Just popping back, as promised, to note this American Thinker article which deals with the Rumsfeld 'sting' operation by what it calls the 'Press gang'. There are, of course, meaningful questions to be raised, but the sensitivity of the media is just about crude enough to be manipulated, yet not attuned enough to help us understand.

One thought I would raise (or several along one line) is that the murder of 19 Americans among others in Mosul may conceivably have been timed to coincide with media scrutiny of Rummy. It may also be the case that the release of two French journalists on the day of the US' highest recent casualties was not coincidental. When I mentioned in the previous post that a media bandwagon may be joined by concerned parties for political effect, I shouldn't have omitted the terrorists in that analysis. They watch CNN, and the Beeb, as well.

Rounding up the bandwagon (news).

Here's one of those classic examples of the BBC giving a bandwagon a roll by collecting a range of stories over a period of time and publishing them as one 'story', thereby demonstrating a narrative to which they or those who contribute to the news (ie politicians, other media) can add. It's emotionalised tripe really, about whether condolences were personally signed or not, though I know that some would disagree with me on that- maybe from the high moral ground, but still I'd contest that it's emotionalised tripe given the hardnosed media context in which these fellows have their being.

It would be controversial to defend Rumsfeld, yet that's just what I feel like doing- because no-one else could have carried the weight of media scrutiny that he has carried to enable the Iraq war to take place without collapsing under the weight of Western defeatism.

Instapundit also defended Rummy out of the same instinct for unfairness which I personally would prefer to call sensitivity to bias (examplar of sensitivity here).

I always believed that the first Rummy story this Christmas (as the illiberal elite realised he was going to outstay Colin Powell and couldn't stand it any longer) was a put up job, and the BBC's reporting then was a model of how to make such a story credible and powerful.

Meanwhile, in the follow-up, which the BBC deigned to consider newsworthy, a 'grilling' over 'equipment' became a 'query' over 'kit' and the 2000 cheering soldiers became merely 'soldiers assembled'- quite a low-key affair compared with the story I'd heard previously.

But now, in the latest story of Rumsfeld's woes there is no mention of the planted question (which ought to be allowed to derail the bandwagon but funnily enough isn't), which reverts to 'full-grill' mode (ie the storyline of disgruntled ordinary soldiers is unbroken by matters of fact). Funny what we remember to report and what we don't.

Something, by the way, that I should not fail to mention is that I am liable to be absent from blogging for much of the festive season, so don't be surprised it there are longish pauses. I'll pop in and I'll return more permanently in the New Year. So, if I don't say it later I'll say it now: Happy Christmas and New Year (except to the Beeb, who should use the time to reflect shamefacedly on their many failings!).

From the first person: two accounts I've come across that really shed light on two situations that many are interested in, but few understand.

Chrenkoff interviews Steven Vincent, who provides fascinating personal views of Iraq based on months spent freelancing there.

Meanwhile, Jeffrey Gedmin stars in an interview that is extensively quoted by David's MedienKritik, shedding light on the Euroblindness that dares not call itself anti-Semitism.

Where does the BBC fit into these perspectives? I would generally characterise it as the attitude of the three wise men: see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. Except of course that they do, often.

Shades of 'Je ne regrette rien'?

It is only wishful thinking, I am sure, but in this bizarre episode of the (now thankfully fallen) singing Secretary (Blunkett, Secretary of the nanny-friendly State) I was immediately reminded of Lord Lamont's lack of lament over the ERM debacle (allegedly singing 'Je ne regrette rien' from his bath). I honestly do, though, think that the Tories will be mad if they don't realise that one rotten apple indicates the presence of possibly widespread mould. They should attack, attack, attack (and if they did that, which I am not sure is even within their capabilities, they would win).

Transatlantic take: the Blunkett affair is caught nicely by Powerline:

'The government official, coincidentally, is a blind man in the land of one-eyed men, and therefore not king, but rather a sympathetic public figure.'

And there's more...

Aunty Beeb, having just about finished chuckling (paradoxically) like a new born at the acrimonious fate of General Pinochet (I don't exactly object to this except for the fact that the long-term emphasis on Pinochet undoubtedly contrasts with their approach to other unsavouries, and consequently illustrates the BBC's chronic attraction to the margins of the news stream), has taken a break from Pinochfreud to report on one of those famous Anglo-French cooperation stories- you know, one of those nice engineering stories like Concorde and maybe even Eurobus or Airbus or whatever the Eurofighter thingy is called.

I only hope that Norman Foster's latest bridge doesn't sway like the last one.

Fascinating as Usual- the Belmont club has part two of a post about Europe. It seems this period is prompting a lot of reflection on where we are and where we are heading, which is good. By 'we', I suppose I mean those identifying themselves with the Anglospheric association.

