Video: Salman Rushdie på Emory University

Denne post handler ikke om islam. I videoen fra Emory University fortæller Salman Rushdie om det at være forfatter. Fra 27. februar 2012:

Salman Rushdie Discusses Creativity and Digital Scholarship with Erika Farr

University Distinguished Professor Salman Rushdie and Erika Farr, digital archives coordinator in the Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library (MARBL) discuss how computers and other technology affect Rushdie’s writing and creative process. This builds on previous conversations and addresses new developments such as Rushdie’s acquisition of an iPhone and the ways in which mobile computing has an impact on his work. In addition, given Rushdie’s work on his memoir and his use of his paper and digital archives in MARBL, the discussion turns to the ways in which archival science and archival access changes the way he uses his own archives.

Og et lille interview:

Salman Rushdie Weighs In on the Oscars, the G.O.P. Presidential Race, and That Unmentionable Socialite in “Page Six”

By Evan Mulvihill – February 23 2012

“The word ‘mogul’ actually comes from ‘Mughal,’” curator William Dalrymple explained to Vanity Fair last night at the opening of his new exhibit, “Princes and Painters in Mughal Delhi, 1707-1857,” at the Asia Society in New York City. “When you consider an Oscar-winning Hollywood mogul, unthinkingly you’re coming across a word that started off with an Indian dynasty, which was so redolent of power and luxury that even to this day, people who have never heard of Mughal use the word to describe power, like Harvey Weinstein.”

Mere HER i Vanity Fair.

Andre kilder: GlobalAtlanta, The Chronicle of Higher Education,

Video: Michael Coren og Tarek Fatah om Salman Rushdie & Ezra Levant om Omar Khadr

Det står helt klart nu, at vi skal vælge imellem ytringsfrihed og multikultur. Så derfor: støt aldrig multikultur. Stem med fødderne. Fjern jeres børn fra multikulturelle børnehaver, skoler etc. Find en anden grønthandler, en anden tandlæge. Og husk: hudfarver spiller ingen rolle. Folk må have alle de farver, det skal være. Det handler alene om hvilket politisk og religiøst menneskesyn, man står overfor. Jeg finder eksempelvis det islamiske mennskesyn afskyeligt i så godt som alle varianter:

Coren & Fatah on Salman Rushdie’s ban

Michael Coren & Ezra Levant on Omar Khadr

Video: Salman Rushdie truet væk fra indisk litteraturfestival

Regeringen i den indiske delstat, Rajasthan, har presset arrangørerne af “Jaipur Literary Festival” til at forhindre Salman Rushdies deltagelse, skriver The Times of India. Det er sket efter pres fra muslimske organisationer. Fra IBNLive:

In a bid to avert trouble, the Rajasthan government reportedly persuaded the organisers of the Jaipur Literature Festival to ask Rushdie to call off his visit.

Reports say the government believed Rushdie’s presence would create a security risk in light of calls for protests by some radical groups.

Muslimske dødstrusler. Vrede imamer i pressen. Store demonstrationer. Premie udlovet for at smide med sko. Rushdie-dukker afbrændt i gaderne. Jojo.

Muslimer har forlangt, at Rusdie nægtes visum. Men forfatteren er af indisk afstamning og har allerede fri indrejse. Den bliver der imidlertid ikke brug for: Salman Rushdie valgte tilsidst at trække sig.

Denne video skulle angiveligt være optaget i Hyderabad for få dage siden:

Opdatering 20. januar 2012:

“I have now been informed by intelligence sources in Maharashtra and Rajasthan that paid assassins from the Mumbai underworld may be on their way to Jaipur to ‘eliminate’ me,” Rushdie said in a written statement.

“While I have some doubts about the accuracy of this intelligence, it would be irresponsible of me to come to the festival in such circumstances; irresponsible to my family, to the festival audience, and to my fellow writers. I will therefore not travel to Jaipur as planned.”

Mere HER hos CNN. Berlingske Tidende skriver stort set det samme her.

Opdatering 22. januar 2012 – som protest har et antal forfattere læst højt fra Rushdies bog, De Sataniske Vers. Bogen er imidlertid forbudt i Indien. Fra The Deccan Herald:

Cops seek footage of Rushdie debate

Jaipur, Jan 21, 2012, DHNS:

Rajasthan police has asked the organisers of the literature festival the footage of the session in which noted writer  Hari Kunzuru and Amitava Kumar read out extracts from the banned book of Salman Rushdie’s “Satanic Verses”.

Additional Commissioner Biju George Joseph said: “We sought the footage to verify the facts whether the section of the texts the authors read constitute an offence or not.”

Link HER.

Opdatering: Muslimer protesterer over, at Rusdie muligvis til tale via videolink og Taslima Nasrin synes, Salman Rushdie er en kujon, fordi han ikke vil myrdes. Det kan hun da selv være – fra Times of India og Two Circles:

• Who’s Taslima to call Rushdie a coward?
• Muslim group opposes the likely videoconferencing of Rushdie

Det bliver værre og værre:

But Rushdie says he now believes the supposed plot – apparently undertaken by Mumbai criminal gangs – had been invented to keep him away from the festival and to avoid controversy.

“I’ve investigated, & believe that I was indeed lied to. I am outraged and very angry,” Rushdie said on Twitter after newspaper reports that Rajasthan police had concocted the death threat.

Mere HER hos australske ABC.

