tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1162393060876362092.post417002683853848505..comments2019-08-22T05:16:57.643-07:00Comments on HANDKE-YUGO: OPENING SALVO: AN OPEN LETTER, DECIMATION OF A DAVID RIEFF REVIEWSUMMA POLITICOhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11214697505465094305noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1162393060876362092.post-38041355775936459862010-05-12T15:43:04.550-07:002010-05-12T15:43:04.550-07:00You even find that kind of unanimity among analyst...You even find that kind of unanimity among analysts and the periodical upheavals in the associations and sectarian splits. And I know some of the hyenas then perpetrators quite well at one time, Susan Sontag, Robert Silver, but I also know of the perversion of that impulse of the milk of human kindness, via the CIA…. that is, it goes back to the advent of the cold war… its manipulation by the news media, what images are shown, which are not. <br />If you feel that the New York Times or the Washington Post or the Wall Street Journal serve you well in that respect, as they do in many others, I give you the smallest of thimbles – not the buckets of anti-Serbian propaganda that was served up in its pages, especially in the New York Times Magazine, especially by the chief whip for anti-Milosevic hatred, Roger Cohen – but recent, truly cute perversion of the truth that entered the pages of the New York Times evidently via a Pentagon propaganda handout:<br />A major assault was to take place in the province of Kandahar [of whose initial English language fame?] on its alleged Fallujah [that was the parallel that was being drawn, with a fair town totally destroyed for having dared to string up four American contractors on a bridge across the Tigris] and “Marja: was the name of this town allegedly 80 or 120,000 thousand people strong that the Marines were going to storm. Weeks and weeks of stories about this newest shock and awe pervaded the news pages, and then it occurred and occasionally you saw photos, always across fields with some mud houses, adobe, in the background, could be the outskirts of course, how could you really tell. I decided to look up “Marja” via a city listing in Afghanistan, no luck, then I tried Google Earth, and it doesn’t exist for Google Earth either except as that famous NY Times{T}… the New York Times had finally put “Marja” on the map. I wrote its publisher, left e-mail messages for its numerous revolving cast of reporters in Afghanistan, and lo and behold, the town or city of anywhere from 80 to 120 thousand, gradually shrunk, turned into an “area” , a “village” and wouldn’t you believe it, finally, into a hamlet! Just put “Marja” as the search term into the New York Times pages and you can see the descent of the famous into the infamous hamlet. There also was one other photo of our Satrap [the oh so corrupt, oh the “cruption” in Belgrade as you could read about it during those days, but “cruption” on the scale of the U.S. military industrial complex really is so grand that indeed it deserved a designation that is worthy of its extent and entirety] Karzai visiting “Marja” it is a real close up shot, evidently taken in a small room in one of those mud houses. Afghanistan is the New York Times war of choice.” T.B.C. to be continued and completed by mid-May… Michael RoloffSUMMA POLITICOhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11214697505465094305noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1162393060876362092.post-33101008970746369752010-05-12T15:42:56.690-07:002010-05-12T15:42:56.690-07:00I propose to answer the question [s] posed by Noam...I propose to answer the question [s] posed by Noam Chomsky’s below statement:<br />"The nefarious atrocities regularly elicit religious fervor, dramatic posturing, baseless claims to inflate them as much as possible - and fury if anyone does not blindly join the parade, but seeks to determine the truth, cites the most reputable authoritiesexposes the innumerable fabrications. The common reaction to such treachery is an impressive torrent of deceit. There is an instructive record, quite well documented in many cases. The reasons are not hard to explain. The topic should be pursued systematically, but that is unlikely, obviously." Naom Chomsky <br />http://news. independent. co.uk/ people/profiles/ article1222253 <br />by focusing on the now “cold case” question of how it came to be that there was near unanimity in assigning blame to the Serbians and then to Slobomir Milosevic for the disintegration and the crimes committed during that decade long disintegration and why that unanimity, when questioned, elicited such extraordinary outrage by the large band of intellectuals, journalists of all kinds. The only “dog” I have in this house is perhaps that justice be done to Handke’s writings - for, after all, he too, could be as righteous and verbally violent as those who attacked Serbia and Milosevic, and when it came to testifying for the big bad Wolf of Pogarovic, as compared to showing up big screen at his funeral, took a major hike, which I am sorry to say did not surprise me all that much. There are times that image and showing it counts more for Handke than anything else; an essential ingredient of his great texts. A primadonna like Handke, a very great writer - with pencil in hand, and a muzzled mouth… So, one could say summarily, it’s the usual story, a bad show all around, just another moraine of history.