The Barrier, by Kai Wiedenhöfer

I love this new series of photos posted on the BBCNews website (here, as a matter of fact).

Though I have this feeling that, like so many things that offer a slightly out of the Fox News mainstream, this series of photos might be removed or buried somewhere in the archives.
So I've decided to put all 8 photos here, with their captions. (to hell with IPR. This is a semi-anonymous blog, after all, so I can do that :)

Photographer Kai Wiedenhöfer has been documenting the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for more than a decade, and for the last few years has been concentrating on the construction of the barrier by Israel in the West Bank. Wall, by Kai Wiedenhöfer is published by Steidl.

Machmoud al-Azza and a mother and child attempt to cross a temporary 2.5m barrier in 2003. The border patrol officers were indifferent and ordered them to use the next Israeli checkpoint, a detour of 8km.

A section of the barrier at Abu Dis. Israel says the barrier is needed to stop suicide bombers, while Palestinians say it is part of an Israeli land grab of West Bank territory. The World Court has ruled that the barrier is illegal and should be moved.

In November 2004 Wiedenhöfer recorded Palestinians passing through a provisional barrier at the Bawabe checkpoint, which was only possible through a hole in the upper section.

A Palestinian man argues with a member of the Israeli border patrol, 2003.

A woman passes a barrier built as a protection against small arms fire in the settlement of Gilo.
Schoolgirls pass through segments of the barrier in Sauwahri, October 2003.

Abu Adnan Schawarib, 70, walks alongside the barrier in Nazlat Isa. On the Israeli side of the barrier the town of Baqa ar-Rarbiya is inhabited by Palestinians with Israeli citizenship. Many families were split when the barrier was constructed.

US = UN, says BBC News (well, not exactly, but kinda)

I love BBC News. Even their typos (hmmm?) are smart.
Here is today's typo, in an article about UNIFIL forces in Southern Lebanon.. And as the article mentioned UN Sec. Council Resolution 1559 on Lebanon, this is what they typed...




HA!! US = UN so they're interchangeable. So says the BBC. Ergo, the BBC agrees that the UN is a proxy for US foreign policy.

Quod Erat Demonstratum. (That's QED for you.)

Mata Goldman in Beirut!

Speaking about Lebanon, has anyone followed the story of the ‘Zionist spy in Beirut’? =)

So much for a Zionist spy - that was Lisa Goldman, one of my favourite bloggers and a gifted Canadian-Israeli journalist. She’s also very involved in cross-border blogging (which is how I know her, in effect). And of course, she has many friends all across the globe including in Lebanon, many through her laptop.

Lisa was in Lebanon to visit (with her Canadian passport), and when she went home to Tel Aviv her television network - Channel 10 - thought it would be really cool to have a news reporter do a piece FROM Beirut on the anniversary of the July 2006 War on Lebanon. A piece of human interest - merely what the mood is like on the street. (she also wrote this on her trips).

Since her reportage, she’s been a star :) But not in a good way: many authorities and people in Lebanon - and I so understand them - are upset that an Israeli was in Lebanon despite the illegality of such an act; Al- Jazeera, and Al-Manar ran stories on this ‘scandal’ which allowed an Israeli ‘spy’ to roam around in Beirut. And people’s comments on those stories are just outlandish. Click here for a summary of some of those comments.

Oh please. a) there are already LOTS of spies in Lebanon. Israelis, and non-Israelis. Just get a phalangist. Easy. And b) If she were a spy, I doubt she’d stand on the balcony of her hotel, with Beirut in the background, and report live from there. Duh.

People, grow up. She’s just a journalist who was doing what is one heck of a daring piece. Journalistically, I’m jealous.

Press-wise, it’s free press, people!! Plus, I think they couldn’t have found anyone better than Lisa, who’s actually capable of looking through politics to see the people and paint a human picture of her subjects. Read her blog!

However, I can understand why some Lebanese would be upset of an Israeli going into their country on the anniversary of the day when Israel bombed the living hell out of Lebanon (causing about 1250 victims, let’s not forget it, and mutli-billion dollars of damages). I wouldn’t have been happy either.

Right now, I’m glad the report was out (Lisa promised a subtitled YouTube version!! We’re waiting, Lis!!), though I disagree with some segments of it, including the interviews which I think were rather silly and superficial (I mean, a cab driver and a barman to gauge the mood in the street??); and am glad she got out of there in one piece (I didn’t expect any physical danger, but jail would’ve been a possibility)..

