Deja vu Judith Apter Klinghoffer
Dr. Judith Apter Klinghoffer taught history and International relations at Rowan University, Rutgers University, the Foreign Affairs College in Beijing as well as at Aarhus University in Denmark where she was a senior Fulbright professor. She is an affiliate professor at Haifa University. Her books include Israel and the Soviet Union, Vietnam, Jews and the Middle East: Unintended Consequences and , International Citizens' Tribunals: Mobilizing Public Opinion to Advance Human Rights
Friday, November 30, 2007
UAE HELPS IRAN BYPASS SANCTIONS
Our good friends in the UAE which include Dubai of the port fame and Abu Dhabi (whose SWF just bought 10% of Citigroup)are helping Iran to bypass those sanctions which are supposesd to help us avoid war. The Financial Times reports:
. . . the UAE has become the main window to foil official and de facto sanctions against Iran, say businessmen in Tehran. The Iranian government, they add, has established "private companies" that help to bypass the effects of sanctions."There are so many ways to do business through the UAE and Americans cannot do much," said one former official.
Following UN sanctions targeting the Iranian banking sector, most money transfers are made via UAE banks.
Despite declines in trade with European countries, including Germany and Italy, many believe unofficial trade with these countries is rising through Dubai.
Most international banks have stopped doing business with Iran because of US pressure, which has gone beyond the UN sanctions placed on a few big Iranian financial institutions.
UAE-based banks are reluctant to deal with companies that are likely to import goods into Iran, says Nasser Hashempour, vice-president of the Dubai-based Iranian Business Council.
Oh, yes. They also invest in the country:
A group of Iranian investors based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are keen to invest in economic projects of the Hormuzgan province.Investors -the majority of whom are originally from the Hormuzgan province- were encouraged by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during his recent visit to UAE to come to Iran for investment.
The investment plans by the prospective investors include the construction of a cooking oil refinery in Bandar Abbas valued $300 million, an iron factory valued $500 million and the construction of two industrial sites valued around $22 million each.
Deputy Governor General of Hormuzgan province asserted that investment by these investors will create a total of 8,000 jobs in the province.
With friends like these . . . Yes, our navy is supposed to protect them!
Thursday, November 29, 2007
FEARFUL AHMADINEJAD TURNS TO IMPURE DOGS
It is hard to make this stuff up. At first sight it seems that if a man's life were not at stake, the story would be funny. Alas, it is not as it reveals that Ahmadinejad who tries to strut on the world stage like a giant seeking martyrdom is nothing but as the Russian press reported, a fearful midget. So fearful, in fact, that he even enlisted impure dogs to protect him.
blogger Reza Valizadeh wrote that the "canines were deployed to sniff out possible explosives on November 14, before Ahmadinejad's appearance at an annual press exhibition. The sweep left exhibition visitors standing outside the venue for several hours." The four dogs were purchased in Germany at $150,000 each. Dogs are not used by other Iranian leaders' security teams. Indeed, they have not been used in the country during the 28 years of the Islamic republic's existence. Muslim (if not Zoroastrian) dog ownership is controversial because the Koran considers dogs impure.
The Shia docrine prescribes:
The water left over in the container after any type of animal has drunk from it is considered clean and pure apart from the left over of a dog, a pig, and a disbeliever.There are ten types of filth and impurities: urine, feces, semen, carrion, blood of carrion, dogs, pigs, disbelievers.
When a dog, a pig, or a disbeliever touches or comes in contact with the clothes or body [of a Muslim] while he [the disbeliever] is wet, it becomes obligatory-compulsory upon him [the Muslim] to wash and clean that part which came in contact with the disbeliever.
This means that areas sniffed, touch, licked by dogs must be considered impure. Religious Iranians cannot but be surprised by their president's willingness to defile an area before entering it. It is not an action he could have taken lightly. He must be truly petrified. Just as illuninating is the fact that though the press exhibition must have been swarming with reporters, only one blogger dared reveal Ahmadinejad's religious transgression.
Reporters Without Borders freedom of the press index ranks Iran 166 out of 169 countries. What does that mean? It means that a journalist such as Akbar Montajabi had to change jobs 20 times. Last year I was told by an Iranian reporter I met in India that all his stories must be based on 6 approved sources. Even that does not protect reporters from paranoid Ahmadinejad. Reporters are routinely arrested, harassed, killed.
Ayfer Sere, a Kurdish-origin Turkish journalist of the Euphrates news agency, was killed in late July by the Iranian army in Keleres, in the northwestern province of Azerbaijan. She first appeared to have died during an operation against Kurdish rebels but evidence received by Reporters Without Borders showed she had been killed on her way to the border after finishing her assignment. She had gone to the region in early July to investigate a spate of suicides by Kurdish women. The Iranian authorities refused to explain how she died or return her body to her family.Three years after Iranian-Canadian journalist Zahra Kazemi was arrested and murdered after photographing families of prisoners outside Teherans Evin prison, her killers have still not been identified.
Now, all reporters dare protest is their own treatment:
Valizadeh's arrest comes two days after dozens of Iranian journalists and intellectuals issued a statement to protest the jailing of journalists who are critical of the Iranian government.One of the signatories, journalist Issa Saharkhiz, told Radio Farda on November 26 that a government crackdown on journalists has intensified in recent months. "There are some who are sitting and thinking of ways to fill up Iran's prisons. Unfortunately, we now see this not only in Tehran but also in the provinces," Saharkhiz said.
Saharkhiz added that journalists and media workers have lost their jobs as a result, and society has been limited to a "single voice."
In recent weeks, several journalists have been detained or charged in cities like Ahvaz, Rasht, and Sanandaj.
With reporters so effectively silenced, bloggers man the front lines. In addition to Reza Valizadeh, Maryam Hosseinkhah who writes on women's issue has also been arrested in the last 10 days:
It is within this context that a reader named Ahvazi left the following poignant comment on Kamangir's website:
The price of a German Dog: $150,000Bail to release an Iranian: $50,000
If Reza was a dog he would have been valued highter!
Let me quote Mr. Khomenie when he said An American dog has more rights in Iran than an Iranian.
I like to say that A German dog has more rights in Iran than an Iranian!
When all said and done, life in one totalitarian state is very much like life in any other. Everybody lives in justifiable fear and the leader in constant paranoia. Just go see the brilliant movie, The Lives of Others. Forget all about cultural differences. 2007 Iran is very much like 1985 East Germany. Only scenery, costume and language are different and they are not and will never be the heart of the matter.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
FRENCH POLICE: "RIOTERS WANT TO KILL US"/update
This is getting serious. Sarkozy is talking about charging rioters with attempted murder. I watched a France 2 interview with Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie she was livid. I do not blame her:
"It felt like they were out to kill us. We knew there were weapons in the suburbs, but never turned against us like that," one of the police officers shot during youth riots near Paris said on Wednesday.Sent to the suburb of Villiers le Bel to quell an outbreak of violence that followed the death of two teens in a crash with police, Francois, who asked not to be fully identified, found himself under siege.
"We were attacked from all sides by youths armed with hunting rifles. . . .
"The kids were shooting at us at close range, loading and reloading their weapons. I've never seen anything like it. It was like in a movie. They were picking us off from 10 or 15m away.
"I was hit in the hand with what I thought was a slingshot. I didn't realise right away that it was buckshot, until I saw the hole in my trousers. I tried to protect my younger colleagues and I fell to the ground, said Francois. . . .
A line was crossed, they say, when suburb gangs turned guns on the police, 120 of whom were injured, several by gunshots. The hunting rifles used by the gangs are dangerous anywhere within a 300m range. . . .
Francois said: "There were not enough of us to sustain that kind of a siege. I had run out of (rubber bullet) ammunition. We really got a fright. We felt they were out to kill us. We didn't know where we were any more." . . .
A report from Le Monde newspaper described boys as young as 13 taking orders from their elders to torch buildings and forming battle ranks against the police.
Do note, the police union spokesperson is Muslim too!
At least 120 officers have been injured, four of them seriously, causing interior minister Francois Villion to vow to "do everything" to curb the violence."Those who shoot at policemen, those who beat a police officer almost to death are criminals and must be treated as such," he told the French parliament.
Douhane Mohamed of the Synergie police union explained the severity of the unrest, saying: "Two things are cause for anxiety: signs the violence is spreading to neighbouring areas, which have already had their share of burned cars, and the almost systematic use of firearms against police."
And they are burning libraries frequented by neighborhood children! I watched the local people heartbroken: I used to take my granddaughter to that library. Where will I take her now?
Christopher Caldwell in Rioters vs state in a test of will provides an excellent analysis:
The rioters not only attacked symbols of the French republic; they had planned such attacks in advance. They had reportedly stockpiled petrol and used walkie-talkies for intercepting police communications. A police officer from nearby Sarcelles was beaten so badly that the local prosecutor plans to charge those involved with attempted murder. Of the 82 police injured on Tuesday night, six were being treated for serious gunshot wounds. In short, there has been a quantum escalation in both violence and strategy.Almost all the discussion since the riots has focused on police-community relations. Women from the neighbourhood told Le Monde that, in spite of the surface calm, its war with the police. Another anonymous source told LIndpendant: They know the cops are scared. If so, it will be a pyrrhic victory for the local kids. Anyone with the slightest knowledge of street violence knows that scared is the last thing you want the police to be when they are facing a mob.
AMERICAN ISLAMIC CONGRESS SLAMS SUDAN OVER TEDDY BEAR CASE/update
Now this is what I call good news. An American Muslim organization, "passionate about moderation" speaking out:
The American Islamic Congress today slammed the Sudanese government for jailing (see picture) a British teacher over a teddy bears name and demanded her immediate release from prison.We denounce this fabricated outrage, stated Nasser Weddady, the organizations Civil Rights Outreach Director. The Sudanese governments ridiculous case trivializes the feelings of Muslims around the world.
Earlier today, the Sudanese government charged Gillian Gibbons, a teacher at Unity High School in Khartoum, with insulting religion and inciting hatred for naming a class teddy bear "Muhammad." She faces up to 40 lashes and six months in prison.
The sad legacy of the Danish cartoon riots is that we have to speak out immediately when extremists try to provoke clashes over trivial matters, Weddady explained. This is not about cultural sensitivities. There is no excuse for someone to be sent to jail and whipped over a teddy bears name. Ms. Gibbons needs to be freed at once.
Jana El-Horr, a Peacebuilding Fellow with the American Islamic Congress, noted that the Sudanese regime is trying to distract attention from the ongoing genocide in Darfur. Muslims around the world are horrified over the brutal killings in Darfur, El-Horr explained. Now the Sudanese regime is trying to rally support by putting on the defender of Islam hat. But we wont be fooled.
The Teddy Bear Outrage comes public perception of Muslims continues to decline, as documented in a recent Pew Forum poll.
The Muslim world has much more pressing and urgent problems to deal with than a random teddy bear, Weddady observed. This ridiculous case has the potential to further tarnish popular perceptions of Muslims. Whats truly offensive here is the action of the Sudanese regime, which only entrenches the perception of Muslims as hyper-sensitive.
The American Islamic Congress is a civil-rights organization promoting tolerance and the exchange of ideas among Muslims and between other peoples. With the motto passionate about moderation, the organization leads initiatives around the world and has offices in Washington, Boston, Egypt, and Iraq.
BRAVO!
British Imam calls on Sudan to release the teacher.
The teacher was found guilty and sentenced to 15 days in prison. Rioters in Sudan burn her picture and call for a harsher sentence!
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
ANNAPOLIS MEETING
USE ANNAPOLIS TO SAVE SAUDI RAPE VICTIM
Will the international community show as much guts as the 19 year old girl who was first rapped and then not sentenced to 200 lashes? Remember the Saudi minister of Justice arguing that the verdict is just?! He even hinted that it could be increased if she does not keep quite. But neither the girl nor her lawyer would not be intimidated. They told their story : to ABC.
"Everyone looks at me as if I'm wrong. I couldn't even continue my studies. I wanted to die. I tried to commit suicide twice," she said of her experience just after the attack.
