The Strong Horse

Does anyone want to bet against the Muslim Brotherhood taking power in Egypt, should Mubarak be toppled? History shows that in times of revolution, the most committed and focused cause wins. The Bolsheviks swept aside Kerensky in 1917, as sixty-some years later in Iran, Khomeini pushed aside the liberals and Leftists who’d been his allies. Today, radical Islam is on the march in many countries. The radicals know what they want and they’re willing to fight for it.  They sense weakness on all sides. They’re emboldened. They believe that this is their time. Let’s be clear-eyed enough to see that.

Another Iran?

EVENTS in Egypt, the protests of millions in the streets, resembles the Iranian Revolution circa 1979-80. The U.S. administration blew things then. The question is whether the same thing will happen again.

Value

As the value of the currency declines, so does the culture. It’s an inevitable law of nature. As inflation skyrocketed in the 1970’s, the values of society went by the board. Standards of art vanished. Literature became overinflated postmodern monstrosities, a mountain of words, which had no meaning, little coherence, little value.

With film one can look at the decline of production values, cheaply masked by computer gimmickry. Fifty years have revealed a slow decline even in this still-potent art.