In Restrepo and in his photography, Tim Hetherington put himself in harm’s way to help convey the realities of a warzone The question of the exact cause, and exact number, of non-combatant casualties in Libya has been put into sharp focus. One of the latest civilian victims is the award-winning photojournalist and Oscar-nominated film-maker Tim Hetherington, who was killed in Misrata just after tweeting that the attacks on the city were coming from Muammar Gaddafi and not Nato . With Sebastian Junger he created the extraordinarily powerful documentary Restrepo , about a US platoon’s mission to build and defend a forward outpost in the terrifyingly dangerous Korengal valley in Afghanistan. The outpost was named after an army medic, Juan Restrepo – killed on the first day of their tour of duty. Hetherington and Junger show how this naming was an act of defiance as well as remembrance – a way in which a bunch of very scared young men could impose their identities on an alien, hostile landscape. It was also a way of containing and controlling their fear of death. Hetherington’s own terrible fate shows that the fear and danger with which his film was saturated was not a Hollywood device or a journalist’s macho rhetoric. They were actually present. Hetherington began his career as a stills photographer – though he and Junger appear genuinely to have shared the filming and directing responsibilities on Restrepo. It was an inspired collaboration, but Junger must surely have relied greatly on Hetherington’s razor-sharp visual sense. The images in Restrepo are viscerally powerful. There’s an incredible moment when the film, having shown us these soldiers getting aboard a helicopter, switches to their point-of-view as they look down into the valley from hundreds of metres above. It is a moment of pure vertigo: you can feel your heart plunge into your boots. When these men were under fire, Hetherington was under fire, too, and arguably in more danger: he was armed only with a camera. But perhaps the film’s most extraordinary scene was one that was (ostensibly) calm. One of the soldiers is being interviewed afterwards about his experiences. Mid-sentence, he stops; he can’t carry on. It is not simply that he is emotional – he is in the middle of a flashback, actually caught on camera remembering horrifying events he had clearly suppressed until that moment. To understand the realities of a warzone, to transmit those realities back to us, Hetherington put himself in harm’s way: a brilliant journalist and a courageous, radical film-maker. Documentary Tim Hetherington War reporting Journalist safety Photography Libya Afghanistan United States Middle East Peter Bradshaw guardian.co.uk
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Prime minister ‘uneasy’ over superinjunctions and judges’ role after high court prevents identification of sex scandal footballer The prime minister has waded into the debate on the use of superinjunctions by the rich and famous to avoid allegations of scandal, declaring that parliament and not the courts should decide where the right to privacy begins. David Cameron said the development of a privacy law by judges based on European regulations made him feel “a little uneasy”. His comments, made while touring a car factory in Luton, follow judgments in the high court this week that prevent the identification of a married Premier League footballer and someone who works in the entertainment industry, both of whom are said to have had extramarital affairs. Cameron said: “I think there is a question here about privacy and the way our system works. “What’s happening here is that the judges are using the European convention on human rights to deliver a sort of privacy law without parliament saying so. “… We do need to have a proper sit back and think: is this right, is this the right thing to happen? “The judges are creating a sort of privacy law, whereas what ought to happen in a parliamentary democracy is parliament – which you elect and put there – should decide how much protection do we want for individuals and how much freedom of the press and the rest of it. So I am a little uneasy about what is happening.” He added: “It might be odd to hear it, but I don’t really have the answer to this one, I need to do some more thinking about it. It is an odd situation if the judges are making the law rather than parliament.” Although superinjunctions refer strictly only to legal orders whose existence cannot even be reported, the term has been used more loosely to describe injunctions aimed at suppressing the identification of individuals who claim they are entitled to anonymity under “the right to respect for private and family life” incorporated in Article 8 of the European convention on human rights . There is disagreement within the legal profession about whether there has been a significant increase in such injunctions, which have been granted in the past to victims of blackmail or, for example, in the case of the killers of James Bulger amid fears they would be at risk if identified. Mark Stobbs, the Law Society’s director of legal policy, said: “This is a new development and it is something which needs to be watched very closely. “There is a huge debate between the right to privacy and the right to public knowledge. “We support open justice and transparency as a basic principle, but there must be occasional cases where there is a public interest in privacy. You might get it sometimes in the context of terrorist