The woman, known anonymously in the Saudi press as "Qatif Girl" for the eastern province town where the crime took place, was originally sentenced to 90 lashes for being in a state of "khalwa" -- retreat with a male who's not a relative.
But the General Court of Qatif increased the punishment to 200 lashes and six months in jail after she took her case to the press. Authorities deemed it an "attempt to aggravate and influence the judiciary through the media," according to Saudi Arabia's English-language newspaper Arab News. . . .
Along with the young woman's sentence, the General Court of Qatif confiscated the license of her attorney, Abdul Rahman Al-Lahem, a lawyer known for taking on controversial cases that push back against Saudi Arabia's strictly interpreted system of sharia, or Islamic law.
"Asking me to appear in front of a disciplinary committee at the Ministry of Justice is a punishment for taking human rights cases against some institutions," Al-Lahem told Arab News. Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Justice said in this week's statement that Al-Lahem's "faulty behaviors contradict the ethics of his profession and violate the provisions of practicing law and its executive code."
"I [was] 19 years old. I had a relationship with someone on the phone. We were both 16. I had never seen him before. I just knew his voice. He started to threaten me, and I got afraid. He threatened to tell my family about the relationship. Because of the threats and fear, I agreed to give him a photo of myself," she recounted.
"A few months [later], I asked him for the photo back but he refused. I had gotten married to another man. He said, 'I'll give you the photo on the condition that you come out with me in my car.' I told him we could meet at a souk [market[ near my neighborhood city plaza in Qatif.
"He started to drive me home. We were 15 minutes from my house. I told him that I was afraid and that he should speed up. We were about to turn the corner to my house when they [another car] stopped right in front of our car. Two people got out of their car and stood on either side of our car. They man on my side had a knife. They tried to open our door. I told the individual with me not to open the door, but he did. He let them come in. I screamed.
"One of the men brought a knife to my throat. They told me not to speak. They pushed us to the back of the car and started driving. We drove a lot, but I didn't see anything since my head was forced down."
Keep reading. It does not get prettier. Most importantly, do not buy the idea of gentel lashing.See what 50 lashes look like after 20 days!
In Sudan the same type of Islamist justice is now about to administer 40 lashes to a naive British teacher for naming a Teddy bear Muhammad!
Where is the outrage? More specifically, where is the feminist outrage? Where is the media outrage? This story should lead the news every night! The Saudis are here supposedly to support the peace process (though without agreeing "to defile" themselves by shaking the hand of an Israeli infidel).
The Annapolis conference is bound to be a sham. Let's take advantage of it to save one Saudi girl and her lawyer. Maybe that much could be achieved. The Arab society is motivated by notions of honor, we are repeatedly told. So, Lets shame them> Already, the Saudi Foreign ministe tried to silence critics by promising a review. He is not to be trusted. The last review increased her punishment.
The king has the ability to pardon her and he should be pressured to do so pronto.
Now is the time for action. Feminists should demonstrate against the Saudis whereever they are and the media take advantage of any and every opportunity to raises the subject.
What can be lost? At the very least, world consciousness will be raised.
Monday, November 26, 2007
SAVIOR BY DAY; SQUADRON GUNNER BY NIGHT
As the rabbis said: If I am not to myself, who will be for me (so Yuval is a squadron gunner); If I am only to myself, what am I (so Yuval is a periatrician who saves the life of Palestinian as well as Israeli children); and if not now, when?
Yuval's inspirational story shines a light on the reason Israel not only survives but thrives:
The 2-year-old's flawed heart beat backward, pumping blue blood to his lips and inking rings around his eyes.Ahmad edged across his hospital bed, toward his mother, Nasima Abu Hamed. Nasima, a Palestinian from Gaza, had brought Ahmad to Israel for an operation. She moved uneasily through hospital halls decked with Israeli flags -- but the Jewish doctors could save her son. . . .
Yuval patted Ahmad on the head. The surgery would be soon. Later, Nasima called Yuval "our savior of the children."
Yuval is a savior of children. He is also an attack helicopter pilot. It was Yuval in his Cobra -- though Nasima didn't know it -- hovering over her town, as Israeli troops battled armed Palestinians. By day, Yuval works as a pediatrician. By night, he fires missiles for the air force.
One of Yuval's supervisors, physician Sion Houri, sees no contradiction between Yuval's two jobs. "There's reality A; there's reality B. It's not a dichotomy -- it's us," said Houri. "It's our life as Israelis."
After decades of war, what might be madness in another society passes for normal in Israel. As negotiators meet this week in Annapolis to try to resolve the Middle East conflict, Israelis find ways to resolve the conflict in their own lives. In the Bible, Ecclesiastes declares: "There is . . . a time to kill, and a time to heal." Yuval is doing both, at the same time.
Actually, this is zionism 101 - one hand holds the shovel, the other the gun. There has never been a choice for Here I was Born. Just imagine if he could rest nights . . . . No wonder Israelis have been singing so enthusiastically about Tomorrow, and Next year, when peace will finally come or that all Jews, where ever they roam, pray daily: "He who makes peace in Heaven will make peace on us and all of Israel."
David Ben Gurion, the father of the country, would have been ever so proud.
HAMAS EXECUTES FATAH
These are the people the FT editors recommend as as partner for negotiations.
My take on Annapolis can be found here and Bernard Lewis's bellow -
WHITE HANDS OF PACIFICISTS
I am at the moment busy trying to write an article about the Biblical Judith, yes, the one who beheaded the enemy general Holofernes to galvanize her people to war against his Assyrian maraudes. I was stunned to discover that critics have called her a murderess! So, I was delighted to find in my mailbox a link to this article which exposes the fallacy and dangers of such old/new critic.
One can do nothing, as said the poet Charles Pguy. One can let Evil have the leisure to abuse the world, and give him the exclusive monopoly on action. One can take refuge in the by ways of good conscience: "At least, I did not act with malice towards anybody" Nor with benevolence either!But the ball of fire which burned Dresden and killed tens of thousands of Germans, or that of Hamburg, or the two mushroom clouds, did not make Allies of the criminals, nor of their criminal war. The Allies did not lose their heart. They were not transformed into Nazis.
What is the right way to deal with Gengis Khan and Tamerlan? To remain at home? The contemporary sensitivity requires it. It gives priority to good conscience. It elevates the errors made by those which reject its premises. It denies that the barbarians exist. It minimizes cruelty. It to seek to persuade to speak softly to the barbarians, to take account/understand their reasons and their desires. It opens the door to them so that they do not have any difficulty getting in.
Those who demonstrate the reality of the danger to them, the cruelty of the barbarian, is accused of inhumanity, is vilified for injurious cruelty. Better the world perish than my illusions!
To comprehend the languid aesthetic of this altitude, one should read Constantin Cavafy's poem, "While waiting for the barbarians."
When I hear that genre of complaint in connection with the prison of Guantanamo, the maltreatments at Abu Ghraib, the captured killers whom one tortures a little, in a word, when I hear them groan of the consequences of conflicts caused by the islamist nihilism, it is this sentimental mannerism . . . that I hear. "It skins me the ears." It is founded on the absurd certainty that Evil is law, that it really does not exist, and that nothing evil will come to pass.
White hands are no hands!
Sunday, November 25, 2007
STAND BY TASLIMA NASRIN/update
Forget the 13 dead lawyers in Uttar Pradesh blasts. No big deal. Their relatives will be compensated. They certainly cannot be allowed to damage the well entrenched Islamists leftist alliance ruling India. At the moment that alliance is working hard to punish Taslima Nasreen, the author of the "fictional" account of the persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh, Lajja-Shame. Yes, you guessed. Islamist clerics issued a fatwa against her. Any Muslims choosing to kill her would go to paradise. Nasreen escaped her homeland. Kapchan Gupta picks up the story:
Feted by Kolkata's intellectuals, Ms Nasreen decided to shift to West Bengal and was granted a one-year visa in September 2005. But before that, she had run into trouble with Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee who, despite his pretensions of being a writer and a Marxist, gave in without a fight and banned her autobiographical book, Dwikhondito, in November 2003 because it had references to the perversion of Islam by those who use religion to perpetuate their twisted notions of a Muslim woman's place in society.Another book, Aamar Meyebela, also ran into trouble and was promptly banned in Bangladesh. The publishers of Dwikhondito went to court and appealed against the ban. The Calcutta High Court declared the ban was "untenable" and "unjustifiable" in September 2005. Dwikhondito reappeared in bookshops and became an instant bestseller, not least because it rips off many a 'secular' and 'progressive' mask.
On August 10 this year, when Ms Nasreen visited Hyderabad for the launch of her translated works, she was set upon by leaders of Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen who insisted that she should be handed over to them so that they could punish her for her 'sins'. She escaped the lynching but the incident showed that fanatics had put in motion a plan to hound her out of India.
Last Wednesday's riots in central Kolkata when murderous mobs owing allegiance to All-India Minority Forum, headed by Mr Idris Ali, a Congress leader, demanded that she be thrown out of the country, are part of this devious plan whose ultimate goal is to demonstrate the might of radical Islamism in 'secular' India. Mr Biman Bose, chairman of the Left Front and a member of the CPI(M) Polit Bureau who loves to be portrayed in media as a remorseless, cold-blooded commissar, wilted in the face of Muslim fury and ensured Ms Nasreen's eviction from Kolkata and West Bengal. Since then, she has been on the run, first seeking shelter in Jaipur and then in Rajasthan House in Delhi.
Tasmila Nasreen is begging to be permitted to return to Kolkata:
I am a Bengali and Bengal is my home and feel at home in Kolkata, I know I am loved by the people there," Taslima said over phone from New Delhi."What are the people of Kolkata saying? What are the intellectuals saying?" she asked on the demand for cancellation of her visa by certain Muslim groups.
"I am not a political person. I am an ordinary human being who writes for equal rights. I don't write about religion, I write about human rights, women rights and secular humanism," she said.
As the Communist rule of West Bengal depends on Muslim support, Indian papers predict that her plea will fall on death ears. Instead, India Times predicts Left, UPA dump Taslima to keep Muslim vote bank intact.
After all, this is the company she keeps-
Top: Demonstrators in Pakistan protest the publication of cartoons of Muhammad in a Danish periodical.
Bottom: From l: Salman Rushdie, Taslima Nasreen, Irshad Manji, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Bernard-Henri Levy and Mehdi Mozaffari (they all signed the DISSENT posted bellow)
There is only one way to stand by Taslima and that is by shining the international limelight the Indian government's cowardly behavior in the hope of shaming it.
It is the least we can do!
BEFORE ACTING ON JERUSALMEM; REMEMBER GAZA
The argument:
If the Israelis get out of the Palestinian territories, even Hamas and Hezbollah will agree to a settlement. O. K., they are not going to recognize Israel but they will declare a "Hudna" temporary armistice which may last decades or longer. No, this is not a straw man argument. It is being forwarded by pundits, policy makers from around the world including Israel.
My short answer:
It has been tried and failed in Gaza. Israel left. All the Jews (including the dreaded settlers) left. And left without violence! Israelis understand the meaning of democracy and ultimately accepts its verdicts.
Only Arabs can safely ignore the results of democratic elections or demand that their land be "Judenfrei" without endangering not only their popularity but their legitimacy.
The result? As Gaza residents feared, the evacuation resulted in nothing but misery for both Israelis who live within increasing Katyusha range and misery for the Palestinian people living in Gaza under terrorist theocracy.
Here is a map of Jerusalem. Look at it and consider what would happen if Israel relinquishes any part of it.
Saturday, November 24, 2007
ISLAMISTS BLOW UP INDIAN COURTS
It seems that it was a response to a decision by lawyers not to represent terrorists.
The message - Represent Terrorists or we will blow you up!
BEHEADED FOR WEARING WRONG TROUSERS
Iraqi school guard, wife beheaded as children watch:
Three suspected Al Qaeda militants, including two sisters, beheaded their uncle and his wife, forcing the couples children to watch, Iraqi police said on Friday.The militants considered that school guard Youssef al-Hayali was an infidel because he did not pray and wore western-style trousers, they told police interrogators after being arrested in Diyala province northwest of Baghdad.
