Fear, Depression and Democracy
Jodi Dean has two fascinating posts over at I cite :
Badiou and depression
Badiou and fear

Both posts are quick looks at a new book by Badiou The Meaning of Sarkozy. The book is focused on democracy and elections in France, but the lessons learned can easily be applied in the United States or Britain as well.

Here is short quote:

Everyone can see that electoral democracy is not a space of real choice, but something that registers, like a passive seismograph, propensities that are quite different from an enlightened intention, and have nothing in common with the representaiton that a real thought can have of the objective that the will pursues.

We know that a real choice isn’t offered because emphasis is always on the fact of choosing and not the outcome. Everyone praises the fact that people voted, that they showed up to vote. That they showed up is itself the triumph of democracy, no matter what sort of outcome—which means that democracy is indifferent to content. It’s simply a matter of form.

See links above for full articles.

How does this work? Mysterious Mullah Made Governor then Arrested?

Today in Newsweek:

Exclusive: Another Taliban Leader Captured in Pakistan
By Sami Yousafzai and Mark Hosenball

Another leader of the Afghan Taliban has been captured by authorities in Pakistan working in partnership with U.S. intelligence officials. Taliban sources in the region and a counterterrorism officials in Washington have identified the detained insurgent leader as Mullah Abdul Salam, described as the Taliban movement’s “shadow governor” of Afghanistan’s Kunduz province.

From Web Site “Real Life in Afghanistan” January 7, 2008:

Taliban chief chosen Musa Qala ruler by Hamid Karzai
Mullah Abdul Salaam had been Uruzgan Governor General during the Taliban’s rule in Afghanistan.

The newly appointed district chief of Musa Qala, Mullah Abdul Salaam, center, shakes hand with a Britain military official, part of the International Security Assistant Force (ISAF) at a joint base of the ISAF and Afghan forces in Musa Qala district of Helmand province on Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2008.

Afghan president appoints an important Taliban commander as the new governor of Musa Qala district in the north of Helmand province.

Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, appointed Mullah Abdul Salaam the new governor of Musa Qala on Monday, IRNA quoted Helmand Governor General, Assadullah Wafa as saying.

Mullah Abdul Salaam had been Uruzgan Governor General during the Taliban’s rule in Afghanistan.

Another story about Mullah Abdul Salaam in the Times UK Online:
The mysterious Afghan warlord trusted to spread peace in a divided province

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Mullah Abdul Salaam was appointed governor by President Karzai in 2008 and now is arrested by the US in 2010. Does that mean he lost his governorship, was he still govenor when he was arrested? Does it mean the US is looking for easy targets? What is going on?

John Yoo Needs a Fair Trial

Last Sunday’s NY Times Book Review  reviewed the new work by John Yoo ” Crisis and Command: The History of Executive Power” . I haven’t read the book but all accounts and review I have seen say the same thing, Mr. Yoo has written his version of the history US Presidential power, and his reasons for believing that in times of crisis the President has the right to break any law or doing anything that maybe needed to keep America safe and secure. I disagree with his premise and believe that the US President is not above the law.

This Sundays NYT Book Review had a letter to the editor that I want to share with you.

To the Editor:

Why is The New York Times reviewing a book by someone who may be a war criminal? It is true that the case against John Yoo has never been proved, but that is so in part because both he and the Obama administration have prevented any action against him. Nevertheless, there are serious allegations that Yoo, with others, knowingly misstated the law during his service at the Office of Legal Counsel in the Justice Department and thus influenced the Bush administration to engage in torture and other violations of the law of war and international law, to the great detriment of our country.

The call for prosecution, or at least investigation, of Yoo is not an indirect attack on the actions of the Bush administration. If Yoo did what he is accused of doing, he has greater culpability than administration officials who had a good-faith right to rely on legal interpretations by the Office of Legal Counsel.

The easygoing reaction to Yoo is difficult to understand. I have asked the authors of the constitutional law casebook I use either to omit references to Yoo’s work or to note the allegations against him. Surely The New York Times owed its readers a pointed description of Yoo’s actions in the course of a review of his book.

John Yoo has never been proved guilty of anything and he may legitimately feel that he would not receive a fair hearing in any tribunal likely to consider his case. Unfortunately, that will leave only the court of history to judge him. It is therefore especially important that contemporaneous discussion of Yoo’s thought carefully set forth the allegations against him.

BRUCE LEDEWITZ
Pittsburgh
The writer is a professor of law at Duquesne University School of Law

I agree 100% with Mr. Ledewitz.