For the Hitchensians amongst you –

If you’re wanting a new ‘fix’ today then get yourself over to here now

Christopher Hitchens joins Book TV for a live In-Depth interview on Sunday, September 2 from Noon to 3 pm ET.

Once there you will find there is a ’streaming video’ option available.

I’m watching it right now using the Realplayer option located at the top right hand corner of this page.

Direct link that should open a RP Video-frame here (hopefully)

That’s your lot.

Update: If you missed this interview, note that the whole thing is repeated on Monday, September 3, at 12:00 AM (that’s US ET of course).

Another riot in Nørrebro, six months after the eviction and demolition of Ungdomshuset.

Johann Hari reported recently on what his Iraqi friends have been telling him:

Meanwhile, the Iraqi psyche is so wrecked by the 7/7 blasting on to their streets 24/7 that my Iraqi friends report mass hysteria gnawing into the survivors. After a small string of attacks by badgers – you know, the little furry creatures – in Basra, so many people were convinced this was a new weapon of war that UK military spokesman Major Mike Shearer had to announce publicly: “We can categorically state that we have not released man-eating badgers into the area.”

The Badger story has been around for a while now, being reported on the 12th of July 2007 by the BBC and by The Guardian news blog. One has to admire the inside knowledge that Hari’s Iraqi friends furnish him with. In 2003, all of Hari’s friends were in favour of the war and later they gave him feedback from the ground after returning to Iraq. Now they find him month-old badger stories as an example of a damaged Iraqi psyche?

Hari’s friends of old, who he turned to when trying to decide whether or not clearing Fallujah was a good idea (he could not decide), were a group of British-based Iraqi democrats: “I turn to my Iraqi friends who run the Iraqi Prospect Organisation (IPO) - a campaign group of British- based Iraqi democrats who are in constant contact with their Iraqi friends and relatives - for answers.”.

The IPO have a website. There is currently no news there about the badgers, although they appear not to have given up on democracy.

The Observer reports on the degenerate artists, Jews, and other victims of Nazi persecution who took up arms against fascism in World War II, fighting against the country of their birth.

These ‘enemy aliens’, as they were known, became soldiers, sailors and airmen, took part in operations behind enemy lines, carried out vital intelligence work and participated in the D-Day landings. In every case their objective was the defeat of their own country to rid the world of fascism.
[…]
‘The war had broken out and we felt it was our affair as much as anyone else’s,’ recalled Anson, now 85 and speaking in a crisp English accent. ‘We were very aware of the generosity and compassion of Britain. We owed a debt to this country for saving our lives. I wasn’t opposed to Germany, but I certainly was interested in fighting the Nazis.’

I am reminded of those Iraqis who have been bravely working with the coalition troops in Iraq in order to bring democracy to their country and defeat the terrorists. Of course, there are differences. They are not at war with their own country, but helping those forces who are working with their country to establish security, democracy and the rule of law.

However, just as the Germans who fought for the allies were called traitors, there are those today who call those who have chosen the cause of freedom traitors.

Juliette Binoche joins the list of crackpots who think they have been let in on the truth about 911:

A Few Days in September is witty and clever, but there is a serious point behind it - with which Binoche is more than a little obsessed. She describes it as a dramatised version of the events depicted in Michael Moore’s documentary Fahrenheit 9/11. It alleges that various vested interests - including state security services around the world - knew what was about to happen on September 11, 2001.

While preparing for the role Binoche had long conversations with a secret agent, who consulted on the film and on whom she modelled her character. ‘Of course he could not reveal everything to me, but he said a lot,’ she says. ‘Some things I forgot because it was just too much. Certain things I was very amazed by and when I told people close to me about them they just wouldn’t believe it. Everything in there is true,’ she adds, her eyes blazing with the fervour of a conspiracy theorist.

So is she saying the film is a dramatisation of real events? ‘Absolutely,’ she says. ‘I went to see the Iranian ambassador at the time and he said of course it’s true. Things that I thought were hidden and private… they were very open about it.’ So she means the CIA and other agencies knew 9/11 was going to happen? ‘Of course.’ So is she saying it was an inside job? Or that al-Qa’eda was responsible? ‘Everybody is responsible for it. If you only knew more, it’s even more depressing.’ She suddenly realises this is all getting a bit implausible and explodes into laughter. ‘Humour is the only way we can deal with it.’