon back in business:
Michael Ledeen ... -- says he received a call from Mr. Ghorbanifar. He offered assistance safeguarding American forces that had moved into Afghanistan, which borders Iran. Mr. Ledeen says Mr. Ghorbanifar told him he had Iranian contacts with intelligence on Iran's terrorist infrastructure inside Afghanistan and on Tehran's plans to use it.
Mr. Ledeen says he was skeptical that the White House would sanction a meeting with Mr. Ghorbanifar because of his history. He says he suggested the meeting anyway to Stephen J. Hadley, then deputy national security adviser in the White House. The White House signed off on a Rome meeting, which Mr. Ledeen says surprised him. Mr. Hadley said it was worthwhile if it could save American lives, Mr. Leeden recalls. The State Department, CIA and other agencies approved the mission, according to Mr. Ledeen and a former Pentagon official involved in the meeting. Mr. Hadley, through a spokesman, declined to comment.
The Pentagon sent two Iran experts, Lawrence Franklin and Harold Rhode, to meet Mr. Ghorbanifar and other Iranians in Rome, according to two people who helped set up the meeting. Mr. Ledeen and representatives of Italy's military intelligence unit, Sismi, also attended. Mr. Ghorbanifar requested that no one from the CIA be present, says the former Pentagon official.
Mr. Ledeen declines to discuss what Mr. Ghorbanifar said at the meeting, as does a White House spokesman. Mr. Rhode held at least one more meeting with Mr. Ghorbanifar in Europe in 2003, according to the former Pentagon official. Mr. Rhode and a Pentagon spokeswoman did not respond to requests for comment. A lawyer for Mr. Franklin, who was convicted last year for passing classified information on Iran to pro-Israel lobbyists, says his client is barred from talking to the media.
A more tangled web of Middle Eastern interests would be hard to imagine. But things got a bit too hot after the meeting became public, so Ghorbanifar went to Plan B -- channels of communication to Congress rather than the White House. And again there was a market:
Starting in 2003, he and Mr. Mahdavi, the former Iranian minister [and his confidant], held a string of meetings in Europe with members of Congress, including Mr. [Curt] Weldon, the Pennsylvania Republican who had taken a keen interest in Iranian threats to American interests, according to congressional and intelligence officials.
Mr. Weldon's subsequent book was a wide-ranging indictment of Iran's alleged role in terrorism, and criticized the CIA for allegedly failing to act. In the book, Mr. Weldon cited as his primary source an Iranian exile he calls "Ali," whom he said served as a conduit for information from senior officials inside Iran. This source, wrote Mr. Weldon, is a "trusted associate" of Mr. Ghorbanifar, though Mr. Weldon said he was independent. In an interview, Mr. Weldon declined to identify Ali, and said it was "abhorrent" that anyone would leak information about his sources.
In a telephone interview in Paris, Mr. Mahdavi said he's Ali, and that he worked closely with Mr. Weldon on the book. He said much of the information he provided came from Mr. Ghorbanifar. Mr. Mahdavi said his identity was supposed to be kept secret, but that Mr. Weldon had included material in the book that helped identify him. The Washington-based magazine, "American Prospect," last year named Mr. Mahdavi as "Ali."
None of the concrete information about Iranian plots in Weldon's book has checked out. In fact what's most interesting about this extended episode is the tantalising circumstantial evidence it offers for a different issue: the still unresolved question of who provided the information that Saddam Hussein sought to buy uranium from Niger. It is known that the story travelled via Italy, with possible links to other European intelligence agencies, to the White House. Given the hatred between Iran and Saddam and Ghorbanifar's weirdly symbiotic relationship with the Iranian government, it would seem that Iran had motives, means, and opportunity to get the information to a place where it would be acted upon.
UPDATE 28 July: There's now a surge in stories about Ledeen's possible connection to the Niger claim; a Rolling Stone feature and a proxy response by Ledeen, via fellow National Review-ers. The latter refer heavily to the WSJ story above.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
And Justice for Some
It's nice for Tony Blair that his chief fundraiser Lord Levy was able to make bail in 6 hours, infinitesimally shorter than the amount of time that the NatWest 3 will spend on bail in the US, if they're lucky, for alleged crimes committed 6 years ago in London. It does not seem that Lord Levy's rush to make bail was in any way connected with the UK government's desire to have a position of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, even though:
The prime minister's official spokesman said he could not comment on Lord Levy's arrest because "it is a party matter". He confirmed the peer was still the prime minister's Middle East envoy.
[Yes, we've done something like this one before]
UPDATE 16 July: Even Vladimir Putin notices --
But there are also other issues, such as combating corruption. And it would be very interesting to hear your views on corruption [such as the case concerning Lord Levy]. I mean, in some countries of the G8 there are some high-level corruption cases and we'd like to hear about your experience on this.
The prime minister's official spokesman said he could not comment on Lord Levy's arrest because "it is a party matter". He confirmed the peer was still the prime minister's Middle East envoy.