trials where there are real national security implications.” But Cameron Doley , of the law firm Carter Ruck, which has obtained privacy orders for clients, doubted there had been an increase in their frequency over recent years. “The newspapers have decided that the way to change policy is to shout about it from the rooftops,” he told The Guardian. “There’s a lot to be said for a reasoned debate about it that won’t be one-sided. But judges will still have to interpret the Human Rights Act.” One of the problems, he added, was that people comment about cases in which they had not seen the evidence while the most widely-reported cases were those where the courts ruled there was insufficient justification for maintaining an injunction – such as the one involving the England football captain, John Terry. “The rich and famous can’t pay their way out of scandal. These things are high risk,” he said. “It’s not just the rich and famous and the law shouldn’t be for the rich and famous. “The protection of privacy is perhaps more important to genuinely private people. None of us, unless we are in the courts, see the evidence.” Privacy & the media Media law National newspapers Newspapers TV news UK civil liberties David Cameron James Bulger murder Owen Bowcott guardian.co.uk
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British Army engineer argues huge carbon and cost savings could be achieved if military adopted green technologies In an era when budgetary cutbacks are leading governments to seriously reassess their military spending, you might imagine that the bean-counters had quickly identified improving fuel efficiency as a key area where savings might be achieved. The fact that so many modern wars seem to include access to oil reserves as a motivating factor should also act to sharpen their attention, too. But, according to a British Army engineer writing in the latest edition of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers Journal, the UK’s current government is ignoring the potential benefits – in cutting both costs and carbon emissions – of developing more fuel-efficient military technologies. Staff Sergeant Graham Thornton, who is currently attached to 3 Yorks Regiment as a fitter section artificer and is a member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers , argues that the Ministry of Defence should be looking at how the “civil domain” is starting to embrace “hybrid/green technologies” to reduce fuel use. The changing nature of warfare also demands a rethink on fuel use, he says: Recent warfare has seen highly mobile land battles that utilised a large amount of equipment and a considerable amount of fuel to maintain manoeuvre. This placed a high demand on the logistical chains and stretched resources, sometimes to breaking point. A standard 2:21 Battle Group consists of 120 A vehicles and 96 B Vehicles, and can hold up to 12,000 litres of fuel in their tanks. This alone, when burnt, can produce over 31 tonnes of CO2. Furthermore, the amount of fuel that is stored in varying quantities throughout the entire supply chain places a large burden on lift assets and also requires a considerable amount of real estate on the battlefield. Modern warfare is more asymmetric and therefore sees less movement of land equipment. Subsequently a greater use of air equipments (both manned and unmanned) is being seen. The idea of hybrid tanks roaming the battlefields of the future is one suggestion put forward by Thornton. He notes that the UK defence firm QinetiQ is already working on an electric drive transmission called the E-X-Drive . But far more radical is the idea of a “wireless charge system” to power vehicles and equipment and, thereby, reduce the use of heavy batteries, which are, he says, becoming a growing burden on a military increasingly reliant on electricity as a power source, as opposed to diesel. One area where this could prove most practicable is the use of unmanned drones: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) and Unmanned Combat Air Vehicles (UCAV) are most at risk during takeoff and landing, where a skilled operator is needed to land them safely. As the main power plants are turbo-fan propulsion (as used in the BAE Systems Taranis) and also conventional combustion plants (Hermes 450 uses a Wankel engine) they require refuelling and this is done on the ground. Some UAV/UCAV are fitted with batteries and these require charging or the use of a combustion engine to provide charge which increases the weight and limits the capability of the UAV/UCAV. Some trials have commenced with solar-powered UAV/UCAV and ‘Lighter than Air’ (LTA), but these technologies are bulky, expensive and fragile with a minimal payload and limited operation envelope. The use of batteries with a wireless charge system could be the answer. A Laser Charge system would enable long-term sorties to be flown and the only required downtime would be for the essential maintenance. A laser transmitter converts the power from the primary source (generator, battery or AC source) into a monochromatic beam of light. This is then collected by a specialist photovoltaic (PV) cell on the UAV/ UCAV and then converted to power as is conventional for the PV cell. This technology can be used to provide the electrical power to charge the batteries and if the receiver is replaced with a suitable alternative the laser can be used to provide power to provide heat to air and thus create thrust for an engine. This technology can