Lebanon will always be.. Lebanon

My only visit - hopefully first of many - to Lebanon was last January, and I like to think that, through time spent there and my various interviews, I got a fairly good understanding of the situation on the ground... It's beautiful, and although it's a bit messy and confused, it's got a lot of faith in itself - that, despite everything that's going on right now, it feels that it's been through so much that it'll always be able to land on its feet.

Now, however, it feels like this faith is shaking. With the fights of Nahr-El-Bared, some report that there are risks of a renewed civil war. I think that's nonsense. I also think, since we're on that, that the hijos de puta madre hiding in the refugee camp and shooting Lebanese villages and ambulances (yes, they are!!) should be hung from their feet (and I'm being very, very nice).

The real risk on Lebanon today, I believe, and what seems exasperating to the Lebanese, is violence and instability.

People are simply sick and tired of the demonstrations, the tent city in Riad el Solh square, of the pro- and anti- Hezbollah media campaigns, of students dying in political/sectarian clashes at the Arab University, of blocked roads, and now, of clashes with Palestinian armed groups (whom have no right whatsoever to point their guns at the Lebanese's chests).

A Facebook group exemplifies this better than anything I could ever write.

Titled "Nobody's Ruinin' my fuckin' vacation in Lebanon this summer", the group advertises a 'NO POLITICS' policy and has been a way for people to vent their anger at the instability that has been ruining their summer plans - and to make fun of the whole situation.

I have friends who have had to cancel their trips home this year because no one knows when things are going to go south. It's true that, often, waiting for the hit is more painful than the hit itself..

But for now, thankfully, the Lebanese are keeping their head high and their sense of humour as sharp as always.

I'll leave you with a couple of new Lebanese jokes about the current situation, which I found on another facebook group .. with my translation. Enjoy :)

هيفا وهبي تعلن امتعاضها بسبب ظاهرة فتح الإسلام التي سرقت الأضواء منها التي كانت مسلطة عليها من ناحية تنكيت اللبنانيين
(Haifa Wahbe (a busty lebanese starlette) is upset because of the Fath-el-Islam phenomenom which has diverted the attention of the Lebanese from her, as she used to be the prime target for their jokes.)

فتح الاسلام تهدد باستعمال بقتل ديجاي تيستو في حال استمرار الجيش البناني بضرب مخيم نهر البارد
(Fath-el-Islam threatens to kill DJ Tiesto if the Lebanese army continues to bomb the Nahr-El-Bared camp).

فتح الاسلام تهدد بقطع فوط الأولوايز من الأسواق ليوصل الدم للركب
(Hmm... cannot be translated, I'm afraid :) Roughly, something like: Fath-el-Islam threatens to remove the Always sanitary towels from the markets, so that people will have blood up to their knees)

بيان صادر عن فتح الاسلام:
الدبابة حاملة لوحة رقم 32454 مسكرة على سيارة هوندا اكورد في الباركينغ,
الرجاء من صاحبها الحضور لنقلها من مكانها وشكراَ

(Declaration from Fath-el-Islam: 'The tank with plates number 32454 is blocking a Honda Accord in the parking, its owner is kindly requested to move it from there, thank you').

The Traveller Wisdom: Dervla Murphy

"Today I met a twenty-five-year-old American boy in the museum who was typical of his kind. To them, travel is more a going away from than a going toward, and they seem empty and unhappy and bewildered and pathetically anxious for companionship, yet are afraid to commit themselves to any ideal or cause or person. I find something both terrifying and touching in young people without an aim, however foolish or wrong they may be. This young man was pleasant and intelligent but wasting his time and resentfully conscious of the fact. He did not want to return home, yet, after two years, he is weary of travel, probably because he always holds himself aloof from the people-not through hostility or superiority but through a strange unawareness of his own identity."

Dervla Murphy, an Irishwoman who biked from Ireland to Delhi in 1963. This encounter took place in Kabul.
From Clifford Graves, "The Perils of Dervla Murphy", 1969.

And for those who may be interested, Murphy still travels, and still writes.

How not to get kidnapped, and other safety essentials: the expat workers' guide

I am keen on working in hot zones and have been in a couple, and many of my friends are already working there (I actually saw a friend yesterday, on her way to her new job in Kabul, so this post is for her!).

And as we, people with big shiny white cars with UN plates, or in fancy suites with laptop bags, or just plain white people (well, not me! Brown power!!:) are in unstable places, there's a real danger - and it seems that kidnappings are becoming increasingly popular among armed groups. And if not kidnappings, you don't want to be robbed, and believe me, it happens more often than we want to admit. You can get robbed with a knife in the middle of the street at noon, and people might not even raise a finger for you.

