Monthly Archives: July 2005

Let Me Take You By The Hand….

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“You think you will defeat us?”

then –

“Let me take you by the hand
and lead you through the streets of London
I’ll show you something
to make you change your mind”

These lyrics from well-known folk singer Ralph McTell are on a handwritten note which is to be found among the many offerings commemorating the dead at London’s Kings Cross station.

These days we have seen a lot of bravado going the rounds. I’m no hero, I’ll settle for this. I think I’ll save the whooping and the whirling for when we have won.

Clues

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This is not an analytical “perspectives” type post. Just a number of bitty threads that seem in one way or another worth noting (small pieces loosely joined). They could basically be grouped together under the following headings: photos, suicides, explosives and origins.

Maybe I should also point out the obvious: that living in Spain while coming from the UK gives me a rather unusual perspective on what is happening. I lived the days surrounding the Madrid bombings intensely, now I am doing the same with London (where I had my home for many years). In some ways I can’t help but see this in terms of similarities and differences.

The big difference is of course in the government reaction, and the way that this is transmitted to a wider public. The British official reaction is one of ‘containment’ in every sense of the word. I think this is a good approach, since I think that excessive shock and panic only serves the purposes of the terrorists. The overall sensation was that London was as prepared for this as it could have been, and that many of those working in the crisis management and emergency services areas were following through on already well rehearsed roles.

Things in Spain couldn’t have been more different.
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How do you say ‘corporate governance’ in German?

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About the bombings in London I have nothing useful to say, beyond expressing my sympathies for the wounded and bereaved and my admiration of Londoners’ stoic resolve. And as others, here and elsewhere, are expressing those things better than I could, I shall leave it to them to do so.

Instead I shall turn to another topic, one that is admittedly less dramatic, but important for all that. That topic is corporate governance; specifically, corporate governance as it is (or is not) implemented in Germany. In recent days German headlines have been full of two particularly interesting items: a corporate governance scandal of colossal proportions at a major firm, and now a significant governance reform that is unlikely to make top German managers very happy.

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Fears

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A quote from a Johann Hari post, via Digby:

But another fight began yesterday: to defend our civil liberties ? and especially those of the decent, democratic Muslim majority ? in an age of terror. I headed for the East London Mosque ? a few minutes? walk away from the bomb in Aldgate ? to watch afternoon prayers. Chairman Mohammed Bari said, ?Only yesterday, we celebrated getting the Olympics for our city and our country. But a terrible thing happened in our country this morning? Whoever has done this is a friend of no-one and certainly not a friend of Muslims. The whole world will be watching us now. We must give a message of peace.? Everybody in attendance agreed; many headed off to the Royal London Hospital to give blood. But they were afraid the message would not get out: several people were expecting attacks on the mosque tonight.

From the media, it seems to representative of British muslim reactions in general. And quite understandably so.

There ar really several questions here: a) will there be harassment and violence now, in the wake of the attack, b) the long term negative impact n inter-ethic relations, b) will civil liberties be (further) curtailed.

As for b and c, based on the admirably non-hysterical response by the public so far, I’m cautiously optimistic. Cautiously. As for a, it only takes a few racist scumbags, doesn’t it? Regardless of how decent the general population may hypothetically be. But maybe it won’t get really horrifically bad, seeing as I haven’t seen any really serious incidents serious happened in the first night. Or did I miss them.

Guardian reports on the backlash:

At the Finsbury Park mosque in north London, worshippers said passersby had shouted abuse and rattled the entrance gates in the hours after yesterday’s bombings.

Within hours of the attacks police forces across the country were sent advice from the Association of Chief Police Officers on how to counter any backlash.

Forces are supposed to make contact with “vulnerable communities”, in this case Muslims, and react quickly and robustly to incidents of hate crime.

There are two fundamental aims, to keep Muslims safe, then to ensure there is the maximum chance that those with information about the planning of the attacks have the confidence and trust in the police to come forward.

Input from people who know what they’re talking about would be good.

(I’d also like to hear what the long term and short term reaction was after 3/11. It’s not necessarily hugely relevant, but interesting in itself.)

It’s perhaps a phrase that’s lost all meaning, or never had one, but I’d say if bigotry prevails, the terrorism will in some real sense have won.

Blair Points The Finger

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Tony Blair tonight indicated that in his opinion the bombings were the work of Islamic radicals. I – and I suppose most other people – had reached a somewhat similar conclusion, but since Tony has access to police and forensic material, his opinion may be worth a bit more than mine is. This would seem to give rather more credence to this earlier report. Whilst London’s Olympic victory does form a backdrop, the fact it was a surprise result makes it unlikely to have been a prime mover for the attack. It is hard to imagine an operation which was this complicated being set-up just on the off-chance. The G8 obviously seems to form a much bigger part of the picture. And I had forgotten entirely about this, until reading Juan Cole woke me up to the possible connection. The trial started on Tuesday.

Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri has appeared in court at the start of his trial on terrorism charges. The 47-year-old, who denies any involvement in terrorism, has been held at Belmarsh prison since May 2004.

BoE and ECB: No Change

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It may seem relatively trivial to be reporting on this after what has happened today in London, but, as they say, life goes on.

First the Bank of England.

The Bank of England left its benchmark interest rate unchanged after a series of explosions hit London buses and underground stations. The central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee kept the repurchase rate at 4.75 percent.

And now the ECB:

The European Central Bank kept its key interest rate unchanged at 2 percent Thursday despite worries about growth and the unsettling news of apparent terrorist attacks in London.

Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said he did not believe the attacks “will have any serious impact” on markets. London’s benchmark stock market index was down 2.3 percent by early afternoon after sinking as much as 4 percent earlier in the day.

Butt-Out Putin

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Vladimir Putin is a guest on UK soil today as a participant in the G8 summit, in which case he should behave like a guest, respect and follow the local customs, and refrain from trying to use this tragedy to push his own political agenda.

“But what happened today demonstrates yet again that we are doing too little to unite our efforts in the most effective way in the battle against terrorism,” he said.

He also called for an end to double standards ? an appeal he has made before to his fellow world leaders, some of whom he has criticized for underestimating the terrorist ties of Chechen separatist rebels.

Putin expressed “not only hope but also certainty” that the international community will do everything it can to confront terrorism, but stressed there must not be “any double standards whatsoever in assessing bloody crimes similar to those carried out today in London.”

There are many things which could be said about what has happened in London today, but the above is not one of them. Let me be (given my own views and values) terribly politically incorrect: as Condoleeza Rice said, “we have to get it right every day, they only have to get it right once”. Maybe there were questions about whether or not the US was sufficiently prepared for ‘new style’ international terrorism before 09/11, certainly there are such questions about Spain and 03/11, but is anyone seriously suggesting that the UK police and security services haven’t been totally focused on trying to prevent this kind of tragedy. So, number one I resent the insinuation, and number two I resent any attempt to use this to drag the UK into the scandalous war Putin has been waging in Chechenia.

The dead are not only not yet cold, they are not even counted. Again chosing a voice I would not normally identify with, I can only re-iterate this point from Tim Worstall:

“May I just remind you of one of those little rules that we have in our civilised society? We bury the dead and console the bereaved before we start making asinine political points.”