Opdatering 25. januar 2012 fra BBC:

• Salman Rushdie video-link to India festival cancelled

Andre kilder: The Times of India, The Times of India, Asia Sentinel, The Pioneer, Hindustan Times, Hindustan Times, The New York Times, Tehelka, Kashmir Observer, The Telegraph, The Guardian, DNA, DNA, IBN Live, India Blooms, OneIndiaNews, The Economic Times, The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science, Digital Journal, Time Magazine, Reuters,

Video, audio & artikler: Salman Rushdie om Christopher Hitchens

Det er bemærkelsesværdigt så meget der stadig skrives om fantastiske Hitchens, som Rushdie kalder vor tids Voltaire:

Christopher Hitchens, 1949–2011

Targeted by Khomeini in 1989, the author found himself with a formidable 
champion: Christopher Hitchens. Salman Rushdie recalls his friend’s many joyfully waged battles, not least the Hitch’s magnificent argument with Death.

By Salman Rushdie - February 2012

On June 8, 2010, I was “in conversation” with Christopher Hitchens at the 92nd Street Y in New York in front of his customary sellout audience, to launch his memoir, Hitch-22. Christopher turned in a bravura performance that night, never sharper, never funnier, and afterward at a small, celebratory dinner the brilliance continued. A few days later he told me that it was on the morning of the Y event that he had been given the news about his cancer. It was hard to believe that he had been so publicly magnificent on such a privately dreadful day. He had shown more than stoicism. He had flung laughter and intelligence into the face of death.

Hitch-22 was a title born of the silly word games we played, one of which was Titles That Don’t Quite Make It, among which were A Farewell to Weapons, For Whom the Bell Rings, To Kill a Hummingbird, The Catcher in the Wheat, Mr. Zhivago, and Toby-Dick, a.k.a. Moby-Cock. And, as the not-quite version of Joseph Heller’s comic masterpiece, Hitch-22. Christopher rescued this last title from the slush pile of our catechism of failures and redeemed it by giving it to the text which now stands as his best memorial.

Mere HER i Vanity Fair. Der eksisterer 11 minutter af det program, Rushdie omtaler:

Christopher Hitchens in Conversation with Salman Rushdie at the 92nd Street Y

Og Hitchens sidste artikel:

Charles Dickens’s Inner Child

While it’s tempting to see Charles Dickens as a fusion of his heroes and villains, on the great British novelist’s 200th birthday his true gifts should be recognized: a respect for childhood and a willingness to atone for his mistakes.

By Christopher Hitchens – February 2012

Those who study Charles Dickens, or who keep up the great cult of his admiration, had been leading a fairly quiet life until a few years ago. The occasional letter bobs to the surface, or a bit of reminiscence is discovered, or perhaps some fragment of a souvenir from his first or second American tour. The pages of that agreeable little journal The Dickensian remained easy to turn, with little possibility of any great shock. At least since The Invisible Woman, Claire Tomalin’s definitive, 1991 exposure of the other woman in Dickens’s life—the once enigmatic Nelly Ternan—there hasn’t been any scandal or revelation.

Mere HER i Vanity Fair. Desuden denne audio. Det går fint med at høre, hvad der bliver sagt, selvom der er en lille fejl i lyden:

PEN Podcasts: Conversation with Umberto Eco, Salman Rushdie, and Mario Vargas Llosa

January 5, 2012 | PEN American

The Three Musketeers is one of the most beautiful examples of literary jazz. Dumas was able to write very badly The Count of Monte Cristo. The Three Musketeers is pure jazz—pah-pah-pah—with such rhythm, such a sense of riff, it’s incredible. He’s able to continue with a dialogue saying nothing, but it’s like a drum.

In today’s podcast, a conversation between Umberto Eco, Salman Rushdie, Mario Vargas Llosa, and Leonard Lopate at the event The Three Musketeers Reunited: Umberto Eco, Salman Rushdie, and Mario Vargas Llosa, part of the 2008 PEN World Voices Festival. Eco, who celebrates a birthday today, also delivered the Arthur Miller Freedom to Write Lecture at the Festival.

Stares HER – åbner Windows Media Player. Varighed 47 minuter.

Sære medier: Facebook, Google, Reuters, Rushdie, nym wars og mere

Gad lide vide, om Reuters får EU-tilskud? Når man får det, er man forpligtet til at fabrikere skønmalerier om EU og om multikultur. I hvert fald kan ingen påstå, at Reuters ikke leverer varen. De fleste af bureauets kunder får offentlige tilskud:

Academic Study Finds Reuters Middle East Coverage Tainted by Propaganda, Violates Company Principles

Henry Silverman - December 06, 2011

Roosevelt University academic study documents systematic use of propaganda by world’s largest news agency.

A study published in the November/December issue of the Journal of Applied Business Research finds that Reuters coverage of the Middle East conflict is systematically tainted by propaganda and influences readers to side with the Palestinians and Arab states against the Israelis.

Researcher Henry Silverman of Roosevelt University analyzed a sample of fifty news-oriented articles published on the Reuters.com websites for the use of classic propaganda techniques, logical fallacies and violations of the Reuters Handbook of Journalism, a manual of guiding ethical principles for the company’s journalists. Across the articles, over 1,100 occurrences of propaganda, fallacies and handbook violations in 41 categories were identified and classified.