The three cousins executed Hayali and his wife Zeinab Kamel at the all-boys school in Jalawlah in Diyala province, village police chief Captain Ahmed Khalifa said.
HIGH TECH WARFARE
David A. Fulghum and Robert Wall report in Aviation Week that U.S. Electronic Surveillance Monitored Israeli Attack On Syria. It was a 21st Century operation:
Israel is not alone in recent demonstrations of network warfare. Syria and Hezbollah revealed some basic expertise during the Lebanon conflict last year."Offensive and defensive network warfare is one of the most interesting new areas," says Pinchas Buchris, the director general of the Israeli Ministry of Defense. "I can only say we're following the [network attack] technology with great care. I doubted this [technology] five years ago. But we did it. Now everything has changed.
"You need this kind of capability," he says. "You're not being responsible if you're not dealing with it. And, if you can build this kind of capability, the sky's the limit."
Not really. A counter capability will be developed and it will be done sooner rather than later.
Friday, November 23, 2007
PUTIN REBELS AGAINST PLAYING WASHINGTON
"If he does that (give up power), he will be the greatest man in the world," Said King George III about George Washington. The same can be said today about Vladimir Putin. If he steps down as he vows, he would create a new Russia. He seems to know that and vows to do just that. Yet to listen to him, it is clear that every fiber in his body rebels against the idea. He is sure his successors cannot be trusted to defend and nourish the Russia he constructed. Just read this excerpt from his November 21st campaign speech ( Translated by A. Ignatkin):
Nothing is preordained. Social stability, economic growth, even peace in Russia, and some improvement in living standards are not an unexpected windfall. This is a result of constant political struggle, sometimes a vicious struggle, both domestically and internationally. It is a result of a clash of interests. No battle can be fought without your participation.Nothing would please our adversaries more than disruption of our plans, because they have other plans and designs for Russia.
They want it to be weak. They want us to be a disorganized and disoriented society, a divided society, so that they can line their pockets behind our backs and at our expense. Regrettably, there are still certain forces in this country who grovel before foreign embassies and rely on foreign grants rather than on support from their own people. . . .
The authorities do make mistakes. They deserve criticism when they do. . . .
And those who controlled the commanding heights in the federal parliament and government only a decade ago, in the 1990s, those who damaged our society and the state in pursuing the interests of oligarchic structures and looting our national wealth. It is these same people who are now trying to tell us what to do - the same people who made corruption the principal instrument of political and economic competition. It was those people who kept passing unbalanced and irresponsible budgets year after year, and who brought about the default and deterioration of living standards. . . .
I don't think anyone has any doubts as to what would follow their return to power. These people would once again rob millions of ordinary citizens and line their own pockets, in their typically cynical manner.
Everyone knows that Russia has accumulated vast resources. So there is once again a desire to confiscate it all, divide it all, and ruin everything again.
All our enemies would like to see us enslaved.
The fate of our country will be decided on December 2! Vote United Russia!
To watch the Russian people's enthusiastic response to his speeches, it is obvious that they too share his instincts. All evidence points to a major party victory. Moreover, the Russian people seem as nervous as he is about the passing of the presidential torch. The helm is certainly there for his keeping just as it was in the case of Washington. Yet Washington overcame his fears and potential hubris; he overcame the oh so flattering belief that he was irreplaceable. That "Apres moi, le deluge!"
Much depends on Putin's ability to do what no Russian leader ever did: Bow out at the height of his power because the Constitution demands it. It is one of the most important democratic pillars. A few years ago, I suggested to the director of the Nobel Institute that the Peace Prize be awarded to Julius Nyerere for stepping down voluntarily as Tanzania's president. Alas, they had other priorities. Fortunately, Egypt's Mo Ibrahim who knows all so well the consequences of the refusal of a president to step down (think Mubarak!) established a Foundation just for such a purpose. The first award of five million dollars went to Joaquim Chissano, the former President of Mozambique. Perhaps some wealthy Russian should do the same. Perhaps, a few million dollars would help convince Putin that their is life without power?!
Just a thought.
WORTH READING
James R. Russell, Mashtots Professor of Armenian Studies, Harvard University writes about Ideaology over intergrity in Academe in The Current. It starts thus:
Is this Columbia University? A professor of anthropology calls for a million Mogadishus, a professor of Arabic and Islamic Science tells a girl she isn't a Semite because her eyes are green, and a professor of Persian hails the destruction of the World Trade Center as the castrating of a double phallus. The most recent tenured addition to this rogues' gallery is to be an anthropologist, the principal thrust of whose magnum opus is the suggestion that archaeology in Israel is a sort of con game meant to persuade the unwary that Jews lived there in antiquity.
Turkey tries to have its cake and eat it too or as R. Krespin writes Turkey's Parallel Policies One for Peace, One Against:
Two conferences took place last week in Turkey. The first, a summit held November 13, 2007 in Ankara, was dedicated to advancing the peace process, with the participation of Turkish President Abdullah Gul, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and Israeli President Shimon Peres.The second, held November 15-17 in Istanbul and titled The Al-Quds International Forum Meeting, was dedicated to support for jihadist organizations' quest for Jerusalem, and was hosted by Turkey's Waqf for Volunteering Organizations (TGTV), whose leaders include AKP officials, current and former MPs, and government ministers and which has been linked in international intelligence reports to other Islamist organizations suspected of transferring funds to Al-Qaeda.
The good news, not everybody approved!
Israel abandons Pollard yet again. I do understand it is a sensitive issue both to the government of Israel and the Jewish diaspora but enough is enough.
Watch Anti-Semitism redefined:
Pamela has more on the antics of UN's Human Right Council. It includes ending the scrutiny of Cuba and Belarus and indicting Israel.
I grant you none of this can be classified as news. Still . . .
Nathan Sharansky explains that the folly of Annapolis lies in Strengthening them again. Money paragraphs:
"We must strengthen Abu Mazen," say Israel's leaders as a kind of mantra. It is of no importance that along the way they are educating another generation of Palestinians to hatred, violence and the aspiration to destroy Israel. It is of no importance that the way to the strengthening is the diametric opposite of peace and dialogue. The main thing is that we are strengthening Abu Mazen.The old argument of President Shimon Peres and Meretz MK Yossi Beilin and Defense Minister Ehud Barak on "with whom to make peace, a strong leader or a weak leader" is no longer relevant. A look back over the years since the Oslo Accords shows clearly that the direction in which Palestinian society has marched is not the direction of peace. It was all in all just a hudna (truce) before another intifada. And when the society is becoming more extreme, what difference is it to us if the leader is strong or weak?
Finally, for the benefit of those likeme who are not subscribing to the Wall Street Journal, I posted bellow Boris Volodarsky's Terror's KGB Roots
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
REMEMBERING "OPERATION GRATITUDE" ON THANKSGIVING
A MAP DESIGNED TO SEND A CHILL DOWN YOUR BACK
Bruce Kessler draws attention to the global incident map map wesite. It is scarry yet necessary. For it will convince you that we are not alone and we have not brought it on ourselves!
So What?
We have no choice but to fight back.
Click to see moderate Muslims fight back. They dare stand up to the Cult of Honor and Shame.
Read Honest Reporting's study of the New York Time's coverage of the Israeli/Palestinian dispute.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
SWF GO ON ATTACK IN DUBAI
Capitalism as system based on private ownership of the economy may be slowly being replaced by a global system based state ownership of the economy. No, I am not talking about states merely controlling their own economic systems but those of other countries. Sovereign Wealth Funds are all the rage. Russia and China are reveling in them while Japan and India are considering them. For Sovereign wealth funds: Power magnifies as petrodollar gains ground and if you cannot beat them, you may as well join them.
To reassure nervous Nellies, the IMF suggested the funds practice VOLUNTARY TRANSPARENCY. In other words, the IMF suggested that they let us know what they are doing with their money. In the meantime we have to rely on guesses of experts with less than sterling records.
Not on your life, is their response. It is unfair to ask us such questions and if you do not stop it. We will not invest in your country! Now there! And if this is not scary enough, try adding to it a weak dollar and Western businessmen anxious to sell and you will end up with the following:
He told the Financial Times on Monday that the more sophisticated investors were likely to look beyond bank stocks, buying distressed debt instruments either directly or through hedge funds.His comments were made as some international bankers have recently been courting investors in the Gulf, a region seeing an unprecedented oil-fueled boom, in hopes of finding new buyers for distressed assets created by the credit turmoil.
But Mr bin Sulaiman also warned that any attempt to suck new Gulf buyers into US markets could be damaged by its attitude towards sovereign wealth funds, which have faced a political backlash driven by concerns over transparency and fears that the government funds could turn their financial power into political leverage.
This backlash, he said, could encourage regional houses to turn their backs on western markets and seek more buying opportunities in Asia, where they face little or no such backlash.
If you need foreign direct investment, you need to be welcoming, not scaring [investors] off, he said. Talk about sovereign wealth funds is creating a lot of sensitivity, even for private investors. They are already looking elsewhere to hedge their positions.
The International Monetary Fund has been recommending voluntary transparency from sovereign wealth funds to pre-empt compulsory disclosure that could be imposed by some western states. Mr bin Sulaiman said some of the regional funds made such big investments that disclosures would have an impact on markets and put these groups at a disadvantage.
His comments echo the position of other government-backed investors in the region, who cherish the secrecy of their investments and have balked at suggestions they should become more transparent. The DIFC, which has established itself as a regional financial centre, is also part of the new breed of Gulf investors that have pursued aggressive acquisitions abroad.
DIFC Investment, the centres investment arm, has acquired stakes in pan-European exchanges company Euronext and in Deutsche Bank. Borse Dubai, a government entity partly owned by DIFC, has tied with the US Nasdaq to acquire OMX, the Nordic exchange, and to buy a stake in the London Stock Exchange.
Mr bin Sulaiman confirmed that Borse Dubais next move was likely to be an investment into an Asian exchange. Its only logical, he said. Its a matter of when rather than whether we will [make an acquisition in Asia].
Nor are these threats falling on deaf ears. I have recently heard Rush Limbaugh tell his audience that it was his feeling that the reason Dubai bought Airbus instead of Boeing is because they resent the American refusal to let them take over the running of our ports!
The FT/DIFC World Financial Centres Summit taking place in Dubai is certainly worth following. We are in the midst of a complicated GO (American know it as Othello) game whose importance cannot be overstated.
Monday, November 19, 2007
ACADEMIA IN THE HOT SEAT
Columbia University is boiling. Professors find swastikas and nooses on their office doors and strenuous denials not withstanding Columbia president Lee Bollinger may soon be following in the footsteps Larry Summers. Why? Because he stepped into the maelstrom that is Middle East politics on campus. First, he invited Ahmadinejad to speak and then chastised him prior to his speech.
It was a truly disastrously performance which is currently exploited by Islamist/leftist faculty members to secure tenure for two of their members. They secured one for Nadia Abu El-Haj at Barnard. Now, they are well on their way to secure another Joseph Massad at Columbia. How? With the help of a public letter signed by 109 professors. 69 professors responded with a letter expressing their support for the president. For the first time the post Sixties steady take over of the campuses by proponents of a radical leftist/Islamist anti-Semitic, anti-American relativistic agenda is seriously challenged. Why?
Because 9/11 demonstrated the vile consequences Western education has when offered to Third World students has not only to the Third World but also to the First world. Al Qaeda achieved what the Kmer Rouge failed to do. It convinced increasing number of intellectuals to challenge the academic consensus which blamed everything on Western imperialism and nothing on indigenous Third World forces.
The trouble is that the system which worked well for the developed world has been truly harmful to the developed world by misleading its best and brightest. Not all Third World tyrants were necessarily educated in the great Western universities but their educated elites did swallowed the radical critic of Democratic Capitalism whole hog and it helped them justify their mismanagement of their home countries. The same can be said of the leading Islamists, Maoists and various National liberation commanders. If the academia had a tough time turning against the Kmer Rouge, it was because Pol Pot was "one of them." He merely put to practice what he learn in the Sorbonne. Voices trying to direct attention to the phenomenon were either silenced or marginalized. Moreover, these ideas were widely distributed in the Third World.
