Texans in Afghanistan

Having seen the Coen brothers' No Country for Old Men (not a bad effort, but definitely overrated) recently, Charlie Wilson's War is the second film I've seen this year in which the main characters are Texans. Quite appropriate realy as a ral life Texan in a position of power will be out of a job soon!

Set in the 1980s during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, Tom Hanks is the title role, a Texan congressman with a taste for whisky, women and cocaine, the unlikely hero (or antihero perhaps?) whose successful lobbying and diplomacy helps arm the Mujahadin and force the withdrawal of the Soviet military their country.

What ensues is a tangled web of unlikely allies with the Americans, Israelis, Saudis, Egyptians and Pakistanis collaborating to fund a covert war against the Soviets in Afghanistan. Wilson forging an alliance with the then Pakistani president General Zia is one of the more revealing aspects of the story.

There's a strong supporting cast with Julia Roberts as Wilson's part time mistress, a Texan millionaire with sympathies towards the Afghan cause and Philip Seymour Hoffman a CIA operative specialising in Afghanistan.
The arid mountainous landscapes of Morocco successfully resemble Afghanistan, as was the case in a Timothy Dalton James Bond. (Yes, I'm one of those obsessive anoraks who stay behind to read the end credits).

There is effective use of CGI effects in portraying explosions intermingled with actual archive footage from the time of the Soviet occupation. The "bad guys" are clearly the Russians. Scenes of Russian helicopters massacring Afghan civilians by bombing entire towns helps enforce this perception. What the Soviets did in Afghanistan cannot be condoned of course, but the film ignores the fact that the US militaty was doing similar things in Vietnam and Nicaragua. However, one wonders if there is an element of political satire here.

The topicality of the film is omnipresent in that it alludes subtly to the events of present day Afghanistan, not to mention Iraq. It is heavily hinted at towards the finish that the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan is far from the end of trouble in the region. Like a vicious circle the Americans arm the Afghans to fight and defeat the Russians, a scenario which eventually leads to the Taliban coming to power, the events of September 11 2001 and the ongoing "war on terror".

A Different Ball Game: The GAA up North

I've written an article on the social and political issues facing the GAA in Northern Ireland for the GAA website "An Fear Rua". It comes in two parts:

A Different Ball Game: Part I

A Different Ball Game: Part II

Schwarznegger and The Simpsons: California Dreamin'?

Quote of the Day:
"Arnold Schwarzenegger is the governor of California. Sometimes I still wake up believing that this only happened in an episode of The Simpsons."

Tim Dowling, The Guardian

A High Ahern-er - Bertie’s even bigger bulging brown envelope

Would you buy a used car off any of these men?





As I’ve remarked before, coverage of Irish (Republic of at least) politics is virtually non-existent in the UK press unless some major scandal or other momentous event has occurred. Yesterday’s Guardian in its pull-out tabloid section has a short article by the distinguished journalist Henry McDonald on “An Taoiseach” Bertie Ahern and his recent pay rise.
Apparently Bertie’s salary increase of 14.6% to £217,000 has made him the “highest paid leader of the world’s richest nations”. As if he hadn’t already accumulated enough in backhanders…allegedly that is.

Crap joke alert: As speculation continues on the possibility of a merger between Fianna Fáil and the SDLP, one important question remains. If FF do merge with the SDLP and set up their northern HQ in Derry will they call themselves Fianna Foyle?
Yes, you’ve guessed it – cue deathly, eerie silence punctuated by the swooshing of tumbleweeds in the wind and the distant clanging of a funeral bell…the day job is still intact.

The Trans-Iberian Express stops yet again in London/Quote of the day
“English football has been struggling to fill the wiry southern European pin-up shaped-hole where football meets the celebrity mainstream, since the departure of Jose Mourinho.
Where Mourinho turned up resembling a recently retired menswear model turned Mafioso power-broker, Ramos looks more like a really tough chip-shop owner. Or, on a bad day, Pat Butcher after an experiment with Grecian 2000.”

Barney Ronay in The Guardian on Tottenham’s new manager Juande Ramos.

Storm-ont in a Teacup

"Hello darkness, my old friend..." Art Garfunkel: Deputy First Minister in the new Northern Ireland Assembly

It seems appropriate (or inappropriate as the case may be) that I should return to blogging on a yet another supposedly "historic" day for Northern Ireland (suppressed yawn). You may accuse me of being cynical, but haven't we heard it all before? To be fair though, I never thought I'd see messrs Paisley & McGuinness Inc sitting down to negotiate a deal. It certainly looks like the Doc has mellowed in his old age.
Tony, in the final phase of his reign of course seized the opportunity, grinning like a Cheshire cat throughout, desperate to be remembered for bringing peace to one jurisdiction rather than aiding an abetting an illegal and pointless invasion of another resulting in prolonged sectarian bloodshed, religious fundamentalism and a future of instability. What goes around comes around.

The media trotted out the usual clichés "Northern Ireland can finally look forward to a peaceful and prsoperous future on a day which no-one could have dreamed of 10 years ago, etc, etc..." And didn't the whole thing look so stage-managed? The musical accompaniment, the banter, the pomp and ceremony, Bertie (in a perfect photo op before the Irish elections - just where did all those brown envelopes go?), Tony and Marty with self-congratulatory handshakes all round, Ian Snr cracking up at his own jokes, Ian Jnr basking in the glory.

Although neither Sinn Féin or the DUP are my party of choice, I welcome any initiative that can potentially improve the quality of life for the people of Northern Ireland, but the cynic in me wonders just how long the latest power-sharing deal can last.