Media-Whore D'Oeuvres



"GRETA VAN SUSTEREN: OK, all eyes are on Iran. What difference do you think it means to the United States if it's Ahmadinejad is president or Mousavi who's president? KISSINGER: It -- the personalities may make some difference. Ahmadinejad is fanatical and very much based on a very populist approach. Mousavi -- Mousavi was no great bargain when he was prime minister. So it isn't that one of them is pro-West and the other isn't. He'd probably be more liberal, a little bit more liberal domestically. And he has the support of intellectuals and professors and the city people as against the agricultural area. But what I think the difference will be is this. Here is a regime that's run by theologians and has an ayatollah as the head of it. And they've been running it on the principle that they're religiously based (INAUDIBLE) Now they've had mass demonstrations Teheran and in other cities against the regime. And in order to counter it, they've had some mass demonstration against the demonstrators. This puts the legitimacy of the regime more on the side of the public than of the ayatollahs. So whether the -- the ayatollahs, in my opinion, cannot fully recover from the fact that they announced the election as a divine result and then had to start reconsidering it and (INAUDIBLE) examining it. And whatever different result they announce was not what they had originally intended to do. So I think the regime has been shaken up a bit." (Greta)



"The very first time I walked into the Spectator office was in 1975, taken there for the summer party by Simon Courtauld, the then managing editor, i.e., he dealt with the business side of the oldest English speaking magazine in the world. Mind you, as I was about to find out, Simon had very little to do. The Spectator was selling 6000 copies and had no advertising whatsoever. Simon introduced me to the editor, Alexander Chancellor, who was friendly and quite drunk, dishevelled and quite handsome. As I was to discover, everyone working for the Speccie back then was an old Etonian, except for Simon, who—horrors of horrors—had gone to Winchester. Oh yes, there was also Claire Asquith, Lady Claire, in fact, who worked downstairs with Geoffrey Wheatcroft, the literary editor. Wheatie, as he was called, was known as the rigid man. The moment he had one too many he became rigid, like a German officer being inspected by the Kaiser, and then was known to pass out in a rigid state .. What were some of the highlights throughout the years? Too many to list but a few come to mind. Alexander Chancellor, a married man falling in love with a book reviewer, Mary Furness, Suzy Chancellor slapping Mary in public and the Spectator losing its editor while he took a six week sabbatical in Cairo in order to recover from the ordeal. Yours truly getting busted at Heathrow for having cocaine in my pocket, ringing the Speccie in order to resign, and having Claire Asquith ask me whether I’d be filing copy from jail. Peregrine Worsthorne ringing the editor, Charles Moore, demanding he sack me, and Charles telling him that if Taki were our religious correspondent, I’d sack him on the spot. In view of the fact he’s our high life writer, we expect him to be high at times.'" (TakiMag)



"In retaliation for tightened U.N. sanctions following North Korea's May 25 nuclear test and subsequent missile tests, Pyongyang defiantly upped the ante on Saturday, June 13. North Korea said it will move forward with its plans to build a nuclear arsenal, begin a program of uranium enrichment, and take 'resolute military actions' against the United States and its regional allies. Then on Thursday, June 18, news surfaced that the next missile test might be pointed toward Hawaii (the missiles in question don't have the range to actually reach the islands -- only head that way). Pyongyang is also reportedly preparing another nuclear test.
This game of escalation will go on and on until North Korea gets what it desires most from Washington: a reliable security assurance. Of course, no one likes to yield to dictators. But ultimately, playing chicken with a desperate and nuclear-armed North Korea is too risky to endeavor. The more isolated the North Koreans become, the more likely they will be to use the nuclear card in threatening two hostages: South Korea and Japan. Everyone loses that game." (ForeignPolicy)



(image via guestofaguest)

"'A lot has changed since I started BCBG 20 years ago,' said Max Azria--in French--at last night's Whitney Art Party, which he has hosted for the past three years ...'It hasn't been that bad,' said Jason Wu diplomatically as the hoi polloi marveled at the presence of that Presidential createur. 'I used last night to recover from the CFDAs.'" (Fashionweekdaily)



(image via JH/NYSocialDiary)

"The High Line is the newest addition to New York City’s wonderful parks, an example of what private/public partnerships can accomplish. The brainchild of Founders Robert Hammond and Joshua Davis, visionaries who conceptualized a transformation of the dilapidated 1930's elevated freight line, rising above Manhattan streets, on its rugged steel structure. The globally unique design by Field Operations and Diller Scofido & Renfro, incorporates the existing rails and ties with indigenous plantings and grasses -- that had naturally arisen during abandonment -- with indoor/outdoor spaces, special lighting, generous seating, and awesome vistas of downtown Manhattan, especially at night. Thus far, the largest private donors are Diane Von Furstenberg and Barry Diller." (NYSocialDiary)



"Steve Ballmer has said that Microsoft will have to 'spend to compete' in search—and Thursday he put some round numbers on how much the company might eventually invest. Speaking in Chicago, Ballmer said he was willing to invest 5 to 10 percent of the company’s overall operating income on the search business for up to five years, according to Reuters. Alley Insider runs the math and says that would amount to up to $11 billion—a figure which assumes the unlikely scenario that Microsoft’s operating income will stay flat for the next five years." (Paidcontent)