20 January 2004

South African Rugby No Comment.  One could weep, and weep again. 7:15:10 PM    comment []

The Robed Rapist Oh dear!  South African High Court Judge Siraj Desai is in a Bombay prison cell with 100 common criminals after a bit of early-morning hanky-panky following a social booze-up went horribly wrong.  The Times of India provides some context.  Talk radio in SA today must be highly entertaining.  My guess is the sex was consensual, then the husband somehow found out, and then the soft stuff hit the fan, and at least one SA journalist agrees with me.  Shades of the Robben Island rape of a few years back, I forget the lady's name (Nomboniso Gasa, there it is - what would we do without Google?). If Desai ever gets out of the black hole of Bombay, the next rape trial that he presides over should be interesting. What has happened of course is that a very obscure conference is now in the headlines, and the activists have something to be active about.   6:31:23 PM    comment []

Greek Art Fans ....are either indifferent or conservative and sensation-seeking.  An article describes the full sequence of events that I saw briefly in headlines while I was away in South Africa.  A very Greek scenario.  I must go and see what is left of this Cultural Olympiad exhibit, but most of all, I want to see what must be a stunning exhibition, "In The Light of Apollo", illustrating the influence of Ancient Greek culture on the Italian Renaissance;  all the big names are there. 5:33:37 PM    comment []

Corruption in France and South Africa Here's a long, detailed article defining just how deeply-rooted and insidious is corruption at the highest levels in France.  Scary stuff.  And here is a right-wing American reaction. And coincidentally, the BCC reports on the ruling of the Hefer Commission clearing Bulelani Ngcuka of being an apartheid spy.  This was the big story while I was in South Africa in December, the "Mac and Mo" show, some of which I watched live on TV, when there wasn't any cricket.  All very entertaining, not very fair to Bulelani and his family, and very damaging to a lot of other people, particularly the aforementioned Mac and Mo and the journalism profession, but actually just a great big smokescreen mounted by Mbeki and Zuma to deflect attention away from the real story, which is the corruption surrounding the arms deal, in which, surprise surprise!, certain French firms figure prominently. It seems Mbeki and his clique are trying to be as obstructive and rotten as their French counterparts.  Let's hope that our newly-created institutions are strong enough to prevail;  the future of our country could depend on it.  Sterkte to Bulelani and all the other corruption-busters, and let's see all the Shaik family in jail where they belong. 5:15:33 PM    comment []

How About This? I don't spend much time speculating about the motives of Palestine suicide bombers (too awful to think about), but this caught my attention: Who's Decadent? Last week’s speculation about the motives of Hamas’ first female suicide-bomber turned out not to be so speculative after all. According to the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot, Reem Al-Reyashi was forced to detonate herself by her family after her husband discovered her in an extramarital affair. In an especially gruesome detail, the job of handing al-Reyashi the dynamite belt was assigned to her former lover. Can we please, please, please now retire the often-heard line that Western societies have something to learn from the simple, heartfelt faith of the Islamic extremists? I’m not sure whether Hamas reminds me more of the blood cult of the ancient Aztecs or the cruelest subsections of the American Mafia, but I am sure that the United States with all its fads, follies, and vices is in every way a more moral and godly society than the one that Hamas seeks to realize. And if the choice really is between a society that produces a Reem al-Reyashi or one that produces Britney Spears … then hand me the channel changer: I want my MTV! What a dysfunctional society.  Is there any hope for people like this, even if peace were to happen in that region? 4:05:57 PM    comment []

A Resurgence of Archaeology in Athens The furious rate of construction in pre-Olympic Athens is throwing up multiple opportunities for archaeologists to expand their knowledge of ancient life.  Wherever you dig in this town, you find evidence of the past.  Where I am writing, close to Makrigianni Street, the ancient route from Athens to the port of Piraeus, we sit above ancient tombs, shops and workshops which lined the road in ancient times.  In fact, a fascinating exhibition we saw a couple of years ago, displaying the finds unearthed during construction of the Athens Metro showed that there were 7 consecutive layers of civilization along this road, from Bronze Age, through Roman, Byzantine and later ages. 3:42:44 PM    comment []

Churchill's Parrot Lives and Swears Isn't this amazing?  Winston Churchill's pet parrot, whom he taught to say "Fuck Hitler" and other pleasantries, is still alive and swearing, at the ripe old age of 104.  I had no idea that parrots lived that long, or that Churchill owned a cursing parrot, amid a menagerie of various animals. And, by the way, Larry King says that it's not bad to say "Fuck", and that it is actually quite a useful word.  You read it (and heard it) right here on the Roblog. 1:20:19 PM    comment []

The Iowa Caucuses The four-yearly circus which is the US presidential election kicks off today.  It seems to have been going on forever, but it really only begins now, and what has gone before is irrelevant.  Andrew Sullivan has a masterly summing-up of the state of play published in yesterday's London Sunday Times.  The apparently unassailable lead built up by the media favourite Howard Dean seems to have evaporated, and it is a four-horse race at this time.  Slate's Mickey Kaus, meanwhile, tells us in some detail what a misleading fraud the Iowa caucases really are, and another wise man, Jeff Jarvis has some interesting thoughts too. Update (Next day, 9am EST):  Instapundit has the round-up of all the other pundits' opinions.  Without having read all of them (Sullivan seems to be on the mark, as usual - when do these guys sleep?), the conventional press wisdom of a week ago seems to have been comrehensively overturned, Dean is busy flaming out (in more ways than one), and is likely to end up as a small footnote in history, Kerry is looking haggard and exhausted, and there's an awful long way to go, and the guy who really impresses, on TV as well as, probably, in the flesh, is John Edwards.  He is good-looking, smooth, well-spoken, a Southerner, but most of all positive and polite.  He must be a good long-shot for the nomination, which is not what you will have been reading in TIME magazine or anywhere else recently, although the pre-caucus blogs were all talking him up (see Kaus, above).  Well, it is early days yet, and as we read above, Iowa is maybe not a reliable guide.  Let's see if Gen. Clark makes any impact in New Hampshire next week, but I suspect it will be all over by the South Carolina primary.  Then, George W knows what he is up against, and his well-funded machine will swing into action. 1:07:08 AM    comment []

About the Saudis Food for thought in this mini-review plus comments about a topical new book. 12:06:34 AM    comment []