9/11 focused attention on the effect of education on Third World students. At first, few challenged academics directing attention to the usual suspects or root causes such as poverty, hopelessness and racism. Then came the serious research and revealed that terrorists tended to be well educated young people who bought into the fashionable Post Colonial critic and became determined to punish their "oppressors" for destroying their veritable "havens" that their homelands used to be and, indeed, bring about a return to those old time paradises. Princeton University economist Alan Krueger writes:
Pakistan, and Turkey, involving about 1,000 respondents in each country. One of the questions asked was, What about suicide bombing carried out against Americans and other Westerners in Iraq? Do you personally believe that this is justifiable or not justifiable? Pew kindly provided me with tabulations of these data by respondents personal characteristics.The clear finding was that people with a higher level of education are in general more likely to say that suicide attacks against Westerners in Iraq are justified. I have also broken this pattern down by income level. There is no indication that people with higher incomes are less likely to say that suicide-bombing attacks are justified.
Another source of opinion data is the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, headquartered in Ramallah. The center collects data in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. One question, asked in December 2001 of 1,300 adults, addressed attitudes toward armed attacks on Israeli targets. Options were strongly support, support, oppose, strongly oppose, or no opinion.
Support turned out to be stronger among those with a higher level of education. For example, while 26 percent of illiterates and 18 percent of those with only an elementary education opposed or strongly opposed armed attacks, the figure for those with a high school education was just 12 percent. The least supportive group turned out to be the unemployed, 74 percent of whom said they support or strongly back armed attacks. By comparison, the support level for merchants and professionals was 87 percent.
Clearly terrorism is being taught and, therefore, to stop it the teaching of the reasons terror is justified must stop.
How? First and foremost by challenging the scholarship of the those teaching it. Second, by making their propagators face public scrutiny. When such scrutiny leads to demands for sanctions against irresponsible professors, their colleagues often rush to their defense crying foul in the name of academic freedom. This is what is happening in Columbia and this is what happened at Harvard. We must realize that this battle has only just been joined and it is not going to be short, easy or pretty.
Still, nothing less than the survival of the developed world and the defeat of totalitarianism in the Developing world is at stake. For what 9/11 ultimately taught us is that the two are ultimately connected. To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln, the world cannot forever continue to be half free and half slave and the young cannot forever be taught that there is no difference between the two.
VIOLENCE BOOMERANGS
This is heartbreaking if not unexpected:
According to statistics gathered from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics and the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion (PCPO), 93.3 percent of Palestinian children have experienced domestic violence, amounting to 1,950,739 children - 953,950 of whom are girls.
Of course, researchers taught to expect nothing of the Palestinians, place the blame on (who else?) Israel!
Friday, November 16, 2007
RED CROSS JETS TERRORISTS TO GENEVA TO TRAIN IN INTER. LAW
Tonight BBC America featured a truly bizarre report by Katya Adler. There they were, Palestinian militants from Gaza wearing ski masks practicing first aid in an immaculate Geneva office. It was part of an ongoing IRCR program to give terrorists a chance to relax, excuse me learn about the Geneva Convention -
The International Red Cross has begun training Palestinian militants in Gaza as part of what it says is its worldwide effort to teach the rules of international humanitarian law in areas of armed conflict.All armed factions in Gaza have signed up to the course, which explains the rules of war under the Geneva Convention and how to protect civilians.
The Red Cross says it gives the same courses to the Israeli army.
Katya Adler asked the trainees whether they will follow the laws they were taught. It will depend on our commanders they answered.
Adler asked a commander whether he will stop lobbing missiles at Israeli civilians now that he knows international law considers it illegal. No, he answered.
Katty Kay asked why they came to Geneva? Katya failed to answer. Hard to believe that it never occurred to either that the "gunmen" may enjoy the paid vacation. I wonder about the "all armed factions." It is doubtful that Gaza and Hamas gunmen could share a classroom but then maybe they will do anything for a Swiss vacation.
I hope somebody will get hold of the video. It is a priceless piece of absurdity. Unless one is a terrorist, one does know whether to laugh or cry.
The terrorists must laugh. Who can ask for a more cooperative and helpful enemy?!
Next time you think of contributing to the Red Cross, remember your dollars will be used to provide terrorists with a much needed vacation!
VILLAIN OF THE WEEK - AL BARADAI
Iranian journalist Amir Taheri pleaded with Al Baradei not to repeat the mistake he and Blix made before the Iraq War:
His report should debunk Ahmadinejad's claims by stating unequivocally that the Islamic Republic has already violated the terms of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty on 32 issues over more than 18 years.Al Baradei should also expose Ahmadinejad's bogus claim that Iran is enriching uranium as fuel for power stations. Iran has no nuclear power plants and thus has no need of enriched uranium.
The only nuclear power plant under construction in Iran is to be completed by Russians at an unspecified date. But the uranium enriched by Iran at Natanz is not suitable for the plant being built by the Russians because it needs a different-type of fuel designated by an exclusive scientific code - a code that Moscow has refused to communicate to Tehran.
Because nuclear fuel has a lifespan of three to four years, the Natanz uranium cannot be intended for any of the 22 nuclear power plants that Ahmadinejad says he wants to build in Iran over the next 25 years. (None of those is even in the drawing stage.)
If the centrifuges are working to train Iranian scientists, Al Baradei should know that, at the level of scientific research, Iran was already able to enrich uranium in 1978.
The centrifuges working at Natanz can only be producing ingredients for nuclear warheads. Al Baradei should tell that truth to the Iranian people and the world at large.
But the Egyptian refused to listen or tell the truth. Hence, Iran's official news agency boasts: ElBaradei report vindicates Iran
Those who had hoped against hope that Ayatolla Khamenei would clip Ahmadinejad's wings must come to terms with the fact that Al Baradei's report only served to convince the Ayatollah that the Iranian President was right and that he should be permitted to further consolidate his power.
Here are some of the consequences - Crack Down on Iranian internet hosts , Tough measures for Iranians students abroad. There are bound to be plenty more. Of course, the ambitious now know who is the stronger horse.
I am sure Al Baradei gets it but does not care. All he cares about is avoiding the opprobrium of his transnationalist brethren who consider any enemy of the US, a friend.
Disgusting but true.
If Iran is bombed, he will be justly blamed.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
ISLAMIST JUSTICE/update
Our petrodollars at work there and at a Saudi financed mosque near us. The photo of the woman and sent to Dr. Homa Darabi 20 days after she received 50 lashes in Iran. Now figure - 200 lashes for the crime of being gang raped!
A court in the ultra-conservative kingdom of Saudi Arabia is punishing a female victim of gang rape with 200 lashes and six months in jail, a newspaper reported on Thursday.
The 19-year-old woman -- whose six armed attackers have been sentenced to jail terms -- was initially ordered to undergo 90 lashes for "being in the car of an unrelated male at the time of the rape," the Arab News reported.
But in a new verdict issued after Saudi Arabia's Higher Judicial Council ordered a retrial, the court in the eastern town of Al-Qatif more than doubled the number of lashes to 200.
A court source told the English-language Arab News that the judges had decided to punish the woman further for "her attempt to aggravate and influence the judiciary through the media."
Saudi Arabia enforces a strict Islamic doctrine known as Wahhabism and forbids unrelated men and women from associating with each other, bans women from driving and forces them to cover head-to-toe in public.
Last year, the court sentenced six Saudi men to between one and five years in jail for the rape as well as ordering lashes for the victim, a member of the minority Shiite community.
But the woman's lawyer Abdul Rahman al-Lahem appealed, arguing that the punishments were too lenient in a country where the offense can carry the death penalty.
In the new verdict issued on Wednesday, the Al-Qatif court also toughened the sentences against the six men to between two and nine years in prison.
The case has angered members of Saudi Arabia's Shiite community. The convicted men are Sunni Muslims, the dominant community in the oil-rich Gulf state.
Lahem, also a human rights activist, told AFP on Wednesday that the court had banned him from handling the rape case and withdrew his license to practice law because he challenged the verdict.
He said he has also been summoned by the ministry of justice to appear before a disciplinary committee in December.
Lahem said the move might be due to his criticism of some judicial institutions, and "contradicts King Abdullah's quest to introduce reform, especially in the justice system."
King Abdullah last month approved a new body of laws regulating the judicial system in Saudi Arabia, which rules on the basis of sharia, or Islamic law.
Update: Jushuapundit reports on the Saudi attempt to try to justify verdict by focusing on the girl's meeting with a non relative male and a warning:
In a statement the mis-named Saudi Justice ministry said:"We would like to state that the system has ensured them the right to object to the ruling and to request an appeal," the statement continued, "without resorting to sensationalism through the media that may not be fair or may not grant anyone any rights, and instead may negatively affect all the other parties involved in the case."
In other words, keep your mouth shut this time, sweetie or you'll get even worse.
Absolutely appalling...but then, that's the wahabi culture the Saudis are spending millions to import to the West - with our tacit consent.
If only it would not have been so!
Where is the Outrage over Saudi abuses?
"The answer, my friends, is blowing in the wind, the answer is blowing in the wind." - Bob Dylan
Must read:The 19 year old shia girl tells her story.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
DIASPORA MUSLIMS SHOULD FOLLOW NASER KHADER
The Danes went to the polls and gave their conservative prime minister an unprecedented third term or as they say, Fogh More Years. They also gave the party created by Naser Khader, the nemesis of extremist Imam Abu Laban, 5 mandates.
Remember Khader's response to the Muhammad Cartoons controversy?
Reaction to Jyllands-Postens depiction of the prophet Mohammed has again scaled new heights. Now Saudi Arabia and a couple of other Muslim countries also feel insulted and offended, and consumers in those countries are therefore going to boycott Danish goods. The line-up of the insulted gets longer by the minute and I want to take my place in the queue: You insult my democratic conviction. And I demand an apology. Now!
He was no less direct during the election campaign. When challenged by the Social Democrats to admit that he supported the conservative Prime Minister, he did just that:
We've always said we support the prime minister as lead negotiator. A lot of people have become confused, so I'll say it clearly now: he is our candidate for prime minister.
His straightforwardness should serve him well in the upcoming coalition negotiations.
It seems that the Danes took to heart the astute words of their minister of social affairs the co-author of "Islamists and the Naive," Karen Jespersen:
THE book did not equate the movements (Islamism, Nazism and Communism). . . but they had in common that one truth was in the world, and that one truth goes deeply into your private life. . . . Not all Muslims are reading the Koran in that sense, but those who interpret it this way are growing fast, in organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah, though I am convinced we can isolate them.I think we are letting down freedom-loving Muslims if we are not fighting the radical Islamists.
Naser Khader dared stand up to Islamist Jihadists and was rewarded though not as much as he had hoped. He is not going to be the Kingmaker which means his ability to demand a loosening of Denmark tough immigration laws will be limited. But the success of his new party demonstrates that nothing can ameliorate the damage to the Muslim Diaspora caused by the proponents of radical Islam more than moderate Muslim resistance.
Ameliorate though not negate. For despite everything, the far right Danish People's Party increased its number of mandates to 25. This in one of the most liberal countries in Europe!
The Muslim Diaspora has a huge stake in fighting radical Islam and the sooner it realizes it, the better. Crying Islamophobia will not suffice but standing up to Islamists is not only the right and courageous thing to do but it is also the self interested thing to do. Covering up for Islamists is sure to awaken the fascist tigers and undermine the image of Islam and Muslims as a whole. This prime minister was reelected in part because he reduced the number of refugees (mainly Muslims) from 10,000 in 2001 to 2000!
Ask the Danish Muslims. Ask Naser Khader.
SOME AL DURA RUSHES SCREEN IN FRENCH COURT
Something rather momentous is happening in a French court. Journalist are forced to acknowledge that they fabricate the news. Photojournalists are forced to show the row footage from which they cut and sliced their inaccurate reports. Ironically, they were forced to do so because they sued Phillipe Karsesnty for asserting that France 2's inaccurate reporting amounted to a blood libel.