Sooooo my biggest pieces of advice are:

a) don't splurge. Don't look rich! Pretty simple, no? Kidnappings are, for the vast majority, about money. And foreigners = $$$, anyone who's been haggled by poor kids in developing countries know how widespread the idea is. Avoid walking around with your laptop bag at 3 am (I know, i used to do that in Aceh, that's a mighty bad idea). Don't take the biggest chauffeured car your office has to go to the supermarket.

Also: when you're buying a coke or something, don't get your big bills out of your wallet. Even better, don't even get your wallet out of your pocket: keep some cash/change in your pocket so that you don't have to expose people around you to the glare of your Amex Gold card and the smell of the greens.

b) avoid patterns. (click here for an article that's essentially on that.) Change the times you leave home/the office, change the routes you take to work, etc.

c) Don't be seen too much hanging around the 'expat places'. Think the Italian restaurant in Banda Aceh or the UN bar in N'djamena.
Yes, expats live nearby (compounds in Kabul, etc) and socialise between themselves, that's fine. Just don't walk around in packs of foreigners, you look silly and especially if you're tipsy, you're screwed.

d) leave the family at home. No, it's not a good idea to fly your wife and kid for the summer just because the weather is good where you are. Duh.

e) learn a couple of words of the local language. That will get you out of a lot of shit.

f) be friendly to people: if not for the virtue of being a nice people, at least make it a habit to say hello to nod and smile at the people around you (at work, at home, your doorman, the dude sitting across from your guesthouse, whatever). More often then ever, even if you're a mere acquaintance to them, they'll come to your help whenever they can. People in developing countries are generally much nicer than people in rich countries.

That's all I have in mind for now. If anyone has tips, do write them!!

The Colombia-Afghanistan Connection

What is the relationship between Afghanistan and Colombia?

Well, both have gorgeous women (though that’s a little irrelevant here). But they also have a bit of a civil war going on - and mass-produce narcotics.

So the US, in its infinite wisdom, decided to send some Afghans officers (well, ONE Afghan officer, photo) to train in Colombia in counterterrorism and anti-narcotics brigades.

The idea, I think, is good, even for those traditionally skeptical about ‘best practices’ (I am thinking of Stephen Peterson’s ‘best bests rather than best practices’ rant).

The question is, is it ‘best practices’? Plan Colombia isn’t the most successful scheme in the world, as far as I know.

“Adam Isaacson, a Colombia expert at the Center for International Policy, a Washington think-tank, told the BBC that Plan Colombia had been a "perfect failure" in its fight against drugs.

He predicted a similar failure if the same tactics were applied to Afghanistan.”

So. Not only has it not really worked there - but the differences in context - arming of the rebels, landscape/mountains/weather (Afghan mountains are freaking cold and dominate a decent part of the landscape), the funds and external support available, to buying networks... - might indeed come back bite the Colombian-trained Afghans in the butt.

May I interest you in our special racist menu tonight?

That would have been funny if it weren’t so sad.

A restaurant in Lima, Peru has been shut because of its discrimination of customers: it refuses entry to darker skin people.

This wasn’t the cafeteria of the ‘Front National’ (France’s racist party) or an FPO-sympathizing restaurant in rural Austria: it’s in a developing country that has suffered occupation and territorial wars up until the nineties.

That’s utterly ridiculous.

Isn’t it a habit of poor countries to try emulate their Masters (in the colonial sense of the term) in many of their pettiest things... and skin colour is one of those.

So, yeah, whiter (European?) Peruvians aren’t very keen on darker Peruvians, the same way that Egyptians - who aren’t snow-white themselves - look down on ‘Africans’ - a generic term they use to designate their Sub-Saharan neighbours...

Then we go ask for equal treatment for brown people in Europe. Pffff...

(And for the occasion... this photo, which was taken in a bar in New Orleans, Louisiana. Makes me smile every time.)

For those who realised what day is today...

I'm not superstitious or anything, but those coincidences make me smile :)

(and happy birthday to K. Fayez, Waqar and Al-Ississ!!)

"Let's Come Together" -- When the European Commission gets risqué

From Reuters.
Who would've thought that the European Commission would have this type of humour? They produced a smalll video clip with some raunchy shots of films that were funded by the EU (including Amelie Poulain, for one...) -- and the clip finishes with the tag "let's come together".

Yes, it is made with EU money!!! ROFL!!!

And some people and newspapers didn't like it, clearly. Which doesn't make the whole thing any less funny.

