BAGnewsNotes

Iran Again: New Pictures ... And Echoes

2009-07-09T15:53:11-07:00

I'm going through the new and sudden burst of images from today's Tehran unrest. Tell me this doesn't resonate because the woman/the photo evokes Neda Agha-Soltan, the woman and martyr of the contested-election demonstrations who died with her eyes open?

...In this photo from Turkey, we see that the analogy and the identification is more than incidental.

(image: labeled "Getty Images."caption: An Iranian woman holds her hands in the air and makes V signs as she protests in the streets on July 9, 2009 in Tehran, Iran. Following the recently disputed presidential elections demonstrators were met by force and tear gas rounds fired by Iranian police and Basij as they defyied government warnings to stage a march in commeration of the anniversary of bloody student unrest in 1999 at Tehran University.)

The Third Crusade

2009-07-09T13:01:22-07:00

by contributer John Lucaites

The “Summer Surge” has begun in Afghanistan, though more with a whimper than a bang if we measure it in terms of media attention. The death toll creeps higher each day, but one has to search hard to find any mention of it. The stories that do appear on a war that is now eight years old (and counting) tend not to be headline fare in most U.S. news outlets, and those stories that do appear exude something of an everyday, taken-for-granted quality about the whole matter.

While news stories seem lacking, there have nevertheless been a small number of slide shows cropping up at various news outlets (here and here, for example) over the past several weeks.

What marks these slide shows is their almost singular banality as they repeat over and again the same, tired, visual clichés for representing war that we have become accustomed to in recent times: tight close-ups of marines—in many cases young boys trying to appear like hardened veterans—expressing intense and stern determination; images of U.S. troops preparing to do battle or returning from battle or approaching and searching what appear to be empty villages or fighting the boredom of war or playing games with local children; photographs that feature the advanced technology of U.S. warfare, including weaponry, night vision capabilities, and so on.

Rarely and only occasionally do we see some actual fighting—and perhaps for good reasons—but on the whole what we are shown are stock pictures we have seen before and but for the fact that they emphasize a desert locale, there is nothing particularly distinctive about them. In short, there would appear to be no news here.

And yet, for all that, it would be imprudent to ignore what such visual displays show us and how such “seeing” contributes to normalizing our understanding and attitudes about the war. The photograph above led off a recent slide show of forty seven images at the Denver Post website titled “Marines Pour Into Afghanistan.” One might imagine such a slide show beginning with photographs of marines parachuting from planes or embarking from helicopters, literally “pouring into” the Afghani countryside, but instead of emphasizing the activity of the headline caption we encounter an anonymous and relatively passive soldier.

That the image crops out the face and head of the soldier does more than just accent his anonymity as a cipher for the U.S. military, for the photograph is shot as if literally from his point of view. Notice how the camera locates the viewer in the physical space of the soldiers’ head and eyes. We see what he sees—or what we might imagine that he sees if he were to hold his gaze—and thus the photograph coaxes our identification with his very being by suturing our vision with his.

And what he/we see, of course, is the Holy Bible, which sits at the very center of the image. And more, along with the hand that holds it, it is photographed as if in a portrait, where the face is in sharp focus and all that surrounds it is softened so as to direct and hold our attention on the main object. One might think of the photograph in this respect as one more cliché of war rhetoric, an aestheticized visualization of the old saw that “there are no atheists in foxholes.”

But of course the conflict in Afghanistan is at least in some measure a religious war, and as such representations of the Holy Bible take on a much larger significance. Here, it is not just a symbol of comfort for those in harms way—though it may certainly be that—but poised at the beginning of the slide show as it is, it frames the meaning of all that follows.

But what is that meaning?