Still, there is hope that journalists will be seen in their true colors, unelected, unaccountable, untrustworthy professionals who use their clout to forward personal agendas. In other words, they are no better than the other professionals, politicians and corporate executives.
So what? So plenty. The news media has successfully argued that to fulfill its special mission of informing the public mandates that it would not he held to the same standards it holds others. The BBC has so far been successfully in preventing the publication of an internal report critical of the anti Israeli bias of its Middle East coverage. A new media shield law is pending in Congress which would extend the privileges enjoyed by journalists to bloggers.
Freedom of the press is the mother's milk of democracy. But so is the ability of politicians to cut deals and reach compromises. Yet, no one would suggest that politicians should enjoy special immunity.
Technological advances have geometrically increased the power of the media. The Al Dura rushes screen in the French court proves yet again that corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely applies to the media. Hence, it is absolutely mandatory that the media should be held accountable in the same manner that other exercisers of powers are. It is too early to judge the ripple effect of the French court proceedings but at the very least, it should encourage others to follow in the footsteps of Phillipe Karsenty and Richard Landes as they wrestle to save the truth from journalist turned propagandists.
Landes concludes that the tapes were doctored and here is Honest Reporting on today in court:
Monday, November 12, 2007
BLAIR GLITCH PROJECT
At the time of Tony Blairs departure in June from 10 Downing Street, I reflected in the American Spectator on his confusing the relationship between Middle Eastern turbulence and the Israeli-Palestinian flashpoint, citing his 2003 speech, in which he stated that This [Middle Eastern] terrorism will not be defeated without peace in the Middle East between Israel and Palestine. Here it is that the poison is incubated. Here it is that the extremist is able to confuse in the mind of a frighteningly large number of people the case for a Palestinian state and the destruction of Israel. As I noted then, This reverses matters. Terrorism is a symptom of war, not an aberration that can be cured by peace. It follows that its defeat is a condition of peacemaking, not the other way around. I also noted that Blairs misconception bodes ill for his performance as Quartet envoy, which post he had just assumed. And so it has been.
Ponder the sheer sterility of task. As Barry Rubin has wryly observed, Now he has taken the job as bag man for Fatah, becoming its full-time fundraiser. No doubt, Swiss bankers and purveyors of luxury goods to embezzling Fatah officials will have cause to thank him. Already, though, Palestinians and Arab media are complaining that he is pro-Israel, an enemy. They will take the money, but won't say thanks. Indeed, Blairs task has been confined to encouraging Palestinian reform, economic development and institution-building and before having done anything, he was being castigated by Hamas, Egypt and a variety of Arab analysts for pro-Israeli partiality (which is to say, he believes Israel deserves to exist in peace). Yet, inasmuch as Blair sees Palestinian lack as the heart of the issue, he has proceeded on his way, much as Rubin predicted.
It is therefore no surprise to find Blair declaring in a recent Jerusalem Post interview that a viable Palestinian state is needed to guarantee Israels long-term security. In short, Blair continues to embrace the illusion that a Palestinian state is the indispensable prophylactic that will insulate Israel and the world from war, terrorism and extremism. As a result, his term as envoy is bound to end in failure.
RECIPROCITY, NOT DIVERSITY, SHOULD BE THE STRATEGY
In an article entitled Democracy's root: Diversity, Tom Friedman writes:
A senior French official suggested to me that maybe we in the West, rather than trying to promote democracy in the Middle East - a notion tainted by its association with the very Western powers that once colonized the region - should be focusing on promoting diversity, which has historical roots in the area.It's a valid point. The very essence of democracy is peaceful rotations of power, no matter whose party or tribe is in or out. But that ethic does not apply in most of the Arab-Muslim world today, where the political ethos remains "Rule or Die." Either my group is in power or I'm dead, in prison, in exile or lying very low. But democracy is not about majority rule; it is about minority rights. If there is no culture of not simply tolerating minorities, but actually treating them with equal rights, real democracy can't take root.
The "Rule or Die" part is right as the news from Gaza demonstrate this morning: 8 killed in Gaza How come? Because Fatah commemorated the three year anniversary of their founder, Yassir Arafat.
The notion that diversity has historical roots in the region is also true. Unfortunately, the notion of minority equal rights is still NOT the one which has roots familiar to much of the Muslim world. The toleration of Non Muslims is not enough. Historically, minorities have been tolerated but in such a way as to induce them to convert. It was called Dhimmitude. Consequently, missionaries entering the Middle East in the 19th Century, were shocked at the backwardness and poverty of their Christian brethren. Indeed, much of the European intervention in the diversified Ottoman Empire originated in efforts on behalf of Christian minorities and protection of Christian holy sites.
Muslim states and their organizations as evidenced in their response to the Muhammad Cartoons and to the Pope's Regensburg discourse, have recently embarked on a similar intervention program on behalf of Islam and the Muslim Diaspora. The dialogue movement and King Abdallah's visit to Rome is part of that effort. There is nothing wrong with it. Equal treatment of citizens is, indeed, the essence of democracy.
Still, it would be only fair to demand reciprocity. If the Organization of Muslim Countries demands a voice in the formulation of European treatment of Islam and Muslims, Europe should demand a voice in the treatment of Christians in the Muslim world. Indeed, when Friedman suggests that instead of giving the Pope a sword, he should have extended an invitation to Mecca, he is demanding reciprocity, not merely diversity.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
SALUTE!
MIDDLE EAST APARTHEID
Mike Perloff clearly had enough of the fashionable, if baseless, reference to Israel as an Apartheid state. So, he left this post on my site. I thought it is worthy of sharing:
====================================== A Lesson About Middle East Apartheid ====================================== Which group being compared in the chart below appears to be engaged in the practice of Apartheid?Read the chart and reach your own conclusions.
The identity of each group appears at the end. ====================================== Official languages
Group 1: Arabic & Hebrew Group 2: Arabic
Religious minorities
Group 1: Growing Group 2: Shrinking Both Mosques and Synagogues allowed
Group 1: Yes Group 2: No Education/Medical care for all
Group 1: Yes Group 2: No Arab & Jewish judges
Group 1: Yes Group 2: No Arabs & Jews in government
Group 1: Yes Group 2: No Arabs & Jews in diplomatic corps
Group 1: Yes Group 2: No Arabs & Jews on sports teams
Group 1: Yes Group 2: No Arabs & Jews can serve in army and
police Group 1: Yes Group 2: No Arab & Jewish civilian killings condemned
Group 1: Yes Group 2: No Arabs & Jews allowed to buy homes
Group 1: Yes Group 2: No People are killed for selling homes or property to members of the other group
Group 1: No Group 2: Yes Children taught respect for life
Group 1: Yes Group 2: No Children taught martyrdom & hate
Group 1: No Group 2: Yes
Saturday, November 10, 2007
THEY REFUSE TO LET US FORGET
Why do we remember? asks Niall Ferguson. Aren't we overdoing a good thing?
I remember; you commemorate; he just can't get over it. Yet we - all of us - are surely now in danger of devaluing the coinage of commemoration to the point of worthlessness. For if everything ends up being the object of formal remembrance, perhaps nothing will actually be remembered. And one November morning, as I struggle to find my poppy in a drawer full of Aids awareness red ribbons and global warming wristbands, I may finally be driven to exclaim: ''Oh, forget about it!''
He is absolutely right, I thought to myself. So, when somebody reminded of the anniversary of Kristallnacht, I decided to just ignore the whole thing.
Enough is Enough.
Unfortunately, the Neo Nazis and the Islamists refuse to let me. In Prague Neo Nazis (some traveling in special buses from Germany) decided to commemorate Kristallnacht by marching through the old Jewish quarter of Prague with banner ostensibly "to demonstrate against the War in Iraq." The Al Qaeda reader demonstrate that Islamist basically rehash Mein Kampf and to top it all of, both the Nazis and the Islamofascist shamelessly use the holocaust to block any attempt to stop them from spreading their poisonous ideologies.
Hence, if we do not want to lose control of this historical narrative the way we lost control of the Zionist one, I/we have no choice. We must Watch, read Martin Gilbert's Kristallnacht and STAND RESOLUTELY IN THEIR WAY as the good people of prague did today:
Friday, November 9, 2007
BOLTON PUTS STATE DEPARTMENT ON THE HOT SEAT
John Bolton is doing what many an elected official rarely dare do. In his book Surrender is not an Option and on his book tour he exposes mercilessly the ongoing efforts of the State Department bureaucracy to block or at least limit the influence of elected officials on the conduct of foreign policy. This is a subject more often explored by Europeans were bureaucracies are even more powerful than in the US where political appointees are supposed to ameliorate the problem but do so most inefficiently. The following exchange between the Prime minister and his secretary included in the episode "Victory for Democracy" of the must see British sitcom Yes Prime Minister illuminates the elected official's problem:
PM: "Do you mean that the Foreign Office is keeping something from me?"Sec:"Yes."
PM:"What?"
Sec:"I don't know. They're keeping it from me too."
PM:"Then how do you know?
Sec: "I don't."
PM: "You just said you did."
Sec.: 'No, I just said I didn't. . . . I don't know specifically what, Prime Minister, but I do know the Foreign Office always keeps everything from everybody. It's normal practice."
PM: "So who would know?"
Sec. "May I just clarify the question? You're asking who would know what it is that I don't know, that they are keeping from you do that you don't know but they do know, and all we know it that there is something we don't know and we want to know but we don't know what because we don't know? Is that it?
PM: May I clarify the question? Why knows Foreign Office secrets apart from the Foreign Office?
Sec: Ah, that's easy. Only the Kremlin.
The sitcom was written in the Eighties but there is nothing new about State Department "resistance" to presidential or Congressional efforts to influence American policy. In 1967, They led John Roche to write Johnson: "Which brings us back to the question once . . . attributed to you: "Whose State Department is it?" Ambassador Luke Battle told me how he difficult it was for him to convince Nasser not to pay attention to Congressional pronouncements. It has never even occurred to him that there was something wrong with such dismissal of the country's elected officials.
Presidents try to get control of the problem either by pushing the State Department or placing a trusted official in the position. President Bush like President Nixon used the first approach during his first term and the second during his second term. Indeed, rightly or wrongly, Secretary Powell's men (like Roger's ) spent the first 4 years of the administration whining that they are being ignored.
In 2004 George Bush tried to avoid the problem by following in Nixon's footsteps and sent his trusted National Security advisor, Condi Rice, to head the State Department in the hope that she will be able to control it the way Kissinger had. Alas, as Bolton tells anyone who listens, that she failed. Instead, she went native. "Condi was sent to rein in the State Department," a senior Republican congressional staffer said. "Instead, she was reined in." Consequently, George W. Bush's foreign policy is in a free fall with the sole exception of the Iraq policy which Bush placed in the hands of General David Petraeus.
Unhappy with only a partial surrender, State Department bureaucrats moved to teach the President a lesson by refusing assignments to Iraq. Savoring their new found power, State Department officials went public with their refusal to serve in Iraq when threatened with dismissal. One official famously called an assignment there "a potential death sentence" and another accused Secretary Rice for "not fighting for the department" which as the British sitcom explains is what the bureaucracy believes to be a secretary's primary function. Of course, not a single American diplomat died in Iraq.
Asked to comment on the controversy, the well connected Dennis Ross said that for the State Department officials it was "payback time." Bush has failed to take their advice on Iraq, so they do not want to help him carry out his policies! Used to the indulgence of the mainstream media, they expected accolades. But they quickly discovered that the new media is not as "understanding."
So, the Department's public relations machinery decided it was time for some damage control. It comes in the form of an op-ed in the San Diego Union Tribune written by Johann Schmonsees who did volunteer to serve in Iraq:
When the director-general of the Foreign Service announced last week that the State Department may order its personnel to serve in Iraq, many of our critics took this as a sign that we are unwilling to face the hardships and dangers encountered by our military colleagues. . . .Famously, 48 positions remain open for the new crop of diplomats who will arrive in Iraq next summer. That is what the current personnel exercise is about. The department is still asking for volunteers, and has approached more than 200 people who possess the qualifications or the employment history making them candidates for these positions.
We understand that many have already answered that call, and hope that all 48 positions will eventually be filled by volunteers. . . .
