Years of Poems and Spirits

States exist first and foremost for domestic purposes, its significance in the international order is only an afterthought.

However, in the American main stream, this obvious point is hopelessly lost even as the cynics easily dismiss some of the outrageous U.S. policies as “for domestic consumption only”. Whenever there is a change in power in a 3rd world country, the overwhelming focus is on the new government’s role in the international domain first, raison d’etat becomes a term in diplomatic circles only (so much so that Huntington has to use “reason of the state” in English in his Political Orders book). It is original meaning–the justification of state sovereignty vis-a-vis domestic challengers–is useful only when it is used to explain why the new government is such or not on the international stage. That is just %$#@! nuts.

Occasionally, one reads similar reports in the media about other developed nations. For example, the last Spanish election after the terrorist bombing in Madrid was read carefully for its implication on the Coalition of the Willing. But mostly, the Europeans, and to a lesser degree, the Chinese and the Russians, are left along to be who they are. But whenever the coverage reaches the wild 3rd world countries, they are all treated like the Banana Republics: their existence or life cycle is only meaningful when filtered through American interests. Afgahnistan was significant only when it was fighting the Soviets. Its domestic affairs was never a concern, so much so as if they never existed or was not important to why the state (whatever it was at any given time) existed.

It is not my business to rant but I see the same thing happening again and again. Not only the policy makers (most of them are Poli. Sci. PhDs, mind you) behaves as such, the media goes along as if it is true.

Here is how I would read the following article, “New Militant Leader Emerges in Mogadishu”:

“The sheik, Hassan Dahir Aweys, was appointed the leader of the Council of the Islamic Courts, … Previously, the public face of the Islamists had been Sharif Ahmed, a more moderate sheik who had spoken of his desire to work with the West.”
–That is supposedly a bad thing? What if the Sharif is an inept power consolidator? What if Dahir appeals best to Somalis? With the latter, at least, you won’t have a failed state–the best gift to the Somalis and 2nd best option the West can hope for. When his peers chose Dahir the leader, I bet the U.S. interest was the last thing on their mind.

“Mr. Aweys has repeatedly declared that an Islamic state is the only answer for Somalia, which has effectively been in anarchy since its last government fell in 1991.”

“Usually reclusive, Mr. Aweys has spoken to reporters in recent months, … accusing the West of being too quick to label Islamist leaders throughout the Muslim world extremists. ”

–In the original article, the above two paragraphs appeared in reversed order. That is where the reporter got the whole business wrong!

Peter Z. Grossman: Douglass North: Why Some Nations Can Sustain Growth
“History demonstrates that ideas, ideologies, myths, dogmas and prejudices matter.”
Culture influences society, state and economy

Greif, Avner, Cultural Beliefs and the Organization of Society: A Historical and Theoretical Reflection on Collectivist and Individualist Societies

Watched the movie Initial D in Seattle Intl. Film Festival (thanks to Steve and Kari). Here are some facts and thoughts:
Movie is based on a comic series of the same name by Shuichi Shigeno .
Although the production company and the crew are mostly from Hong Kong, the story is supposedly to take place in Japan (that is where it got me confused for a while, since all the “Japanese” guys speak Cantonese in the movie).

How to read the movie? Basically, it is about a teenager who really excels at one particular trade but is otherwise socially awkward and lacks confidence. He submits to authority easily, fancies the prettiest girl in school but has to wait for her to take the initiative (and believes such a thing could actually happen: aka beta-male syndrome). There are non-subtle hints of voyeurism, under-age sex, and other kinds perversion (e.g. incestual) that strongly suggest male domination. If I shall indulge myself with stereotypes, it is as Japanese as the Superman story is American (superhuman strength and constantly on the look for evil to justify the use of violence).

To Westerners still, there are other connotations that are not easily discerned:
1. The belief in repetition and perseverance. Such a belief is highly valued in East Asian culture. The story is about a delivery guy who achieved world-class success by driving through the same route over and over for many years without even thinking about it. And his performance improves linearly with time–no diminishing returns allowed.
2. The belief in sudden enlightenment. S.E. is an essential part of the Zen Buddhism. There is a metaphore for it, “the head-smashing moment” (当头棒喝. Another interesting story of the origin of Zen here）The story goes, the essence of Zen is so simple yet the world is so complicated that it is impossible for one to link the two through reasoning. If one tries too hard, he needs to be “smashed on the head” in order to achieve enlightenment (use pattern-recognition, you moron!) In the movie, the father-teacher took his son-pupil for a spin and told him, “watch closely for I will only do it once”, and Bang! His son got it.
3. The movie itself employs many features in Hong Kong Kong Fu genre: such as the “forzen movement” technique where everthing freezes except the main character, who flickers just enough to get himself out of trouble. The technique is also widely used in the Matrix and the Mission Impossible series. I don’t know how strictly the screen play follows the original comic stories. But the plot of a wasted old hero, who is struggling on the margin yet still has enough wisdom to tutor a upstar youngster, sounds awefully like a Kung Fu novel.

Deconstruction complete.