Mere HER hos PRWeb. Den næste artikel minder lidt om en i The New York Times, som man eventuelt kan vælge i stedet:

• Rushdie Runs Afoul of Web’s Real-Name Police

‘Nymwars’ debate over online identity explodes

By Mike Swift – November 17, 2011

Who has the right to decide how you’re known on the Internet — you, or the online service you’re using? That simmering question, which erupted with the launch of the new Google (GOOG)+ social network this summer, rolled into a boil this week with two high-profile developments.

First, Facebook decided to enforce its “real names only” policy against internationally known author Salman Rushdie, changing his page — without his consent — to the name on his passport, Ahmed. Next, the Justice Department told Congress that it needs the ability to prosecute people who provide false information to websites with the intent to harm others, stirring fears across cyberspace that people might be busted for lying about their weight and age on Match.com.

Mere HER hos Mercury News.

Does Facebook Have a Foreign Policy?

The social networking giant has the power to change the world for the better. But does it want to?

By David Kirkpatrick | December 2011

Toward the end of 2008, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was musing about a massive political rally in Colombia earlier that year. A young man had started a Facebook group to show his revulsion against the FARC guerrillas, and one month later, on Feb. 4, millions of people across Colombia and around the world rallied in opposition to FARC.

The anti-FARC protests were the first ripple in what would become this year’s global wave — the use of social media in massive political movements, as Facebook and Twitter have almost overnight become the world’s collective soapboxes, petition sheets, and meeting halls. It may have started in the Middle East with outraged friends on Facebook, but the chain reaction eventually led to landscape-altering citizens’ movements and demonstrations not just in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya, where despots were toppled, but also Syria, Yemen, Bahrain, and later in Spain, Israel, India, Britain, the United States, and elsewhere. Facebook is a common thread in all these movements — it has become the new infrastructure of protest.

Mere HER i Foreign Policy.

Andre kilder: Honest Reporting, The New York Post, The New York Post, Radio Free Europe, DNA India, The Register, Hindustan Times, First Post, The Daily Mail,

Interview med Salman Rushdie

Men vi starter lige med historien om et mordforsøg på Salman Rushdie. Iranerne igen:

Echoes of Iran

Stewart Bell | Oct 15, 2011

Mansour Ahani said he was fleeing religious and political persecution in Iran when he arrived at Vancouver airport from Singapore in October 1991.

“I am dead if I return,” he wrote in his refugee claim.

But after spending months following Ahani, Canadian intelligence officers came to a startling conclusion: He was a highly trained Iranian government assassin whose handlers were planning an attack on the British author Salman Rushdie.

Mere HER i The National Post.

Interview / Salman Rushdie is not afraid

He thinks ‘Game of Thrones’ is dumb, bemoans the lack of good modern novels and believes terrorism is dying out; over 20 years after fleeing for his life from an Iranian-issued fatwa, novelist Salman Rushdie is still unafraid to speak his mind.

By Gidi Weitz – October 14, 2011

New York. One fine evening a few weeks ago, the writer Salman Rushdie walked, unattended by bodyguards, to the site of the 9/11 memorial. “It was very strange to walk into that space after ten years,” the 64-year-old recalls as we sit in the offices of the Wiley literary agency in the center of New York. “I remember post-9/11, many journalists from all over saying to me, ‘Ah, now we understand what happened to you.’ And I responded, ‘Really? That’s what it took for you to take note?!’ But in some way that was the moment at which these things, like the attack on ‘The Satanic Verses’ or the persecution of other people in different places, suddenly became a big thing.”

Mere HER hos Haaretz. Se eventuelt også denne i Global Toronto:

• Salman Rushdie, Neil Gaiman among authors supporting Occupy Wall Street

Eller denne i Pajamas Media:

• Every Week Is Banned Books Week in Iran

Andre kilder: Foreign Policy,

Opdatering 22. oktober 2011 – endnu et interview;

A Conversation With: Salman Rushdie

By Shivani Vora – October 20, 2011

The author, who was a guest at the Pierre’s recent Diwali party, agreed to answer a few questions before the event about his connection to Mumbai, his time on Twitter and the state of Indian fiction today.

Q.You’ve agreed to read an excerpt of a new book about the history of the Taj hotel in Mumbai. What connection do you have to the hotel?

A.I’m a Bombay boy, so my connection to the Taj is life long. I went there as a boy with my parents, and as an adult I’ve taken my own family to stay there a number of times, and in general have always made a beeline for it when in Bombay.

Mere HER i The New York Times.

Video: Salman Rushdie, Bill Maher, Jennifer Granholm, Seth McFarlane, Van Jones

De røde sniksnakker. En eller anden har uploadet et helt Bill Maher show, som jeg gav mig til at se, fordi Salman Rushdie medvirker. Halalhippier uden grænser her. De er dumme at høre på og Rushdie siger ikke ret meget. Om amerikansk indenrigspolitik – fra den 30. september 2011:

Real Time’s Bill Maher, His Panel, and Guest Van Jones – 09/30/2011

Part 1 of 3. Bill Maher and his liberaltard panel and guest Van Jones discussing issues ranging from the Republicans and the economy to Herman Cain saying that blacks have been brainwashed by liberals. In high definition (HD) only.

