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Jottings on antisemitism
— David T of Harry’s reports that Gilad Atzmon — the UK-based saxophonist and anti-Jewish hatemonger that I’ve dealt with many times before [pdf] — has published a piece emphatically denying that he’s a racist. He’s harmed his case, however, by publishing it on a far-right website called The Truth Seeker, where, among other things, you’ll find the prolific crackpot
“Comrade Mengistu”
Since we’re on the topic of bloody dictators, an Ethiopian court has found the Stalinist mass murderer Mengistu Haile Mariam guilty (in absentia) of genocide. Where is Mengistu? In Zimbabwe, being sheltered by Robert Mugabe. A member of Mugabe’s government ruled out extraditing Mengistu to face justice. Paul Mangwana, Zimbabwe’s acting information minister, told AFP: “Comrade Mengistu asked for asylum
Pinochet PS
Thanks to Darcy in the comments for linking to this odious Wash. Post editorial: Like it or not, Mr. Pinochet had something to do with [Chile’s] success. To the dismay of every economic minister in Latin America, he introduced the free-market policies that produced the Chilean economic miracle — and that not even Allende’s socialist successors have dared reverse. He
Iraq’s “ancient hatreds”
As Mideast scholar Fred Halliday teaches, the term “ancient hatreds” should always be viewed with suspicion. Making the case for U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq, Oregon GOP Senator Gordon Smith told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer: You know, this is a fight, when you get right down to the root of it, between Sunnis and Shias — it goes back a millennia
Still Life With Commentator
My review of the Vijay Iyer/Mike Ladd multimedia production “Still Life With Commentator,” which ran for four nights last week at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, is now online.
Pinochet
In this disgraceful post, Jonah Goldberg of the National Review describes himself as “basically” a sympathizer of the former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, who died over the weekend. Hitchens reminds us that Pinochet ordered the car bombing of Orlando Letelier in Washington, D.C. in September 1976. So, for Goldberg, a foreign leader who authorizes a terrorist attack on American soil
Holiday giving
The Darfur and Chad conflicts are spilling over into the Central African Republic, where Doctors Without Borders is one of the few groups attending to the beleaguered population. It’s holiday time — your contribution could make a difference.
Two more duo CDs
In my year-end summary I included a list of duo CDs. I carelessly omitted two: Dave Douglas & Martial Solal, Rue de Seine (CamJazz)Beautiful trumpet duets with the French piano maestro. Includes a dreamy solo-Solal rendition of Douglas’s “For Suzannah” — which sounded entirely different when Dave and the quintet played it this Tuesday night at Jazz Standard. It’s rare