Swiss new minaret ban

[Gavin]

the Canadians often refer to their salad bowl, don't they? (compared w the American melting pot.)

I can confirm that the salad (I would say tossed salad to provoke titters) is the preferred paradigm of U.S. institutional diversity education.

 

[scottdisco]

I can confirm that the salad (I would say tossed salad to provoke titters) is the preferred paradigm of U.S. institutional diversity education.

cheers Gavin, nice one.

hey, a salad and one of these, good to go..

...

 

[crackerjack]

utter screaming bullshit from AHA

 

[scottdisco]

utter screaming bullshit from AHA

yup.

this reminds me exactly of David Adler discussing J Hari on Somali pirates in just the right terms

the often admirable Johann Hari (who is out to lunch on this particular topic)

 

[vimothy]

this reminds me exactly of David Adler discussing J Hari on Somali pirates in just the right terms

Excellent post.

 

[Gavin]

Excellent post.

What is the content of the argument of the post? If we leave out the part where he damns Scahill for associating with publications that have published some dodgy ideas (which we should), it boils down to only this paragraph:

But piracy is still crime, and these men are not environmentalists, concerned more than anything with "Western ships allegedly dumping waste off the Somali coast and devastating the Somali fishing industry...." They are kidnappers and extortionists who keep their hostages — men and women of all nationalities — in a state of torment, with price tags on their very lives.

which says we must condemn (whatever the fuck that means) the pirates because they commit crimes for money, not for environmental clauses. The hysterical "price tags on their very lives" has me chuckling; obviously since the pirates aren't actually harming hostages he has to invent this symbolic violence of "price tags on their very lives." How many Somalis is it worth killing to regain an oil tanker? This is the weakest form of sentimentalism, I expect better from you Vim.

 

[mixed_biscuits]

Being held hostage tout court causes harm.

Or at least that's what my last abductee claimed.

 

[scottdisco]

How many Somalis is it worth killing to regain an oil tanker?

it should be none, of course.
and hostage taking is not to be justified.

(there is, admittedly, a very good case to think that hostages have on the whole not been harmed much yet purely because the pirates are having their demands met; and are, also, not stupid).

to be fair, i merely liked Adler's usage of the 'out to lunch' phrase (whilst simultaneously praising) and felt it was a perfect fit for the absurd argument crackerjack posted above from the often fine AHA.

(clearly, Somali piracy - as noted on the relevant thread - is a sympton of the broken state. though, funnily enough, most pirates are supposed to come from Puntland.)

OT but interestingly - and a little differently from the 'wholly independently-acting European firms dumping' thesis i myself seem to remember fingering on that thread - some maintain

Local warlords, many of them former ministers in Siad Barre’s last government, received large payments from Swiss and Italian firms for access to their respective fiefdoms.

Most of the waste was simply dumped on remote beaches in containers and leaking disposable barrels