be used to provide power for static Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (ISTAR) missions (quadricopters and similar), multi-mission flights or unlimited patrolling. The only limit is the charge capability, the UAV/UCAV could return to a base location for charging meaning a lighter storage system is needed or for longer missions larger batteries could be used. The technology could be used in conjunction with a portable AC generator on a vehicle that sets up a mobile charging station. The potential for this technology to provide power, via satellite or mirrors, to outlying posts and patrol bases can be seen. Generators can use a substantial amount of fuel and local power options could be intermittent at best. The power offered by this could be used at certain times to charge large capacity batteries which in turn would provide power for the electronic equipment. There could also be scope for soldiers on the ground to use this technology in a similar manner to the UAV/ UCAV and have lighter/less batteries. Some immediate questions spring to mind. First, would this improved fuel efficiency really lead to a reduction in military spending? Or would it, according to Jevons paradox , just end up increasing the amount of unmanned drones used in warfare? Second, are the fuel savings really so great? The diagram used (above) by Thornton as an example for a drone describes a 4,000W input producing DC power equal to 1,000W. Is a generator on the ground used to power such a laser more efficient than a conventionally powered drone when you factor in this transmission loss ? A Seattle-based company called LaserMotive is very active in this technology, but it doesn’t seem to stress fuel savings as a key advantage of ” power beaming “, rather that it is far less costly than conventional ways of distributing electricity, namely, down copper wires. (I have asked LaserMotive to provide its thoughts on this point. When it responds, I will post below.) Thornton appears downbeat that this technology will get support from the current government due to the defence industry being “reluctant in the current financial climate to risk disfavour associated with fighting for the funding to introduce greener technologies”. I suspect he is probably right. But, in future years, it is highly likely that military technologies will be developed that help to reduce the carbon “bootprint” of armies, as well as, ultimately, our own civilian carbon footprint. This might not sit well with those environmentalists who are instinctively repulsed by the ” military industrial complex “, but history teaches us that many technological advances have been born under the shadow of war. Power-beaming might end up being one of them. Energy efficiency Leo Hickman guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …British Army engineer argues huge carbon and cost savings could be achieved if military adopted green technologies In an era when budgetary cutbacks are leading governments to seriously reassess their military spending, you might imagine that the bean-counters had quickly identified improving fuel efficiency as a key area where savings might be achieved. The fact that so many modern wars seem to include access to oil reserves as a motivating factor should also act to sharpen their attention, too. But, according to a British Army engineer writing in the latest edition of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers Journal, the UK’s current government is ignoring the potential benefits – in cutting both costs and carbon emissions – of developing more fuel-efficient military technologies. Staff Sergeant Graham Thornton, who is currently attached to 3 Yorks Regiment as a fitter section artificer and is a member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers , argues that the Ministry of Defence should be looking at how the “civil domain” is starting to embrace “hybrid/green technologies” to reduce fuel use. The changing nature of warfare also demands a rethink on fuel use, he says: Recent warfare has seen highly mobile land battles that utilised a large amount of equipment and a considerable amount of fuel to maintain manoeuvre. This placed a high demand on the logistical chains and stretched resources, sometimes to breaking point. A standard 2:21 Battle Group consists of 120 A vehicles and 96 B Vehicles, and can hold up to 12,000 litres of fuel in their tanks. This alone, when burnt, can produce over 31 tonnes of CO2. Furthermore, the amount of fuel that is stored in varying quantities throughout the entire supply chain places a large burden on lift assets and also requires a considerable amount of real estate on the battlefield. Modern warfare is more asymmetric and therefore sees less movement of land equipment. Subsequently a greater use of air equipments (both manned and unmanned) is being seen. The idea of hybrid tanks roaming the battlefields of the future is one suggestion put forward by Thornton. He notes that the UK defence firm QinetiQ is already working on an electric drive transmission called the E-X-Drive . But far more radical is the idea of a “wireless charge system” to power vehicles and equipment and, thereby, reduce the use of heavy batteries, which are, he says, becoming a growing burden on a military increasingly reliant on electricity as a power source, as opposed to diesel. One area where this could prove most practicable is the use of unmanned drones: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) and