contexploration

Eriksen and Stjernfelt's answer is that “[Markovic and Krestic] both share the idea that the local events at the beginning of the 1990s cannot be explained by that which lies closest to hand – by local and contemporary causes and interests – but rather through causes distant in space (Markovic) and time (Krestic).” Is this synthesis an example of a new link between far Right and far Left after the fall of the Berlin Wall? Today the extremes are united in scepticism towards representative democracy across a series of positions, Eriksen and Stjernfelt write: “anti-globalization, regionalism, anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, anti-liberalism, anti-Europeanism.”

CONSPIRACY THEORY: From the front page of the Egyptian Al-Ahram there’s a link to this speculative article “asking” who is behind the wave of kidnappings in Iraq. Because many of the kidnapped foreign workers had been “performing work they viewed as beneficial to the Iraqi people” the writer suspects that paramilitary units run by the Americans could be behind the crimes: “Is it far-fetched to wonder if the groups who launch attacks and perform executions are actually intelligence plants such as the [CIA-sponsored] Scorpions?” Sadly, this type of conspiracy theory is typical of the Arabic press.

EURO-OPTIMISM: In an article from The Boston Globe Christopher Shea makes the case for Euro-optimism after a reading of Jonas Pontusson’s new book ''Inequality and Prosperity". European economies are doing well, poverty levels are at a third of poverty levels in countries like the U.S., Canada and the U.K. A recently published report from London School of Economics [PDF] showed – surprisingly – that social mobility for children of low-income parents is higher in Scandinavian countries than in the U.S. and the U.K. Climbing the ladder in “flexicurity land” is easier. You can find a description of the benefits of life in a social democracy in Robert Kaiser’s comment from Finland: "If We're So Rich and Smart, Why Aren't We More Like Them?” (Washington Post). You can also take a look at this entry where Seattle writer Rob Salkowitz appeals to American liberals to defend economic security.

MORGENBLADET'S ORIENTALISM: The Norwegian weekly Morgenbladet’s latest editorial see the media’s response to the violent cartoon-riots as a case of “Orientalism”. There’s an element of truth to the riots, writes Bendik Wold, as religion protests the “lack of humanity” in our societies. Morgenbladet represents a new type of leftist populism that labels the U.S.A. as “the worlds most dangerous state” and views the Scandianvian societies as being under a “neoliberalist” economic occupation. With this fixation it is hard to spot other anti-democratic, imperialist ideologies. What would Bendik Wold have written if the burning of American flags in Cairo had lead to riots in Washington D.C. - including the destruction of the Egyptian embassy by some mad hillbillies? I doubt that Morgenbladet would have called such a rampage “legitimate”. Where is the real Orientalism here?