totalitarianism today

Links on a theme: Policy implications of the idea of "the masses".

How Soviets mapped out Leicester for nuclear war.

A review of a review of where philosophy stands in today's Korea.

Oh my. 

 "Aesthetic totalitarianism" via M. Gerwing Architects (above photo credited as well).

Adornoism.

"The US Census: From Enumeration to Intrusion".

The complete content of SPIN magazine, available from Google Books. Even the mundane is massed.

Differences between rational and irrational forms of dictatorship.

 The Jazz Amabassadors slideshow.

The keys to the end of the world have been bought and sold.

The German Robotron computer.

The “Robotron” Kombinat [combine] was created in the GDR at the end of the 1960s. It was responsible for developing and manufacturing data-processing and office machines. Over the course of the 1970s, it became evident that Robotron computers could no longer keep up with the accelerating pace of Western innovation. Within the Eastern economic zone, however, the GDR had great success in exporting Robotron technology. The photograph below features a Robotron computer exhibited at Leipzig's Spring Trade Fair in 1970. Photo by Edelgard Rehboldt. (Source)

The walls we share.

The wall in my head, that wall I've never quite been able to surmount with the assistance of economic or political theory, the wall made crooked by tinkering, the wall which crumbles best in poems... and now, a book admits the way we manage to misunderstand the wall. For there is the wall of the exiles, the wall of the witness, the wall of the believer, the wall of the monarch, the wall in all the hues with which we adorn it.

The Wall In My Head, published by Words Without Borders to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the something-like-a-fall for the Berlin Wall, is an anthology featuring fiction, essays, images, and original documents from writers and authors who witnessed the fall and made their own personal claims on the ruins.

The Wall in My Head provides a unique view into the change, optimism, and confusion that came with 1989 and examines how each of these has weathered the twenty years since that fateful year. Highlights within include seminal excerpts from the work of Milan Kundera, Peter Schneider, Ryszard Kapuściński, Vladimir Sorokin and Victor Pelevin and new work from Péter Esterházy, Andrzej Stasiuk, Muharem Bazdulj, Maxim Trudolubov, Dorota Masłowska, Uwe Tellkamp, Dan Sociu, David Zábranský, Christhard Läpple, and a host of others.

Read an excerpt here. Or buy the book and read whatever you want whenever you want. 

Soviet sociological conclusions on heavy drinking.

The following is excerpted from the report, "On Certain Aspects of Preventive Measures Against Heavy Drinking", authored by Lt. Col. of the Internal Service G. G. Zaigrayev, Candidate of Philosophy an head of a department of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs' Academy and published in the Soviet journal, Sociological Research, in 1982. Though American social scientists have downplayed the role of economic misfortune and social conditioning in mainstream academic literature, public propaganda campaigns and public service announcements are based on the assumption that binge-drinking is a social and personal choice-- one that can be socially engineered down to desirable levels. The truth of the matter, like the meaning of human existence, remains an open debate.

We cannot eradicate alcoholism without making a thorough study of the mechanisms and condition of its spread. We know that people often resort to alcohol to elevate their mood, to reduce tension, to alleviate fatigue and a sense of dissatisfaction, and to escape reality, with its cares and worries. Alcohol helps some people to surmount pscyhological barriers and establish emotional contacts, while for others it is a means of self-assertion, of appearing "manly" and "grown-up". Why is all of this? -- we asked. Why do people need an artificial stimulant?

To answer these questions, we studied the social characteristics of two groups of subjects: alcohol abusers and non-abusers. We interviewed an administered questionnaires to 2,252 residents of Dzrzhinsk (Gorky Province), Kirov, Novogrorod, and Moscow.

The results showed that alcohol abuse correlates most strongly with relatively lower educational levels and poorer use of free time. The percentage of problem drinkers who take part in sports is only one-fourth of the figure for the control group. On the other hand, the percentage of drinkers who prefer to spend their free time with friends, playing cards and dominoes is much larger. Only 25% of the heavy drinkers take walks with their children, attend movies or sporting events, or go on excursions in the country, as compared to 40% of the control group. Only 25% of the alcohol abusers do volunteer work (as compared to 70% for the nonabusers) and just 33% help with the housework (as against 64%). 