Unmanned Combat Air Vehicles (UCAV) are most at risk during takeoff and landing, where a skilled operator is needed to land them safely. As the main power plants are turbo-fan propulsion (as used in the BAE Systems Taranis) and also conventional combustion plants (Hermes 450 uses a Wankel engine) they require refuelling and this is done on the ground. Some UAV/UCAV are fitted with batteries and these require charging or the use of a combustion engine to provide charge which increases the weight and limits the capability of the UAV/UCAV. Some trials have commenced with solar-powered UAV/UCAV and ‘Lighter than Air’ (LTA), but these technologies are bulky, expensive and fragile with a minimal payload and limited operation envelope. The use of batteries with a wireless charge system could be the answer. A Laser Charge system would enable long-term sorties to be flown and the only required downtime would be for the essential maintenance. A laser transmitter converts the power from the primary source (generator, battery or AC source) into a monochromatic beam of light. This is then collected by a specialist photovoltaic (PV) cell on the UAV/ UCAV and then converted to power as is conventional for the PV cell. This technology can be used to provide the electrical power to charge the batteries and if the receiver is replaced with a suitable alternative the laser can be used to provide power to provide heat to air and thus create thrust for an engine. This technology can be used to provide power for static Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (ISTAR) missions (quadricopters and similar), multi-mission flights or unlimited patrolling. The only limit is the charge capability, the UAV/UCAV could return to a base location for charging meaning a lighter storage system is needed or for longer missions larger batteries could be used. The technology could be used in conjunction with a portable AC generator on a vehicle that sets up a mobile charging station. The potential for this technology to provide power, via satellite or mirrors, to outlying posts and patrol bases can be seen. Generators can use a substantial amount of fuel and local power options could be intermittent at best. The power offered by this could be used at certain times to charge large capacity batteries which in turn would provide power for the electronic equipment. There could also be scope for soldiers on the ground to use this technology in a similar manner to the UAV/ UCAV and have lighter/less batteries. Some immediate questions spring to mind. First, would this improved fuel efficiency really lead to a reduction in military spending? Or would it, according to Jevons paradox , just end up increasing the amount of unmanned drones used in warfare? Second, are the fuel savings really so great? The diagram used (above) by Thornton as an example for a drone describes a 4,000W input producing DC power equal to 1,000W. Is a generator on the ground used to power such a laser more efficient than a conventionally powered drone when you factor in this transmission loss ? A Seattle-based company called LaserMotive is very active in this technology, but it doesn’t seem to stress fuel savings as a key advantage of ” power beaming “, rather that it is far less costly than conventional ways of distributing electricity, namely, down copper wires. (I have asked LaserMotive to provide its thoughts on this point. When it responds, I will post below.) Thornton appears downbeat that this technology will get support from the current government due to the defence industry being “reluctant in the current financial climate to risk disfavour associated with fighting for the funding to introduce greener technologies”. I suspect he is probably right. But, in future years, it is highly likely that military technologies will be developed that help to reduce the carbon “bootprint” of armies, as well as, ultimately, our own civilian carbon footprint. This might not sit well with those environmentalists who are instinctively repulsed by the ” military industrial complex “, but history teaches us that many technological advances have been born under the shadow of war. Power-beaming might end up being one of them. Energy efficiency Leo Hickman guardian.co.uk
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Lost Tribe Of America America’s Next Top Model Season 16 Episode 9 Highlights and Catfights S16E09 16
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Russell Brand steps into Dudley Moore’s shoes in this remake of the 1981 comedy, but it’s Peter Cook’s embarrassing Hollywood career that Peter Bradshaw is reminded of This frankly depressing film is an atonal symphony of wrong notes. British comedy star Russell Brand takes the lead in a joyless, unobservant remake of the 1981 hit, which had Dudley Moore as the lovable millionaire drunk in Manhattan, endangering his fortune and lifestyle by falling in love with a penniless woman of whom his family disapproves. It won John Gielgud a best supporting actor Oscar as Arthur’s droll manservant and another for its sugary theme song (“When you get caught between the moon and New York City …”). You only have to watch this one for a few minutes before you realise that it isn’t Moore that Brand resembles here, but Peter Cook – specifically, Cook in his unhappy 1980s era, cast as a posh British butler in the shortlived American sitcom The Two of Us. The analogy doesn’t hold entirely: Cook conspicuously failed to break America, and