<br />The oddest manifestation was the horde of Serbia and Milosevic haters in the United States wrapping themselves in the mantle of the Lincoln Brigade, as though that were a good parallel either historically and morally. The Lincoln Brigade, a product of the United Front as the Brigade against Milosevic and Serbia in this instance included the far right imperialist wing of the republican party think tanks and went to the reformed New Left, which then came to endorse the various forms of US intervention, in arms supplies to the Croatians, mujahedeen for Izetbegovic, arming of the KLA, and NATO intervention of several kinds, the latter of which destroyed nearly the entirety of the Serbian infra-structure. Some of these Serbia haters then became Muslims in allegiance to the Muslims in Bosnia! That was the most extreme form of their support: identifying histerically with what they regarded as the chief victims. These people are however most unlikely to give you as much as a breadcrumb to a starving beggar. Denial of the crimes allegedly solely committed by Serbians of all kinds was prohibited – we see the law against denial, that is THE chief problematic of the analytic situation, and THE nut of the Handke case, become the law of the land in Germany because of the German political class embraced the guilt for the crimes committed by a segment of a different generation that lived under a real Germanically thorough dictatorship… The shadow of the past was well upon these events in France, who now have a law prohibiting denial of the Turkish genocide committed against the Armenians [I could think of quite a few things in French recent history that if I were to be as mad as to outlaw denial!...]… and in Germany and the US… but as compared to a certain inevitability that attended the breakup once the first shot was fired, I see nothing inevitable in such unanimity except that “humanity hyenas” as Handke so aptly called that band, like to hunt in a pack as do all kinds of others, McCarthyites, Birchers… that is, the heart of fascism is unity of the fasces….<br />That I think answers one of Noam’s questions.SUMMA POLITICOhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11214697505465094305noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1162393060876362092.post-17746939839738377462010-05-12T15:41:00.530-07:002010-05-12T15:41:00.530-07:00I propose as a focus the below observation of Noam...I propose as a focus the below observation of Noam Chomsky's and want to approach it in the form of the wonderfully analytic question that the German novelist-historian of the Third Reich, Walter Kempowksy used so as to acquire some knowledge of how people felt:<br />“Did you ever see Hitler”<br /><br />This inquiry, too, is a post mortem, on the two matters in the subject line of this communication, two related subjects, the second arising out of the former, at the developing<br />http://handke-yugo.blogspot.com/2010/05/psychoanalytic-page-mass-and-class.html<br /> <br />http://handke-yugo.blogspot.com/2010/05/discussion-page.html <br /> <br />pages of<br /><br />http://handke-yugo.blogspot.com/ <br /><br />and its 20+ pages, Links to which are at the bottom of this communication.<br /><br />Although you may wish to use other examples with which you are more familiar. You may have your own examples other than the Yugoslav/ Handke which serves me so well because I am fairly well informed on the former, and exceedingly so on the latter, which is no guarantee of anything as I know only too well. <br /><br />"The nefarious atrocities regularly elicit religious fervor, dramatic posturing, baseless claims to inflate, them as much as possible - and fury if anyone does, not blindly join the parade, but seeks to determine, the truth, cites the most reputable authorities, exposes the innumerable fabrications. The common reaction to such treachery is an impressive torrent of deceit. There is an instructive record quite well documented in many cases. The reasons are not hard to explain. The topic should be pursued, systematically, but that is unlikely, obviously."<br /><br />http://news.independent.co.uk/people/profiles/article1222253.ece<br /><br />I reformulate the question slightly into:<br />“Have you ever seen Milosevic”<br />How did you happen to hear of him,<br />What news sources did you trust?<br />Say, the New York Times?<br />What network and network of friends…<br />At what point did you feel that you knew<br />enough to make up your mind.<br />What images stuck in your mind? <br />Did you discuss him and the breakup of Yugoslavia with the same kind of discernment and conscientiousness as you would a bone of analytic contention? To what extent did group consensus sway you? Or did you decide that there was no way you could reach a conclusion unless you devoted a great deal of work and time, which you lacked, to unraveling the question? That is, that you would let “history” decide for you?<br /><br />And my and your answers to this challenging question will be our 100 birthday present to Noam.