[Yes, we've done something like this one before]
UPDATE 16 July: Even Vladimir Putin notices --
But there are also other issues, such as combating corruption. And it would be very interesting to hear your views on corruption [such as the case concerning Lord Levy]. I mean, in some countries of the G8 there are some high-level corruption cases and we'd like to hear about your experience on this.
For the Zidane insatiables
As a service to our readership, here are the logistical details of his interviews this evening about the headbutt: he will be on the pay channel Canal+ at 18.40 BST and then on free TV (TF1) at 19.00 BST. Details follow. It's unclear (from our not very good French) whether TF1 has a live stream.
[via Le Monde headlines] L'ex-capitaine de l'équipe de France Zinedine Zidane s'exprimera ce soir sur Canal+ à 19h40 puis à TF1 dans la foulée (20h00) pour expliquer les raisons qui l'ont conduit à donner un coup de tête au défenseur italien Marco Materazzi en finale de la Coupe du monde.
La direction de Canal+ a annoncé que Zinédine Zidane accorderait un entretien exclusif à Michel Denisot, retransmis mercredi à 19h40 sur la chaîne cryptée en léger différé.
L'ancien capitaine des Bleus s'exprimera dans la foulée, à 20h00, lors du journal télévisé de TF1(également en différé) pour expliquer les raisons qui l'ont conduit à asséner un violent coup de tête sur le torse du défenseur italien Marco Materazzi. Un geste qui a entraîné son exclusion en finale du Mondial.
UPDATE: TF1 has the key quotes.
[via Le Monde headlines] L'ex-capitaine de l'équipe de France Zinedine Zidane s'exprimera ce soir sur Canal+ à 19h40 puis à TF1 dans la foulée (20h00) pour expliquer les raisons qui l'ont conduit à donner un coup de tête au défenseur italien Marco Materazzi en finale de la Coupe du monde.
La direction de Canal+ a annoncé que Zinédine Zidane accorderait un entretien exclusif à Michel Denisot, retransmis mercredi à 19h40 sur la chaîne cryptée en léger différé.
L'ancien capitaine des Bleus s'exprimera dans la foulée, à 20h00, lors du journal télévisé de TF1(également en différé) pour expliquer les raisons qui l'ont conduit à asséner un violent coup de tête sur le torse du défenseur italien Marco Materazzi. Un geste qui a entraîné son exclusion en finale du Mondial.
UPDATE: TF1 has the key quotes.
The Enron curse
Barely 2 weeks after the death of Ken Lay, a bizarre twist in the case of the NatWest 3 (being debated in the House of Commons today). The banker who supervised the controversial deal at the heart of the case has been found dead in east London:
He was the former head of financial markets in North America for RBS [NatWest parent]. The FBI said: "It is our policy to neither confirm or deny whether any individual has been interviewed or not regarding any case which we might be investigating.
"We have no comment to make of any sort and nor will we while this case is ongoing." One former NatWest employee facing extradition, David Bermingham, said he was "knocked sideways by the news" of Mr Coulbeck's death. "It is awful, appalling."
It is in this environment that the 3 will be on board a plane from Gatwick tomorrow, unsure when they will return to the UK.
UPDATE: RBS now denies that the deceased, Neil Coulbeck, had any direct role in the controversial deal, although he was the supervisor of the three when the deal went through.
He was the former head of financial markets in North America for RBS [NatWest parent]. The FBI said: "It is our policy to neither confirm or deny whether any individual has been interviewed or not regarding any case which we might be investigating.
"We have no comment to make of any sort and nor will we while this case is ongoing." One former NatWest employee facing extradition, David Bermingham, said he was "knocked sideways by the news" of Mr Coulbeck's death. "It is awful, appalling."
It is in this environment that the 3 will be on board a plane from Gatwick tomorrow, unsure when they will return to the UK.
UPDATE: RBS now denies that the deceased, Neil Coulbeck, had any direct role in the controversial deal, although he was the supervisor of the three when the deal went through.
Capitalism and Freedom
One aspect of the rejuvenated military-industrial complex under George Bush is the application of marketing skills to weapons systems. In other words, stuff that destroys other stuff (or people) has to have a cool name. Consider for instance a story in Tuesday's Wall Street Journal (subs. req'd) about how US defence contractors have found a useful reserve market in Israel for technology that the Pentagon has passed on: mobile short-range missile defence systems. The Israelis are interested, though possibly not at the price the American firms want, since the Palestinian rockets are low-tech and not that difficult to spot and stop.
But some thought clearly went into the names for these systems. Northrop Grumman has a system called Skyguard, which sounds like something to do with air traffic control (which in a sense it is). Competitor Raytheon, which ingeniously used CNN to in effect run ads for their Patriot system in the 1991 Gulf War, goes for the classic Greek reference this time with Phalanx. There's something about this terminology that calls to mind the earlier, non-prurient, Paul Verhoeven films, like Robocop.
