Words and games

On the menu: a conservative future

“Clearly there’s been an abrupt about-face in political fortunes. By the late 1990s, the U.S. and most of the European Union was controlled by center-left parties or coalitions. Now the majority are in conservative hands.”

So said Will Marshall, described by the Washington Post as “one of the architects of Clinton’s Third Way.” His immediate reference was a dinner bash at the White House on Monday night. Dubya and the Republican Party paid host to “about 50 conservative leaders from around the world.” It was, in short, a rightist love-in, cast in the mould of Clinton’s Third Way back-slappings.

Formally, the dinner was an off-shoot of a two-day meeting in Washington of the International Democrat Union, a collection of conservative parties from sixty nations. According to the IDU Press Secretary, President Bush was “looking forward to discussing compassionate conservatism, the importance of free markets, and efforts to advance democracy.” Indeed, it was the first time the IDU had been welcomed by a US President in the White House, and Bush granted them an audience with himself, senior White House officials, and corporate leaders from, among other companies, Lockheed Martin, Philip Morris and Coca-Cola.

Guests included Iain Duncan-Smith and William Hague from Britain, officials from Germany’s Christian Democratic Party and Christian Social Union (who shared some strudel with Bush last month in Berlin), Hungary’s former Prime Minister Victor Orban (denied a White House visit earlier this year, because of his far-right flirtation in the elections), as well as opposition leaders from South Africa, Eastern Europe and elsewhere.

But most surprising of all is the inclusion of Lien Chang, chairman of Taiwan’s Nationalist Party, in the list of dinner guests. Apparently, this is the first time a leader from Taiwan has been invited to a White House event since 1979, when the US normalized relations with China. According to the Post, Chinese Embassy spokesman sounded none too pleased, saying he had “taken note of the relevant report.” Who can doubt it? “There is only one China in the world,” he continued. “This is a fact acknowledged by an overwhelming majority of world, including the United States. We hope the US will stick to it’s one-China policy.”

You must be joking

A right royal laugh in Tonga. The South Pacific Territory has been forced to take legal action in the United States after the government lost $24 million through bad investments on the advice of American businessman Jesse Bogdonoff.

But Bogdonoff, as his name suggests, was no ordinary financial advisor. He also happened to be the king’s court jester.

Tonga is one of the world’s poorest nations. $24 million represents 40% of the royal government’s annual revenue. Before he Bogdonoff, Bogdonoff was in charge of managing the cash. King Taufaahau liked him so much that he decreed him court jester.

Smart move. Bogdonoff had the last laugh. The funds originally sat comfortably in a plain old Bank of America cheque account. But Tonga didn’t bank on Bogdonoff, who was an employee. He persuaded the king to transfer the cash to Millennium Asset Management (an investment firm, based in Nevada), and two other companies. One was a small dot.com. The other, known as Trinity Flywheel Power (which sounds like a company from Groucho’s Freedonia), is owned by one Jesse Bogdanoff.

Audit investigations in the US confirmed that the money had been lost. Bogdanoff claims he’s innocent. “The fact is I had no intention to defraud or conspire with anybody to defraud anyone,” he told the San Francisco-based Mercury News. “I chose the wrong company but learned that after the fact. I gave the best advice I had, but in hindsight, which is always 20-20, I regret picking the company I did.”

Definitely jester material.

(Source: BBC)

Facts and figures

47% say the country is leading to a dead end. 75% approve of their President. 37% think their own security services may have planted bombs against them. 57% describe the present situation as ‘tense’. 43% think the current economic situation bad. 0% think it very good. 38% think that the US are opponents in the global arena. 37% think the US are allies. 48% see the US as a threat to their country’s security. Only 19% supported the Serbs in the Kosovan conflict.

What country is this?

Answer: Russia.

For more essential reading, go to what’s new? at RussiaVotes.org

Brothers in alms

Paolo Berlusconi, Silvio’s younger brother, has paid the highest fine in the history of Tangentopoli, and the largest fine ever paid to the Italian state – over €55 million. So vast a fine was necessary to keep the Milanese entrepreneur out of jail, his sentence has been reduced to one and a half year’s suspended sentence.

His management of the Cerro Maggiore landfill site, where between 1990-1995 Paolo Berlusconi’s company SIMEC had secured the waste disposal contract for the entire province of Milan (Italy’s largest urban conglomeration) has been subjected to a prolonged enquiry. In exchange for the fine, Paolo B. will keep control of the firm.