Panel includes:
- Family Guy creator (and Democratic apologist) Seth McFarlane
- Progessive writer/author (and Obama apologist) Salman Rushdie
- Former Governor and now author Jennifer Granholm (D-MI)

Video: U2 & artikel om Salman Rushdie

Mahound. You ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog. And you ain’t no friend of mine. Nej, det er ikke den, vi skal høre. Det bliver U2 og Bono i stedet. Artikel først:

Honoring Banned Books’ Week by Defending Salman Rushdie

22 September 2011 – Raymond Scott

Before it became gospel that no concert could even be mentioned in the same breath with the immortal performances staged by U2, the band was sort of, well, boring. The Edge lacked whatever quality it was that gave him such a namesake; the group’s routines seemed overly disciplined, and fans could muster no more flattering a term to describe Bono than “austere.” Their reputation was to dramatically change however after the 1991 release Achtung Baby and the subsequent ZooTV Tour, both designed to be unashamed sensory overloads. Full of messy rhythms, alter egos and notorious prank phone calls, the tour demolished the band’s stoic reputation and carved for itself a spanking new personality, an audacious one.  U2’s newfound spunk embodied itself in the late summer of ‘93 when during a performance at the world’s most distinguished arena, London’s Wembley Stadium, Bono welcomed the only man in England who could rival his celebrity, Salman Rushdie. The crowd erupted into cries of adulation at the sight of this bespeckled author, who not too long ago, would have been unrecognizable outside of highbrow literary coteries. Yet, who by this time had earned himself the distinction as the world’s most controversial figure.

Mere HER i The Bi-College News.

Dernæst dette interview, hvor Bono ser tilbage på den episode, der indledte artiklen ovenfor. Fra februar 2010:

The Ground Beneath Her Feet interview

Bono discusses how U2 explored the theme of celebrity in the ’90s. Includes a clip of Salman Rushdie on stage with MacPhisto at Wembley Stadium.

Og så vil vi godt have noget musik, tak:

U2 – With or Without You

U2 live in Boston 2001

Mere om Taslima Nasrin vs. Salman Rushdie

The Times of India har et interview med Taslima Nasrin efter twitterkrigen imod Salman Rushdie:

Male writers are like God: Taslima Nasreen

Vinita Chaturvedi | Sep 24, 2011

As a storm is created over her tweets about Salman Rushdie, Taslima Nasreen talks about ‘fragile male egos’ in an exclusive rendezvous with us.

When Taslima Nasreen tweeted about Salman Rushdie’s debut overdrive on Twitter, she wouldn’t have imagined in her wildest dreams that her comments would make headlines. What started after that was hate messages flying fast and furious against Taslima on social networking sites. Taslima voices her anguish about “the existing prejudices and male chauvinism” in a chat with us.

Mere HER i The Times of India. Tidligere blogget om samme sag:

• Salman Rushdie og Taslima Nasrin fører krig på Twitter

Opdatering 31. oktober 2011 – Nasrin ude med mere nødvendig provokation:

Through her twitter account, Taslima said that a Muslim Woman should have sex with 72 men. “Muslim women deserve to have sex with 72 virgin men on the earth as they won’t get these things in heaven.”

She further wrote: “Men start suffering from erectile dysfunction in their 30′s. But their machismo remains alive until their last day.”

Mere HER hos Samay Live.

Salman Rushdie og Taslima Nasrin fører krig på Twitter

Salman Rushdie spars with Taslima Nasreen on Twitter

Javed Anwer | Sep 22, 2011,

Days after he joined Twitter saying he was now in the “madhouse”, author Salman Rushdie may be realizing that the social media site can be just that.

On Wednesday, Rushdie and Taslima Nasreen got into a micro-blogging spat, with the Bangladeshi writer accusing him of “begging” for followers and chasing women.

“Salman Rushdie is begging everyone to follow him on Twitter. He’ll feel embarrassed if he doesn’t get a million followers,” she tweeted, adding, “Be aware of Salman Rushdie! He wants to get girls in his ‘whipped cream range’.”

Mere HER i Times of India. Opdatering – se eventuelt også denne kommentar i samme avis:

• What is Taslima’s problem?

Andre kilder: News Bullet, OneIndia News, The New York Observer,

Jytte Klausen om muhammedkriser

Jytte Klausen er dansker, men bor i USA. Her er Klausens seneste bog udgangspunkt for et interview. Om “The Cartoons That Shook the World”:

Extremists on all sides exploit taboos

September 6, 2011

The fallout from the publication of cartoons of the prophet Muhammad has led many to fear for freedom of speech, writes Karen Kissane.

In Sweden, cartoonist Lars Vilks received death threats from al-Qaeda after he drew an image of the prophet Muhammad in 2007. His home now has a barbed wire sculpture that could electrocute an intruder and an axe he has said would allow him to ”chop down” anyone breaking in.

Mere HER i The Sidney Morning Herald eller  her i The Age. Islamkritikere lever farligt. Her er mere om det islamistiske foretagende, Center for American Progress og om Irans menneskefjendske styre, der nu truer snart sagt hvem som helst. Dette kaldes ligefrem en fatwa:

Iranian News Agency Publishes List of U.S. Citizens and Lawmakers

Clare M. Lopez, W. Thomas Smith, Jr. -

Iran’s Khomeinist news agency, Press TV – long recognized for its Jihadist-supporting broadcasts – has published what is being referred to as a veritable “hit piece” against many leading U.S. media companies, commentators, antiterrorism experts, legislators, and at least one presidential candidate – calling several by name – in what the news agency considers to be “The Roots of the Islamophobia Network in America.” And what observers fear may reveal a more sinister motive.

The article entitled, “U.S. Empire foments Islamophobia,” and based on a just-released report by the Center for American Progress, contends there is a conspiracy by these so-named (primarily conservative) organizations and individuals to foment fears about Islam.

