As an addendum to Iran and the rockets, here‘s celebrated lefty Noam Chomsky on the US and Iran.

Chomsky is by no means an easy speaker to follow[1] but he’s an excellent analyst of the politics of power.

Noam Chomsky – from a profile by The Observer

If you look back over the record — and North Korea is a horrible place nobody is arguing about that — on this issue they’ve been pretty rational. It’s been a kind of tit-for-tat history. If the United States is accommodating, the North Koreans become accommodating. If the United States is hostile, they become hostile. [...] that’s been the general picture and we’re now at a place where there could be a settlement on North Korea.


That’s much less significant for the United States than Iran.

Which brings up the issue of the strategic role of energy resources in the Middle East.

The Iranian issue I don’t think has much to do with nuclear weapons frankly. Nobody is saying Iran should have nuclear weapons — nor should anybody else. But the point in the Middle East, as distinct from North Korea, is that this is center of the world’s energy resources.[...]

So Iran is a different situation. It’s part of the major energy system of the world.

Here’s the important part

There are several issues in the case of Iran. One is simply that it is independent and independence is not tolerated.

International affairs is very much run like the mafia. The godfather does not accept disobedience, even from a small storekeeper who doesn’t pay his protection money. You have to have obedience otherwise the idea can spread that you don’t have to listen to the orders and it can spread to important places.

[I]t’s not only that it has substantial resources and that it’s part of the world’s major energy system but it also defied the United States. The United States, as we know, overthrew the parliamentary government, installed a brutal tyrant, was helping him develop nuclear power, in fact the very same programs that are now considered a threat were being sponsored by the U.S. government, by Cheney, Wolfowitz, Kissinger, and others, in the 1970s, as long as the Shah was in power.

But then the Iranians overthrew him, and they kept U.S. hostages for several hundred days.

And the United States immediately turned to supporting Saddam Hussein and his war against Iran as a way of punishing Iran. The United States is going to continue to punish Iran because of its defiance.

[...]And it is setting up confrontations right now, very explicitly. Part of the reason is strategic, geo-political, economic, but part of the reason is the mafia complex. They have to be punished for disobeying us.

 .

[1] Which is kind of bizarre[i] for the foremost linguist in the world today.

[i] I also have a CD of one of his lectures – rrrrrrr… very long sentences

Iran have launched a space rocket.

And in doing so they have become, in my opinion at least, the most credible antagonist to US foot-stompery since ???[1].

Iran – centerpiece to Middle Eastern stability

Unlike Kim Jong Il, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad seems to understand (i) the reality of geopolitical power and (ii) how to use this power to promote Iran’s cause in the Middle East. And through the judicious use of scientifically legitimate (i.e. non-military) tests he has managed to ruffle the feathers of those clout-spent hawks in Washington while carefully retaining the moral highground on external interference in his country.

Well done to him – a very astute play on the politics of lines in the sand.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

And what about his cause for flexing his well-behaved muscle like this?
As I see it, it is relatively simple; as the only Shi’a dominated Islamic state he must, at all costs, not allow the invasion of Iraq to marginalise Shi’a muslims even more.
He is, both geographically and socially, in a unique position to prevent the Middle East from being overrun by the US and their Sunni trade partners.

I’m not saying that his motivations are without a personal agenda (influence in Iraq) or ambition for his nation-state[2], but Iran (and I know that this sounds weird) is the best-placed Islamic state to maintain a sensible balance of power in the region.

Iranian rocket launch

Another Iranian rocket launch

Which brings me to my point; how little I actually know about Muslim history and politics.
As anyone who scans on-line news headlines knows the Muslim world is divided into two dominant camps; Sunni and Shia.
But what I didn’t realise is how overwhelming the Sunni majority is.
Shi’a muslims account for around 8-15%[3] of all muslims – Sunni for just about all of the remaining 85%. There are also other marginal groups such as the Ibadi.

The odds are seriously stacked in favour of the Sunni.

Have a look at the below map (courtesty of the CIA, via Wikipedia).

Distribution of muslim groups

Given this headcount reality Iran have a very important part to play(along with, especially, Israel) in retaining a balanced diversity of power in this region.
Rock on, keep your head, stand your ground – claim your Gravity’s Rainbow.

[1] I’ll still think of one
[2] let’s not be naive here
[3] depending on who you believe

I turn thirty tomorrow, and it has somehow crept up on me more than what I thought it would.

To tell the truth, by now I am totally over being thirty – though I still insist on talking/writing about it as though it were something that I’m not ready for.
But the fact is that it is not likely to change my perception of myself or of the world much.

I find that on ‘big’ birthdays I tend to spend more time looking back than forward. The last ‘big’ birthday I had was turning 20.
This is before Anita and I were a couple, during a very important time for me – my first year at UP (second year out of school).
It was the year I joined Radio Tuks, met Anita and made a few lifelong friends and enemies.