The data from Novogorod and Kirov showed that men drink five times as often as women when they are in a bad mood or have troubles at home or at work, and six times as often when they are bored. 

  

Although this does not exhaust the list of reasons for the spread of heavy drinking, we may conclude nevertheless that the phenomenon is socially conditioned and that it must be combated by social measures as various levels. Side by side with society's general efforts to eliminate factors conducive to a desire for alcohol and to provide socially constructive alternatives to its use, special preventive measures are also necessary: regulation of the production and sale of alcohol and wine; the molding of negative public opinion towards drunkards; the monitoring of drinkers' behavior and of the observance of antialcohol legislation; antialcohol education, especially for young people; and preventive work with individuals who have an unhealthy weakness for alcohol. 

There is no question that alcohol consumption should be banned for juveniles and pregnant women and restricted during the height of the harvest season, the work on major construction projects, etc. Drinking sprees among schoolchildren and technical vocational school pupils (often in the guise of "holiday parties") should be viewed as a gross violation of school rules...

Alabama tea parties with unsavory hosts.

I was excited by David Ferrara's reporting on the tea parties in southern Alabama. However, upon closer scrutiny, the presence of "motivational speakers" like Hilmar Von Campe casts a darker shadow on the scene. Why does the fight for freedom always flounder in these negligent one-night stands?

As a former Hitler Youth, von Campe has an intimate familiarity with the dangers of "Us v. Them" ideologies. And yet he continues to construe radical Islam as a tremendous threat to the United States in general and Christian governments in particular. Among his friends and links, von Campe counts holy warrior Victor Mordecai and USA Survival, notorious conspiracy-baiters who prefer to preach holy wars over practicing some of that love or tolerance which they insist is so characteristic of Christianity (as opposed to Islam).

From von Campe's personal description, we learn that he was a "World War II veteran in the German Army, as a former prisoner of war in Yugoslavia who staged a daring escape in 1945, crossing seven borders to freedom". Unlike most Jews, Romanies, and homosexuals, von Campe "lived through the years of Nazi power and brain-washing in Germany as a child and then as a soldier". Like many Aryan Christian Germans, von Campe only learned of the Holocaust and Nazi atrocities "after the war", when he "had to come to grips with the reasons how something like that could happen". And, like many former Nazis, von Campe found his wife in Peru.

A true child of totalitarianisms, von Campe continues to play mind games like his National Institute for Truth and Freedom:

The objectives of the National Institute for Truth and Freedom are to make the battle for freedom the concern of every last person in the United States and across the world. Freedom for the American people can only last if it can be extended to all countries. Otherwise the godless will chip away one bit of freedom after the other. And freedom is exactly the mission, which was given by God to America at her birth as a nation. It means to change the world.... The institute will strive together with all patriots to make a nation under God a reality, which through her people and government gives moral leadership to a world that hungers for selfless and inspired leaders. We want to add strength to the growing movement for freedom in the world, and to the fight and sacrifice of a myriad of people in the United States for that purpose in the face of growing violence and hatred about everywhere. The institute is dedicated to the reconciliation of people and nations and promotes the state of law across the globe. It also wants to help eliminate misunderstandings and divisions between nations which should be united by a common purpose.

Such a gargantuan mission-- a vision for global Christian empire steeped in goodness and "truth"-- certainly could not include a small role for government. Yet von Campe continues to make the case for moralistic patriotism even after admitting in an interview that it was precisely such patriotism which prevented him from speaking out, opposing, or in any way veering from his lock-step march behind Hitler. In fact, like many former Nazis or communist fellow travelers, von Campe shrugs away the means-ends distinction at the heart of free democratic, liberal republics. Rather than speak about his moral responsibility in supporting the Nazi regime's racists destruction of human life, von Campe puts his faith in much of the same-- only this time, his anti-Semitism is not directed against Jews but against Arabs. 

As one who makes common cause with many Americans fighting to keep our country free, I am disappointed in the choice of von Campe as an "inspirational speaker". At a time when we need inspirations which don't play to human fears and weaknesses, all we find from Alabama libertarians seems to be much of the same. Von Campe, like fellow anti-liberals populating the pages of Fox New and the corridors of the American Enterprise Institute, even goes so far as to suggest that Islamic terrorism was created by the former Soviet state to threaten American hegemony of the free world-- an absurd statement given general knowledge that the US government armed, motivated, and encouraged the Taliban and Islamic insurgents in Afghanistan two decades ago.  

For more on von Campe's shameless self-promotion and those who buy what he is selling: 1 + 2 

The golden days of Romanian communism.

A new film, Tales From the Golden Age, promises a wry look backwards at Romanian communism in the 1980's. The film's title, somewhat lost in translation, is a pun-laden reference to the "Gilded Age", or the Belle Epoque. American critics haven't exactly taken to the film so far, but it takes a Titanic sometimes to get American critics going. For those who don't need a Titanic, here's the trailer:

The latest for Cold War History buffs: Spies, paeans to Reagan, newly unclassified documents.

Declassified documents confirm that prior to the launch of the first spy satellites into orbit by the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) in the early 1960s, the Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) collected by the National Security Agency and its predecessor organizations was virtually the only viable means of gathering intelligence information about what was going on inside the Soviet Union, China, North Korea, North Vietnam, and other communist nations. Yet, for the most part, the NSA and its foreign partners could collect only bits and pieces of huge numbers of low-level, uncoded, plaintext messages, according to Archive visiting fellow, Matthew M. Aid, who today posted a collection of declassified documents obtained for his new book The Secret Sentry on the Archive's Web site. The Secret Sentry discloses that the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 was far from the first time when U.S. government officials, including senior military commanders and the White House, "cherry picked" intelligence information to fit preconceived notions or policies and ignored intelligence which ran contrary to their expectations. Widespread manipulation of intelligence also occurred during the Korean and Vietnam Wars for example, when Washington ignored intelligence on Chinese intervention in Korea, resulting in catastrophic consequences. The book also details how since the end of World War II, constant changes in computer, telecommunications, and communications security technologies have been the most important determinants of NSA's ability to produce intelligence. NSA has oftentimes found itself behind the curve in terms of its ability or willingness to adapt to technological changes, with delays and bureaucratic inertia causing immense harm to the agency's ability to perform its mission. As a result, during the past four decades NSA has dramatically increased the amount of the raw material that it collects, even while it has produced less and less intelligence information.

A new state historic site telling the story of the Cold War years in North Dakota will open to the public Monday, July 13 at 10 a.m. Central Time. Directly on the front lines of the Cold War, the Ronald Reagan Minuteman Missile State Historic Site - also known as Oscar-Zero and November-33 - near Cooperstown will preserve and interpret the story of the Minuteman missile system as well as the people working in and living around the missile sites.

Alleged Cuban spies have been apprehended in Texas. Close friends say they saw no signs of espionage.

James Mann's new book on Reagan continues to advance the fallacious thesis that Reagan ended the Cold War.

The Czech Interior Ministry has decided, controversially, to make Communist-era files available online. You can see where other post-communist states stand on the question of how much and how far the files of Communism should be opened to the public.

Six hours of interviews with a dying Alexander Litvineko offer new insight and information about life in post-Communist Russia. Litvineko, a former KGB star, described how he was ordered to recruit powerful businessmen for post-Communist Russia, hire assasins to neutralize their political rivals, and kill whistle-blowers who threatened the Kremlin. The British government was forced to cope with a public health alert and diplomatic crisis after traces of polonium 210, a by-product of uranium, were found at Mr Litvinenko's home as well as a sushi restaurant and London hotel he visited on 1 November of last year. The Health Protection Agency (HPA) confirmed that traces of the heavy metal, which is lethal if ingested in tiny quantities, were found in Mr Litvinenko's urine. Until he died from heart failure on Thursday night, doctors had failed to pinpoint the cause of symptoms that reduced a man who ran five miles every day to a "ghost" with a crippled immune system and a useless liver. A post-mortem will not be carried out until it is deemed safe for hospital staff to do so.

