Links for 10/10/07

A fragrant potpourri handpicked from the internets:

• The sun sets early on the American Century, by Philip S Golub (Twilight of empire)
• IntelliBriefs: Egypt: Security, Political, and Islamist Challenges (Long paper on Egypt)
• Iraq - Kanan Makiya - Saddam Hussein - New York Times (Dexter Filkins profiles Kanan Makiya)
• "Cervantes’s Golden Age" by Scott Horton (Harper's Magazine) (Don Quijote, early music, Andalusia)
• Bin Laden may be in city, not cave: ex-spy chief (Urban Osama?)
• "Facts and Darfur" by Ken Silverstein (Harper's Magazine) (Spinning Darfur)
• Comment is free: Land of the free? (Richard Silverstein on the Lobby)
• Inside Higher Ed :: Are You Ready for 'Islamo-Fascism Week'? (It's that time of the year again)

Regarding the last item, you may be interested to follow the GWU controversy over the poster below (put up by anti-'Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week' activists) over at the Angry Arab. Also since our friend Abu Aardvark is at GWU, he may have more info (once he recovers from his Ikhwan marathon).

Comments

[SP]

That poster looks like a spoof. It can't be serious.

[arabist]

Perhaps I didn't word it clearly enough, but the poster was put up by activists AGAINST
Islampo-Fascism Awareness Week. They wanted to draw attention to what they believed was the message behind the event. Follow the Angry Arab links for the full story.

[SP]

Duh me. Thanks for clarifying.

[jose]

The poster-putter-uppers seem to think that we don't "get" it. We "get" it. It's just tactless.

[Aaron R]

I disagree, jose. I found it hilarious, first of all, and very clearly satirical. Come on, "lasers in eyes"? "peg leg for smuggling children and heroin"? I think it extremely effective at conveying its message. Perhaps it is less clear for those with a poor understanding of sarcasm, but any US college student should be able to recognize it for what it is.

[jose]

"Perhaps it is less clear for those with a poor understanding of sarcasm"

Once again, we "get" it. It's not too difficult to understand. All I'm saying is that there is such a thing as crappy sarcasm and this flier fits the bill perfectly. There's simply no subtlety to it. I'd expect this either in middle school or maybe early high school, but college students , at least the ones where I go to school, would see this as trying very very much too hard to evoke a laugh/hate.