Ahmadinejad · bush · Comics/Political Cartoons · war
by Alexandra Westrich
Arts & Culture · Exhibition · war
In some ways, Vietnam is a long section in a history book for me. I didn’t live through it. The most I’ve felt was ambivalence. But Jeffrey Wolin’s show Inconvenient Stories, which runs from October 13 through December 17 and focuses on Vietnam veterans and their post-war lives, would not let me be indifferent.
Exactly two years ago this weekend, while I was living in Boston, the streets erupted in protest against the impending war in Iraq. With rainbow-colored signs, drumming, marching, and general making of noise, legions of citizens indicated that this war was against the will of the people.
In a recent address to the European Union and NATO leaders, George Bush expressed his hope for peace and reform in the Middle East. While doing so, he hit upon a more questionable topic, stating, Arab states must end incitement in their own media. This would appear to be a rather hefty demand and an ethically questionable task, but one that the U.S. State Department has been taking very seriously.
With the recent turn of events in the Middle East, everything seems topsy-turvy. Syria pulling out of Lebanon and asking Israel to help with the process? The Palestinian Authority fighting militants? What’s going on here?