Black ooze emerging from the ground in a Canadian coastal town seems to be an unfortunate legacy of the Cold War.

Clear thinking on Iran.

Sometimes it takes a Born Again Redneck to appreciate what is happening in Iran. Or to quote Natan Sharansky, whose perspective takes history into account. Natan is hopeful. Here's why:

Every totalitarian society consists of three groups: true believers, double-thinkers and dissidents. In every totalitarian regime, no matter its cultural or geographical circumstances, the majority undergo a conversion over time from true belief in the revolutionary message into double-thinking. They no longer believe in the regime but are too scared to say so. Then there are the dissidents -- pioneers who dare to cross the line between double-thinking and everything that lies on the other side. In doing so, they first internalize, then articulate and finally act on the innermost feelings of the nation.

People in free societies watching massive military parades or vociferous displays of love for the leaders of totalitarian regimes often conclude, "Well, that's their mentality; there's nothing we can do about it." Thus they and their leaders miss what is readily grasped by local dissidents attuned to what is happening on the ground: the spectacle of a nation of double-thinkers slowly or rapidly approaching a condition of open dissent. 

To see the telltale signs, sometimes it helps to have experienced totalitarianism firsthand. More than once in recent years, former Soviet citizens returning from a visit to Iran have told me how much Iranian society reminded them of the final stages of Soviet communism. Their testimony was what persuaded me to write almost five years ago that Iran was extraordinary for the speed with which, in the span of a single generation, a citizenry had made the transition from true belief in the revolutionary promise into disaffection and double-thinking. Could dissent be far behind? 

This suggests another notable fact about present-day Iran. In Moscow in the 1970s, demonstrations organized by dissidents in an effort to attract the world's attention would often consist of no more than five to 10 individuals. Otherwise, the KGB would find out about the demonstrations in advance. They would last no more than five minutes. That was the longest we could last before the KGB would come, arrest us and ship the less fortunate to Siberia. Our main objective was to make certain that at least one foreign journalist was present so that, the next day, at least one Western news source would come out with a story that could in turn elicit a chain reaction of more and greater press attention and, we hoped, a vocal Western response.

Tintin's Soviet adventures: Early commi-skepticism in French cartoons.

Do I have a special place in my heart for the French Tintin because his first literary adventure took place in the land of Soviet Russia? Mais, bien sur.

In 1929, Tintin In the Land of the Soviets appeared in a children's supplement to a Belgian daily newspaper, Le Vingtième Siècle. Hergé's satire on the Soviet state preceded the grand anti-communist crusades of the 1940's and 1950's . Soviet propaganda to persuade the world outside Russia that the economy was booming was a particular target for Hergé, as were the activities of the secret police, the OGPU.

According to Benoît Peeters, the only source Hergé used when making this album was a book entitled, "Moscou sans voiles" from 1928 by Joseph Douillet. Douillet was the Belgian Consul in Rostov. Some of the scenes from the the album was taken directly from Douillet's book including the voting scene. Onderzoek shares the scene in question:

We see the communist comrade Oebijkon (who is resigning from the presidency) delivering a speech. This is what he says: 'We have tree lists: one of these comes from the communist party. Let anyone who is against this list raise their hand!' At the same moment Oebijkon and four of his comrades pull their revolvers and direct them menacingly at the peasant audience. Oebijkon continued: 'Who votes against this list? No one? Then I declare that anyone voted for the communist list. There is no need to vote for the other two lists anymore.'

Herge was just twenty-three when he wrote this first Tintin story. For more tantalizing Tin-isms:

• Yuri Kim has more on Tintin's  travels in the USSR.
• Listen to the Tintin TV series tune here.
• Enjoy the Greek-ish music associated with Tintin's travels and the Golden Fleece.
• Download an entire Tintin adventure in English; The Red Sea Sharks makes for great car tripping. And this French episode, truer to form, makes for great trips of all kinds.
• It never hurts to have a few Tintin coloring pages printed out for grumpy old folks and Francophobe friends. 
• The Economist pays tribute to Tintin, a "very European hero".
• Was Herge an anti-communist who collaborated with fascists? Or something equally bete? Some anti-Semitism mixed in there? More on Tintin's ideology.