Looking through some albums in the study at home I found these photos of myself (with university types) from the spring (September/August) of 1997 – early twenties.

early twenties

I have a vivid memory of writing some sort of note to myself on my 20th birthday about how an entire decade had past (teens) and how little I had changed.
In hindsight that probably wasn’t true, but today I feel like writing that same note to myself again. So here it is.

A decade has passed and so little has changed.

I see myself and I don’t – that has stayed the same.

This entry assumes that you know your AC/DC – spend some time on Allmusic or Wikipedia if you have to.

I was surprised when quite a few people commented on[1] my selection of Hells Bells for the xmas 06 compilation. Here’s the offending snippet:

This compilation opens with what is, in my opinion, their greatest achievement – Hells Bells.
me, on AC/DC

The protests went along one of two lines; either ‘What about Thunderstruck?’ or ‘There can never be anyone like Bon Scott and choosing a song by Brian Johnson is just not AC/DC’.

Without wanting to offend anyone I’m not going to spend any time on the first line, Thunderstruck – great song, great video – not life changing.

The second line carries a lot more weight – Bon Scott.
Depending on how you count their releases, the first six[2] AC/DC albums belonged to Bon Scott. He owned them.
And in a band with a napoleonite personality such as Angus Young that says something of Scott’s charisma.

1974 line-up: Malcolm Young, Bon Scott, Angus Young, Mark Evans and Phil Rudd.

Those first six albums defines AC/DC completely.
I’ve read several opinions that it’s not worth owning any albums other than those – I tend to agree, in audio form at least. But then the only discography items that I own in their entirety[3] are Let There Be Rock, AC/DC Live ’91, Stiff Upper Lip Live DVD and the Family Jewels DVD (on which more later).
And while the band have done some great things since then[4], the fact is that those first albums (and by extension Scott himself) are a complete realisation of what AC/DC was and is about – Rock ‘n Roll.

Bon Scott in full flight

Bon Scott had tattoos and got into fist fights in bars; he got drunk, had a lot of sex and died choking on his own vomit in the back of a car in London on February 20, 1980.
Here’s Bon:

I said up, they said down
They said straight, I said round
They said lost, I said found
I said free and they said bound
Bad boy boogie
Bad Boy Boogie

Idlin’ down the highway
Goin’ to a show
Stop in all the by-ways
Playin’ rock ‘n’ roll
Gettin’ robbed
Gettin’ stoned
Gettin’ beat up
Broken boned
Gettin’ had
Gettin’ took
I tell you folks
It’s harder than it looks
It’s a long way to the top
If you wanna rock ‘n’ roll
It’s a long way to the top (If you wanna rock ‘n’ roll)

Going down, party time
My friends are gonna be there too
I’m on the highway to hell
No stop signs, speed limit
Nobody’s gonna slow me down
Highway to Hell

Let There Be Rock

So how does Back in Black and Hells Bells fit into all of this?

In my opinion Back in Black is not their best album (that’ll be Let There Be Rock).
Nor does it include the best guitar work (that’ll be Bad Boy Boogie, from Let There Be Rock).
It also doesn’t include the best vocal performance (High Voltage from High Voltage).
Best album cover? Let there be Rock – no doubt.

That doesn’t leave much does it?

Back in Black

Here’s the deal.
My first experience of Back in Black was from the three videos included on the Family Jewels DVD – Hells Bells, Back in Black and Rock And Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution.
Three great songs all filmed in muted colours, performed on the same empty stage by the band and their new satan-bad frontman, Brian Johnson.
The camera drops in to the sound of the tolling bell as Angus Young picks the opening riff.
Malcolm Young plays a big white acoustic-electric guitar.
Angus wears a black cap with a skull on it.

Hells Bells

And that’s it – right there.
Those first few seconds are the only time(ever) that we see AC/DC in mourning.

Bons Scott may not be there, but Hells Bells is about and for him.
Brian Johnson may have written the lyrics and delivers a rocking, screaming performance, but it still is Bon Scott’s song.

In my opinion it is their greatest achievement – transcending the death of the founder member who was(and is) the soul of a rockin’ band.

[1] protested at
[2] by my count: High Voltage, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, Let There Be Rock, Powerage, If You Want Blood…You’ve Got It and Highway to Hell.
[3] let’s agree not to count individual MP3′s
[4] Back in Black is the second best selling album of all time – 42 million copies – no shit

It’s exciting times at Mshana (Anita’s new magazine venture) as their first edition hits the streets in less than a week!
After more than two years of conceptualising and work it’s full-on in print and ready to go!

I’m jealous.
While I do love what I do[1] I often feel that it would be nice to hold something other than a printout of a PDF in my hands.

The marketing push behind the magazines includes a great angle on the commuter population – taxi adverts!
They’ve branded 27 vehicles that serve the Gauteng region from Germiston to Midrand and Alexandra.
You get to choose the vehicles yourself so that you don’t end up paying for adverts on rolling deathtraps.

[1] Not that it’s perfect or does not exact a toll.