But some thought clearly went into the names for these systems. Northrop Grumman has a system called Skyguard, which sounds like something to do with air traffic control (which in a sense it is). Competitor Raytheon, which ingeniously used CNN to in effect run ads for their Patriot system in the 1991 Gulf War, goes for the classic Greek reference this time with Phalanx. There's something about this terminology that calls to mind the earlier, non-prurient, Paul Verhoeven films, like Robocop.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
The soft bigotry of low expectations
It's not news that George W. Bush is economically illiterate; the only surprise is that his illiteracy intruded today on a long-planned fiscal policy stunt, whereby he was to congratulate himself on beating a rigged forecast for the budget deficit this year. So his explanation began:
This economy is growing, federal taxes are rising [sic], and we're cutting the federal deficit faster than we expected.
The transcribers catching his confusion of taxes with revenues. And here's that rigged forecast:
Here are some hard numbers: Our regional projection for this year's budget deficit was $423 billion. That was a projection. That's what we thought was going to happen. That's what we sent up to the Congress, here's what we think. Today's report from OMB tells us that this year's deficit will actually come in at about $296 billion. (Applause.)
Could it be then that the botched forecast of what would happen in Iraq is not a bug, but a feature?
This economy is growing, federal taxes are rising [sic], and we're cutting the federal deficit faster than we expected.
The transcribers catching his confusion of taxes with revenues. And here's that rigged forecast:
Here are some hard numbers: Our regional projection for this year's budget deficit was $423 billion. That was a projection. That's what we thought was going to happen. That's what we sent up to the Congress, here's what we think. Today's report from OMB tells us that this year's deficit will actually come in at about $296 billion. (Applause.)
Could it be then that the botched forecast of what would happen in Iraq is not a bug, but a feature?
Saint Elsewhere
A fine Pseud's Corner nominee in today's Wall Street Journal from Bernard Henri-Lévy on Zidane:
The man's insurrection against the saint. A refusal of the halo that had been put on his head and that he then, quite logically, pulverized with a head-butt, as though saying: "I am a living being not a fetish; a man of flesh and blood and passion, not this idiotic empty hologram, this guru, this universal psychoanalyst, natural child of Abbé Pierre and Sister Emanuelle, which soccer-mania was trying to turn me into."
The man's insurrection against the saint. A refusal of the halo that had been put on his head and that he then, quite logically, pulverized with a head-butt, as though saying: "I am a living being not a fetish; a man of flesh and blood and passion, not this idiotic empty hologram, this guru, this universal psychoanalyst, natural child of Abbé Pierre and Sister Emanuelle, which soccer-mania was trying to turn me into."
Comrade Andrew
It's mainly a casual spectator sport, the ongoing feud between Andrew Sullivan and the National Review staff. It has escalated from pro-life issues to more general issues of conservative theology. But one quick note: the speed with which Sully has embraced rhetoric that he used to denounce is remarkable. Consider for instance --
The attitude of people like [Ramesh] Ponnuru and [Laura] Ingraham and [Mark] Levin is indeed Stalinist in form, if not content. But when you have to defend a massive increase in government spending and power in the name of conservatism, this kind of newspeak is necessary.
He gets in the digs from the Trotskyist and Orwellian playbooks; won't Hitch be impressed? But there was a time when tossing around a term like Stalinist would draw his ire, for example this attack on cartoonist/provocateur Ted Rall:
Rall is someone who craves and shouldn't get more attention, but his views from an interview last year are revealing:
"My theory is that essentially, people don’t like to think they're living in a country [the US] that’s led by an evil, dictatorial madman. But they are, they are living in Nazi Germany, in Stalinist Russia."
[link via Google cache because Andrew seems to have (inadvertently?) sabotaged direct searching of his archives]
And note that his complaint here is not what with the factual (in)accuracy of what Rall says, but the violation of "elemental decency and taste." Yet now, not for the first time, Andrew seems to be eligible for one of his own awards.
The attitude of people like [Ramesh] Ponnuru and [Laura] Ingraham and [Mark] Levin is indeed Stalinist in form, if not content. But when you have to defend a massive increase in government spending and power in the name of conservatism, this kind of newspeak is necessary.
He gets in the digs from the Trotskyist and Orwellian playbooks; won't Hitch be impressed? But there was a time when tossing around a term like Stalinist would draw his ire, for example this attack on cartoonist/provocateur Ted Rall:
Rall is someone who craves and shouldn't get more attention, but his views from an interview last year are revealing:
"My theory is that essentially, people don’t like to think they're living in a country [the US] that’s led by an evil, dictatorial madman. But they are, they are living in Nazi Germany, in Stalinist Russia."
[link via Google cache because Andrew seems to have (inadvertently?) sabotaged direct searching of his archives]
And note that his complaint here is not what with the factual (in)accuracy of what Rall says, but the violation of "elemental decency and taste." Yet now, not for the first time, Andrew seems to be eligible for one of his own awards.