We get something of a clue by attending to the brief narrative paragraph that precedes the above image where it quotes the commander of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines as he speaks to his troops as they are about to embark on their military mission: “You’re going to change this world this summer and it starts this morning.” The name of that mission is “Operation Khanjar, or Strike of the Sword.” Now look at the photograph one more time and notice that the Bible holds the place where one might otherwise imagine a weapon—a rifle, or in an earlier epoch, perhaps a sword—particularly in the hands of a Marine about to occupy hostile terrain. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death …

There are other ways to interpret the photograph, to be sure, but the point here is that the photograph needs to be interpreted. And this is all the more so when the images shown by such photographs appear to be all too normal and ordinary, or when they beckon our identification all too seamlessly.

(Cross-posted from No Caption Needed)

Photo Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

L'Aquila: The Woe Summit

2009-07-08T23:39:26-07:00

Or is that, whew!

With all the hype, distraction and showmanship inflicted on poor earthquake ravaged L'Aquila, Wednesday's stroll by G-8 summiteers comes off no better than disaster tourism. (And then, all hail the dramatic and fun-loving Berlusconi.)

Tent city that awaits the G8 (The Independent)

(image: Jim Young/Reuters. The ruined city of Onna near L'Aquila, central Italy, July 8, 2009. Onna was almost totally destroyed in the April 6, 2009 earthquake in which some 300 people died.)

Obama You're Not, Sir!

2009-07-08T10:57:58-07:00

I absolutely couldn't resist this. To appreciate the hilarity, read the backstory at The Lede.

(Is it possible Ahmadinejad -- with help from the bug -- may have done to himself what it took someone like Ferrell to do to Bush early on?)

Obama - Putin Not in Love!

2009-07-08T02:23:09-07:00

Apparently prompted by the eager Condi Rice (see paragraph 22), Dubya convinced himself before they had even met that Putin would become a best friend for life.

Of course, the quote from the first engagement at the Slovenian Summit in June of '01 at the Brdo Castle in Slovenia is famous by now:

"I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straight forward and trustworthy and we had a very good dialogue. "I was able to get a sense of his soul. "

It was in that very first meeting Bush decided Putin had to come down to the ranch, leading to an intimate three day visit which included that famous pickup truck ride.

But that was then and this is now. This week, we saw a return to a more unremarkable get-acquainted process marked by the mundane realities of healthy distance; feeling other people other out; and, yes, skepticism for gamesmanship and power-tripping. Perhaps that's why, as the NYT reported, Obama slipped not once, but twice, in referring to Putin, the enduring heavy in Russia, as (still) the country's President.

The image above -- one of dozens and dozens, I might add, that captures Bush and Putin (only too happy to indulge Bush's fantasy) in an intimate grip -- is the parting photo from that first Slovenia summit. The second image, as Obama engages the hard-nosed Putin, captures Barack at Putin's dacha outside Moscow doing what Bush never did, which was start by breaking the ice.

(revised 4:20 pm PST)

(image 1: George Herbert/A.P. IMAGE 2: Novo-Ogarevo, July 7, 2009. ALEXEY DRUZHININ/AFP/Getty Images. linked pickup image: Crawford, Texas, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2001. Either AP Photo/Doug Mills or REUTERS/Win McNamee.)

Our Man in Xinjiang

2009-07-07T16:09:11-07:00

BAGnewsNotes contributer Alan Chin, who has been in China for the past month, filed these photos and brief report this afternoon on the ethnic violence in Xinjiang.

Urumqi, Xinjiang, China

7/7/09 AM

I caught up with a government press tour this morning at the same time a group of several hundred Uighur women were protesting against their men being detained. It was a tense scene with the women screaming and yelling and the police deploying in force. It seemed to disperse peacefully but it was unclear what would happen next as we were herded away.

The amount of property damage and destroyed vehicles seems very small compared to the government claim of 150+ dead and 800+ wounded. Of course there may be worse areas that I haven't been able to access. But compared to aftermath of other riots (with much less loss of life), the destruction here seems slight.

Saw some young men being searched and ID'd outside Xinjiang University where there were apparently many arrests.