There's a lot of China about these days:

'China is methodically following the example of Meiji Japan in moving from a position of inferiority to one of military equality with far superior rivals, by deliberate application of a striking phenomenon of economics'

Friends United

Iraq the Model (well, Omar & Mohammed) and Roger Simon, two of my favourite blog sources, have met, and it seems to have quite a touching meeting judging from what Roger says. Instapundit had that, and a useful link to one of the voices that have been raised to defend the brothers against the accusations of illwishers- illwishers that the third brother, Ali, still holding the fort in Iraq, takes a post to tackle. Ok, so I almost lifted a post, effectively (apart from the last link)- but it's like a party that I prefer not to be excluded from, and, well, it's Christmas (nearly).

Can the EU regulate itself into success? Belmont Club thinks not.

I suppose this is important as every day I get more and more impressions of the EU's ambitions, with Turkey and Rumania prominent, but the vague Eastern promise of countries like the Ukraine tantalisingly over the horizon.

A related question, suggested by watching BBC World, is whether the BBC can browbeat us into environmentalism. Now, I just need a link for that one. Here's an old post from Liberty Log that still carries some bite.

Responsibility: Melanie Phillips tells it straight about the media's responsibility for encouraging attacks on Coalition troops.

More job cuts, please. Nicholas Vance's prescription for improving the BBC sounds about right to me. A must read-type post.

More China- Brian Micklethwaite has put together a valuable post at Samizdata

More China stuff from two of my favourite sources, EurSoc and the American Thinker, about the armaments trade and 'Dollar diplomacy'. Both sources confirm the fact that should be informing British policy towards Europe and the rest of the world. Europe is in a hole, economically, diplomatically, and militarily.

Sigh, Relief... Steyn is back in the Telegraph- and poor John Monckton has a effective voice raised in anger (via the excellent Tim Worstall)

The World gets big on us- and you know what, I think Bush can cope with it (so says the Weekly Standard, and as so often they're right). When I say big, I mean fascinating accelerations like this one in China (isn't it amazing how financial journals these days bring all the real news?), or this story from B-BBC, which perfectly illustrates so much of my criticism of the BBC's coverage of Africa- and its consequences.

Of course, its only just becoming acceptable to say that Bush has some kind of wisdom up his sleeve (actually the conventional view is that Bush plays poker and that's how he's weirdly canny), but I predict it will gather pace, for a little while. Funnily enough I think we'll come to value Bush's judgement even as we come to recognise the vacuity of a certain Anthony Blair's- here EURef is surely on the mark ahead of schedule.

Great Commentary from David Pryce-Jones on the potential for Islamisation in Europe (via the indispensible Real Clear Politics). He goes back through a range of gathering incidents to what I think of as one of those minor events of major importance- the fatwa issued against Salman Rushdie for his book about the Koran 'The Satanic Verses'.

I will always remember how this incident announced to me the existence of a powerful force of irrational zealotry, shockingly different, yet almost symmetrical to our own rigorously enforced secularism. I think the contrast between the fate of Rushdie's work and the fate of a similarly controversial work in that year, The Last Temptation of Christ by Martin Scorsesee, convinced me that something was going to give in the future.

Update: Including both the theme of censorship and the Islamisation of Europe, this is a fascinating article in the Jerusalem Post about the murder of Theo Van Gogh (who was, in fact, as I suspected but hadn't found confirmed until now, the Great Grand-Nephew of Vincent van Gogh) and its repercussions in the Netherlands. (If this link requires registration, I recommend you become registered- the J.P. is often one of the most informative reads around, and easy to join too)

That don't impress me much

So Bono says he wants to spend the rest of his life fighting poverty. This from a guy that has spent years at the head of one of the most lucrative, frivolous and essentially distracting 'industries' the West has yet toyed with. What a man!

Ok, so I like his (sorry, their) music, sort of, in the sense that it always annoyed me less than the rest, had a mood that sprung from experiences which, out of the UK's relative comfort zone, seemed to have reality, and had lyrics that seemed a little poetic and aspirational. I still preferred Simple Minds though, apart from Van Diemen's land.

I guess that 'Wealthy Pop star puffs out chest and laments world poverty' shouldn't be much of a shock to me, but it rankles- whatever Bono's financial arrangements may be. But if it shouldn't surprise me, why should it be news to the BBC?

Come to think of it, why should this caption, 'Bono said world leaders looked at him like "sort of exotic plant"' be placed next to a picture of GWB, whereas the next thing we know Bono anecdotalises thus: '"But I've found them to be very respectful. When I met [Bill] Clinton, I looked like our road crew and he burst out laughing.' ? This comes in the wake of the Clinton library episode, where U2's appearance was touted by the BBC as part of the grand occasion.

Sounds a bit like Bono has a strange notion of respect, as indeed the BBC have of impartiality- and somehow it seems that there may be some kind of media-industrial-Liberal complex at work here that could use the investigation of a few good journalists.

Galloway's a fleabite compared to some of the issues confronting us today. Hugh Hewitt has a vital article taking up the story of a euthanasia committee established in the Netherlands, sheltering under the reassuring title of the 'Groningen Convention'.

Never mind that this sounds like some dull but worthy piece of history in the making, I try to consider the fact that the law today, which we all contribute towards in various ways (passive or active) exonerates bad men and persecutes children (even as it permits the massacre of the unborn).

I'm saying nothing: David Frum comments on the Galloway libel triumph (ahem).