Monday, July 10, 2006
The current state of American conservatism
Encapsulated by this post from Powerline's "Hindrocket" (a regular guest on CNN's Reliable Sources) approvingly linking to a Ralph Peters op-ed in the Fox News sister publication, the New York Post:
This morning, Ralph Peters says out loud what many have been thinking about "our prisoner problem" in the wake of Hamdan, Abu Ghraib, etc.:
"Violent Islamist extremists must be killed on the battlefield. Only in the rarest cases should they be taken prisoner. Few have serious intelligence value. And, once captured, there's no way to dispose of them."
Aside from the obvious war crime, the "good" military powers had finally figured out by the 20th century that such a policy is irrational, because it creates a fight-to-the-death incentive for the enemy.
This morning, Ralph Peters says out loud what many have been thinking about "our prisoner problem" in the wake of Hamdan, Abu Ghraib, etc.:
"Violent Islamist extremists must be killed on the battlefield. Only in the rarest cases should they be taken prisoner. Few have serious intelligence value. And, once captured, there's no way to dispose of them."
Aside from the obvious war crime, the "good" military powers had finally figured out by the 20th century that such a policy is irrational, because it creates a fight-to-the-death incentive for the enemy.
Saturday, July 08, 2006
And justice for some
It's nice for Tony Blair that the 18 month Italian statute of limitations for financial indictments such as the one facing the husband of his Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell is shorter than the amount of time that the NatWest 3 will likely spend on bail in the US -- if they're lucky -- for alleged crimes committed 6 years ago in London.
Protecting someone's honour
Since it cannot be a winning public relations strategy for the IRA to continue to contest the background to their murder of Jean McConville in 1972, the only plausible conclusion from them doing so is that people involved in the murder are now high up in the IRA or, more likely, in Sinn Fein.
UPDATE: Detailed roundup and analysis from Slugger O'Toole.
UPDATE: Detailed roundup and analysis from Slugger O'Toole.
Friday, July 07, 2006
Don't mention those wars
George Bush's news conference today has two noteworthy points as far as we're concerned. First, the unveiling of an impressive new euphemism, perhaps cooked up at Graceland last week:
The Far East was a pretty difficult place. I know we spend a lot of time talking about the Far East today because of North Korea, but if you really look at the development in the Far East, it's pretty remarkable, isn't it? South Korea has emerged into a vibrant capitalist society. Japan has still got a little hangover from their previous activities in the region, but nevertheless, is a thriving partner in peace
Second, something that perhaps reveals more about the field of vision of the "press corps," not a single question on the crisis in Gaza.
The Far East was a pretty difficult place. I know we spend a lot of time talking about the Far East today because of North Korea, but if you really look at the development in the Far East, it's pretty remarkable, isn't it? South Korea has emerged into a vibrant capitalist society. Japan has still got a little hangover from their previous activities in the region, but nevertheless, is a thriving partner in peace
Second, something that perhaps reveals more about the field of vision of the "press corps," not a single question on the crisis in Gaza.
The Armalite in one hand and the steering wheel in the other
It's rarely worth bothering with Charles Krauthammer's columns, being just a print variation of the usual warblogger shite. But in today's column -- devoted to his outrage that the Geneva Conventions apply to George W. Bush -- he tries to show that he's not just another inside the Beltway suit with contempt for real Americans -- and gets his slang wrong:
The court tortures the reading of Common Article 3 to confer upon Hamdan -- and by extension the man for whom he rode shotgun, bin Laden -- the kind of elaborate legal protections that one expects from "civilized peoples."
The dude who "rides shotgun" sits in the passenger seat. But Hamdan was Bin Laden's driver.
One other thing. What, exactly, does he mean with his closing paragraph?
The court has decreed: There is no war -- or we will pretend so -- and henceforth it shall be conducted by the court. God save the United States. (This honorable court can fend for itself.)
The court tortures the reading of Common Article 3 to confer upon Hamdan -- and by extension the man for whom he rode shotgun, bin Laden -- the kind of elaborate legal protections that one expects from "civilized peoples."
The dude who "rides shotgun" sits in the passenger seat. But Hamdan was Bin Laden's driver.
One other thing. What, exactly, does he mean with his closing paragraph?
The court has decreed: There is no war -- or we will pretend so -- and henceforth it shall be conducted by the court. God save the United States. (This honorable court can fend for itself.)
Suspect Device 2.0
A chaotic week at Dublin Airport -- a false claim by an apparently disturbed individual that he had a bomb, a strike, and now a controlled explosion on a suspicious package. Which turned out to be:
[a] bag [containing] a copy of the Koran and medicines.
An immediate question is whether any prior inspection of the bag had led to its contents being deemed more suspicious than usual.
