Zizek on BBCs Hardtalk (?)

Worlds colliding, Jerry.

Slavoj Zizek lately: a multimedia reader

In a desperate bid to get what’s become a (mostly) minor case of Zizek personality-worship out of my system, here’s a compilation of some of his more recent internet-born appearances:
Videos:
Slovenian Philosopher Slavoj Zizek on Capitalism, Healthcare, Latin American “Populism” and the “Farcical” Financial Crisis — 15 October 2009
World Renowned Philosopher Slavoj Zizek on the Iraq [...]

Hussein Ibish: one-state ‘outcome’ is not a one-state ’solution’

Is Hussein Ibish a level-headed pragmatist key to Palestine’s future, or a Washington socialite unwittingly co-opted by an intellectually bankrupt mainstream? I don’t know…it’s a loaded question, but it got you reading. In any case, he does a impressive job of distinguishing bewteen a one-state ’solution’ (potentially desirable) and one-state ‘outcome’ (unthinkably disastrous). From Jeffrey [...]

Zizek on ecological ideology

Wow, this is fun.

Lessons for a new Israel-Palestine?

Apropo the previous post, there are precedents for fully administering contested areas via multilateral UN institutions. The crucial precedent that hasn’t yet been broken is establishing a permanent UN arbiter in a contested zone.
For inspiration to be drawn and, perhaps more importantly, lessons to be learned, see East Timor.

Outside the nation-state tinderbox

Here’s a copy of ‘How about, let’s stop deifying the nation-state‘ … Phil Weiss’ post of my own answer to his question: how to offer readers a forward-looking solution in Israel-Palestine…
Life in fortress-Israel can be a comfortable buffer to reality. But reality has an awkward habit of crashing the party. Reports from places like Gaza [...]

TTBOOK Radio: Iran After the Revolution

A well-assembled podcast on post-Revolutionary Iran.
Juan Cole (of Informed Comment) makes some fairly astute observations, beginning about 42:25 mins in:
Iran After the Revolution (2009-04-17).

BBC 4: Science and Islam

As both a child of the globalized era, and someone involved in education, i’m continually irked by the myopic (judeo)-christian-centred narratives on the history of global ‘progress’ presented to students here in the west (and probably elsewhere, although i can’t speak to that).
Here’s a doc by BBC 4 that tries to remedy this. It’s not [...]

Cole on Obama’s Af-Pak rhetoric

Obama’s domino theory
The president sounds like he’s channeling Cheney or McCain — or a Cold War hawk afraid of international communism — when he talks about the war in Afghanistan…

Ethnocentrism + armed testosterone

This disturbing, if unsurprising, news echoes the efforts first launched by Noam Chayut and his Breaking the Silence project, affording Israeli soldiers both a suitable platform and the requisite anonymity to voice their honest recollections of time spent serving in ‘the territories.’
The organization says it is currently working ‘on a collection of soldiers’ testimonies from [...]