Spinning for the Taliban
Carlotta Gall (see final para here) of the NY Times starts her story today thus:
And then there's the "the" before "world's"; I don't see any Chinese, Russian, Indian, Taiwanese, Japanese, Korean (either side), or Israeli army involvement.
KABUL, Afghanistan — Six years after being driven from power, the Taliban are demonstrating a resilience and a ferocity that are raising alarm here, in Washington and in other NATO capitals, and engendering a fresh round of soul-searching over how a relatively ragtag insurgency has managed to keep the world’s most powerful armies at bay...Who knew that these armies actually fighting the Taliban--Canadian, Dutch, Australian (more on both Dutch and Aussies here), Polish and Danish (more on Danes here)--were amongst the "most powerful" in the world? While some really powerful armies--at least on paper--are doing almost nothing active for the Taliban to keep at bay: the German, the French, and the Italian.
And then there's the "the" before "world's"; I don't see any Chinese, Russian, Indian, Taiwanese, Japanese, Korean (either side), or Israeli army involvement.
"A certain reporter, Carlotta Gall,At the same time, from Graeme Smith of the Globe and Mail:
Portrays the Talib: ten feet tall."
...The turbulent period has convinced many analysts that the war is going badly, as insurgent attacks increase, aid workers pull out of dangerous regions and Taliban fighters roam freely over growing swaths of the countryside...What's a reader to infer? Keats lives?
posted by Mark, Ottawa at 3:35 p.m.
2 Comments:
Mark, I wouldn't compliment these "journalists" by a Keats comparison. However, I'll borrow a Shakespeare quote, "Vanity, thy name is Woman" and change it to "Vanity, thy name is MSM "journalist". (Apologies to the Bard! :-)
(Interesting to note, eh, that most people, in any field, who are entitled-so to speak-to be vain or egotistical, are not. I've known a good number of vain people in my life. I've also known a very few true geniuses. None of those geniuses were vain. None of the vain were geniuses.)
Dave: Actually "...roam freely over growing swaths of the countryside..." just brought English romantic poetry to mind. From the poem:
"...Drows'ed with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours..."
Scratch the cyder-press.
Mark
Ottawa
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