Dubai, first impressions

You know the scene in the ‘Fifth Element’ when Milla Jovovich (the futuristic 'perfect' and hot orange-haired girl) gets out of the lab and suddenly finds herself in 25th century Manhattan, with the crazy skyscrapers, flying cars, the noises, the smells, and, taken aback, she takes a step back?
(yes, I've seen the film many times. Can you tell? :)

Well, that’s pretty much how I feel everytime I get out of my hotel to the streets of Dubai.

Dubai. Everything you’d expect - if you knew what to expect! Towers, malls, heat? That's it?

But there’s more to it than that. Or at least that’s what I hope to find out :)

Arrived saturday, after a long flight on Emirates -which is highly overrated and absolutely nothing special. And I didn’t even get an upgrade for my birthday!! We did have a delay long enough for me to finish the film I was watching though - the pursuit of happyness - so that was cool :).

Went for dinner with some friends from Cambridge. Today was the first day at work - for the Dubai Government’s Executive Council, where I shall be for the coming two months. Didn’t do much today, besides orientation (well, I did reply to my Facebook birthday wishes -- thank you guys!!! -- and look up some articles by Paul Collier that I’m probably never going to read :) but I got to enjoy the view and have some decent Lebanese food.

So, first impressions... well, it looks like a New York skyline - or even Kuala Lumpur - with all the huge new-age funnily-shaped buildings. Dubai has a frenzy for extremes - and it shows. It’s like they’re expanding upwards while forgetting the ground floors and the short buildings! And it’s pretty dusty, too. FYI, the average Emirati has the largest economic footprint in the world (so basically is the most polluting individual person). True, there are few people here but still, it’s worth noting!

And it’s pretty expensive here, but that was not unexpected with a GDP per capita of $24,000. Good shopping, I’m told, virtually every brand on the globe is represented here. The consumption society par excellence. Though it does produce as well - and it’s got what is one of the few efficient governments of the Middle East. Effective, to be more precise: I don’t think we can talk about efficiency when it seems that there is so much waste, that they can consciously afford to have - but for how long?

Okay, more on my work and on Dubai's development issues later.

(oh, and song of the day: Aqualung, 'Brighter than sunshine' --> Lyrics)


PS: Inji A.: your town is treating me right, thank you very much! Can't wait to see more than just my office, though! :)

PPS: Photos are views from my office. Nice, huh? almost beats Ana's view on Manhattan from the Chrysler building :-P Forgot my camera charger though (dammit!!) so i need to find one here before I'm able to take more photos.

And Today Is…

"July 5 is National Workaholics Day. If you are reading this at a work computer, you know who you are. For those who feel they have a problem, Workaholics Anonymous has been growing throughout the country — though some chapters are foundering, given that so few people will leave work to make it to meetings."


(From the Freakonomics blog. And yes, I am at the office).

Australians 'are in Iraq for oil'

From BBC News:
"Australia has admitted that securing oil is a key factor behind its continued troop deployment in Iraq.

It is the first time such an admission has been made.

Defence Minister Brendan Nelson said that maintaining "resource security" in the Middle East was a priority for the government in Canberra."

No shit. I fail to see why this is even news. However, it's interesting that they would be cheeky enough to state that without risking a vote of no-confidence in the Parliament. Or am I just too idealistic to assume that countries should respect other countries' sovereignty and not behave like a hungry rabid dog after a bone (or a pipeline :)

Boo to Australia, the rabid dog! Britain under Blair may have been "Bush's poodle", as it was often lampooned, but at least they were vaccinated =)

You know you're an econ geek if...

... you laugh.



(Shamelessly stolen from Jodi Beggs' brilliant and highly recommended blog, "Econo-ponderables". Her post, for that matter has a really cool photo of her in the new car that she 'had to' lease).

KSGers: blogs from around the world

Yes, we’re brilliant. Not only do we generate some of the most interesting writing around, but many of us are also out to save the world (huh, notice a change of tone from that previous desperate article of mine...) during their summer internships, jobs, etc. in some of the most exciting places and doing some incredible stuff around the globe.

These are some of the blogs I’ve had the most fun (or other sentiments!) reading. Those people, many of them my friends, are absolutely great, and their blogs are merely a reflection of that.

I’ll be updating the list as I stumble across more KSG blogs. Stay tuned!!!

Sarada Peri, "Periscope"
MPPs, "Roguely Stated"
Roshan Paul, "the Organised Nomad", in Colombia
Jessica, "Loolan", in Sudan
Molly Kinder in Liberia (whom, I’m pretty jealous, got a plug from Dani Rodrik on his blog!)
Emily Stanger, also in Liberia
Francesco Ferretti, "a passage to India", Bihar, India
Karina Weinstein, in India
Inbal Alon, "this Story's Pages", in Uganda (okay, not a KSGer but we like her too.)