7/7/09 PM

The sense of almost-normalcy disappeared by afternoon as thousands of Han Chinese with metal and wood sticks and clubs headed to attack the Uighur neighborhood.

I could only get as far as the edge of the Muslim Quarter where the PAP and police turned the crowd pack with tear gas, truncheons, and somewhat friendly entreaties to go home. General Secretary of the Urumqi Communist Party Li Zhi spoke with a loudspeaker to the mob standing on top of a SUV, blaming the crisis on exiled Uighur activists and stressing Chinese unity.

Some of the crowd had gotten into the Uighur area before though; unknown how much damage they were able to cause before police dealt with them. I did not see police arrest or disarm anybody; they just wanted to disperse the crowd.

What was odd about the crowd was that it included young women as well as young men, brandishing makeshift weapons.

Don't know what tomorrow will be like; night curfew is about to start soon.
(images: Alan Chin 2009, Xinjiang, China. See photo gallery for captions.)

Rummy Having McNamara For Breakfast

2009-07-06T23:26:05-07:00

Upon his passing on Monday, I took something of a forensic interest in this photo from the NYT's Robert McNamara slideshow. It pictures the former Defense Secretary with Rumsfeld, then currently in the job, as well as former Secretaries Carlucci and Brzezinski.

Unfortunately, reference to the gathering is pretty slight, while the caption only names the players along with the date of 2003.

Given that the Iraq War began in March of that year and the powerful documentary, The Fog of War (in which McNamara expresses deep regret for his stewardship of the Vietnam War), was released in December, my sense, on first pass, was to question the comity here between McNamara and Rumsfeld.

But then, there are all kinds of other factors to consider, including the ritual of such ceremonial get togethers -- Rumsfeld, the practiced politician, likely appealing to vanity to solicit advice he then wouldn't heed. As well, we also know from his appearance with Director Errol Morris in Berkeley in '04 that McNamara refused to apply his lessons about war to the invasion of Iraq even if he welcomed others to do so.

Taken together, these facts suggest that fraternity goes a long way at the pinnacle of the warrior class.

(image: Stephen Crowley/NYT)

The Michael Jackson Death Show

2009-07-06T01:37:16-07:00

As an industry town preparing for a memorial service the likes L.A. has never seen (hello Larry! Anderson! Charles! Katie!), it's hard to consider this giddy and buzzing city as anything but a parody of itself.

These wry and simple wire photos intentionally play-off the escalating intensity of tomorrow's mass-scale, Laker-championship-emulating public memorial service at Staples Arena preceded by an expected news helicopter-gawking, freeway-arresting mobile procession/slow-motion media cavalcade (potentially, yes, one-part unspoken O.J. reminder mixed with a dash of the RFK train) from the cemetery to downtown.

As the MJ passing "pushes into its second week," the first image offers up members of the media -- looking like acting extras themselves -- converting Forest Lawn into the likes of a movie set four-full-days before the anticipated memorial service. (And, it's the Fourth of July, no less.)

Here, the taped outline for a TV truck just beyond the mortuary gates seems to evoke a burial plot or the markings at a crime scene.

Perhaps celebrity culture is what's also killing us.

(Revised: 8:26 am PST)

(image 1: Robyn Beck/Getty Images. Forest Lawn cemetery. Los Angeles. July 4, 2009. Although details of the July 7 memorial service for music legend Michael Jackson have yet to be released, some reports say Jackson's family may hold a service at the Forest Lawn Mortuary then motorcade to Staples Center. image 2: Eric Thayer/Reuters. A Forest Lawn cemetery. Los Angeles July 3, 2009. caption: Although details of Tuesday's memorial service have yet to be unveiled, Los Angeles media said Michael Jackson's family may hold a service at the Forest Lawn Mortuary then motorcade to Staples Center.)

Palin's Resignation: Proud To Be Trash

2009-07-05T12:29:12-07:00

This photo was circulated by Getty after Palin was tabbed for Veep by McCain and appeared, at least, in a cheeseball LAT election slideshow on Palin's fashion sense. If you haven't seen it before, however, it's because the image, like Palin herself, is radioactive.