UPDATE: The Koran being visible now indeed seems to have been the original source of the alert; perhaps an understandable leap, if only an awkward coincidence given the 7-7 anniversary.
[a] bag [containing] a copy of the Koran and medicines.
An immediate question is whether any prior inspection of the bag had led to its contents being deemed more suspicious than usual.
UPDATE: The Koran being visible now indeed seems to have been the original source of the alert; perhaps an understandable leap, if only an awkward coincidence given the 7-7 anniversary.
Money to burn
It's not clear which of the following recent or imminent purchases Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich values more --
(1) Irish Times (subs. req'd): For a mere £285,000 (€410,000), Mr Abramovich (39) has bought the "VIP 1" plate first owned by Kilkenny businessman Bill Finnegan in the 1970s and later - in replica, at least - by Pope John Paul II.
When it first became available in Kilkenny (which had the code IP under the old licensing system) in 1971, the much-sought-after plate was given to the founder of the Kilkenny Beer Festival, Bill Finnegan, in recognition of his work on behalf of the city.
[the attraction of the plate seems to be that it's a still valid, non-special issue registration]
(2) WSJ (subs. req'd) -- The efforts by Russian oil company OAO Rosneft to enlist strategic investors in its coming initial public offering could extend to Russian tycoons such as billionaire Roman Abramovich, who is considering an investment in the hundreds of millions of dollars, according to two people familiar with the matter.
If Mr. Abramovich and other super-rich Russians decide to invest, their interest could find favor with the government of President Vladimir Putin. For Mr. Putin, the offering is a ratification of the Kremlin's retaking of large swaths of the energy sector in recent years and an important element of prestige ahead of the Group of Eight summit of world leaders next weekend.
The portion of Rosneft that is to be listed in Moscow could be valued at as much as $12 billion. The shares are expected to be priced July 13. A spokesman for Millhouse, Mr. Abramovich's investment vehicle, declined to comment.
UPDATE: Abramovich now denies that he purchased the Kilkenny plate.
(1) Irish Times (subs. req'd): For a mere £285,000 (€410,000), Mr Abramovich (39) has bought the "VIP 1" plate first owned by Kilkenny businessman Bill Finnegan in the 1970s and later - in replica, at least - by Pope John Paul II.
When it first became available in Kilkenny (which had the code IP under the old licensing system) in 1971, the much-sought-after plate was given to the founder of the Kilkenny Beer Festival, Bill Finnegan, in recognition of his work on behalf of the city.
[the attraction of the plate seems to be that it's a still valid, non-special issue registration]
(2) WSJ (subs. req'd) -- The efforts by Russian oil company OAO Rosneft to enlist strategic investors in its coming initial public offering could extend to Russian tycoons such as billionaire Roman Abramovich, who is considering an investment in the hundreds of millions of dollars, according to two people familiar with the matter.
If Mr. Abramovich and other super-rich Russians decide to invest, their interest could find favor with the government of President Vladimir Putin. For Mr. Putin, the offering is a ratification of the Kremlin's retaking of large swaths of the energy sector in recent years and an important element of prestige ahead of the Group of Eight summit of world leaders next weekend.
The portion of Rosneft that is to be listed in Moscow could be valued at as much as $12 billion. The shares are expected to be priced July 13. A spokesman for Millhouse, Mr. Abramovich's investment vehicle, declined to comment.
UPDATE: Abramovich now denies that he purchased the Kilkenny plate.
Birds of a feather
Vladimir Putin has a PR firm in the run-up to the G8 summit in "St Pete" (as Bush will call it):
The Kremlin has launched a huge publicity drive, with the help of Ketchum, an American PR firm, to counter critics of its campaign to curb democracy.
The PR team denies having anything to do with “that kiss”. It is, however, helping to organise media events like the webcast to give Mr Putin a chance to explain his policies to a Western audience.
This would be the same firm that figured in the White House pundit payola scandal:
The contract, detailed in documents obtained by USA TODAY through a Freedom of Information Act request, also shows that the Education Department, through the Ketchum public relations firm, arranged with [Armstrong] Williams to use contacts with America's Black Forum, a group of black broadcast journalists, "to encourage the producers to periodically address" [No Child Left Behind] NCLB. He persuaded radio and TV personality Steve Harvey to invite Paige onto his show twice. Harvey's manager, Rushion McDonald, confirmed the appearances.
Williams said he does not recall disclosing the contract to audiences on the air but told colleagues about it when urging them to promote NCLB.
What happens when two world leaders with the same spinners come into contact with each other?
The Kremlin has launched a huge publicity drive, with the help of Ketchum, an American PR firm, to counter critics of its campaign to curb democracy.
The PR team denies having anything to do with “that kiss”. It is, however, helping to organise media events like the webcast to give Mr Putin a chance to explain his policies to a Western audience.