Mere HER hos Family Security Matters. Canada Free Press HER.

Video: Salman Rushdie – India Today Conclave 2010

Uploader har lavet uorden i nummereringen, så derfor er rækkefølgen herunder ændret. Om Indien, kunst og ytringsfrihed – fra 12. marts 2010:

Salman Rushdie speech at the India Today Conclave 2010

India Today Conclave 2010 – Salman Rushdie (Author) Dinner Keynote Address – Freedom and Dissent.

Salman Rushdie – to interview

Pakistans magtelite er tvetydig – systemet er dybt ustabilt, korrupt og militaristisk:

Pakistani power elite profoundly duplicitous, says Rushdie

The power elite of Pakistan is “profoundly duplicitous,” says controversial Indian-origin author Salman Rushdie, who finds it “ludicrous” that al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden hid in the heart of that country without anybody’s knowledge.

Calling the system in Pakistan “deeply unstable, corrupt and militarist”, Rushdie said the Indian perspective would believe that in having Pakistan as an ally, the West “is in bed with the wrong people”.

Mere HER i India Express. Ovennævnte citater stammer fra The Times, men der er paywall på. Det næste interview liger flere af dem, Veritas Universalis har haft i løbet af i år:

Salman Rushdie: ‘The Arab spring is a demand for desires and rights that are common to all human beings’

The Booker prize-winner on dreams of his father, marriage, the fatwa – and the death of Osama bin Laden

Tim Adams – 26 June 2011

Your latest book, Luka and the Fire of Life, is dedicated to your youngest son, Milan, who is 14. And it’s a sequel to Haroun and the Sea of Stories, which was written for your eldest son, Zafar, now 31, at a time when your life was threatened by the fatwa. You’ve written a lot about fathers and sons…

Mere HER i The Guardian.

Andre kilder: Outlook India, The Sunday Indian, DNA India, Hindustan Times, Hindustan Times, IBNLive,

Pundits om Bin Laden

Har samlet lidt af, hvad der skrives rundt omkring. Salman Rushdie, Christopher Hitchens, Paul Berman, Robert Fisk, Bernard-Henri Lévy, Robert Spencer, Alan Dershowitz, Nonie Darwish, Victor Davis Hanson, Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens, Steve Coll, Raymond Ibrahim, Sol Stern:

Salman Rushdie: Pakistan’s Deadly Game

by Salman Rushdie

Are we really supposed to believe that Pakistan didn’t know Osama bin Laden was living there for five years? Salman Rushdie on why it’s time to declare the country a terrorist state.

Osama bin Laden died on Walpurgisnacht, the night of black sabbaths and bonfires. Not an inappropriate night for the Chief Witch to fall off his broomstick and perish in a fierce firefight. One of the most common status updates on Facebook after the news broke was “Ding, Dong, the witch is dead,” and that spirit of Munchkin celebration was apparent in the faces of the crowds chanting “U-S-A!” last night outside the White House and at ground zero and elsewhere. Almost a decade after the horror of 9/11, the long manhunt had found its quarry, and Americans will be feeling less helpless this morning, and pleased at the message that his death sends: “Attack us and we will hunt you down, and you will not escape.”

Mere HER i The Daily Beast. Kan også læses her i Business Insider.

Death of a Madman

What Obama does next will help define the legacy of Osama Bin Laden.

By Christopher Hitchens – May 2, 2011

There are several pleasant little towns like Abbottabad in Pakistan, strung out along the roads that lead toward the mountains from Rawalpindi (the garrison town of Pakistani’s military brass and, until 2003, a safe-house for Khalid Sheik Muhammed). Muzaffarabad, Abbottabad … cool in summer and winter, with majestic views and discreet amenities. The colonial British—like Maj. James Abbott, who gave his name to this one—called them “hill stations,” designed for the rest and recreation of commissioned officers. The charming idea, like the location itself, survives among the Pakistani officer corps. If you tell me that you are staying in a rather nice walled compound in Abbottabad, I can tell you in return that you are the honored guest of a military establishment that annually consumes several billion dollars of American aid. It’s the sheer blatancy of it that catches the breath.

Mere HER i Slate. Kan også læses her i The National Post.

Relentless

Understanding the symbolism of Osama bin Laden’s death in the history of American democracy.

May 2, 2011 | Paul Berman

Relentlessness is good. Relentlessness has a philosophical resonance, which everyone intuitively understands. The war between Al Qaeda and the United States has always rested on a dispute over the meaning of history. Al Qaeda has always believed that God wishes the resurrection of the ancient Islamic caliphate. And Al Qaeda has always regarded America, as the product of Christian civilization, as the ultimate obstacle to the resurrection of the caliphate. Al Qaeda’s militants have always believed that, as the representative of God’s will, they will ultimately win. Al Qaeda has therefore been engaged in a long-term and even eternal struggle—the kind of struggle that might lead earnest and idealistic people to agree to commit suicide on Al Qaeda’s behalf.

Mere HER i The New Republic. Og lidt fra den røde fløj:

The death of Bin Laden

Was he betrayed? Of course. Pakistan knew Bin Laden’s hiding place all along

By Robert Fisk – 3 May 2011

A middle-aged nonentity, a political failure outstripped by history – by the millions of Arabs demanding freedom and democracy in the Middle East – died in Pakistan yesterday. And then the world went mad.

