Peter’s Blog

Normally I really like Roger Cohen’s columns but today’s, “The EU in an Irish bog,” is atrocious. He buys hook, line and sink into the rediculous argument that because the Irish have benefitted significantly from EU membership their No vote is dumb, crass, ungrateful, etc, etc. He even says their voting was ‘unconscionable’! I hate this attitude towards politics, as it reduces people’s options to the ‘right choice’ or being guilty of false consciousness.

A.O. Scott likes Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay

But they’re not stupid, and to the extent that the movie is, its idiocy serves the cause of good sense and intelligence. And no, I’m not smoking anything.

What awaits the iPhone in Europe? - International Herald Tribune

Wow. What a stupid article. Don’t get it me wrong, it’s well written and I think the central point, that iPhone sales in Europe have disappointed, is correct. However, I think they completely missed the reason why. It’s simple: many Europeans are buying iPhones in the US. Cracked iPhones are much cheaper (would you rather pay €400 or $400?) and they’re really easy to get. I know lots of people that buy several iPhones when visiting the US, and there are even companies that give them away in contests here in the Netherlands. Consider this:

Fueling speculation about an imminent strategic change by Apple are early sales of the device in Europe. Strategy Analytics, a research firm in Milton Keynes, England, estimates that Apple sold 350,000 iPhones in Europe in the fourth quarter of last year, below what it claims is Apple’s internal forecast of 500,000 devices.

The research firm also estimates that iPhone sales slowed to 300,000 in the first three months of this year.

But we’ve also heard that 1 million US iPhones were never registered with AT&T. Assuming that 2/5 of those unlocked phons went to Europe (which seems to be a reasonable guess to me), that’s 100,000 extra phones ‘purchased’ each quarter in Europe, which means Apple is actually close to its targeted sales.

The USA Today, of all papers, has a good summary of worldwide suburbanization trends: Modern suburbia not just in America anymore

The triumph of ugliness - National - smh.com.au

“Political correctness wants us to believe that democracy and good taste are compatible, but they are not.”

Pakistani Party’s Leader Chooses a Prime Minister - New York Times

The Bush administration has made it clear in strong but indirect ways, lawyers say, that it opposes the restoration of the chief justice because of fears that Mr. Musharraf, already weakened by the overwhelming vote against his party, would be cornered by Mr. Chaudhry.

“He may be a bastard, but he’s our bastard.”

In other Pakistan news, Naked Punch 10, whose editorial I posted earlier here, can now be purchased from the Naked Punch website. I also just uploaded Naked Punch Asia, a magazine produced in Pakistan by Qalandar and other pro-democracy activists. It can be downloaded from the main Naked Punch page.

The Escapist: “Mass Effect Saves Humanity - for What?”

Heidegger is arguably the most influential philosopher of the 20th century; he is inarguably the most controversial. His thinking on what it means to be human in a technologically advanced world still informs debates on genetics, medicine and artificial intelligence today. He was also a Nazi. You just have to deal with this sort of thing in contemporary philosophy.

There’s a fantastic article in the latest Escapist called “Fighting with Monsters”, about the portrayal of journalism in the game Beyond Good and Evil

(Say his name with some real pop to the B)

The Collected Controversies of William F. Buckley

My friend Qalandar has gone back to Pakistan and has been working for democracy. Below is the introduction to his editorial for the next issue of Naked Punch. I hope you enjoy it.

A renowned poem of Faiz Ahmed Faiz was brought to my attention last night. Sitting for dinner in a restaurant in Lahore the one-man entertainment with his key-board and mike walked up to my table and kindly asked if I had a request. ‘Yes, A ghazal…of Faiz’, I replied. Happy to be playing something other then the latest Bollywood film song he returned to his keyboard and began to sing:

That which was ours, my love,
Don’t ask me for that love again

The poem of Faiz goes on:

but there were other sorrows, comforts other than love.
The rich had cast their spell on history:
Dark centuries had been embroidered on brocades and silks.
Bitter threads began to unravel before me
As I went into alleys and in open markets
Saw bodies plastered with ash, bathed in blood.
I saw them sold and bought, again and again.
This too deserves attention. I can’t help but look back
When I return from those alleys – what should one do?
And you still are so ravishing – what should I do?
There are other sorrows in this world,
Comforts other than love.
Don’t ask me, my love, for that love again.

And here is the actual document: Oppressions Other Than Love (DOC, 152 kb)