Center for a New American Security

Two sports invented in Scotland, Golf and Rugby Sevens, are now in the Olympics. No word on the caber toss.

There are so very few great moments of Scottish athleticism that I had to share this one.

I saw two movies this weekend, actually: Inglourious Basterds and In The Loop. The latter is really funny political satire that will hit home for many of this blog's readers, and the two Scotsmen in the cast almost make one forget l'Ecosse's nasty habit of releasing mass-murdering terrorists. Enjoy.

Uh oh. The Scots-Irish and the Scots are falling out over terrorism. I don't even need to ask my relatives where they stand on this issue.

The Megrahi affair has highlighted the sometimes ambivalent relations between Americans and Scots. Millions of Americans claim Scottish descent and sociologists regard the Scots-Ulster heritage as a key ingredient of US culture, particularly in the rural south.

A Friends of Scotland caucus, with its own tartan, has 50 members in the US congress. Its leaders were in Scotland last week at the invitation of the Salmond government.

In Scotland itself, nationalists who include Mr Salmond have, however, criticised the folksy “whisky-and-shortbread” image of Scotland among their American cousins.

[Speaking of Inglourious Basterds, did any of you notice the theme music from The Battle of Algiers? It starts playing when they bust Hugo Stiglitz out of jail. One of the reason I love Tarantino is because of those little nods to classic movies, most of which I am sure I miss.]

In a fit, Abu Muqawama dragged out the "chickenhawk" tag a few weeks ago and promptly apologized. That hasn't stopped our comments section from buzzing with respect to whether or not the term was an unfair slur or a fair point to raise. (The latest discussion took place here.) The consensus, however, is nicely summed up by reader Nathan:

The 'Chickenhawk' tag is a needless distraction to the issue at hand. If a position is wrong, expose it through logic and reason. Resorting to ad hominem personal attacks (often without familiarity with the target's personal circumstances) is pointless and potentially obscurantist.

Now, some of you folks who read this blog and leave comments are certifiably crazy. But the bulk of this blog's readership is quite wise and considerate, and Abu Muqawama thanks you all for the discussion that has taken place. From here on, this blog will no longer tolerate the chickenhawk slander. It's ugly and not in keeping with the spirit of this blog.

We should all strive to keep slurs and slander (and ugly sectarian chanting) off of Abu Muqawama and in their proper place. Which happens to be in Glasgow, tonight.

Now read Londonstani's latest post. Genius.

The Guardian has a nice interactive feature on soldiers from the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders preparing for a deployment to Afghanistan. Abu Muqawama and his dad once visited the regimental museum at Stirling Castle. Quite a few of our clan has served in the regiment through the years, but this was all after our lot had packed up and left for America. That didn't keep Abu Muqawama from getting peeved when all the Scots regiments were consolidated into one regiment a few years ago. The Thin Red Line has just gotten thinner through the years.

Anatol Lieven has a pretty good critique of the foreign policy of a potential John McCain presidency going until he reaches this paragraph:

Mr McCain exemplifies “Jacksonian nationalism” – after Andrew Jackson, the 19th-century Indian-fighter and president – and the Scots-Irish military tradition from which both men sprung. As Mr McCain’s superb courage in North Vietnamese captivity and his honourable opposition to torture by US forces demonstrate, he also possesses the virtues of that tradition. Then again, some of the greatest catastrophes of the 20th century were caused by brave, honourable men with a passionate sense of national mission.

Okay, Vladimir*, there are many things wrong with America, but the Scots-Irish are not to be included on your list. Leave us out of it or we'll show up to your door, drunk as a matter of course, with that killin' look in our eye.**

*Lieven's mom, actually, is Irish. Abu Muqawama's knowledge of this fact accounts for Lieven's continuing good health.
**A story is told in Tennessee about Jackson. Once, when he was a judge, a man accused of beating his wife failed to show up in court. Jackson was incensed, adjourned the session and stormed off to the man's house. But this worried deputies as the accused was notoriously ill-tempered and powerfully built. When Jackson went to his front door, though, the man meekly followed Jackson to the courthouse. They asked why, later, and the man shrugged and replied: "He had the shootin' look in his eye."