The Iranian revolutions: A neocon's fondest daydream.

Iran is the latest galvanizing force for those poor hawks who have been disappointed by the nature of regime change in Iraq. I can almost hear the humanitarians on the Hill exclaiming, "Why just look at what those Iranians have done now! We need to come in and fix things for them again...." 

For the record, the Iranian people (and well-intentioned, distracted American citizens, for that matter) are still struggling with the consequences of the last time the US came in to "fix things". In fact, the term "blowback" first popped up in a classified sheet from the CIA's post-action report on the secret overthrow of the Iranian government. 1953 was a big year for Iranians-- the CIA helped to overthrow Mohammed Mossadegh as Iran's prime minister, thus ensuring another 25 years of rule for Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. At the time, the CIA had only existed for six years, but proved an enthusiastic and key mission-maker in the US war against communism. The covert action in Iran was considered a blueprint for similar coup plots around the world, so the CIA commissioned a "secret history to detail for future generations of CIA operatives how it had been done". Journalist James Risen traces the use of the word "blowback" to this secret report, in which the CIA warned of the possibilities of "unintended consequences of covert operations". Of course, Chalmers Johnson's book is the must-read on this topic.

So the heat is on to muddle around. Steve Clemons notes that pressure from hawks in Congress to take a stand on Iran only complicates matters for the President elected to improve our relations with the rest of the world. And Reihan Salam wistfully ponders the possibility of Obama's "inner neocon" while making it abundantly clear that his understanding of neoconservatism is milder and less militarized than most:

The peculiar truth is that Barack Obama, for all his realist convictions, is at his best when he embraces his inner neocon. In August 2001, two brilliant neocon foreign policy thinkers, Jeffrey Gedmin and Gary Schmitt, wrote an Op-Ed for The New York Times that blasted President Bush for not being multilateral enough. They compared him unfavorably with neocon icon Ronald Reagan, who, in their words, "linked American interests to the greater international good." Though written before 9/11, Gedmin and Schmitt's piece anticipated the trouble Bush's rhetorical unilateralism would eventually cause. 

Obama, like Reagan, is a master at linking American interests to the greater international good. Whether he likes it or not, his engagement strategy with Iran has been revealed as a hollow hope, one that rested on an overoptimistic interpretation of Iranian intentions. As former Bush foreign policy adviser Peter Feaver has explained, Iran is far more likely to negotiate from a position of weakness than of strength. 

Rather than reassure the Iranians with a wink and a nod that we're ready to do business, President Obama should be building an international coalition to isolate a recalcitrant Iran as thoroughly as the the West once isolated apartheid-era South Africa. Bush, to the chagrin of the neocons, could never pull this off. But Obama can. But though Bush 41 was in many respects a smashing foreign policy success, he also made a number of egregious missteps, including the notorious "Chicken Kiev" speech, in which he essentially endorsed the survival of the multinational Soviet empire and not the nationalist aspirations of Eastern Europe.

Afshin Molavi, an Iranian scholar at the New America Foundation, believes the Iranian regime has yet to cope with the ramifications of such a legitimacy crisis. Contra the hawks, however, Molavi seems to support Obama's careful treading of diplomatic waters. Molavi's observations about the Basiji suggest a counter-revolution could easily be brewing.

• Christopher Dickey works himself into a huff over Chinese and Cuban responses to the election results in Iran. 
• Matt Welch reviews Vaclav Havel's statements on the Iran, and finds Havel to be more concerned about the US pursuing oil interests at the expense of human rights in Iran. For the record, Havel claims to support non-military measures to dealing with the Iranian government's recent human rights abuses.
• Political Animal takes on Daniel Finkelstein's unabashed advertisement of his neo-con sympathies as applied to the situation in Iran. 
• Will Iran be Obama's Iraq? 
• For more photos like the one above, which shows a photo from the Iranian revolution which took place 30 years ago, enjoy Ahmad Kavousian's collection.