Brand is a smash-hit success there. But there is the same Hollywood way of getting an imported Brit comedian utterly wrong; the same way of failing to understand the subtly ironic style and playful mojo of a great performer, and instead forcing him into a naff, tourist template of Britishness. It is almost eerie to see how the funny has been removed from Brand’s performing style, leaving only the loopy, cheery, hyper-articulation. In one scene, Arthur irrepressibly buys Abraham Lincoln’s top hat at auction and clowns around in the streets wearing it. It’s an American president’s hat, but it’s what this film’s producers imagine a top-hole Brit might wear anyway. Actually, Brand looks as if he’s conducting some sort of voodoo funeral. What’s more baffling is that the screenplay is by Peter Baynham, a whip-smart writer who worked in British television with Steve Coogan, Armando Iannucci and Chris Morris in the 1990s, before establishing himself in Hollywood and working on Sacha Baron Cohen’s Borat and Brüno films. The system appears here to have squeezed the life out of him, and suit-wearing execs must have been leaning on this script. In this new version, Arthur has a long-suffering driver called Bitterman; the name may be a joke about being resentful, but there’s nothing in the script for Luis Guzmán to work with. Instead of having a male butler, however, Arthur now has an exasperated nanny who has looked after him since he was a child. Why? Because he’s basically adorable. She is actually a “supernanny” like Jo Frost in the TV show, which has gone over well in the States. It is an unintentionally creepy, embarrassing, infantilising idea, and the indignity of this chillingly unfunny role is bravely borne by Helen Mirren. Arthur’s domineering mother, Vivienne, is played by Geraldine James, and she threatens to disinherit our hero, unless he gets married to a suitable woman: a joke-free, ball-breaking bitch played by Jennifer Garner. Her industrialist dad is Nick Nolte, who telexes in a performance of palpable detachment and contempt. Things go wrong when Arthur falls in love with free-spirit Naomi, played by mumblecore star Greta Gerwig. Just as with Brand, though in a different way, the movie’s casting directors have utterly failed to understand the talents that brought this performer to their notice in the first place. Gerwig’s gentle, complex style is here reduced to a kiddie-ish single note – quirky, asexual and unthreatening. Like Arthur, she is stuck with an icky and infantilising tic, living with her dad. For some reason, she conducts her own very unlikely, uninteresting and unofficial wacky tours of Grand Central Station, and yearns to be a children’s book illustrator. The absolute low point comes with a racist crack about Barack Obama. British matriarch Vivienne sneers at the “coffee-coloured” president, and Arthur feebly objects that “you can’t say that”. Oh yes you can – if you’re a cardboard Brit! Because it’s the sort of thing those meanie uptight Brits do, you see, like wearing monocles and drinking tea. There’s no way on earth an American character would be made to say it. Or if this did happen, it would be a very different sort of film – a dark thriller or drama and the person saying it would probably die in a hail of bullets. But this sort of racism is OK for a comedy Brit. Now, of course, there is racism in Britain, but there is here no real intention to satirise it and, in any case, specific racist resentment of Obama is an American thing, not a British thing. All of us Brits who have grown up avidly and gratefully consuming American movies and TV have become used to the way that country’s affectionate enthusiasm for Britain – Jon Stewart memorably called us “America’s deadbeat older brother” – sometimes tips over into tiring condescension. But for this condescension to include a racial joke about Obama left a very nasty taste in my mouth. All that’s left for Brand fans is to put on the DVDs of his live shows to remember what a great comic he is. (Somewhere, I have a copy of his tremendous, off-the-wall BBC4 documentary about Jack Kerouac.) For fans and non-fans alike, however, this new Arthur is one to miss. Rating: 1/5 Comedy Russell Brand Helen Mirren Peter Bradshaw guardian.co.uk
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Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei is controversial figure at odds with religious leaders for nationalist rather than theological narrative A close ally of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who favours cultural openness and opposes greater clerical involvement in politics, is being groomed as a possible successor to the Iranian president when he steps down in two years time. Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, Ahmadinejad’s chief-of-staff, is positioning himself as a candidate who will champion a nationalist rather than a theological narrative of Iran. Mashaei, whose daughter married Ahmadinejad’s son, has become the most controversial political figure in Iran, provoking harsh criticism from the conservative establishment, including the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Hardliners close to Khamenei have accused Mashaei of compromising the Islamic Revolution and the principles of Islam by focusing on Persian history. Mashaei infuriated conservatives in 2008 when he said that Iranians are “friends of all people in the world – even Israelis”. He was also criticised for applauding at a ceremony in Turkey in which women performed a traditional dance. Women are not allowed to dance in Iran. Mashaei used to head Iran’s cultural heritage organisation. He was appointed first vice-president in 2009 when Ahmadinejad resumed office following disputed elections that generated mass protests. But he was forced to step down when Khamenei intervened and said in a letter to the president that “the regime’s expediency” required Mashaei to leave his post. Ahmadinejad appointed Mashaei as chief-of-staff instead, a move seen by many as a blow to Khamenei and the first sign of split emerging between the president and the supreme leader. A confidential US diplomatic cable revealed by Wikileaks said the incident underlined Mashaei’s significance in Ahmadinejad’s team . “Ahmadinejad’s stubborn defence of Mashaei bespeaks his importance as a key adviser for the increasingly isolated president; he also has emerged as a spokesman for the Ahmadinejad administration. Ahmadinejad has even told press that he would gladly serve as vice-president in a Mashaei administration, prompting many to speculate that Ahmadinejad seeks to have Mashaei replace him in 2013,” the cable reads. Some analysts believe that a regime which has crushed the green opposition movement and is short of internal opposition, is merely creating one in order to create a show of legitimacy come the next election. Hooshang Amirahmadi, the president of the American Iranian Council who knows Mashaei, told the Guardian: “The reformist movement in Iran did not succeed for various reasons. I think Mashaei has become another alternative and the regime is using this opportunity to heat up the next election in Iran. Mashaei is saying that Iranians are at first Iranians and Islam comes afterward. “He is reviving a source of national pride of Iranians, something that has been neglected not only since the Islamic Revolution in 1979 but in the past two centuries.” Amirahmadi said: “After the revolution, an extensive obsession with Islam made the authorities neglect Iran’s history and Mashaei is now seeking to promote this sort of nationalistic narrative. I think Ahmadinejad himself is also in favour of Iran’s history and has sought to revive Iran’s ancient glory and power.” Iranians are proud of their history and still largely celebrate many ancient traditions that goes back as far as the country’s Zoroastrian era, such as the Persian new year, Nowruz. Mashaei is also believed to have played a crucial role in securing the loan from the British Museum of the Cyrus Cylinder . The artefact, considered the first human rights charter, was seen by a million visitors in Tehran during its six-month exhibition, although hardliners and clerics largely boycotted the event. The relic was returned to the UK last week. “Obviously Mashaei’s nationalistic views are a threat to clerics. They are afraid that their power might wane if people begin to respect their pre-Islamic history,” Amirahmadi said. Mashaei, whose name has been touted among political activists as a possible 2013 candidate, has not ruled out the possibility of running for president, recently telling reporters he would make a definitive decision six months from the election. Kayhan, a newspaper aligned with Khamenei, predicted that Iran’s powerful Guardian Council would block Mashaei’s candidacy if he decides to run. The Guardian Council vets all candidates before any elections in Iran. Mashaei, who is launching a newspaper next month, is also believed to have tried to secure the release of three Americans detained in Iran, a move that resulted in the release of one of the prisoners, Sarah Shourd . Her friends, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, remain in Tehran after their release was believed to have been blocked by hardliners. The US embassy cables Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Middle East United States US foreign policy US national security WikiLeaks Saeed Kamali Dehghan guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei is controversial figure at odds with religious leaders for nationalist rather than theological narrative A close ally of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who favours cultural openness and opposes greater clerical involvement in politics, is being groomed as a possible successor to the Iranian president when he steps down in two years time. Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, Ahmadinejad’s chief-of-staff, is positioning himself as a candidate who will champion a nationalist rather than a theological narrative of Iran. Mashaei, whose daughter married Ahmadinejad’s son, has become the most controversial political figure in Iran, provoking harsh criticism from the conservative establishment, including the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Hardliners close to Khamenei have accused Mashaei of compromising the Islamic Revolution and the principles of Islam by focusing on Persian history. Mashaei infuriated conservatives in 2008 when he said that Iranians are “friends of all people in the world – even Israelis”. He was also criticised for applauding at a ceremony in Turkey in which women performed a traditional dance. Women are not allowed to dance in Iran. Mashaei used to head Iran’s cultural heritage organisation. He was appointed first vice-president in 2009 when Ahmadinejad resumed office following disputed elections that generated mass protests. But he was forced to step down when Khamenei intervened and said in a letter