We possess a rich pool of talent, dedication and daring, and we have no doubt that we will staff our Iraq mission with willing professionals. They may come forward for a variety of reasons: patriotism, community service, professional advancement, personal fulfillment, the promise of a particular assignment after their Iraq service, or even something as prosaic as danger pay.
They may volunteer for the main reason I did as a foreign policy professional, I wanted to work on our most prominent foreign policy issue. But if our four-year experience in Iraq tells us anything, it is that our colleagues will step up to meet the challenge.
Unfortunately, that assertion is far from the truth. They have done so all along. Part of the reason Paul Bremer's failed so miserably was his inability to secure the help of high quality experienced underlings. Those did not volunteer and I suspect are still not volunteering.
In other words, the Department has been knocked on its heel a bit. But clearly not enough to clip their wings. They have just moved to block the meager funds Congress allotted to Iranian dissidents. They oppose regime change. They would much rather go the North Korean route. So, they pressure European business to curtail their dealings with Iran in the hope of pressuring the Mullahs to agree to drop their nuclear ambitions.
Of course, in the case of North Korea, China helped. In the case of Iran, neither Russia nor China are so inclined. Moreover, as John Bolton points out, the North Korea deal has already been revealed as deeply flawed:
They are not going to give up their nuclear weapons voluntarily, Mr. Bolton said in the interview. They might be forced to give up their nuclear weapons, but that is not the policy that were pursuing. So the consequence of the policy is that it wont achieve the stated objective and it will have the effect of legitimizing and reinforcing two fundamentally illegitimate regimes.He said North Koreas apparent assistance to Syria in the construction of what analysts and officials said was a nuclear reactor showed that the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, was already violating its pledge in February to dismantle its nuclear weapons program even though the administration points to a recent trip by Americans to a North Korean nuclear reactor to begin disabling the facilities.
In other words, the ball is ultimately in the North Korean court and Iranian courts. Nor are the ball games unconnected. If Iran succeeds in defeating the West, North Korea is bound to break the deal. If Ahmadinejad succumbs, Kim may have no choice but to stick to the agreement.
Stay tune. Hope for the best and expect the worse.
MORE EURO CRINGE
In September, I outlined in a piece in the Weekly Standard the pattern of preemptive appeasement of Muslim supremacists that has formed in Europe. The pattern consists of discarding rights and traditions or failing to assert their exercise if Muslim extremists object.
As I argued then, this pattern emerged in confluence with some salient instances of violence the 2004 murder of Theo Van Gogh following the release of his film on the travails of Muslim women; the 2005 riots following the Danish Muhammad cartoons; and the 2006 killings that followed Pope Benedikts speech quoting critical comments on Islam by a 14th century Byzantine emperor. The last two months alone have furnished new occurrences that add to the pattern.
First, the September 11 rally against the Islamisation of Europe that Brussels mayor Freddy Thielemans chose not to authorize at the time proceeded, with the result that 154 people were arrested, including Italian EU parliamentarian, Italian Northern League member Mario Borghezio. Borghezio challenged the banning of the demonstration, It doesn't seem normal to me that on the 11th of September, in a European capital, a demonstration involving European parliamentarians, against fundamentalist Islamic terrorism, can be banned.
Then, in October, the Netherlands government abruptly revoked security protection provided to one of its prominent citizens: Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Dutch-Somali politician and writer, who has been obliged to live under police protection since 2002 following death threats inspired by her outspokenness on the mistreatment of women in the Muslim community and on her own secularism. (Ali also wrote the script to the film for which Van Gogh paid with his life). Already last year, however, rather than resolutely defending Ali, the government tried to revoke her citizenship while her own neighbours sought her eviction on the ground that their human rights were endangered by Alis continued presence. Neither civic solidarity nor the law in the Netherlands seems adequate to the task of protecting the life and free speech of one of its prominent human rights activists, who has since made America her home.
The same month in Britain, the Conservative Muslim Forum, a body set up by Tory leader David Cameron to advise the party on Muslim affairs issued a report specifically repudiating Camerons affirmation that Jews have a right to inhabit and defend a homeland and country embodied in the state of Israel; defended Irans efforts to seek nuclear weapons and repudiated any association of Muslim terrorism with Islam. What influence this report exerts over the Opposition's policies remains to be seen.
Later that same month, Muslim inmates in a high security British prison launched a lawsuit seeking millions in damages for having been mistakenly issued with a prison menu offering ham sandwiches. Again, it remains to be seen how the British courts deal with it.
Around the same time, a leaked report by the Labour think tank, Public Policy Research, recommended that Christmas be downgraded in favour of festivals from other religions to improve race relations. Stated a shell-shocked Sayeeda Warsi, the Conservative spokesman on community cohesion, [the reports] comments betray a breathtaking misunderstanding of what it is to be British. These proposals could actually damage cohesion. You don't build community cohesion by throwing out our history and denying the fundamental contribution Christianity has played and does play to our nation. As a British Muslim I can see that so why others can't just staggers me."
Thursday, November 8, 2007
SARKOZY REPLACES BLAIR AS THE BUSH HATERS' "BETE NOIRE"/update
The NYT puts Sarkozy's speech on page 12 while the Financial Times places in on the front page with a large picture and the headline "Sarkozy warns Congress of Wall St. excesses." BBC's Katty Kay gripes that Sakozy stands where Tony Blair used to and expressed her hope that the French will find an adequate word for "poodle." The left is seething so are the rest of the Europeans. For when all is said and done, each one of them wants to be the favorite son even if they bad mouth the "parent."
No wonder the French are delighted. France 2 showed the text I posted bellow from searing text of their newly elected, popular(!) "Jewish," pro American president, Nicholas Sarkozy. It is the part in which he praises American soldiers for going to far away lands to fight for the freedom of others. Le Figaro editors say as much:
When - in the speech's most ringing phrase - he declared that "wherever an American soldier dies in the world, I think of what the American army did for France", it was a conscious effort to link the shared struggles of the past with those of today.
"Realists", "Bush lied" "anti imperialist" crowds, are you listening? Here goes:
Ladies and Gentlemen,The men and women of my generation heard their grandparents talk about how in 1917, America saved France at a time when it had reached the final limits of its strength, which it had exhausted in the most absurd and bloodiest of wars.
The men and women of my generation heard their parents talk about how in 1944, America returned to free Europe from the horrifying tyranny that threatened to enslave it.
Fathers took their sons to see the vast cemeteries where, under thousands of white crosses so far from home, thousands of young American soldiers lay who had fallen not to defend their own freedom but the freedom of all others, not to defend their own families, their own homeland, but to defend humanity as a whole.
Fathers took their sons to the beaches where the young men of America had so heroically landed. They read them the admirable letters of farewell that those 20-year-old soldiers had written to their families before the battle to tell them: We dont consider ourselves heroes. We want this war to be over. But however much dread we may feel, you can count on us. Before they landed, Eisenhower told them: The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you.
And as they listened to their fathers, watched movies, read history books and the letters of soldiers who died on the beaches of Normandy and Provence, as they visited the cemeteries where the star-spangled banner flies, the children of my generation understood that these young Americans, 20 years old, were true heroes to whom they owed the fact that they were free people and not slaves. France will never forget the sacrifice of your children.
To those 20-year-old heroes who gave us everything, to the families of those who never returned, to the children who mourned fathers they barely got a chance to know, I want to express Frances eternal gratitude.
On behalf of my generation, which did not experience war but knows how much it owes to their courage and their sacrifice; on behalf of our children, who must never forget; to all the veterans who are here today and, notably the seven I had the honor to decorate yesterday evening, one of whom, Senator Inouye, belongs to your Congress, I want to express the deep, sincere gratitude of the French people. I want to tell you that whenever an American soldier falls somewhere in the world, I think of what the American army did for France. I think of them and I am sad, as one is sad to lose a member of ones family.
More stunningly he was speaking about the American dream with the obvious intention of turning it into the new French dream.
Mon Dieu!
UPDATE: The FT lead editorial:Sarkozy must avoid Blair's Mistake i.e., not become a poodle. How does Norman Mailer say: It is like a first child waking up and discovering somebody usurped his place.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
CAN IRANIANS TRUST WESTERN SUPPORT?
Limited number of Iranian dissidents be they minorities or students continue to be arrested and executed. Here is some of the latest:
Sheema Kalbasi reports:
"8 Arab-Iranians are to be executed. Among them is Faleh Abdullah al-Mansouri, a Dutch national and UNHCR-registered refugee was deported to Iran by the Syrian authorities in May 2006. Al-Mansouri is currently being tortured in Section 209, a notorious prison run by the Ministry of Intelligence. He was sentenced to death while in exile and is likely to be executed in Iran. Three more are sentenced to life. One of them is Hamzeh Savari who was arrested at the age of eighteen and two of his brothers were executed last year."
AFP reports:
Iranian authorities have arrested student leader Ali Azizi, who is a senior member of the main Islamic students' association, his mother told the ISNA news agency on Tuesday. . . .Dozens of Iranian students held a new protest on Sunday calling for the release of three detained colleagues and shouting slogans against officials, ISNA reported.
The demonstration at the management faculty of Tehran University was the third since the three students from Amir Kabir University were given jail sentences of up to three years last month. . . .
The ISNA report said the latest protest was also aimed at the arrest of another three colleagues at a similar demonstration the previous week at Alameh Tabatabai University in the capital.
It is not too late to avoid war with Iran. With help Iranian dissidents can still do the job. That is the argument forwarded by Georgetown University professor Raymond Tanter in Le Figaro . Indeed, he pleads "Mister Sarkozy, convince Bush to help the Iranian opposition:
There are three major options for President Sarkozy to discuss with President Bush: diplomacy, military action, and an Iranian solution through empowering the Iranian people via their main democratic opposition. The more Europe stresses a diplomatic option that is failing, the more it would increase the prospect for Washington to select the military option, which Europe correctly wants to avoid. To avoid a nuclear armed Iran or war, both the United States and Europe have a common interest to emphasize the third solution, or the Iranian solution. The role that the Iranian opposition can play could be very significant in an Iranian solution.
A 2006 study by the Washington-based think tank, the Iran Policy Committee compared public attention paid by Tehran to various opposition groups. The Mujahadeen-e Khalq (PMOI) represents the most credible threat to the extremist regime in Tehran. The IPC found that the Iranian regime's official positions referred to the PMOI is 350 percent more than all other groups combined.
The EU and the US can realize their latent leverage over the Iranian regime by recognizing the independent Iranian opposition groups, in particular the Mujahadeen-e Khalq. The EU and the US can do so by lifting the terrorist designation of the PMOI. President Sarkozy has an opportunity to help President Bush move in that direction. Now is the time to reinforce the unilateral American sanctions against the Iranian regime with a common EU-American approach. Alexis de Tocqueville would be proud to see a President of France advancing the cause of French-American relations, reinforcing diplomacy, and preventing war.
He would, indeed, though for experts such as Michael Ledeen who has written a book The Iranian Time Bomb urging help for dissidents, the checkered past and present of MeK is much too troubling to swallow. Be that as it may, I suggest that to succeed Iranians willing to act MUST believe the US/EU are serious and that they will not be left holding the bag or more accurately buried in another mass grave.
Let me elaborate: these are the most read article in today's Tehran Times:
1. Iran will study any offer guaranteeing its nuclear rights: Hosseini3. Iran concerned over security situation in Afghanistan 4. World Bank snubs inquiry, vows a big loan to Iran 5. Iran opens two consulates in northern Iraq 6. U.S. military in Iraq says to release 9 Iranians
Yes, of course, Tehran Times is trying to convince potential dissidents not to act. But, you must admit that the West provides them with some excellent ammunition!
On November 17, a young Iranian French film maker hiding in the French embassy is supposed to go on trial for discovering a mass grave in the outskirts of Tehran:
It all began in December 2006. Solouki arrived in Iran to film a documentary about the burial traditions of Iran's religious minority communities, such as Armenian Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians. . . .But while filming, Solouki says she stumbled on an area at the Khavaran Cemetery on Tehran's outskirts that caught her attention. She described it as "totally different" from the other parts she had filmed. Asked whether she was referring to a mass grave of people summarily executed in 1988, she said, "Yes."