Although taken back in '04 (see caption below), the statement is significant today for revealing an attitude (along with the adorable love 'ya/just shot 'ya) that, upon her resignation from elected office, now morphs into a full-blown strategy. Palin has created a scenario, at least in her mind, in which she's defeated the press and can freely Facebook and speak obliquely with and to her equally angry and alienated true constituency.

Simply, she's positioned herself to reconnect, with the same invective, to the haters and fanatics she was inciting during the campaign.

(image: Robert A. Baker/Getty Images. Sarah Palin models purchased 'Proud to be Valley Trash' t-shirt as the result of State Senator Ben Stevens (son of Ted Stevens) comments that people living in the Mat-Su Borough are 'just Valley trash' July 21, 2004 in Wasilla, Alaska. Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain announced Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate at a campaign rally August 29, 2008 in Dayton, Ohio.)

Palin: At the End of the Roll

2009-07-04T00:24:30-07:00

(The write-up below was composed last September 13th in the aftermath of the Republican Convention, although for some reason I never posted it. It had to do with the disconnect between Palin's lightweight personality and biography as compared to the aura and dramatic story lines spun up around and about her. I think what happened yesterday -- telegraphed in various expressions of antipathy toward the media and her critics throughout Palin's bizarre resignation ramble, is that "the roll" finally ended. In other words, I believe Palin had/felt so little "teflon" left that, as an accountable and now thoroughly scrutinized elected official, there was just no place left to hide.)

From The Get by Steve Coll at The New Yorker:

The occasion of the Alaska governor’s début before the national media called for a lightly edited, extended one-on-one, aired on a single night, so that American voters might assess the candidate’s answers and demeanor in full. Instead, apparently to maximize ratings and branding opportunities, ABC doled out Palin sound bites on six network broadcasts over two days, as well as in supplemental ABC Radio and Web releases. In the end, [ABC President David] Westin exploited the Governor’s moose-hunting, baby-juggling appeal as if she were a magnetic contestant on one of the network’s prime-time reality shows—“Extreme Makeover: White House Edition.”

Collusion is certainly part of the problem, and corporate media must be called on it (for what that's worth).

But Palin -- as this remarkably still-fresh, RNC-inspired illustration from the previous week's New Yorker emphasizes -- is a reality show. Sixteen days out, her visage continues to permeate the media sphere, as the electricity -- primed by biographical fairy tales tightly bound to visual spin aimed at the right brain -- continues to trump the reams of qualifying or damaging information that is streaming out.

The crossed arms on two screens and in the larger caricature reflects her inherent defensiveness and hostility. The fish "that big" and the hand gestures on "Bridge to Nowhere" call out the chronic double speak. The way the eyes track in relation to the angle of her head speaks to how well she knows where the camera is (while the disappearing neck telegraphs the underlying reality of "the empty suit.")

In real life as well, one can easily sense all this, but still she rolls.

Also:

(Photo removed and post amended 12:15 am PST, 7/3/09)

(illustration: Steve Brodner/The New Yorker. September 15, 2008. Accompanying: Convention Wisdom by Nancy Franklin. p. 84)

What Time Do The Checks (I Mean, The Guests) Arrive?

2009-07-03T22:52:32-07:00

Must be WAPO's Milbank and Cillizza dressed for the Salon.

(image: from aptly named "Mouthpiece Theater.")

Arnold Watch: Oh Captain, My Captain

2009-07-03T08:57:10-07:00

The beauty of Getty photographer John Moore's image of Schwarzenegger's press conference/photo op as he blasts the legislature while upping state worker furloughs and issuing tax refund, bank and vendor IOU's?

...Yes, what about the children?

(The NYT piece has another Moore image, this one conveying an even more disconcerting picture of the flanking "California families" (re: props) -- and the people's confidence in the Terminator.)

(John Moore/Getty Images)