It is difficult, even for those of us with limited attention spans, to bring ourselves apart from the developments in Egypt and the region at large. Nearly all of us are impressed with a great and palpable sense that history is moving in seismic shifts even as we watch. This sense is compounded by the speculation we all indulged in, a little more than a week ago, as to whether other countries in the Middle East would follow Tunisia’s example. To be sure, the self-immolation of Mohammed Bouazizi, as well as the subsequent toppling of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, was more likely than most things to set off such massive demonstrations elsewhere, but most of us tend to quietly believe that history never progresses quite at the rate we would have it move if we were the deities of such things, and that the best realistic outcome was a few minor demonstrations scattered over the region, followed by the usual arrests. [Read more →]

There are some words that must only be used delicately and infrequently, lest they lose their value. “Orwellian” is one such word. Whenever a Western government proposes a new policy that looks like the beginning of the road to totalitarianism, it is difficult to hear anything else. In Britain the Labour government’s proposals for ID cards are viewed with extreme suspicion (“they will know everything about us!”); in the US Obama’s policies on healthcare reform are met with much fearmongering and attendant fear; and in both cases Orwellian is the go-to word. But would Orwell be proud of this legacy? [Read more →]

Obama’s choice of Joe Biden as his running mate seems, at least in part, to be a concession to McCain. The most immediate justifications for this choice appear to be the most pertinent: Biden was chosen for his extensive foreign policy experience as the three time chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and, on a broader scale, simply for his experience. But on a deeper level, the concession is to the enduring idea of “experience” itself. [Read more →]

We would all like not to be cynical about politicians: so much so that we become blind to the fact that it is this naivety that makes politicians act cynically to begin with. This is perfectly illustrated in the recent case of Bush-Obama, which will likely become a fable in many years to come, of the kind of phenomenon I mean. The Bush administration has made people more cynical of politicians than they have been in a very long time—whether this is really it’s fault is another matter—and such is the weariness and doubt of the American people that the prevalent attitude seems to be, “any administration is better than the Bush administration”. Needless to say, this sort of feeling is easily capitalised on by any cunning politician. The extra-cunning politician, however, will think to himself, “how can I make myself even more appealing to my voters than the other cunning politicians?” The answer is simple: style yourself as the polar opposite of George Bush. And this is exactly what Obama has done—so far, very successfully. [Read more →]