to the president that “the regime’s expediency” required Mashaei to leave his post. Ahmadinejad appointed Mashaei as chief-of-staff instead, a move seen by many as a blow to Khamenei and the first sign of split emerging between the president and the supreme leader. A confidential US diplomatic cable revealed by Wikileaks said the incident underlined Mashaei’s significance in Ahmadinejad’s team . “Ahmadinejad’s stubborn defence of Mashaei bespeaks his importance as a key adviser for the increasingly isolated president; he also has emerged as a spokesman for the Ahmadinejad administration. Ahmadinejad has even told press that he would gladly serve as vice-president in a Mashaei administration, prompting many to speculate that Ahmadinejad seeks to have Mashaei replace him in 2013,” the cable reads. Some analysts believe that a regime which has crushed the green opposition movement and is short of internal opposition, is merely creating one in order to create a show of legitimacy come the next election. Hooshang Amirahmadi, the president of the American Iranian Council who knows Mashaei, told the Guardian: “The reformist movement in Iran did not succeed for various reasons. I think Mashaei has become another alternative and the regime is using this opportunity to heat up the next election in Iran. Mashaei is saying that Iranians are at first Iranians and Islam comes afterward. “He is reviving a source of national pride of Iranians, something that has been neglected not only since the Islamic Revolution in 1979 but in the past two centuries.” Amirahmadi said: “After the revolution, an extensive obsession with Islam made the authorities neglect Iran’s history and Mashaei is now seeking to promote this sort of nationalistic narrative. I think Ahmadinejad himself is also in favour of Iran’s history and has sought to revive Iran’s ancient glory and power.” Iranians are proud of their history and still largely celebrate many ancient traditions that goes back as far as the country’s Zoroastrian era, such as the Persian new year, Nowruz. Mashaei is also believed to have played a crucial role in securing the loan from the British Museum of the Cyrus Cylinder . The artefact, considered the first human rights charter, was seen by a million visitors in Tehran during its six-month exhibition, although hardliners and clerics largely boycotted the event. The relic was returned to the UK last week. “Obviously Mashaei’s nationalistic views are a threat to clerics. They are afraid that their power might wane if people begin to respect their pre-Islamic history,” Amirahmadi said. Mashaei, whose name has been touted among political activists as a possible 2013 candidate, has not ruled out the possibility of running for president, recently telling reporters he would make a definitive decision six months from the election. Kayhan, a newspaper aligned with Khamenei, predicted that Iran’s powerful Guardian Council would block Mashaei’s candidacy if he decides to run. The Guardian Council vets all candidates before any elections in Iran. Mashaei, who is launching a newspaper next month, is also believed to have tried to secure the release of three Americans detained in Iran, a move that resulted in the release of one of the prisoners, Sarah Shourd . Her friends, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, remain in Tehran after their release was believed to have been blocked by hardliners. The US embassy cables Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Middle East United States US foreign policy US national security WikiLeaks Saeed Kamali Dehghan guardian.co.uk
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Always at the heart of a story, even when made to photograph celebrities, this bold film-maker was a truly generous spirit Tim Hetherington arrived at the Big Issue in the late 1990s, fresh out of college and landing in an editorial office that often felt like a dysfunctional college campus itself. We were a small crew – young and green and making the job up as we went along. If Tim thought he was joining the ranks of some idealistic guerrilla army (and I think, initially, that is exactly what he thought), he was too good natured – too abidingly generous of spirit – to let his disappointment show. He was our staff reporter, rolling into the office with his big voice booming and his camera bags clattering. He had been living in squats and sported clotted dreadlocks and comfort clothes (sweatshirts, tracky bottoms) that he wore until they literally rotted off his body. Some of my colleagues were dismayed by this. “He sat opposite me on the tube,” one reported in a scandalised whisper. “Legs apart, trousers all torn at the crotch. And he wasn’t wearing any pants!” Tim’s pictures were extraordinary: rigorous, alive and shot on the fly. We sent him to snap homeless shelters and demonstrations, dockers’ strikes and boxing gyms. Sometimes we would send him to photograph celebrities, too – an indignity he weathered with pained good humour. He couldn’t quite see the point of it. Why photograph celebrities when there were so many proper stories playing out right now, under our very noses? Tim Hetherington finally moved on from the Big Issue. He cut his dreads and bought a suit. He went to war zones, outraged then Liberian president Charles Taylor and found himself recognised as one of the finest photojournalists on the planet. But when I last saw him, in October, he was reassuringly just the same. His intense professionalism