Charged with corruption, false accounting and embezzlement of public funds, over €49 million of his fine goes to Milan Council. The Council is under the administration of Forza Italia, his brother’s party.

Among the other fifty-three accused who chose to pay bail rather than face jail, there is also Mariella Bocciardo, Paolo B.’s ex wife.

This news item has not, as far as we are aware, appeared in any national Italian newspaper; and certainly not in Il Giornale (circulation 200,000), also owned by Paolo B. Our sources are the local Milanese sections of Il Corriere della Sera and La Repubblica. (Friday 31 May)

(see openDemocracy's A Manifesto from Italy)

Plumbers republic

Mixed reviews for China this week. Disappointment over a 0-2 loss against Costa Rica in the nation’s first ever appearance at the World Cup Finals, was followed with a few aftertremors of the 1989 massacre in Tiananmen Square.

The thirteenth anniversary of the day students were killed by the Chinese military was marked with crackdowns by the Chinese authorities against those believed to be connected with the publication of The Tiananmen Papers, a book of documents claiming to reveal the inside story of the government action. Zhang Liang (not his real name), the Chinese civil servant who compiled The Tiananmen Papers, has said in an essay (first reported on Radio Free Asia, published in a Hong Kong newspaper, and available on the internet) that the government has established a special squad, charged with investigating the massive leaks of internal Communist Party documents.

At least twenty-three people have been interrogated or detained. Zhang claims that the squad, led by Luo Gan, the party’s top security official, conducted raids in at least ten provinces and cities, seizing documents and personal items from homes and offices. Senior officials in the party were wire-tapped, and Zhang says that at least one hundred and thirty trips abroad were made by agents – to the US, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, and elsewhere.

Meanwhile, there was a poor show in Hong Kong this week for the annual candlelit vigil in memory of the Tiananmen victims. Organisers claim to have attracted fifty thousand protestors at last year’s memorial, but this year, numbers appear to have been way under half that. The police, while not trustworthy in their calculations, estimated that only twelve thousand showed for the ceremony. The New York Times estimates it as certainly below twenty thousand.

So, have memories faded? Perhaps, although other factors are thought to have contributed. First, the poll numbers show that more than half of Hong Kong’s population is satisfied with Beijing’s rule. The Chinese economy is booming. Otherwise, there is the fear factor – the Hong Kong government has been showing a harder stance of late. And finally, there is the football. The Tiananmen vigils clashed with China’s match against Costa Rica.

(Sources: Washington Post, New York Times)

A game of two halves (divided with a demilitarised zone)

In an unexpected and significant move, North Korea has broadcast some recorded highlights of World Cup games in South Korea and Japan on its lone TV channel. Taking everybody by surprise, not to say its own citizens (one presumes), on Saturday, viewers were treated to an hour of France’s opening match against Senegal. Then on Sunday, the second half of Ireland v. Cameroon was shown. The New York Times received an email report from a foreign aid worker in Pyongyang, alerting them to this unprecedented event.

Usually, North Korean news organisations make no reference to the World Cup. But according to the report, this time, the recorded excerpts of the games were broadcast without criticism of the host nations. The advertisements were plainly visible on the pitches and in the stadiums. Apparently, viewers were even told where the matches were being played, and that Japan and South Korea were the co-hosts.

Some see an opportunity for improved relations, and efforts by the North Korean leadership to loosen their grip. The 1988 Seoul Olympics failed to have any positive impact on the situation between North and South Korea. The North refused to send any athletes, and again, made virtually no mention of the events at all. So all the more significant that the country has acknowledged the Finals – even if they failed to show South Korea’s magnificent stuffing of Poland on Tuesday.

Rob Hughes in the International Herald Tribune was beside himself: “what a moment in history this is. What hope that a simple, contagious, unarmed pursuit should breach the Demilitarised zone and begin, perhaps, the dismantling of the most inhumane barrier in Asia.”

Well yes, except that the media corporate suits have other ideas. KirchMedia, not the most on the ball company these days, has complained that it did not sell North Korea the broadcasting rights. FIFA is reported to have taken their side. Piracy is piracy, it seems. They want to stop the broadcasts.

Hughes puts it best: “These are committee men with small minds.” That’s for sure. “The public relations alone, the boast that soccer can open doors nothing else would, is almost priceless.” Well quite. “Just look around the world,” Hughes urges, “at the emotions erupting because of this simple, but extraordinary, sport.”

Everywhere but the United States that is. Perhaps FIFA can consider giving free pictures from the Finals to George Bush as well as Kim Jong Il? Just a thought. After all, why should the American public be the only ones left unawares that this global sporting celebration is being played? And the US are doing rather well, too.

