Some comics-related blogs: scottmccloud.com, Egon and Journalista!, the Comics Journal’s blog. All worth a look if you are into that kind of thing.
Month: February 2003
Pollack Weighs In, Again
More antidote to Mearsheimer and Walt – Kenneth Pollack’s recent editorial “A Last Chance to Stop Iraq”. Pollack demonstrates once again that Saddam has consistently surprised the world with how far along his weapons programs are, and that he is not deterrable. As Pollack puts it, Saddam may not be suicidal, but has on several occasions been “inadvertently suicidal”. Time to take him up on it once and for all.
Ho Hum
Croatia has just officially applied for membership in the EU. When it finally joins up it will be he second former Yugoslavian republic to do so after Slovenia. It won’t be soon, though, the country doesn’t yet meet all criteria for membership.
A Dog As Priest?
This is from the “No comment” sections of the EuroNews website. Their description of the section: “Images speak for themselves: the most striking pictures from around the world, unedited, with original sound: draw your own conclusion”. Even so I’d like to know what is really going on in this Real Video Stream (doesn’t work directly, please see the update below). It looks as if a dog is dressed as a Shinto priest and then participates in a religious ceremony; his handler is turning the pages of the prayer-book for him. I googled around but could find no reference of dogs joining the Shinto clergy, so my interpretation is probably wrong. Here is the No comment section and this is the English language main page of EuroNews, in case somebody’s interested. They have a pro-EU bias, but some of the footage at their website is quite interesting. Update: The direct link to the stream doesn’t work, so I took it down. Just go to the No comment section and click on the video stream from Tsuru, Japan.
Jacques Chirac, Stand-Up Comic
I finally saw the footage of Chirac’s alleged outburst at Brussels where he told the East Europeans that they lost a great opportunity to keep quiet. It was anything but an outburst, though, more like a comedic performance. His tone, facial expressions and gesticulation made me laugh, as it did the Presidents and Prime Ministers of the countries he criticized. Their replies were also delivered in good humor without being in the least conciliatory. There is nothing humorous about the situation, though. Chirac’s remarks were coldly calculated, however hilariously delivered. That’s worse than having him blurt out some threats in a fit of pique, he actually thought he could bring New Europe to heel. This speaks of a dangerous level of delusion and makes me wonder if he is even capable of realizing when he is beaten (like right now, for example). He can and probably will do a lot of damage until his own people make him stop. It was a double loss to humanity when he decided to become a politician instead of a comedian. I have tried in vain to find a video stream or file of the event. Should I find one I’ll post the link.