Fresh from providing us with a copy of his birth certificate, the American President turned up in the middle of the night to provide us with a live-time death certificate for Osama bin Laden, killed in a town named after a major in the army of the old British Empire. A single shot to the head, we were told. But the body’s secret flight to Afghanistan, an equally secret burial at sea? The weird and creepy disposal of the body – no shrines, please – was almost as creepy as the man and his vicious organisation.

Mere HER i The Independent. Robert Fisk har yderligere to artikler om Bin Laden:

Robert Fisk: My deadliest moment with the world’s most dangerous men

19 March 1997. There was a sudden scratching of voices outside the tent, thin and urgent like the soundtrack of an old movie. Then the flap snapped up and Bin Laden walked in, dressed in a turban and green robes.

Mere i The Independent HER.

Robert Fisk: A close encounter with the man who shook the world

One hot evening in late June 1996, the telephone on my desk in Beirut rang with one of the more extraordinary messages I was to receive as a foreign correspondent. “Mr Robert, a friend you met in Sudan wants to see you,” said a voice in English but with an Arabic accent.

Mere HER i The Independent.

The Death of Bin Laden and the Pakistan Question

by Bernard-Henri Lévy

Bin Laden is dead.

In a sense, he was already dead.

And for a long while, no one believed any longer in the prospect he had outlined of a radical Islam that would take the place of communism and its world ambitions.

But he is, indeed, dead, and this time for good.

Mere HER i Huffington Post.

Osama Gets His Virgins

by Robert Spencer  – May 2, 2011

Osama bin Laden has gone to the great bordello in the sky that awaits every good jihadi.

Barack Obama explained that the jihadist mastermind was killed in a “targeted operation: at Abbottabad, Pakistan: “A small team of Americans carried out the operation. After a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body.”

Obama also said that the killing of bin Laden was the “most significant achievement to date” in America’s war against al-Qaeda.

Mere HER i Human Events.

Targeted Killing Vindicated

by Alan M. Dershowitz – May 2, 2011

The decision to target and kill Osama Bin Laden is being applauded by all decent people. Approval to capture or kill this mass-murdering terrorist leader was given by Presidents Obama and Bush. It was the right decision, both morally and legally.

Although Bin Laden wore no military uniform and held no official military rank, he was an appropriate military target. As the titular and spiritual head of Al Qaeda, he was the functional equivalent of a head of state or commander in chief of a terrorist army. From the beginning of recorded history, killing the king was the legitimate object of military action. The very phrase “check mate” means “the king is dead, “signifying the successful end of the battle.

Mere HER hos Hudson New York.  Kan også læses her i Huffington Post.

Why It Took Ten Years

by Nonie Darwish on May 2nd, 2011

America failed to locate Osama Bin Laden for almost 10 years not because it wasn’t trying hard to find him, or because American intelligence is incompetent. It took so long because the Godfather of Terror was surrounded by many Muslims who would rather protect him with their lives than give him up to America — and no amount of financial reward was going to convince them to give him up.

There is no doubt that many Muslim leaders knew exactly where Osama was hiding — and that it was not in the caves of Pakistan and Afghanistan, but in a huge mansion with very high fences that indicated to the whole neighborhood that someone big was hiding there. Nothing happens in a Muslim country without the knowledge of its intelligence and leadership. Also nothing goes unnoticed in a Muslim neighborhood where people habitually monitor activities on the streets and who comes in or goes out of homes.

Mere HER i FrontPageMagazine. Næsten identisk udgave hos Big Peace her.

Bin Laden — Ne Requiescat in Pace

May 2, 2011 – By Victor Davis Hanson 

The death of bin Laden is as welcome as it raises strange afterthoughts. First, what a relief that we are all united in joy at the news. Second, it is a relief that he was not captured by a foreign nation. And good too that we did not bring him back alive to repeat the KSM fiasco. It is also fortuitous that his demise came at the hands of U.S. soldiers in battle on the ground, rather than from the air via Predator drones — it reflects far better on the audacity and skill of our troops, and, far more importantly, allows us to bring his corpse back for positive I.D.

Mere HER i National Review Online. Kan også læses her i Free Republic.

Analysis: Al-Qaeda After Bin Laden

The loss of a figurehead as iconic as Osama bin Laden will come as a blow to al-Qaeda and its supporters, but is unlikely to fatally undermine the movement.

2nd May 2011 – Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens

Early responses on jihadist internet forums eulogise him as a figurehead and lament his loss, but insist that this will not diminish their determination to continue the jihadist cause.

Mere i Standpoint Magazine HER. Kan også læses her hos ICSR, King’s College London.

Notes on the Death of Osama bin Laden

May 2, 2011 by Steve Coll

No doubt there will be time to reflect more deeply about the news announced by President Obama last night. For now, I thought it might be useful to annotate some of the initial headlines.

On where he was found:

Abbottabad is essentially a military-cantonment city in Pakistan, in the hills to the north of the capital of Islamabad, in an area where much of the land is controlled or owned by the Pakistani Army and retired Army officers. Although the city is technically in what used to be called the Northwest Frontier Province, it lies on the far eastern side of the province and is as close to Pakistani-held Kashmir as it is to the border city of Peshawar. The city is most notable for housing the Pakistan Military Academy, the Pakistani Army’s premier training college, equivalent to West Point. [...]

Mere HER i The New Yorker. Kan også læses her hos the New America Foundation.