A funny new game

Still, the game might be changing soon. Never mind Rivaldo’s antics, the BBC reported this week on a rival to the FIFA World Cup Finals. Fira, one of two organisations dedicated to the advancement of robot football, are holding two major tournaments this summer, in which teams of robots will show off their skills. It is being seen as a warm-up for the big one: taking on the humans.

Certain scientists, particularly the ones talked to by the BBC, seem to believe that they are well on their way to producing a team of humanoid robots that could beat the human world champions. Computing technology and artificial intelligence (the latter of which has long been associated with the game) have combined to produce the Zidanes, Ronaldos and Paul Gascoignes of the future (well the first two anyway). “We are dreaming of such a scenario,” Jong-Hwan Kim, founder and president of Fira, said. “We hope that it will be viable a few decades down the road.”

A few decades? Some of the managers were surely counting on sooner that that, and hoping to add some androids to their limited squads. But Jong-Hwan Kim says there are some problems. “When the first robot soccer competition was held, the robots were rather slow and the vision processing was not effective. Since then the robot teams have improved a lot in vision processing, speeds, and co-ordination, but there is still a long way to go.”

Funny, Sven-Goran Eriksson gave the same speech after England’s miserable draw against Sweden.

Of course, one of the problems will be finding players willing to take to the pitch against mechanical opponents, although anyone whose played the Germans should be quite used to it. Despite lessons to the contrary in Star Wars, robots tend not to feel pain, or get drunk the night before a big game. And shirt-pulling, or jumping to head the same ball? Well, are you game?

War games?

Last week’s Diary included an item on the packets of Yasser Arafat corn chips that are selling in Egyptian stores, proceeds going to fund the intifada. Well this week we report on a new computer game that is taking the youth of Syria by storm.

It’s called Under Ash, and is the latest in Arab war games. The hero is Ahmad, a young Palestinian living under Israeli occupation. He decides to join the intifada, and begins by throwing stones at Israeli soldiers. It opens with the words “It’s our right to live in honour”. Things progress for Ahmad.

As you move through the game, Ahmad obtains more sophisticated weaponry. He shoots Israeli settlers, lowers the Israeli flag, rescues wounded Palestinians, and finally goes to fight against the Israelis occupying South Lebanon.

But suicide bombings are out, and if Ahmad shoots civilians, the game ends. If he is shot, he dies. He never wins outright victory against the Israelis, or reclaims any major land.

“Under Ash is about history,” game designer Radwan Qasmiyya explains. “So in our modern history there is no solution for the conflicts and the game is some kind of mirror.”

Dubya as I see fit

Finally, Lieutenant Colonel Steve Butler, an officer in the United States Air Force, lost his stripes this week after writing a letter to a newspaper in which he ‘insulted’ the US President. Under a law dated back to the American War of Independence, military officers are forbidden from using “contemptuous words” against presidents, vice-presidents, members of congress, or state governors.

Can there be a tougher job?

Colonel Butler committed his crime in the Monterey County Herald. He claimed that the President had known about the 11 September attacks, prior to the fateful day, and accused Bush of doing nothing to warn the American people about the terrorist strikes. He called his president “a joke”. Twenty-four years of service comes to an end.

Butler explained his gripe with Dubya thus: “His presidency was going nowhere. he wasn’t elected by the American people, but placed into the Oval Office by the conservative Supreme Court… the economy was sliding into the usual Republican pits and he needed something to hang his presidency on.”

Quotes of the Week

“The World Cup Finals are no place for angels.”
Sven Goran Eriksson, coach of the England World Cup squad.

“There aren’t sufficient adjectives to describe this law: It’s unjust, fascist, disgusting, enslaving and racist.”
Graziella Mascia, member of the Italian Refounded Communist Party, describing the immigration bill that was drawn up by Umberto Bossi and approved this week by the Italian Parliament by a vote of 279 to 203.

“We should be given advice, because it is no solution just to sit in your house and turn off the lights. We should know more about the ways we might be able to survive.”
Harun Saeed, a seventeen year-old high school student in Islamabad, talking about his fears of nuclear war, and quoted by the BBC’s Mike Woolridge.

“Development aid is not an instrument to compensate countries or to punish those whose performance is not up to scratch on migration.”
Michael Curtis, European Commission Development Spokesman, explaining why the Commission rejected Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain’s proposal that aid to development countries should be conditional on their agreement to take back illegal migrants.

Contact the Diary editor: dominic.hilton@opendemocracy.net