How many people were buried there has never been established, but estimates by Iranians and outsiders generally put the number above 2,800. Most of those killed were opposition leftists and mujahedin members who were taken from jail and summarily executed. Solouki says the authorities may believe that she intended to make a film critical of the mass executions, which took place in the summer and fall of 1988.
On February 17, police stormed Solouki's residence in Tehran and arrested her, saying they had learned that she had filmed the mass graves. Solouki says her documentary at the time had yet to be filmed, and that none of the equipment seized from her gave any indication of the film's content. So she is being accused, she says, of harboring "presumed intentions" to produce anti-establishment propaganda.
To sum up, the stakes for Iranian dissidents could not be higher. If the West is waiting for Iranians to provide the solution, the West must stop prevaricating and demonstrate that it means business and therefore can be trusted. At the moment, if I were a potential Iranian dissident, I would be far from convinced. Michael Ledeen agrees:
We are doing next to nothing for the Iranian people. I have laid out the key steps at some length in my book:1. The president and his people have to call for regime change. Without that, nothing is going to happen. We have to commit to action;
2. The US radios and TVs have to get serious;
3. The international trade union movement has to build a strike fund for the Iranian workers (this seems to be happening, actually).
Nicholas Sarkozy told the American Congress that a nuclear Iran is unacceptable. If so, the time for action is now. There is not a day to lose.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
INDIANS LOVE AMERICA BEST
The Indian ruling elite would not want you know this. Indeed, they pretend the opposite is true. We cannot ratify the US-Indian nuclear deal because the public will say we kowtow to the US.
My residency in India convinced me otherwise. For example, I remember watching experts debate the nuclear issue on NDTV (New Delhi television). All the four participants on the panel on India's relations with the US, China and Pakistan were cool on the US-India nuclear deal. But the vast majority of the audience were most enthusiastic.
Now, Davesh Kapur conducted a survey which proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Indians, even those who live in Communist run states, prefer the US to all other countries. India's politicians will have to invent another excuse for doing their best to slow down their country's development.
MUSHARRAF FOLLOWS MUBARAK'S AND NIXON'S FOOTSTEPS
Consequently, sooner of later, even Muslim liberal organizations change their stripes and chose the "safer road" of Islamism as the recent example of the Egyptian "Kifaya" movement demonstrates. Similarly, in Pakistan, the legal profession has already divided in the manner which reminds me of Nixon's Saturday Night Massacre:
ISLAMABAD, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- The eight-member full court of the Supreme Court (SC) Tuesday declared a seven-judge decision against the declaration of emergency as null and void, according to local press reports.The full court ruled that the decision was null and void as it was taken after the declaration of emergency but those made the decision were no longer judges with the declaration of emergency.
It was binding for the said seven judges to take oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) to continue as the judges of the Supreme Court but they did not, and ceased as judges, the ruling said.
Be that as it may, nuclear Pakistan is not the place to challenge the notion the West failed to challenge in much less dangerous Egypt, for example. Sorry. The best we can hope for is that Benazir Bhutto continues to play ball and provide Musharraf with a cover in return for a share of power.
Monday, November 5, 2007
PALESTINIANS, NOT ISRAEL, NEED A "PEACE DIVIDEND"
Dr. Judith Apter Klinghoffer is an affiliate professor at Haifa University, Member of the International Advisory Board for Academic Freedom of Bar-Ilan University and was the 1996 Fulbright professor at Aarhus, Denmark. She is the co-author of International Citizens' Tribunals: Mobilizing Public Opinion to Advance Human Rights and the author of Vietnam, Jews and the Middle East: Unintended Consequences.
Israel's economic success frustrates her opponents or as the Financial Times writes Israel's high-speed economic growth defies experts." Why? Because they so wish to make the "peace dividend" argument to the wrong party. They should be making it to the Palestinians but for ideological reasons they make it to Israel. Israel would unquestionably benefit (especially psychologically) from an end to Arab/Muslim hostility, but the Palestinians would benefit much more.
The first Intifada (1987) ended an era of rapid Palestinian development and all the aid dollars and all the NGO experts which accompanied the so called "Peace Process" could not save them from the negative influence of Palestinian Authority. The latter needed continued anti-Israeli Jihad to justify their corrupt and tyrannical rule. But instead of focusing on the cost the violence extracted from the Palestinians, they marvel at the Israeli resilience. Tobias Buck writes:
The countrys remarkable economic success has given a twist to the debate on the peace dividend the additional boost that the Israeli economy could receive through striking a comprehensive peace agreement with the Palestinians and the countrys Arab neighbors.While previous peace efforts were accompanied by offers to link the Israeli economy with its neighbors, economists today argue that regional integration would be of limited value to the country.
Israel is also no longer dependent on the Palestinian territories as a source of cheap labor. The countrys building sites and orange groves are today filled with workers from Asia and eastern Europe.
Of course, the opposite is true about the Palestinians. Their conditions have been deteriorating despite international efforts to protect them from the consequences of their own actions. In an article entitled Will Massive Infusions of Aid Rescue the Palestinian Economy? Steve Stotsky points out:
During the Six Day War in June,1967, Israel took over the administration of the West Bank and Gaza from Jordan and Egypt, respectively. From 1968 to 1986, a period of economic growth and rapid improvement in standard of living ensued for Arab residents of the West Bank and Gaza.. By 1986 per capita GDP had doubled, and the Palestinian economy's growth rate was higher than even the rapidly growing Israeli economy (See "The Palestinian war-torn economy: aid, development and state formation," The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development - UNCTAD, 2006). Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza enjoyed a higher standard of living than their immediate neighbors in Jordan and Egypt. Despite recent setbacks in the Palestinian economy, the Palestinians still remain above the regional average by all standards of measuring health and education. Palestinian literacy is the highest among Arab states and their life span, childhood mortality rates, immunizations, access to clean water and school attendance are all among the highest in the region.Improved well-being did not stop the Palestinians from launching a campaign of violence in 1987. It is a curious fact that both the first and second Intifadas were launched during economic upswings. The first intifada broke out on the heels of the highest annual growth in 12 years and the second highest on record. This suggests that economic progress and political progress are not linked.
As could have been expected, the violent Intifadas created a rift between the Israeli and Palestinian economies and post Oslo massive foreign aid counter intuitively merely served to exacerbate the devastating rift this caused the Palestinians.
Instead of pointing out the results of the Palestinian self destructive behavior, the international community blamed Israel's defensive measures. Palestinians are not necessarily blind. They know and, once in while, one of them even dares speak out:
The assessments of none other than George Abed, a Palestinian and senior IMF economist, and of James Prince, a consultant to the Palestinian Investment Fund, offer an important summary of the phenomenon of increased aid correlating with economic deterioration. Abed recognized the futility of providing donor aid, asserting that it was counterproductive. . . . This view was echoed in Prince's conclusion that, "many of the donor programs have not only been ineffective, they have harmed the economy." ( "Expert says Palestinians don't need financial aid," San Francisco Chronicle, Sept. 5, 2005)
Given this reality, Palestinian aid should be expected to be withdrawn and articles should be filled demonstrating to the Palestinians and their supporters the boomerang effect of their anti-Israeli violence and the benefits ending it would bring. The opposite is true. The argument is not made to the party suffering more but to the one suffering less. Indeed, the recent attempt to boycott Israeli professionals and products is yet another attempt to counter this ideologically inconvenient truth that freedom trumps tyranny as do decent leaders who put the welfare of their countrymen ahead of their own political needs as Benjamin Netanyahu has done.
Why has the Israeli economy thrived? Tobias Buck explains:
The economic strength reflects two broad, long-term trends.The first came in the form of tax cuts, lower welfare spending, privatizations and capital market reforms implemented when Benjamin Netanyahu took over as finance minister in 2003.
The second change has to do with Israels successful integration into the global economy which has proved an increasingly receptive market for its exports of high-technology products, manufactured goods, pharmaceuticals and services such as consulting.
We are reaping the benefits of something that has happened over the last few years, and that is how well the Israeli business sector has exploited globalisation, says Leo Leidermann, chief economist at Bank Hapoalim, Israels largest commercial bank.
And while Israels over-reliance on software and information technology made the country a prime victim of the technology downturn in 2000, todays export performance is far more balanced.
Missing from this analysis is another FT report about Israels vibrant factory of ideas
Israel is like a big factory of ideas, says Kobi Marenko, the founder of Logia, a wireless content company.This is why investors and technology companies continue to return to the country in search of innovation.
Indeed, fund managers pumped $1.6bn into Israeli high-tech start-ups last year a five-year high while foreign companies spent $9bn snapping up local technology companies.
But what makes Israeli entrepreneurs so innovative and good at starting new businesses? Foreign delegations regularly visit hoping to discover the Israeli model that turned a country of only 6m people into a high-tech powerhouse on a par with Silicon Valley.
No such model exists, especially in a country better known for its Mediterranean spirit than for its discipline. Nothing happens by design in Israel, quips Gilad Nass, a research director at IDC, the analysts.
Nothing, indeed. A few years ago I was asked to give a lecture about the threat of militarism to the Israeli society at the Harvard Club. Forget it, I told them. Israelis continue to see war as a necessary nuisance. Even the Israeli military is free wheeling. When all said and done, Israelis, like Jews throughout the centuries, survive and sometime thrive by turning disadvantages into advantages. An Intel corporate executive told me how amazed he was to discover that the company's Israeli component remained its most productive unit during the worst days of the second Intifada. Now this is what I call real resistance though Israelis call it "Ein Brera!" (no choice) for as the popular song says I have no another country."
Many entrepreneurs point out that Israel, founded less than 60 years ago, is something of a start-up itself. They also tend to attribute its success to a confluence of cultural and systemic factors such as being a highly educated, immigrant population with strong military training, and a high tolerance for risk.Yehuda Zisapel, who along with his brother Zohar has founded close to 30 technology start-ups, believes that Israels strength in innovation is not casual or easy to replicate. Its not something artificial that high-tech is here. It is very complex to create a high-tech industry that is competitive.
Israel is small. There is no mass consumer market and the local IT market is worth only $4bn. This leaves technology entrepreneurs with little choice but to export, throwing them in competition with larger operators in the US and Europe.
Your market here is nearly zero, but youre competing for the same customers as the US start-ups are, says Zeev Holtzman, chairman of Giza Venture Capital.
This plays to the Israeli tolerance of risk, says Oren Nissim, the chief executive of Telmap, a navigation software vendor.
Starting ventures seems to suit the Israeli character, perhaps better than managing a larger enterprise does. There arent that many good Israeli managers, but starting a business from nothing is a battle very well fought by Israelis, notes Mr Nissim.
Israelis also tend to act quickly, often ahead of the competition. Foreign companies are constantly amazed at our speed. Its a competitive advantage, agrees IDCs Mr Nass.
Let's be honest, if Arab/Muslim leaders truly cared about their own people, no action would help improve their lot more than real peace with the Jewish state. The Arab world has paid dearly for its relentless hostility towards Israel and the Jewish people. The opposite is also true. Becoming the ideological/financial ward of the "international community" has done nothing but turn perfectly decent and able people into an impoverished suicide bomber factory run by ruthless religious mafias.
The time has come for those who care about the Palestinian people, as opposed to the abstract idea of Palestine, to change course and advice the Palestinian leaders to do the same. After all, neither can feign innocence any longer.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
NETANYAHU ON JERUSALEM &ANNAPOLIS
I absolutely agree. What Netanyahu says fits into the pattern I identified not only in Israel but also in Colombia, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
Unfortunately, as this conference is not motivated by Israeli or Palestinian interests, it will go ahead. The only question is what is going to be the extent of the damage it will cause?
INTERFAITH DIALOGUE GETS MORE REALISTIC
Rabbi Richard Rubinstein thought an article entitled How the Church of Rome Is Responding to the Letter of the 138 Muslims in Chiesa (the Vatican's unofficial website) is worthy of attention. He is right of course. It contains the good news that the early days of feel good interfaith dialogue are over and we are getting down to some serious business.