“The Struggle between Truth [Islam] and Falsehood [Non-Islam] Transcends Time”

by Raymond Ibrahim – May 3, 2011

Islamists — whether Bin Laden, Khomeini, Banna, Qutb, or Yassin— are not the cause of hostilities; they are symptoms of a much greater cause: what they call “The struggle between Truth [Islam] and Falsehood [non-Islam][that] transcends time.” Individually killing them off — which is nice — only temporarily treats the symptom; it does not eliminate the cause that motivates them. Ayman al-Zawahiri, now al-Qaeda’s presumed leader, once summarized this phenomenon well. Asked in an interview about the status of bin Laden and the Taliban’s Mullah Omar, he confidently replied:

“Jihad in the path of Allah is greater than any individual or organization. It is a struggle between Truth and Falsehood, until Allah Almighty inherits the earth and those who live in it. Mullah Muhammad Omar and Sheikh Osama bin Laden — may Allah protect them from all evil — are merely two soldiers of Islam in the journey of jihad, while the struggle between Truth [Islam] and Falsehood [non-Islam] transcends time (The Al Qaeda Reader, p.182).”

Mere HER hos Hudson New York. Kan også læses i en næsten identisk version i Middle East Forum her.

Solidarity, Then and Now

What Obama didn’t say

By Sol Stern – 2 May 2011

Like many other Americans, I’m sure, I found myself choking up during President Obama’s announcement that U.S. forces had killed Osama bin Laden in a firefight, and even more so at the scenes of spontaneous rejoicing at Ground Zero in Manhattan. The news unleashed a cascade of powerful 9/11 memories. My 14-year-old son had watched the second hijacked plane hit the South Tower from the windows of his classroom at Stuyvesant High School, just a few hundred yards from the carnage. [...]

Mere HER i City Journal.

Opdatering 5. maj 2011 – Diana West har illustreret sin artikel med Kurt Westergaards berømte tegning:

Dead Bin Laden: The Ultimate Danish Cartoon

Posted by Diana West May 4th 2011

I’ve had a sneaking suspicion that the Obama White House would ultimately nix the release of Dead Bin Laden, and here it comes, the prepatory rumblings: Gates and Hillary, ABC’s Jake Tapper reports (via Drudge) are arguing against release. This tagteam pushback, Tapper writes with soothing gentility, is due to “concerns at the Pentagon and State Department that releasing a photograph could prompt a backlash against the US for killing bin Laden where one does not seem to currently exist.”

Mere HER i Big Peace. Kan også læses her på Diana Wests blog.

Andre kilder: The Daily Mail, The Daily Mail, The Daily Mail,

Kina angriber Salman Rushdie

China hits back at Salman Rushdie

China has hit back at the novelist Salman Rushdie after he argued that China had become “the world’s biggest threat to freedom of speech” in an article published earlier this month in The Daily Telegraph.

By Peter Foster – 29 Apr 2011

In an open letter titled “Human Rights lecture not needed”, China’s embassy in London attacked Mr Rushdie’s call for the release of Ai Weiwei, the Chinese artist behind the Tate Modern’s Sunflower Seeds, who has been detained since April 3.

“This is a blatant interference in China’s judicial independence and violates the country’s judicial sovereignty. This cannot and should not be accepted by any sovereign country,” said the letter published in China Daily, the Chinese government’s English-language mouthpiece.

Mere HER i The Telegraph. Salman Rushdies artikel kan ses her:

• China must set Ai Weiwei free

Andre kilder: China Daily USA, Human Rights in China, Human Rights in China, The Australian,

Salman Rushdie om kunst og Kina

Og om forfølgelsen af Ai Weiwei:

Dangerous Arts

By Salman Rushdie – April 19, 2011

The great Turbine Hall at London’s Tate Modern, a former power station, is a notoriously difficult space for an artist to fill with authority. Its immensity can dwarf the imaginations of all but a select tribe of modern artists who understand the mysteries of scale, of how to say something interesting when you also have to say something really big. Louise Bourgeois’s giant spider once stood menacingly in this hall; Anish Kapoor’s “Marsyas,” a huge, hollow trumpet-like shape made of a stretched substance that hinted at flayed skin, triumphed over it majestically.

Mere HER i The New York Times. Kan også læses i The Telegraph.

Andre kilder: The Guardian, The Telegraph,

Video: Salman Rushdie hos C-Span

Denne video er fra C-SPAN | BookTV den 5. december 2010 og man skal ind til C-Span for at se den:

In Depth with Salman Rushdie

Salman Rushdie talked about his life, career, and work. The Indian-born author knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 2007 is perhaps best known for his novel The Satanic Verses. He discussed his less publicized non-fiction works, including The Jaguar Smile, his first-hand account of the government of Nicaragua after its civil war, and Imaginary Homelands, a book of critical political essays and reviews. He responded to telephone calls and electronic communications. Salman Rushdie is author of four non-fiction works: The Jaguar Smile: A Nicaraguan Journey (1987), Imaginary Homelands: Essays and Criticism, 1981–1991 (1992), The Wizard of Oz (1992), and Step Across This Line: Collected Nonfiction 1992 – 2002 (2002). He is also author of a collection of short stories, titled East, West (1994) and eleven novels, including: Grimus (1975), Midnight’s Children (1981), The Satanic Verses (1988), Haroun and the Sea of Stories (1990), The Moor’s Last Sigh (1995), and Luka and the Fire of Life (2010).

Man skal  ind til C-Span for at se video – klik HER. Varighed 3 timer og 4 minutter.

