洞 Vol. 1

Dear all,

First of all, I would like thanks all those who left a comment on my page...to be honest, I did not expect that many people would care to go on my page and be kind enough to drop a word or two...anyways...thanks for all the kind comments...

As I've said in my first entry, I'm not exactly an exciting person, but i do read a lot and watch quite a lot of films (I mean...what else can i do??). I would love to start a sort of group dialogue with anyone who are interested in sharing what films or books or music they've come across. As I'm new to this site, I am not sure if anyone is already doing that...if so, please let me know...

I've recently finished reading two books, they're somewhat related; both deal with American  Politics, Foreign Policies, and the so-called "WAR ON TERROR":

1) Armed Madhouse by Greg Palast

I'm sure some of you've heard of Greg Palast, the BBC's Newsnight and Guardiannews reporter whose famous report on how Bush stole the presidential election in both 2000 and 2004 has brought him the status of a persona non grata in the States. His new book, Armed Madhouse, is a collection of stories which, he claimed, "is not even allowed in the New York Times". It is a very easy read, with lots of information which you just hope it is not true, yet powerless in accepting that this could very well be the reality in which we live in...For those who are somewhat in tune with the whole Iraq issue or American Politics in general, many of the book's stories has already been said or written about, for example: the neo-cons draft of 'freeing' Iraq into a free market miracle by selling off all state assets to overseas corporation, the Bush families' ties with the Saudis and Bin Laden himself, the plans and strategies in stealing the election in 2008, how 9/11 could've been prevented as proved by the 9/11 commission report and many FBI documents, all the lobbyists and true benefiter of the war in Iraq, America's huge problem with it's own Health Insurance Policy and who is actually benefiting from it...etc. Yet what Palast achieves is in piecing all those 'heavy' stories together into a sort of journey through the landscape of global politics, revealing the absurdity and injustices of it all. Highly Recommended for those who wants to know a little bit more about what's going on over there other than hearing about how many lives were lost in today's suicide bomb attack...

Here's his official website for anyone who's interested:

http://http://www.gregpalast.com/

2) Iraq: The Borrowed Kettle by Slavoj Zizek

The other book, Iraq: The Borrowed Kettle, is a much more demanding book. The author, Slavoj Zizek, is a leading European thinker who has been the subject of a couple of documentaries which tried to analyze Cinema and its implications to us in a Lacanian way. One of his book on Cinema has always been my favorite title: Two or three things you want to know about Hitchcock but were afraid to ask Lacan.That being said, the book is not a easy read, as Zizek digress into a lot of 'philosophical' thinking about the Iraq War and what it implicates to the world as a whole. But there are moments of brilliance which are sometimes  hard to come by when dealing with the banality of this War on Terror. Zizek's penchant for dark, dry humor and witticism will definitely entertain and even offend some readers, here's a taste of it:

"Thus the ethical choice is ultimately a simple one: the only true fidelity to the memory of the Holocaust lies in recognition of the injustice committed against the Palestinians; any justification of current Israeli policies by reference to the Holocaust is the worst possible ethical betrayal. it is therefore easy to answer the big question; what would be the truly radical ethico-political act today in the Middle East? For both Israelis and Arabs, it would consist in the gesture of renouncing (political) control of Jerusalem - that is, of endorsing the transformation of the Old Town of Jerusalem into an extra-statal place of religious worship controlled (temporarily) by some neutral international force. What both sides should accept is that, by renouncing political control of Jerusalem, they would, in effect, be renouncing nothing - they would be gaining by the elevation of Jerusalem into a genuinely extra-political, sacred site."

Overall, the first book is a much easier read with lots of 'evidences' and 'facts' to support its information, whereas the second one is more of a brain food on Iraq with loads of academic digressions and 'philosophizing'. It really depends on what kind of books you are into, but I would still highly recommend both to everyone.

Finally, I strongly hope those who are living in the States and are legitimate voters can read more on what their government is doing in other countries; It is only you who can stop the injustices done by your government in your name...

And in case you still want to ask, why bother with that banal subject of Iraq?? To answer that, I believe in what a famous Rabbi once said:

"In regards to cruelties committed in the name of a free society, few are guilty, but all are responsible..."

D....