Personally, I am delighted by the Muslim realization that such a dialogue must invove Judaism:
The PISAI Pontifical Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies has begun planning a conference with Muslim, Christian, and Jewish scholars, and on October 25 it published its own commentary on the letter by the 138, signed by its president, Fr. Miguel Angel Ayuso Guixot, and by four of the institute's professors: Frs. Etienne Renaud, Michel Lagarde, Valentino Cottini, and Felix Phiri.Two other in-depth commentaries on the letter have been written by two Jesuit scholars of Islam who have pope Joseph Ratzinger's great attention and respect: Samir Khalil Samir, from Egypt, and Christian W. Troll, from Germany.
Both the analysis by Fr. Troll and the commentary by the PISAI scholars emphasize, among the letter's virtues and original features, the fact that it also addresses the Jews amicably, especially where it says that the love of God is the first commandment, not only in the Qur'an and the Christian Gospel, but also "in the Old Testament and the Jewish liturgy."
SARKOZY WANTS TO MAKE FRANCE A MARITIME POWER
The French not only like grand historical theories but they like to demonstrate the way current development fit them. So do I. As this is what Michel Gurfinkiel' latest essay does, I posted it for your enjoyment. The article was written in French and I am posting here a Babel translation of it. So do forgive the awkward style. The ideas are worth the effort:
Geopolitics Ground, sea, Sarkozy land Powers against maritime powers: it is undoubtedly one of the keys of the world history. And it is one of the secrecies of the "Sarkozy moment." Land powers against maritime powers: it is undoubtedly one of the keys of the world history.
The land powers rest on the quantity. As their name indicates it, they control the firm ground. They draw their richness from agriculture, the mines, heavy industry: activities where it is necessary, each season, to arrive to quantified results in advance. Hence, they need, above all, leaders who observe the rules and of subjects who obey them. Their States are centralized, have standing armies founded on the conscription, civil servants and police forces. They plan all and supervise all. They impose a religion or an ideology. They constitute compact continental Empires, clearly marked fortresses and drained by strategic roads.
The maritime powers rest on quality. As their name indicates it, they control the coasts and the open sea. They draw their richness from fishing, but also - and especially - trade: random activities, moving, but where the results are often proportional to risk, and where each risk compensates for another.
Hence, they need, above all, leaders capable of curiosity, of initiative, relevance, of effort, and teams encouraged to assist them. They take the shape of urban Republics, of flexible federations of mini-States. They are satisfied, generally, with professional armies made up more or less by mercenaries. During dangerous times, they are capable of mobilizing their civilians and transforming then into citizen and to transform each civilian into soldiers. They do not like to be encumbered with civil servants, and prefer the secret services, which collect useful information discreetly, and carry out needed surgical operation against a potential enemy. It views uniformed forces as too conspicuous and, therefore, ineffective.
They do not plan anything in the long run, or rather they contemporaneously develop detailed plans, and alter them as needed. They tolerate all the religions and all the ideologies, because all can have, one day or the other, their utility. They tend to constitute modular, oceanic Empires with regional bases and support points, connected by a fabric unceasingly modified, and unceasingly amplified, lines of communication.
The modern European or Western history from the XVIth to the XXth century, is marked by the progressive if difficult, unceasingly challenged victory of maritime powers over land powers. The East-West cold war, of 1945 to 1989 or 1991, was with many regards a decisive battle. But not the supreme battle. The land Empires, first and foremost, the USSR, were overcome. But they did not die.
Today, they return in force to the fore front of history. The latest test case: Iran. Once more, Russia and China, land superpowers, announce that they would not support in the Security Council of the United Nations sanctions against Iran initiated by the United States, the maritime super power. What that means, in clear terms, is that they support Iran.
And France? Our country always oscillated between the two worlds, land and maritime, because it belongs to both. Sometimes it is liberal; sometimes statist. Sometimes it stands by the Western democracies (my Master Raymond Bourgine spoke about a "tricolour alliance", because blue, the white and the red are found in the French flags, British and American), sometimes it tried an essentially antidemocratic "Eastern alliance." Let us have courage to say that Charles of Gaulle, the man of London in 1940s, finished in 1960s as the defender of a continental axis with Germany . . . , the USSR and China.
It can be said that Nicolas Sarkozy was elected as a promoter of maritime values: Atlantic, pro-American, representing a complete rupture with De Gaulle and his successors, Chirac and Villepin. The rest will be written soon by history.
Friday, November 2, 2007
THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE STUPID
GOOD
The number of those dying violent deaths in Iraq are falling.
The Saudis have their own "Rosa Parks" and her name is Wajeha Al-Huwaidar.
Spain finds Madrid bombers guilty. Germans worry about their own prospects.
BAD
An average week in Israel.
Saudi methods of Indoctrination.
Saudi cleric teaches appropriate wife beating.
Rachel Ehrenfeld's battle against Saudi terrorist financing continues to draw attention. Unfortunately, her with her mounting legal bills is seriously lagging. Contributions are fully tax deductible.
STUPID
Pro Putin Russian youth movement is growing. Apparently, they are too young to have learned.
Youssef Ibrahim relates how arrogant amateurs continue to lead astray the State Department's public understanding of the Middle East. I would add that Karen Hughes finally resigned. She has good intentions but knew nothing and, hence, was easily mislead. Let's hope her successor will be less naive. But do not hold your breath.
Saudi cleric: Enjoying the World Cup condemns you to hell
IRANIAN MINA AHADI WINS "SECULARIST OF THE YEAR"
I like nothing better than highlighting Muslim profiles in courage but I almost missed this story. I found it by chance on The Afghan Women's Network. It reprinted a posting of mine. I am delighted that the National Secular Society recognized and rewarded her. I am not an atheist or a Communist but in the struggle against Islamist oppression of women we should join forces. Unfortunately, it is a battle the leftist feminists all too often shun. So go Mina, go!
A WOMAN who has spent her life opposing the mistreatment of women by the Iranian clerical regime has been awarded the 5,000 prize for Secularist of the Year by the National Secular Society.
Mina Ahadi, an Iranian exile now living in Germany, was presented with the prize in London on Saturday (20 October). In his statement honoring Mina Ahadi, Professor Richard Dawkins said:
I have long felt that the key to solving the worldwide menace of Islamic terrorism and oppression would eventually be the awakening of women, and Mina Ahadi is a charismatic leader working to that end. The brutal suppression of the rights of women in many countries throughout the Islamic world is an obvious outrage. Slightly less obvious, but just as outrageous, is the supine willingness of western liberals to go along with it. It is worse than supine, it is patronizing and condescending. Wife-beating is part of their culture. Who are we to condemn their traditions? A religion so insecure as to mandate the death penalty for apostasy is not to be trifled with, and ex-Muslims who stand up and fight deserve our huge admiration and gratitude for their courage. Right out in front of this honorable band is Mina Ahadi. I salute her and congratulate her on this well-deserved award as Secularist of the Year.
Mina Ahadi started her serious political activities when she was 16 and living in Iran. She was at university in 1979 in Tabriz at the time of the Iranian revolution and she began immediately to organize demonstrations and meetings to oppose the compulsory veiling of women. This courageous dissent got her noticed by the Islamic regimes authorities and soon she had to go underground to avoid retribution.
The end of 1980 her house was raided by the police and her husband and four of their comrades arrested. Mina escaped only because she wasnt at home at the time. Her husband and the four arrested were all executed by firing squad soon after. She lived underground for some time and then fled to Iranian Kurdistan in 1981, where she continued to struggle against the Islamic regime for the next ten years. In 1990 she went to Vienna. She moved to Germany in 1996 and has lived in Europe since then.
In all that time, Mina Ahadi has struggled mightily for the rights of women. She founded the International Committee against Stoning which now has over 200 branches throughout the world. She also heads the International Committee against Executions and is the spokesperson for the newly formed womens rights organization, Equal Rights. She formed the Central Council of ex-Muslims in Germany early this year to help people renounce Islam and religion should they so wish.
This brilliant idea has now been replicated in several other European countries, including in Britain by our own Maryam Namazie. Undeterred by the inevitable death threats, Mina has pressed on, determined as ever to protect women from the ravages of Islam.
Apostasy, of course, is forbidden in Islam and in some Islamist states it carries the death penalty including in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sudan and Mauritania.
She calls such states Islam-stricken and her own experience of living and suffering under such regimes has made her ever more determined to rescue others from their clutches.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
SAUDIS SHOCKED, SHOCKED, SHOCKED . . .
FT reports: Saudis shocked by hostility to UK visit Actually, the headline should read. "Those Saudis who have heard of the hostility are shocked." Most have not as their state media did its best to cover it up and focus instead on the official pomp and circumstance. But if the ruling elite, which arrived in Britain in 5 Jumbo jets, is shocked, than maybe this trip is a success after all.
"BANGLADESH IS MY COUNTRY. LET THE RADICALS LEAVE"
It is easy to lose heart, become cynical, give up on the human race. One has to look at Saudi King Abdullah's visit to Britain, the feminists efforts to justify the subjugation of Muslim women (recently joined by Laura Bush!) or, for that matter, the current preparation for the upcoming "no concessions" Israeli Palestinian conference in Annapolis. But it would be wrong. For it would fail Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury and no one has the right to do that.
Last night I had the unique honor of shaking his hand. I knew of his plight. Only six months ago I asked you to sign a petition on his behalf so I was delighted to discover that he is safe, in the US. He is charged with "Sedition - treason -blasphemy" because he tried to board a flight from Dhaka to Tel Aviv to attend a peace conference in 2003. Yes, "is" is the correct tense. International agitation led to his release on bail in 2005 but not to the dropping of the charges. That means he can be rearrested any minute, tortured and placed in solitary confinement or even worse.
What can be worse? He can be held in the same prison that holds Bin Laden supporters of the type who do not tolerate sharing space with Muslims who have a moderate interpretation of Islam. They have tried to assassinate repeatedly and he has narrowly escaped them at least twice before.
So, imagine my surprise when he told be that he is going back on November 5th . Even Sharansky did NOT go back. Yet, this smiling 42 year old insisted that he is. "I have a family there. I have followers there. If I leave they will be disappointed, lose heart. I must go back." I could only shake my head in wonder. We have asked where are the Muslim moderates? He stepped forward and in so doing demonstrated the price such moderates have to pay. I hope those who advocate cutting and running from the Muslim world realize who they are leaving behind and who they are embracing in their stead.
With these thought swirling in my head, I sat down to listen to his talk. Trust Choudhury to surprise me yet again. "Do not think that if you let Israel fall, the US will be safe," he said. "Israeli flags are always burned together with the American ones. I heard a former Bangladeshi supreme court judge say that peace will come only after Israel and the United States will be erased from the map."
I stared. He was speaking in the Jewish Federation building to a Jewish audience. What made this Bangladeshi realize the dark secrets that lurk in some American Jewish hearts? I doubt he read Ruth Wisse's penetrating Jews and Power. Yet, he not only realizes that as Wisse argues there is an inseparable tie between the survival of democracy and the survival of Israel but that "most American Jews and all too many Israelis . . . reverted to the Diaspora strategy of accommodation in a situation guaranteed to quicken and prolong the war against them." In other words, in fighting to reduce hostility against Jews and Israel in Bangladesh, he is fighting for a democratic, reformist Bangladesh.
How can we help? asked somebody in the audience following his talk. Actually, his Jewish "brother" Dr. Richard Benkin who mobilized the Jewish Community as well as Congress on Choudhury's behalf was also in attendance. "Help me find Jewish pen pals for Bangladeshis and continue to fight Radical Islamists and those who try to accommodate them," was Shoaib's answer. You may also wish to visit Benkin's website Interfaith Strength and the site of Choudhury's paper Weekly Blitz .
Who is winning, I asked. He refused to get pinned down. "They are winning. We are winning," he said. "In the end, we will win.!" So, there you have it. He dared us NOT to be as hopeful as he is. He acknowledged he may not get there but he wants to make sure every day he lives will bring his people closer to victory. What can I say but ECCO HOMO? What can I do but pledge to do my best not to let him down.
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