<br /><br />I also wanted to ask you to forward this communication to those who you think might be interested. <br /><br />My own bi-partite attempt to unravel this complex that lies at the intersection of mass and individual and class psychology you will find for the Yugoslavia question on line, both as main-text and on the comments page to facilitate continuity, at: <br /><br />http://handke-yugo.blogspot.com/2010/05/psychoanalytic-page-mass-and-class.htmlSUMMA POLITICOhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11214697505465094305noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1162393060876362092.post-32284534202442619272010-05-11T18:18:14.140-07:002010-05-11T18:18:14.140-07:00I'm just finishing a review of the new book by...I'm just finishing a review of the new book by Charles Bowden and Alice Briggs, "Dreamland." As a reviewer I figure my job is to comment on what the book is, primarily. There are a lot of things it is not, things it doesn't try to be. When Mr. Rieff writes of Peter's book that "There is virtually no reporting and only the crudest sort of historical analysis.He never talked to a Croatian Serb leader, let alone attempted to visit the Krajina or Eastern Slavonia regions of Croatia on which the Serbs established their ministate in 1991" he might also add that there is nothing about baseball in the book, nor is there anything about Lessing play "Nathan der Weise."<br /><br />Peter has reviewed plenty of books in his time, and some he doesn't much like; but the reviews are always distinguished by a subjective humility -- "for me the play doesn't . . ." -- as opposed to Rieff's highhanded omniscience.<br /><br />Having him praise my translation in such a travesty of a review is embarrassment.Scott Abbotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01782322856303315648noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1162393060876362092.post-36225941687571221392010-05-07T20:16:34.177-07:002010-05-07T20:16:34.177-07:00ALSO, I will fine tune it, I was in a bit of a rus...ALSO, I will fine tune it, I was in a bit of a rush, and so quite a few things were not included. by sunday at the latest:<br /><br />look how the blog is growing:INTRA-LINK PAGES<br /> <br /><br /><br />http://handke-yugo.blogspot.com/2010/05/lead-page-periodically-updated_03.html [1]<br /><br />http://handke-yugo.blogspot.com/2010/05/opening-salvo-open-letter-decimation-of.html [2]<br /> <br />http://handke-yugo.blogspot.com/2010/04/history-of-yugo-slavia-and-its-break-up.html [3]<br /><br />http://handke-yugo.blogspot.com/2010/04/cross-sections-of-opinions-on.html [4]<br /><br />http://handke-yugo.blogspot.com/2010/05/psychoanalytic-page-mass-and-class.html [5]<br />http://handke-yugo.blogspot.com/2010/04/interviews-with-handke-about-his.html [6]<br />http://handke-yugo.blogspot.com/2010/04/thomas-deichmanns-diary-of-one-of-those.html [7]<br />http://handke-yugo.blogspot.com/2010/04/this-is-first-piece-i-wrote-on-subject.html [8]<br /><br />http://handke-yugo.blogspot.com/2010/04/sorting-out-handkes-intervention-in.html [9]<br />http://handke-yugo.blogspot.com/2010/04/two-futher-handke-pieces-in-german-on.html [10]]<br />http://handke-yugo.blogspot.com/2010/04/voyage-by-dugout-play-that-came-out-of.html [11]<br /><br /> http://handke-yugo.blogspot.com/2010/05/consequences.html [12]<br /><br />http://handke-yugo.blogspot.com/2010/04/human-rights-watch-resource-for-crimes.html [13]<br />http://handke-yugo.blogspot.com/2010/04/gerechtigkeit-fuer-serbien-by-peter.html [14] Gerechtigkeit Fuer Serbien<br /><br />http://handke-yugo.blogspot.com/2010/05/handke-die-tablas-des-daimiel.html [15] Tablas des Daimiel<br /><br />http://handke-yugo.blogspot.com/2010/05/roloff-breviary-of-Handke-position.html [16]<br /><br />http://handke-yugo.blogspot.com/2010/05/further-backround.html [17]<br /><br />http://handke-yugo.blogspot.com/2010/05/discussion-page.html [18] <br /><br />http://handke-yugo.blogspot.com/2010/05/back-ground-texts-habermas-etc.html<br /><br />[19] http://handke-yugo.blogspot.com/2010/05/dear-mrrs-sulzberger-kelleret-al-i.htmlSUMMA POLITICOhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11214697505465094305noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1162393060876362092.post-4492596051652891042010-05-07T11:46:48.511-07:002010-05-07T11:46:48.511-07:00Yes it turned out tamer than I felt
But David is n...Yes it turned out tamer than I felt<br />But David is not like J/L Marcus in the NYRB. He is just taking a party line back in the early 90s, seems like yesterday, he is not gunning for all of Handke. However, he has learned noting in the long meanwhile and lives in philosphelist world, a major defense. my guess is that david reiff is treading water, poor boy!SUMMA POLITICOhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11214697505465094305noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1162393060876362092.post-57240539624822050112010-05-07T09:29:38.735-07:002010-05-07T09:29:38.735-07:00I thought you were going to decimate Rieff? Pretty...I thought you were going to decimate Rieff? Pretty tame stuff this.<br />yours ever, Franzfranzangsthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03336255854440985701noreply@blogger.com