Some fascinating stories in this week’s New York Times. First up is an interview with Kanan Makiya, one of the most influential Iraqi dissidents living in the US. Makiya has written a number of books on Saddam’s brutality. He was a fervent believer in the otherthrow of Saddam. And following the invasion he started the Iraq Memory Foundation to catalogue cases of Baathist crimes. Makiya still believes the 2003 invasion was a good idea. But he says what followed has been a series of mistakes and missed opportunities:

The [Iraq Memory] foundation has shared some documents with the Iraqi court set up by the Americans to try Mr. Hussein and his aides. Yet, Mr. Makiya refers to Dec. 30, 2006, the day Mr. Hussein was hanged, as “one of the worst days of my life.”

“It was a disaster, an unmitigated disaster,” Mr. Makiya said, his voice rising. “I was just so upset, even on the verge of tears. It was the antithesis of everything I had been working for and hoping for.”

The tribunal did little to expose the all-encompassing cruelty of the Baath Party, Mr. Makiya said. And in failing to control an execution chamber filled with seething Shiite officials and policemen, the Iraqi government “actually succeeded in making Saddam look good in the eyes of the Arab world.”

He added, “Just like everything about the war, it was an opportunity wasted.”

Meanwhile, Edward Rothstein takes issue with the Museum of the City of New York’s latest exhibition Facing Fascism New York and the Spanish Civil War:

Actually, this show…deviates little from what would have once been called the party line. Its story is told in black strips that are meant to suggest the unfolding of newsreels, the design echoing at times the placards of protest marchers; free-standing biographical pillars of memorabilia stand like memorials to martyrs. Perry Rosenstein, the president of the Puffin Foundation, the main sponsor of the exhibition, writes of these fighters: “They represented the best of our country and the best of our conscience.”

Did they? The real situation is far more complicated than anything suggested here. Some essays in an accompanying catalog published by the museum and N.Y.U. Press hint at other directions the show might have taken, including taking note of the distinctive New York intellectual life that developed on the left, partly in opposition to these ideas. Instead, the curators, Sarah M. Henry and Thomas Mellins, are so focused on the virtues of the fighters that the exhibition seems like an attempt to rehabilitate the Communist left after decades in which historical research and opened Soviet archives have revealed how much darker the Spanish conflict was than the party interpretation ever let on.

Finally, the Week in Review looks at the apparent ease with which Russians accept their fellow countrymen dying in disasters following a week in which 180 people died in a plane crash, a mine explosion and a nursing home fire:

Disasters, natural and man-made, occur everywhere, but unnatural death occurs in Russia with unnatural frequency and in unnatural quantity.

In a report in 2005 called “Dying Too Young,” the World Bank warned that accidents, which affect men of working age most, were contributing to Russia’s decline in population. The country is now a world leader in industrial accidents, like the explosion at a Siberian mine on Monday that killed 110, in traffic accidents, in fires, in murders and in suicides.

Russians grieve, but they do so privately. They rarely demand public action — through the media, elected representatives or, in the extreme, street protests. A result is a lack of accountability, even impunity, that lets corruption fester, otherwise solvable problems mount and disasters repeat.

Thanks to everyone who called, commented, emailed, instant messaged, sent text messages and donated to the Amelie Dobek Memorial Research Fund yesterday. I had a wonderful birthday. Very busy today and over the weekend. More soon.

It’s my 31st birthday today. Happy Birthday me! Do you feel like giving me a gift? If so, do me a favor, make a donation to The Amelie Dobek Memorial Research Fund.

You may remember I blogged about little Amelie a few weeks ago. She is the daughter of friends of ours who died when she was just two weeks old. Your money will help raise awareness of congenital heart defects. If it means one more person in the world who will celebrate their 31st birthday and one less bereaved couple like Paul and Clarissa, it will be the best present ever.

Thank you to everyone who donates.

P.S. To those friends now saying “shit” and reaching for the phone, you have the perfect excuse for not calling me on my birthday. Our phone line went down on March 21 and the phone company says it will not be fixed until 6pm on March 22. So you tried, but you just couldn’t get through…

Yesterday I posted about the anti-Semitic idiocy of a cultural advisor to the Iranian Education Ministry who thought Tom and Jerry was part of a Jewish Conspiracy. Today it’s the idiocy of more than 7,000 French Jews who signed a petition requesting asylum in the United States:

Following the barbarous murder of a young Jew because he was Jewish, in the context of the rise in anti-Semitic acts committed by Islamic fundamentalists, numerous members of the community no longer feel safe in France.

[...]We believe that the United States, known for its traditional welcome to those under threat in their native lands, must open its doors to us.

The request is not just an insult to the French, it is an insult to asylum seekers worldwide who have a legitimate reason for wanting to escape cruel regimes where they are in true fear for their lives. What were these people thinking?

Our houseguests left on Sunday after a ten-day New York holiday. One of the highlights of having my friend Aidan in town was the opportunity to set the world to rights over a beer. The Mars Bar (pictured above) was an excellent venue. And the $5.50 whiskeys helped.

One of our debates was about Iran. Aidan felt that the threat of Ahmadinejad and other Iranian hardliners was overblown. I disagreed. Though I do think antipathy or opposition to such extreme views is underreported in the West.

Nevertheless, this video of a cultural advisor to the Iranian Education Ministry reminded me why I am so concerned. Imagine if this was an advisor to a Western government. Via (Anorak.)