Abu Muqawama has two offerings for you. One is from MERIA Journal, where Jonathan Spyer has a solid article on the 2006 war between Israel and Hizbollah. Abu Muqawama doesn't quite buy the bit at the end where Spyer tries to convince us that "the 2006 war must be understood as a single campaign within a broader Middle Eastern conflict, between pro-Western and democratic states on the one hand, and an alliance of Islamist and Arab nationalist forces on the other." That's just silly. The American-led fight against Sunni transnational terrorists has about as much in common with the fight between Israel and (Shia) Hizbollah as Scotland's hapless rugby team has with the All Blacks of New Zealand. And don't even get Abu Muqawama started on the cheek you need to lump Arab nationalism in with Islamism. But that shouldn't take much away from what is, overall, a very nice piece. (Thanks, Timur)

Second, Nir Rosen -- who obviously hates freedom -- has sent Abu Muqawama his latest article in Rolling Stone that is, well, a little cynical about this "awakening" that has taken place among the Sunnis of Iraq. Nir chooses to end his article with this quote from a member of the Iraqi National Police:

Will they accept Sunnis back to Shiite areas and Shiites back to Sunni areas? If someone kills your brother, can you forget his killer?

Depressing indeed, but there's hardly anything David Petraeus and all the troops in the world can do about that dilemma.

And speaking of Scotland's hapless rugby squad, Abu Muqawama is now off to go watch them fall to their third loss in this year's Six Nations series. If France embarrass England later tonight, though, Abu Muqawama will sleep well.

According to Israeli intelligence sources, someone had replaced the headrest of the driver’s seat with another containing a small high-explosive charge. Israel welcomed his death but the prime minister’s office denied responsibility. Hezbollah accused the “Zionist Israelis” of killing its “brother commander” but believed the explosive had been detonated in another car by satellite.

This report was in the Sunday Times (with Hala Jaber among the reporters). That would be some stuff straight out of Munich if it's true, but we have no idea if it is. Because neither, apparently, does the Times, who backs off their "scoop" just two paragraphs later in the article:

Whatever the truth about the bomb, Mughniyeh, 45, died as he had lived – violently.

Whatever? What do you mean, "whatever", oh Sunday Times? Was he killed by Israel or not? Was he killed by a cool-as-hell 007-style headrest bomb or not? Was Eric Bana involved in the operation or not?

Wait... did you just write this headline about a headrest bomb to sucker Abu Muqawama into reading the rest of the article when he was happily on his way to the sports section to read about Manchester United's thrashing of Arsenal last night in which the Scot on the pitch improbably scored two goals?

Damn. You did, didn't you?

First off, to all my fellow Scots out there, Happy St. Andrew's Day. St. Andrew's Day is a lot like St. Patrick's Day, only with more men in skirts and a lot less fun. Just replace all the Guinness and merriment and such with haggis and admonishments from your mother to go back upstairs and finish your Latin homework -- rrright this minute, young man -- and you've pretty much got it.

Second, Abu Muqawama will not be posting much tomorrow. He's off to a Stop the War rally in central London. Really. Abu Muqawama's flatmate wondered if this wasn't a bit like the local butcher attending a vegans' rally, but there is some academic research involved in all of this: the editor of Hizbollah's party newspaper is speaking, and Abu Muqawama is anxious to hear what he has to say. So he'll be spending the day with a bunch of granola-munching Independent-readers. Hell, he might bring along a sign that says Start the War! just to see if anyone notices. He would joke, but seriously, these anti-war folk can be pretty violent (ironically enough) and might kill him.

Third -- hats off, please -- Evel Knievel, RIP.