This would be the same firm that figured in the White House pundit payola scandal:
The contract, detailed in documents obtained by USA TODAY through a Freedom of Information Act request, also shows that the Education Department, through the Ketchum public relations firm, arranged with [Armstrong] Williams to use contacts with America's Black Forum, a group of black broadcast journalists, "to encourage the producers to periodically address" [No Child Left Behind] NCLB. He persuaded radio and TV personality Steve Harvey to invite Paige onto his show twice. Harvey's manager, Rushion McDonald, confirmed the appearances.
Williams said he does not recall disclosing the contract to audiences on the air but told colleagues about it when urging them to promote NCLB.
What happens when two world leaders with the same spinners come into contact with each other?
Lost in translation
One of the favourite implications of GWOT boosters with each new revelation of snooping is that technology allows greater precision in the pursuit of bad guys than in the past. More likely is that it creates greater possibilities for mistakes. We noted before one plausible hypothesis for the case of the German kidnapped in Macedonia by the CIA and tortured in Afghanistan -- that his surname, a generic reference to Egyptian heritage, is shared by many bad guys, including incidentally the successor to al-Zarqawi.
Anyway, another linguistic screwup is the turning point in a depressing story in Friday's New York Times about a previously unknown kidnap-torture victim of the GWOT: this time, it's an Algerian, Laid Saidi, spirited off the streets in Tanzania, and then via Malawi sent, most likely, to Bagram Air Force base in Afghanistan. Here's when his interrogators realised they had the wrong man:
In prison, Mr. Saidi said, he was interrogated daily, sometimes twice a day, for weeks. Eventually, he said, his interrogators produced an audiotape of the conversation in which he had allegedly talked about planes.
But Mr. Saidi said he was talking about tires, not planes, that his brother-in-law planned to sell from Kenya to Tanzania. He said he was mixing English and Arabic and used the word "tirat," making "tire" plural by adding an Arabic "at" sound. Whoever was monitoring the conversation apparently understood the word as "tayarat," Arabic for planes, Mr. Saidi said.
"When I heard it, I asked the Moroccan translator if he understood what we were saying in the recording," Mr. Saidi said. After the Moroccan explained it to the interrogators, Mr. Saidi said, he was never asked about it again.
So their cool technology allowed them to listen in on the phone call, but it still required someone who actually knew improvised Arabic to figure out what was being talked about. One other twist: Saidi acknowledges that there is one dodgy thing about his time in Tanzania -- he was there on a fake Tunisian passport (due to his desire to avoid the reach of the Algerian state, then in the midst of a vicious civil war). So did the geniuses at the CIA figure this out?
Mr. Saidi said the interrogations eventually stopped. In the late spring or early summer of 2004, he said, he was flown to Tunisia, apparently because his captors thought he was Tunisian. But when Arabic-speaking men boarded the plane, he said he told them he was from Algeria and that his Tunisian passport was fake.
Tunisia and Algeria eventually sorted the mess out, and he's now a free man in Algeria -- and in touch with one of his Afghan prison mates, the unfortunately named German. Most likely, this is one of the topics that the glorious Washington press corps will not trouble Bush with during his news conference later today in Chicago.
Anyway, another linguistic screwup is the turning point in a depressing story in Friday's New York Times about a previously unknown kidnap-torture victim of the GWOT: this time, it's an Algerian, Laid Saidi, spirited off the streets in Tanzania, and then via Malawi sent, most likely, to Bagram Air Force base in Afghanistan. Here's when his interrogators realised they had the wrong man:
In prison, Mr. Saidi said, he was interrogated daily, sometimes twice a day, for weeks. Eventually, he said, his interrogators produced an audiotape of the conversation in which he had allegedly talked about planes.
But Mr. Saidi said he was talking about tires, not planes, that his brother-in-law planned to sell from Kenya to Tanzania. He said he was mixing English and Arabic and used the word "tirat," making "tire" plural by adding an Arabic "at" sound. Whoever was monitoring the conversation apparently understood the word as "tayarat," Arabic for planes, Mr. Saidi said.
"When I heard it, I asked the Moroccan translator if he understood what we were saying in the recording," Mr. Saidi said. After the Moroccan explained it to the interrogators, Mr. Saidi said, he was never asked about it again.
So their cool technology allowed them to listen in on the phone call, but it still required someone who actually knew improvised Arabic to figure out what was being talked about. One other twist: Saidi acknowledges that there is one dodgy thing about his time in Tanzania -- he was there on a fake Tunisian passport (due to his desire to avoid the reach of the Algerian state, then in the midst of a vicious civil war). So did the geniuses at the CIA figure this out?
Mr. Saidi said the interrogations eventually stopped. In the late spring or early summer of 2004, he said, he was flown to Tunisia, apparently because his captors thought he was Tunisian. But when Arabic-speaking men boarded the plane, he said he told them he was from Algeria and that his Tunisian passport was fake.
Tunisia and Algeria eventually sorted the mess out, and he's now a free man in Algeria -- and in touch with one of his Afghan prison mates, the unfortunately named German. Most likely, this is one of the topics that the glorious Washington press corps will not trouble Bush with during his news conference later today in Chicago.
