December 2008

Standpoint is published monthly by Social Affairs Unit Magazines Limited, a subsiduary of the Social Affairs Unit (Registered Charity No.281530). The views expressed in Standpoint are those of its individual authors, not those of the Social Affairs Unit Magazines Ltd and its Directors or those of the Social Affairs Unit and its Trustees and Director

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Books and Arts

Marching to Candahar

BIJAN OMRANI

Butcher and Bolt by David Loyn

Situation Normal

FREDRIC SMOLER

Generation Kill, its critics and the messy reality of war

Useless Eccentrics

ROY KERRIDGE

In Search of the English Eccentric by Henry Hemming

A Pacifist at Hitler's Side

FREDRIC SMOLER

Human Smoke by Nicholson Baker

Alarming but Never Alarmist

DANIEL JOHNSON

Terror and Consent by Philip Bobbitt

Reportage

Letter from Bamian

VICTORIA SCHOFIELD

The Taliban's vandalism of Afghanistan's greatest cultural treasure may be their most permanent legacy

It's Not Rocket Science!

ANN MARLOWE

An American commander explains why Afghanistan is winnable

The "Greenhawk" Moment

JAMES SCOTT LINVILLE

How the Pentagon discovered renewable energy

Foreign Affairs

The Demons of Ignorance

SEAN THOMAS

Why Thailand and Cambodia are on the verge of an all-out shooting war

The UN Human Rights Council: Not Fit for Purpose

ADAM LEBOR

As the UN General Assembly begins its 63rd session, the Human Rights Council makes a mockery of UN Ideals.

Captain Patriquin, Candidate Obama and the Anbar Awakening

JAMES SCOTT LINVILLE

The mainstream media has done a disservice -- especially to the Democratic Party -- by inadequately reporting the positive changes in Iraq during the last two years

Serbia Has Found Its Soul

BRENDAN SIMMS

The capture of Radovan Karadzic offers hope for the future of Serbia.

Blood Holiday

LEE SMITH

Lebanon's celebration of a brutal killer's release illustrates the extent - and the limitations - of Hizbullah's power

Why South East Europe Should Fear President Obama

MARKO ATTILA HOARE

Why we should fear the consequences of an Obama presidency for Europe's unstable periphery

How Not to Help Africa

REBECCA TINSLEY

Why Britain’s ‘Budget Support’ is the worst kind of foreign aid.

Comment

ID Cards to be Labour's Final Fiasco?

JAN DAVIES

After widespread protest, a Japanese High Court ruled that their similar scheme could not legally be enforced. Will people in the UK just roll over and allow the government to know all about them?

The Great Divide

LEE SMITH

The deadliest but least understood Middle Eastern faultline is between Sunni and Shia

What is a Liberal Conservative Foreign Policy?

JOHN BEW

It sounds like a refreshing antidote to neoconservatism, but little is known about the Conservative Party's foreign policy approach

Murder - A Biased Reform of the Law?

JAN DAVIES

A proposed revision of the laws governing murder may appease women's pressure goups but endanger justice

How Sarah Got Drafted

MARC SIDWELL

Ordinary Americans and 'Netroots' activists chose Sarah Palin, not just John McCain

Sarkozy's True Colours

MAX MCGUINNESS

As his peacemaking efforts in Georgia reveal, Sarkozy's foreign policy is cynical and incompetent

Pakistan – the Government’s Predicament Clarified

JAMES SCOTT LINVILLE

The refugee problem in Pakistan's troubled border regions has been widely under-reported

Education It's Not

JM SHAW

The author of a powerful new novel set in a comprehensive school explains why A-level results convey little about a pupil's education

A Different Deal In Iraq

JAMES SCOTT LINVILLE

Iraq begins to cut its own deals, and to reach for sovereignty

Sentencing at the Hard End

JAN DAVIES

Local magistrates are losing powers of discretion in sentencing

Barack Obama, Isolationist

JAMES KIRCHICK

Barack Obama sounds troublingly like an "America Firster"

Iraq is not a Four Letter Word

GARY KENT

British politicians are ignoring Iraq just when it needs us most

Put out More Flags

BRUCE BAWER

Northern Europeans are tying themselves in knots about patriotism and identity politics

Standpoint Pulp

Down the Wrong Mean Streets

FREDRIC SMOLER

Like Travis McGee, Lee Child's Jack Reacher is a charismatic and admirable ex-military hero, but the latest novel in the series is the worse for a fashionable anti-Iraq war plot.

The Ghost and the Machine

MARC SIDWELL

Sexbots, WALL-E and the desert of the real

Genius in the Streets

FREDRIC SMOLER

The Wire may be the best television ever made, but is it truly Dickensian?

Furst Principles

FREDRIC SMOLER

The mysterious appeal of Alan Furst's 'historical espionage' novels