Video & audio: Salman Rushdie om muhammedkrisen

Jeg skal lige dyrke mit Rushdie-flip nu igen. Det første interview herunder handler bla. om muhammedkrisen. Fra TVO – The Agenda med Steve Paikin den 29. november 2010:

Salman Rushdie: On Storytelling

A feature interview with author Salman Rushdie. Literature plays an important role in providing insight into society. What can authors like Rushdie do to mend some of the divisions within Islam, and help non-Muslims better understand the faith?

Og en audio fra Free Library of Philadelphia den 23. november 2010. Undervejs læser Rushdie en masse højt fra den nye bog. Audioen minder meget om de videoer, jeg postede i går:

Salman Rushdie | Luka and the Fire of Life: A Novel

Salman Rushdie’s acclaimed novels are known for their witty examinations of an ever-changing sociopolitical landscape. He is the author of 10 books, including Midnight’s Children–winner of the Booker Prize in 1981 and the “Booker of Bookers” Prize in 1993, Shalimar the Clown, The Satanic Verses, and The Enchantress of Florence, which was named one of the Best Books of 2008 by the Washington Post. Luka and the Fire of Life, Rushdie’s fantastical new novel, chronicles the journey of 12-year-old Luka as he navigates a world of magic in order to rescue his father from a deep and potentially permanent sleep. Meelya Gordon Memorial Lecture

Åbner Windows Media Player HER. Varighed 1 time.

Video & audio: Interview med Salman Rushdie

Der er næsten ingen islamkritik her. Vi hører i stedet om Rushdies forfatterskab, anden litteratur, film. Desuden ganske lidt om Indien, England, 9-11 og mere. Dog kommer Salman Rushdie kortvarigt ind på “revolutionerne” i Mellemøsten, som han ser på med optimisme. Uploadet på YouTube den 2. marts 2011:

Salman Rushdie Creativity Conversation

Novelist Salman Rushdie and Rosemary Magee, Vice President and Secretary of Emory University, engage in a Creativity Conversation that focuses on memory, memoirs, nonfiction, history and politics in the Middle East — and everything in between — including Jerry Springer (Feb. 27, 2011).

As a Distinguished Writer-in-Residence at Emory, Rushdie presents public lectures, teaches, leads graduate seminars and engages with the academic community on campus.

For more information see Emory’s Creativity Conversations.

Fra WGBH den 30. november 2010 – varighed 19 minuter. Også her handler det primært om Rushdies forfatterskab, men vi hører dog noget om perioden omkring “De sataniske vers” og Ground Zero moskeen:

The Emily Rooney Show – Salman Rushdie

Salman Rushdie: In 1981, Salman Rushdie’s second book, Midnight’s Children, set the literary world ablaze, earning him international acclaim and the Booker Prize. But it was his 1988 novel Satanic Versus—and the controversy surrounding it’s publication—that made Rushdie a household name. Many in the Islamic world saw the book as an irreverent depiction of the prophet Muhammad. The government of Iran called for Rushdie’s death and he lived in hiding for years afterward. But he continued to write, and he eventually followed-up his notorious novel with a children’s book— Haroun and the Sea of Stories—which he wrote for his son Zafar. Now—some two decades later—he has penned a sequel to that magical adventure, Luka and the Fire of Life. This one is written for his second son, Milan. We talk with the celebrated author.

Desuden et foredrag af Salman Rushdie fra WGBH ligeledes om Rusdies forfatterskab. Her læser Rushdie højt fra sin nyeste bog, Luka and the Fire of Life. Varer en time og 12 minutter – udateret:

Rushdie On Telling Tales Of Adventure

One of the great storytellers of our time, Salman Rushdie, talks about his new book, Luka and the Fire of Life. This novel is a follow up to his modern classic, Haroun and the Sea of Stories. The new novel centers on Luka, Haroun’s younger brother, who must save his father from certain doom.

Der er endnu et interview på video herunder også fra WGBH. Varighed 10 minutter:

Nov. 29, 2010: Salman Rushdie’s Luka and the Fire of Life

Controversial novelist Salman Rushdie spent years in hiding after his novel, The Satanic Verses enraged Muslims. He joins Emily to discuss his new video game-themed novel, Luka and the Fire of Life.

Andre kilder: Indian Express,  ArtsCriticATL, Emory Report,

Audio: Salman Rushdie læser fra “Luka and the Fire of Life”

Fra KQED Radio januar 2011:

Luka and the Fire of Life

Salman Rushdie, literary icon and author of The Satanic Verses and Midnight’s Children, reads a passage from his latest novel, Luka and the Fire of Life.

Der er mere i artiklen her.

Åbner Windows Media Player HER. Varighed 16½ minut.

Desuden et interview med Salman Rushdie:

The Performer: Award-winning author Salman Rushdie

The award-winning writer on fame, infamy, measuring success and managing risk.

By Conan Tobias

Salman Rushdie knows a thing or two about risk. The British–Indian author’s 1988 novel, The Satanic Verses, earned him the wrath of Muslims around the world, including Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini, who issued a fatwa against him for what he considered the book’s unfavourable depiction of Muhammad. Risk remains a key element in Rushdie’s writing, notably in his latest book, Luka and the Fire of Life. He currently is adapting his novel Midnight’s Children with Indian–Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta, and planning his memoirs. He spoke with Canadian Business managing editor Conan Tobias.

Mere HER i Canadian Business.