Against the wall
Pakistani rupees
C.J. Chivers is one of the better war correspondents the NY Times has. Not that I would like to pretend to be an expert on this matter.
Today Chivers had once again an excellent article in the newspaper on Afghanistan: “At the next compound, which contained a house surrounded by a withered vineyard, a woman approached the paratroopers after the Afghan police walked through. She said that after the Afghan officers had left she found that she was missing 500 Pakistani rupees, worth about $8, from the box where she kept her money.
News of her accusation spread through the patrol; Afghan Army soldiers appeared disgusted. One chambered a round in his Kalashnikov rifle and strutted menacingly toward the police officers; another leveled his rocket-propelled grenade launcher at them.
Lieutenant Childers intervened, and herded the police officers back inside the compound. They stood against the wall.”
Earlier this year C.J. Chivers was embedded with Dutch troops in Afghanistan.
For anyone really interested what’s going on there, his articles are indispensable.
C.J. Chivers is --I believe -- correspondent for the NY Times in Moscow, but fortunately enough he travels from time to time to Afghanistan.
Arnon
There's a few typos in your book of letters.On page 144, 216 and somewhere else I don't recall.
See if you spot them.
What strikes me was the total confusion among the inhabitants, they hardly know who is protecting them and who is harming them. Sometimes the protectors turn into perpetrators. Maybe this is the essence of war, especially civil war: total confusion.
Oscar
With no relation to this topic, i wrote you something at 'Children'.'In his daily life' he is correspondent in Moscow. It doesn't look daily to me.
What/who is who/what in his daily life? Who are we in our daily life?
Who are you when you wake up in the morning?
I am reading your Topor. Which has nothing to do with my questions.
A beautiful book indeed. Very happy I bought it. A shame the exhibition in Amsterdam didn't last longer. A shame I was too late. I happened to see some Topor'things' in an antiquarian bookshop last week. Nice.
Vera
I rephrased the last sentence of my entry.I wonder why.
Don't let it bother you.
Wondering is where poetry begins
as Wislawa Szymborska says.
Vera
We should try to avoid misunderstandings. That’s where prose begins.How do you manage to answer at 17.48 h when it is not 17.48 yet
on my computer?
Vera
For technicalities please contact Sander.Leni Riefenstahl
short time ago de Bijzige Bij ( a publisher house in Amsterdam) published a biography of a filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl (1902-2003). She made a document about the Olympics 1938 . She also made some propaganda movies for Hitler, and admired him greatly ( which caused some sleepless nights to Eva Brown, although according to Leni´s words she had never slept with Hitler, ´she was just un artist ta his charge ´ ) . After the war she has been spoken free of any charge and involvment in the crimes of hitlerism. But stiil she led her life in the shadow of art performenceses which she made during the war. People hate or admire her, nothing between that, beside that new biography. Next year there will be a movie about her life. Many filmmakers wanted to make one while she lived but she agreed only on one condition: that only Sharon Stone and nobody else would play her .http://www.leni-riefenstahl.de/deu/bio.html
Vera
Time is such a relative thing. It is always two o'clock in the morning. Somewhere on this planet that is. If you are an hour late for work, explain to your boss that you have decided to live in the Greenwich Mean Time.The time you see below the comments has not yet much to do with the time on your computer. It is the time the server thinks it has received the information. The strange thing is that during wintertime the server moves to Poland and returns to Amsterdam in the spring. Or you could say the maintainer is not sure why the server doesn't adjust automatically to the daylight savings time and whether doing this manually will disrupt some server processes. I'll have a look.
Arnon
Has your godson mentioned our postcard yet? We are getting a little concerned.Oscar W
My godson did get the card today.He and his mother are happy.
As far as I'm concerned we are making progress. I think I can smell Laura.
Oh my God. Two o' clock in the morning. That's why I always feel so tired.
Or can I be suffering from a severe jetlag?
Nevertheless: thank you for your clear explanation.
Oscar W
I apologize for my last remark about Laura. The truth is I have no clue how Laura smells.Arnon
I assumed that your remark about smelling Laura was meant metaphorically.You recently asked if we desire any other books. Would it be possible to obtain a copy of your book on Topor, signed by your godson?
I will ask Laura what her favorite perfume is.
Oscar W
Are we sharing an obsession?Arnon
To the best of my knowledge, we are not obsessed with your godson.I admit to being slightly fascinated by Mr Topor's work, in particular the movie "Les escargots". Are you familiar with his drawing "Pour Laura"?