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Read headlines with care
The WSJ (subs. req'd) headline Citigroup Ex-Trading Official Joins Peloton does not actually lead to a story that the architect of the Dr. Evil trade has joined the Tour de France. He's joined a hedge fund.
One has a King, the other a Queen
Canadian PM Stephen Harper at the White House just now:
And thank you [to Bush] for doing something I never thought I'd see, which is have the Canadian media stand when I entered the room.
[quote adjusted from original post to reflect the transcript]
UPDATE DECEMBER 9: The habit is apparently also novel to the British press corps.
And thank you [to Bush] for doing something I never thought I'd see, which is have the Canadian media stand when I entered the room.
[quote adjusted from original post to reflect the transcript]
UPDATE DECEMBER 9: The habit is apparently also novel to the British press corps.
World Cup roundup
With the composition of the final settled, a quick look back at the status of our earlier commentary. Our predicted winner -- Argentina -- gone in the quarter finals. The hate team (following on their display against the Netherlands) -- Portugal -- getting to the semis before exiting, although with Cristiano Ronaldo now needing to plan on playing through a season of jeers next season for Man Utd. At some point we mentioned what seemed to us like France's dreadful preparation for the tournament -- inexpicable omissions from the squad, a big friendly a few days before their first match that cost them one of their strikers. But there they are in the final. The political bandwagon-hopping is fairly predictable, but thank God it's not Silvio Berlusconi getting to smirk his way through a final. In unrelated news, Spike Lee is apparently a big France supporter, via his friendship with Thierry Henry.
As for the final itself, we have no strong allegiance. The French players are more familiar from their high profile in the English league, and while it's a nice story to have Italy doing so well despite the domestic corruption scandal in their league, one could invert that logic and wonder whether a country with a domestic league so tainted deserves to win. However we don't buy the view of the Italians as negative, cynical divers -- that role was taken by Portugal -- and one of the most memorable scenes from the tournament was the brilliant camera work focusing on Francesco Totti's eyes as he stepped up to take the penalty against Australia. He wasn't going to miss.
All in all, a very tough final to predict (and not at all like 2002 in that regard). We think Italy have a slight edge and so predict they win, 2-1.
One award before we go, for worst piece of World Cup commentary -- to Iran-Contra operative and all-purpose neocon hawk, Michael Ledeen in the National Review:
In today's "reportage" of the World Cup semifinal between Italy and Germany, the (lefty) Washington Post reported that the game-winning goal was scored on a left-footed kick, while the (righty) Washington Times reported it was scored on a right-footed kick. The Post account was correct, but don't you find it mysteriously symbolic of something or other?
It's unmysteriously symbolic of the total shite that is the Washington Times. [comment also spotted by Belle at Crooked Timber, and at Sadly No.]
As for the final itself, we have no strong allegiance. The French players are more familiar from their high profile in the English league, and while it's a nice story to have Italy doing so well despite the domestic corruption scandal in their league, one could invert that logic and wonder whether a country with a domestic league so tainted deserves to win. However we don't buy the view of the Italians as negative, cynical divers -- that role was taken by Portugal -- and one of the most memorable scenes from the tournament was the brilliant camera work focusing on Francesco Totti's eyes as he stepped up to take the penalty against Australia. He wasn't going to miss.
All in all, a very tough final to predict (and not at all like 2002 in that regard). We think Italy have a slight edge and so predict they win, 2-1.
One award before we go, for worst piece of World Cup commentary -- to Iran-Contra operative and all-purpose neocon hawk, Michael Ledeen in the National Review:
In today's "reportage" of the World Cup semifinal between Italy and Germany, the (lefty) Washington Post reported that the game-winning goal was scored on a left-footed kick, while the (righty) Washington Times reported it was scored on a right-footed kick. The Post account was correct, but don't you find it mysteriously symbolic of something or other?
It's unmysteriously symbolic of the total shite that is the Washington Times. [comment also spotted by Belle at Crooked Timber, and at Sadly No.]
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Case study
It's interesting to see how the content of Slugger O'Toole's comment thread on a minor local Belfast incident of Bush-bashing changed when it was linked to by Glenn Reynolds, who incidentally mischaracterised Slugger's position by omitting a question mark ("anti Americanism gone mad?"). Reynolds posted at 4.03pm Irish time, and the trolls arrived at Slugger very soon thereafter. Amongst the features illustrated by this episode is that the outrage that Bush supporters can work up over someone else's words far exceeds that of any opinions they've ever expressed on real life-or-death issues, like the daily toll of misery in Iraq.
Eyes wide shut
If the chaos that accompanied the White House press briefing during the North Korean missile launch is any indication of the state of the White House preparedness for an actual national security emergency, then there'll be very few people saying "Thank God George Bush is our president" in such an eventuality. The briefing alternated between the hacks getting updates from Press Secretary Tony Snow as each launch took place, coupled with a preposterous dance about whether the whole briefing was on or off the record.
It's clear ex post that the format was Snow, fellow spinner Dana Perino, and National Security Adviser Steven Hadley -- but for some reason, the administration was initially obsessed with having anonymous attribution to one or more of "senior administration official." Hence exchanges like the following:
[MR. SNOW] All right. Here is what we have. I've just done a similar briefing in the press room, attribution, senior administration official. We can talk about that if you have other concerns a little bit later ...
MS. PERINO: You might mention to her that you wanted to do this as a senior administration official.
MR. SNOW: Yes, we're doing this as senior administration official ... Q Steve, this is Deb from AP.
MR. HADLEY: Hi, Deb.
Q We've got all these senior administration official people talking here. Is there any reason why you can't be on the record, you're the National Security Advisor.
MR. HADLEY: Tony?
MR. SNOW: No, it's fine.
Q Great.
Q Does that change --
Q Mr. Hadley --
So are you okay on the record?
MR. HADLEY: About five people spoke at the same time. If there was a question or something we needed to clarify -- Tony, what is the process here. We will do a transcript of this?
MS. PERINO: Yes, we have a steno on.
MR. HADLEY: We've gone from senior administration official, on the record, let us just take a quick look. But, Tony, I didn't hear -- (inaudible) -- anything I was concerned about.
MR. SNOW: No. Dana.
MS. PERINO: Well, Tony, I think you need to make a decision. You started off as a senior administration official; I don't know if you want to change that.
Q I think we can let Snow be as a senior administration official, but this is a serious, diplomatic issue --
MR. SNOW: Yes, I think that's fine.
MR. HADLEY: Let's do that.
Whereupon the entire briefing became on-the-record. As of 11pm eastern time on the 4th, the stories in the New York Times and Washington Post quote Hadley without making reference to the antics that had preceded him going on the record. They would have been equally happy to go along with the original "senior administration official" designation, leaving readers in the dark about where the quotes were coming from.
The stories both still include anonymous quotes, apparently from the Pentagon (Rumsfeld?) -- perhaps enough to sustain for another day the symbiotic relationship between government officials and their friends in the press corps. The reading public, however, is left to wonder who said what and why.
It's clear ex post that the format was Snow, fellow spinner Dana Perino, and National Security Adviser Steven Hadley -- but for some reason, the administration was initially obsessed with having anonymous attribution to one or more of "senior administration official." Hence exchanges like the following:
[MR. SNOW] All right. Here is what we have. I've just done a similar briefing in the press room, attribution, senior administration official. We can talk about that if you have other concerns a little bit later ...
MS. PERINO: You might mention to her that you wanted to do this as a senior administration official.
MR. SNOW: Yes, we're doing this as senior administration official ... Q Steve, this is Deb from AP.
MR. HADLEY: Hi, Deb.
Q We've got all these senior administration official people talking here. Is there any reason why you can't be on the record, you're the National Security Advisor.
MR. HADLEY: Tony?
MR. SNOW: No, it's fine.
Q Great.
Q Does that change --
Q Mr. Hadley --
So are you okay on the record?
MR. HADLEY: About five people spoke at the same time. If there was a question or something we needed to clarify -- Tony, what is the process here. We will do a transcript of this?
MS. PERINO: Yes, we have a steno on.
MR. HADLEY: We've gone from senior administration official, on the record, let us just take a quick look. But, Tony, I didn't hear -- (inaudible) -- anything I was concerned about.
MR. SNOW: No. Dana.
MS. PERINO: Well, Tony, I think you need to make a decision. You started off as a senior administration official; I don't know if you want to change that.
Q I think we can let Snow be as a senior administration official, but this is a serious, diplomatic issue --
MR. SNOW: Yes, I think that's fine.
MR. HADLEY: Let's do that.
Whereupon the entire briefing became on-the-record. As of 11pm eastern time on the 4th, the stories in the New York Times and Washington Post quote Hadley without making reference to the antics that had preceded him going on the record. They would have been equally happy to go along with the original "senior administration official" designation, leaving readers in the dark about where the quotes were coming from.
The stories both still include anonymous quotes, apparently from the Pentagon (Rumsfeld?) -- perhaps enough to sustain for another day the symbiotic relationship between government officials and their friends in the press corps. The reading public, however, is left to wonder who said what and why.
And then there was one
There are two people alive who know for sure whether Rudy Giuliani really found the time on 9/11 to grab someone by the shoulder and say "Thank God George Bush is our President." Those people being Rudy himself and the owner of the grabbed shoulder, Bernie Kerik -- whose name is being wiped from New York City history so fast that workers go home on Friday from the Bernard B. Kerik Complex and come to work Monday at the Manhattan Detention Complex. That's quite a witness you've got there, Rudy [still being hyped, in some quarters, as a presidential candidate].
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