always went hand-in-hand with a childlike wonder at a world that never ceased to spark his interest. It is perhaps the fate of all great photographers that they will eventually cross the camera line and start being photographed themselves. Prior to that last, gut-wrenching image that reared up on BBC News last night, the final photo I saw of Tim was taken at the annual Oscar nominees’ lunch in February. Tim had been shortlisted for his devastating war documentary Restrepo , and this involved him rubbing shoulders with 150-odd Hollywood stars and industry players. Having once had to suffer photographing film celebrities, he had somehow conspired to become one himself. The nominees had been arranged in rows and gathered around an oversized Oscar statue. Helena Bonham Carter sat far out on the wings. Colin Firth and Mark Ruffalo perched up in the gods. And there, bang in the centre, right by the statue stood our old staff photographer – a winner before the envelope was opened. It was a position that seemed to reflect how Hetherington lived his life: in the thick of things, at the heart of the matter, honouring the Robert Capa dictum that “if your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough”. He was never one to sit out on the sidelines. Tim Hetherington War reporting Documentary Photography Libya Middle East Xan Brooks guardian.co.uk
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Sunshine predicted for bumper Easter bank holiday weekend, with temperatures predicted to soar past Corfu and Barcelona The UK’s bonus holiday – linking Easter, the royal wedding and May Day for nearly a fortnight’s break – has started, with scores of extra flights leaving for supposed hotspots overseas. But many of the long-booked trips will be landing in cooler climates, with pullovers a wise precaution in Corfu and Barcelona, while T-shirt weather continues across the British Isles. The cooler temperatures along the north Mediterranean coast will see London comfortably hotter at 24C (75F) than Barcelona at 16C and Corfu at 17C . In the UK, roads to the coast are getting busier, with the Meteorological Office confident that the warm, calm spell will continue well into next week. The Highways Agency announced the suspension of roadworks at many major sites to help holiday traffic flow, although essential repairs will continue on parts of the M1 and M25. The fire-damaged stretch of the M1 between junctions one and four in London has fully reopened. Others on the move include bats, which have taken to using canals as a seasonal corridor in the warmth, according to a report from British Waterways, and thousands of browntail moth caterpillars, which have spun sticky canopies of cocoons on Canvey island, in Essex, to pupate earlier than usual. The sunshine will also illuminate religious events, led by the Queen’s Maundy money service at Westminster Abbey. Her distribution of 85 coins to 85 men and 85 women, in memory of Christ washing his disciples’ feet at the Last Supper, coincided with her 85th birthday. Had the calendar fallen a day earlier, two “deserving pensioners”, chosen for their record of community and church work, would have missed out. Meanwhile in Manchester, Oldham, Bolton and Bury, bishops and other clergy offered free shoe-shines in local shopping malls, in the Maundy tradition. Easter’s many secular attractions will be joined on Saturday by one of the archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu’s characteristic initiatives, a public baptism by total immersion in a tank outside the city’s ancient Minster cathedral. Among 19 recruits from all denominations is Pentecostalist Lovely-Anna Louise Belfon-Kaaba, 23, a student at York University. She said: “I feel so lucky and proud to be publicly declaring my love, trust and faith for Jesus at this special time of the year.” Network Rail is optimistic about smoother journeys than last Easter, with less engineering work over the holiday and an estimated 18% more trains running. There will be disruption, however, on the West Coast line in north-west England, the Great Western line and at Liverpool Street station in London, where essential repairs and modernisation need the quieter holiday period to get work done. Rail services in Scotland have been disrupted by a trackside fire, which closed the line between Edinburgh and Glasgow as well as the line between Falkirk Grahamston and Cumbernauld. Holidaymakers travelling overseas this Easter are expected to top 2 million, in spite of the recession and the balmy climate in the UK, with Amsterdam, Dublin, Paris and Rome the favourite European destinations and New York topping long-haul bookings. Visa Europe said the royal wedding appeared to have led to a 104% rise in flight bookings out of the country next week, although a 244% increase in arrivals from overseas will more than compensate. VisitEngland said bookings suggested that just over a quarter of UK adults plan a trip involving at least one overnight stay in their own country over the triple-holiday period. National Express is predicting a bank holiday bonanza for its coaches, with services between London and 67 other centres laid on for the royal wedding. Bored visitors to the UK seaside might like to help remedy statistics released by the Marine Conservation Society, which show that litter on beaches increased by 3% last year. Weather London Transport Royal wedding Easter Martin Wainwright guardian.co.uk
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