A Rambling Train Of Thought That Touches On Big Issues

[poliphilo]

I don't get handbags.

I mean they're obviously very useful things but I don't get why they've become such fetish objects.

craftyailz was in Wilmslow yesterday. She came back with horror stories about how there were handbags in the shops  with price tags of £800- and counting.

I've seen these designer handbags. They look like handbags. I don't think I've ever seen a handbag I've considered beautiful. 

I mean, it's just a bag.

Ailz doesn't think anyone should pay that sort of money for such a frivolous object. Not in a world where people are struggling to feed their children. I agree. 

Wilmslow, of course, is in WAG country. Lots of premiership footballers have houses round there. Omid Djalili was saying on Have I Got News For You last night that it shouldn't be Wives And Girlfriends because you can't really be both at once.  It should be Wives Or Girlfriends.

It took a moment for us all to get the joke....

Omid Djalili is new to me, but it seems he has a show of his own in the pipeline. I'm looking forward to it.

He's a British Iranian. Big and bald and beautiful. Two of the most amazing people I ever knew were British Iranians. 

Michael Hashemian and Sherry....? No I forget the second name. Sherry was short for Sheherezade.

There are several Michael Hashemians out there. One of them is a dentist in Florida. I don't think that's my guy but who knows? He was 19 when I knew him. A Greek God-  with brains to match his beauty.

As for Sherry- well, I remember discussing Baudelaire with her. I was a terrible prig and saving myself for marriage and she was already spoken for, but it didn't stop me fancying her like crazy. 

I am dreading the moment when Bush attacks Iran. If Brown backs him up I shall feel as if my country is no longer my country .

Comments

Friend?

[pop-o-pie.livejournal.com]

I surfed into your journal from fickleasever's and am enchanted with the way you write. I hope this is okay...

I cannot express how much I think and feel that the Bush administration has erred by not inviting Iran to talk without imposing sanctions. While I do not personally condone many of his views, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is likely a genius and could be an invaluable contributor for negotiating peace in the Middle East. Iran is poised to become a major world power because of it's oil reserves and economic resources and cannot be ignored or shunned. The US cannot afford another war. Period. I live int he states and more and more do not feel it is my country. I'm reminded of some amusing graffiti from the Haight Ashbury when I lived there in the 1980's: "US OUT OF NORTH AMERICA".

Handbags are useful if you live in an urban environment and travel on public transportation just as cellphones are useful for business and in emergency situations. Along with your apparel and choice of automobile, they tell people who you are and what your status is. It is sort of darkly funny.

Re: Friend?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Hey, pleased to meet you.

The US wants to control the (oil fields of the) Middle East and the independence of Iran is a constant source of irritation. The Iranian goverment is disgusting but no more disgusting than many governments allied to the US.

Iran is a volatile post-revolutionary society. Given time, the Iranian people will themselves sort out and liberalise their government.

Pleased to meet you as well...

[pop-o-pie.livejournal.com]

quick random thoughts...

I have a Saudi acquaintance who tells me that there is no possible way that a person from the West could ever understand Arab society or what their religion means and how it affects government (and I believe him)...

There is no holding back technology once it is in the world, and with or without anyone else's support, Iran and North Korea can build nuclear weaponry and will if they choose to.

It seems only 'right' that Iran should be able to control its own resources without interference, as any country should. It irks me that for three years their president has been inviting Bush to the table and that the 'administration' reacts as if he is insane and some sort of terror threat.

I understand the economics somewhat, and the ideology (if you can call it that), but the arrogance of US policy makers just floors me. I guess I am just too naive.

Re: Pleased to meet you as well...

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I refuse to believe that a Westerner is unable to understand Arab culture. That's a council of despair. And there have been plenty of Western "Arabists" who have been honoured in Middle Eastern societies. What I readily accept is that our current leaders have made little or no attempt to understand how a society like Iraq works.

Bush seems set on a war with Iran, just as he was set on a war with Iraq. It's about oil and empire.

Re: The Empire

[pop-o-pie.livejournal.com]

War seems inevitable (I think I'm still in the denial stage).

There isn't a worse possible time to strike Iran. The dollar has never been weaker on the world market. The US doesn't have the resources to continue in Iraq and Afghanistan. The American people do not want another war. It's crazy that the US is so hard up for support that Condi Rice is trying to get Russia to back us. However, that isn't even the point. Iran isn't a threat to us. If we sat down with them, maybe we could buy some oil cheap.

Re: The Empire

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It's like watching a runaway train. No-one really wants this war- except for the tight circle of discredited neocons round Bush- and yet there doesn't seem to be anyway of stopping it

Re: The Empire

[pop-o-pie.livejournal.com]

I'm suspecting you might enjoy this from Laurie Anderson: