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
Thursday, September 29, 2005
A ONE MAN IRAN APOLOGIST
Ray Takeyh, a senior fellow in Middle Eastern studies at the Foreign Affairs Council seems to be conducting a full fledged campaign to present Iran as both not threatening and strong. I kid you not. Here are the titles of a few of his recent articles:
"ANGLICANS FOR ISRAEL"
Arabs for Israel are now joined by Anglicans for Israel. The idomitable Malanie Phillips explains why the later are needed as much as the former.
INDIAN COMMUNIST ARE THE PRODUCTS OF THE NEW RED-BLACK ALLIANCE
It is difficult not to remember the Nazi-Soviet alliance when one reads about Indian communists vocal support of the right of Iranian mullahs to have nuclear weapons and, as you can see bellow, Turkish feminists ignore Islamist books explaining "How to Beat your Wife", and join Saudi Islamists in opposition to American push for democracy in the Middle East. That's o.k. we defeated them once, we will do so again. The center knows better.
MEDIA SILENCE ABOUT "ALLIANCE OF CIVILIZATIONS"
In July I wrote an article complaining about the failure of the media to cover the efforts of religious moderate to counter the rise of extremism through interfaith dialogue. Well, not much has changed. Even when the initiative belonged to Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero and has been adopted by Kofi Annan coverage is almost none existent. Memri reports about the first meeting of "the Alliance of Civilizations" in Turkey because Annan insisted that it take place in a Muslim country.
HUGHES BLINDSIDED BY TURKI?
A friend forwarded this about the supposedly unfortunate meeting between Karen Hughes and Saudi women.
GLOBALIZATION OF INTERNET CENSORSHIP?
The internet is the most valuable anti-totalitarian weapon developed by the American Defence Department. The Soviet Union collapsed before this ultimate democratic tool came to its own but it remains a most effective tool against the remaining totalitarian and autocratic regimes. Only recently the world was repulsed by the news of Chinese efforts to curtail its indomitable spirit and the big internet servers (especially Yahoo's) craven failure to stand up to them.
Now Bruce Kesler informs us that there are attempts afoot to transfer control of the internet from the US to that the UN. I hope the US administration unites in just saying NO!
Unfortuantely, I am not sure, Condi Rice's second in command, Robert Zoellick, appreciates the importance of this tool any more than Bill Clinton does. How else, can the fact that he failed to mention China's persistant efforts to censor the internet in his recent speech: Whither China: From membership to Responsibility? when he did not only criticize the growth of Chinese military but also its lack of labor unions? Weird.
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
IRAQI POLLS ARE FULL OF GOOD NEWS
Another must read article by Amir Taheri includes the results from two recent public opinion surveys. They are full with good news as his report about radical Iraqi Sunnis demanding the Zarqawi leave them alone:
OSAMA WANTED TO JOIN HIS KIN IN LONDONISTAN
This time the British had enough sense to say no.
MUST READ: THE HEART OF DARKNESS
Fouad Ajami explains Iraq as only he can.
PROFESSOR BAUMAN RESPONDS TO WASKOW
One of the people who received Rabbi Waskow's retort was Professor Fred Baumman who responded with an open letter of his own:
WASKOW DEFENDS LERNER: CINDY NOT ANTI-SEMITIC
I had the honor of meeting Rabbi Waskow some years ago and we have exchanged emails ever since. As you can see, he took offence at my displeasure with Michael Lerner and fired back the following response to me and some others:
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
HUGHES QUESTIONS SAUDIS ON WOMEN AND HATE LITERATURE
Karen Hughes Questions Saudi Ban on Female Driving
That was not all:
Later, during a meeting with top Saudi editors, Hughes pointedly noted U.S. concern that inflammatory literature not tolerant of other religions -- traced to the Saudi government -- had been found in American mosques. Hughes pressed the government to help "find room to respect people of different faiths and different faith traditions."Hughes added that Americans were upset that it took so long for Muslim clerics to condemn the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. She urged Saudis that "to speak out and be very vocal" when "you have someone committing these acts in the name of your faith."
Freedom House reported earlier this year that it had collected from more than a dozen mosques in the United States some 200 original documents that condemn democracy as anti-Islamic and assert that Muslims are required by Islam to hate Christians and Jews.
Go, Karen, Go!
LERNER INVITES CINDY TO ROSH HASHANA SERVICES
A couple of years ago Michael Lerner and I participated in a Front Page symposium called Anti-Semitism - the New Call of the Left. Since then we have been sending each other the stuff we write. We disagree but that is not a reason not to exchange ideas.
Today, I received his report on Saturday's rally. It starts thus:
SPANISH JUDGES: 9/11 COMMISSION WRONG
First, we learn they ignored "able danger," now the Spanish courts tell us they ignored the planning sessions there. Clearly, instant history is false history.
DARFUR SPILLS OVER TO CHAD
The Washington Timeseditorial complains justly about a media blackout on the subject. I am wary of the coverage which ignores the role of the Darfur rebels' (allies of Bin Laden's friend Turabi) role in the unfolding tragedy and presents it as a simple story of genocide.
Now, the Arab horsemen of the apocalypse are venturing into Chad killing 50 villagers. A vicious civil war is about to become an interstate one.
WAR ON TERROR=WAR FOR WOMEN'S RIGHTS
We do not think of our troops abroad as fighting for women's rights. But they are. This is the titanic struggle of our time, the liberation of fully half of humanity. Islamist terror is only one aspect of it. But we can be certain of two things: In the end, freedom will win. And no society that torments women will succeed in the 21st century.
Ralph Peters argues. I could not agree more.
STALIN’S JEWISH VICTIMS
Joshua Rubenstein, Vladimir Pavlovich Naumov, Stalin's Secret Pogrom: The Postwar Inquisition of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee.
GUIDE TO DISSIDENT BLOGGERS
These weeks was filled with depressing news about increasing Chinese efforts to curtail internet freedom in China and the ease with which it convinces new techonolgies giant like Yahoo to cooperate. So, I was glad to read about a techological counter offensive in the shape of a 78p. online handbook on how to become a successful cyber-dissident which can be downloaded for free.
Well done, Reporters Without Borders.
HAMAS HQ LOCATED IN SAUDIA (PARTIAL FOX OWNERS)
A reader asked who is funding Hamas? The Saudis, of course, I responded. So, today came the announcement:
Israeli authorities announced today the arrest of an Israeli-Arab Hamas activist who played central militant, political and financing roles for the group in coordination with a "Hamas command in Saudi Arabia.
To make matters worse, the Saudis bought a large share stock in Fox.
Cliff May of the FDD asks: "What do you think the Saudis would consider a good return on their investment?" According to Frank Gafni, Turks may ask the same question as much of its recent economic boom may be attributable to Saudi-Islamist seeking a safe haven.
Monday, September 26, 2005
HUGHES: MUBARAK PROMISED TO END EMERGENCY LAW
Karen Hughes is no fool. She came to Egypt not only to listen but to ask questions and report the answers:
PIRATES ROAM THE SOMALI COAST
Remember Somalia which Clinton exited so precipitously? It is infested with pirates as well as terrorists:
Somali gunmen who hijacked a UN-chartered food aid vessel in June have seized another commercial ship off the eastern coast of the lawless Horn of Africa nation, militia officials said on Monday. . . .In its weekly piracy report issued on Tuesday, the International Maritime Bureau said at least 21 attacks had been recorded off the Somali coast since March 15 and urged ships in the area to stay as far as possible from the shore.
Does any quick exit strategist remember Voltaire's saying: "Once a philosopher, twice a pervert?"
WHY DO PUNDITS GET IT SO WRONG SO OFTEN?
Owen Harris asks. Because they run in packs, he answers and then details some real doozies. These two I forgot:
As late as 1984, the intellectuals' favourite economist, John Kenneth Galbraith, was insisting that "the Soviet system has made great material progress in recent years", and that "the Russian system succeeds because, in contrast with the Western industrial economies, it makes full use of its manpower." Even later, in 1987, a history book Paul Kennedy's The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers made an enormous impact in intellectual circles when it depicted the US as suffering badly from "imperial overstretch" and facing decline.
THESE ARE YOUR "FREEDOM FIGHTERS" CINDY
I hope you like them. Your son did not:
IRAQI gunmen last night murdered five teachers and a driver at a primary school as US forces released more than 500 prisoners from the notorious Abu Ghraib jail.In the school attack, 10 gunmen dressed as policemen dragged the teachers from their classrooms at the Al Jazeera primary school in Muwalha, south of the capital, took them to an empty classroom and shot them, police said.
10 BILLION FIND ON ROBINSON CRUSOE ISLAND?
That is what the treasure hunters believe.
"FIRST POST-WAR PUTSCH IN GERMANY"
That is the ominous subtitle of an article discussing Schroeder's refusal to accept his election loss. Putsch is not a word used likely in Germany as it invites immediate comparisons to Hitler. Why?
AID BUREAUCRACY KILLS IN NIGER
Apparently, NGO bureaucracies are just as incompetent as government ones. So, delayed shipments of free grain means that famine in Niger will be followed by impoverishment of its farmers.
Sunday, September 25, 2005
DONT MISS MY NEW HNN ARTICLE
Now Bush Needs to Apply the Lessons of Katrina to the War In Iraq
PALESTINIAN DISAPPROVAL LEADS HAMAS TO END ROCKETING ISRAEL
Along with bombing Hamas weapon shops and renewal of targeted assassinations, Israel arrested 207 Palestinians in West Bank, including Hassan Yussuf, the West Bank leader of Hamas and seven Hamas candidates for upcoming Palestinian municipal elections. It also dropped leaflets in Gaza telling people that the Israeli army is working against terrorists and asking them to stay away from areas were rockets are fired. Hamas response:
Hamas spokesman Musher al-Masri told reporters that throwing such leaflets is an attempt to defame Palestinian resistance against the occupation, and the leaflets are a clear incitement against Hamas and Palestinian resistance.
In other words, the Palestinians forced Hamas to chose between rockets of success at the upcoming elections. That's how democracy helps keep the peace.
Next step, decommissioning as the IRA just finished doing.
"ISRAEL RETALIATES TO HAMAS TERROR"
That is the headline in the Times of India
How refreshing, how unexpected, how true!
"ISRAAID IN AMERICA"
To be honest, I have just discovered the Israaid website and it could not make me happier. It is not easy to hold on to the old time humanitarian traditions when one serves as a Scapegoat to the World and you need to fight the same battles over and over again. But it is never as important as during those times.
HIGH OIL PRICES HURT AFRICA MOST
I am sick and tired of hearing about the miserliness of the developed world towards the poor and so little on the ruin high oil prices bring to the poorest. High energy prices hurt Africa in the eighties and it is hurting it now In fact, much of the new aid flowing to the continent may simply end up paying for the higher feul prices:
So why the deep silence? Why aren't rich oil producers asked to help out with the bills? Apparently, just as Saudi Arabia was able to oil the wheels of apartheid without the world making a peep, so can the OPEC begger it again without raising leftist elite ire.
Is it possible that the campain is less about wanting to help Africa and more about wishing to hurt America?Saturday, September 24, 2005
KOFI ANNAN'S WORD IS WORTHLESS
Five years ago, at the request of the U.N. Security Council, Mr. Annan determined that Israel had completely ended its occupation of Lebanon in compliance with council resolutions. The future of Shaba Farms, Mr. Annan's report at the time said, should be resolved as part of negotiations to end Israel's dispute with Syria, which involve the entire Golan Heights area. . . .
SPAIN AND GERMAN COURTS BICKER, TERRORISTS BENEFIT
German constitutional courts refuse to turn over a German terror suspect to Spain. Now Spain refuses to turn over a Spanish suspect to Germany. Read and weep.
IRANIAN ACADEMIC WANTS AMANPOUR BANNED
Who said their academics have to be more reasonable than ours?
IAEA RESOLUTION SUPPORTED BY DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
Only Venezuella voted against the IAEA resolution "requiring that Iran be reported to the Security Council for failing to convince the international community that its nuclear program was entirely peaceful." Amongst those voting for the resolution were India, Peru, Singapore and Ecuador. China and Russia abstained.
There is no way Iran can present the resolution as merely as an effort by the rich to keep the poor out of the nuclear club.
This has been a good week. Both remaining members of the "axis of evil" suffered set backs. The war is not over, but it is going better.
INDIA JUMPS TO THE AMERICAN SIDE
Well, it's done. India chose to join Japan as a full fledged member of the Democratic alliance. As readers of this blogs know, it has not been easy for the world largest democracy to put behind it its attachment to the non-aligned tradition. It almost blew it. But once the price of wavering became clear, India crossed the Rubicon and did in a way which leaves no doubt of its allegiance. The Times of India explains:
Friday, September 23, 2005
SISTANI CHANGES HIS MIND AND URGES VOTING YES
A few weeks ago Grand Ayatola Sistani came out in opposition to the constitution. Support the support the Sunnis now and they will support you next time. I cannot believe many Shia bought the argument. Then, perhaps, the mounting Shia body count shook his faith in his Sunni "brothers." In any case, now he changed his mind and is now recommending a yes vote. The Sunni clerics recommended a no vote. But they recommended voting!
It is good news for the coalition.
BAHRAIN AND KUWAIT TO NORMALISE RELATIONS WITH ISRAEL
No, we are not talking about recongnition or diplomatic relations merely the lifting of the boycutt on Israeli goods.
How Come? 1. It is a condition of signing a bilateral free trade agreement with the US. 2. The this small countries, unlike Saudi Arabia are making enough progress to be able to survive without vilifying the US and Israel.
Still, its progress.
THE PLUNDER OF THE GAZA GREENHOUSES CONTINUES
You can provide the Palestinian Authority with valuables but you cannot make it protect and use them for the benefit of the Palestinian people.
FARMING THREATENS ANCIENT EGYPTIAN SITES
Service industry should trump agriculture. So, Mubarak and company should have made sure that Egypt did not lose her monuments. But since Mubarak is above criticism, Ritzy asks:To borrow the voice of the Egyptian Sandmonkey: how do we blame this on the Zionist conspiracy?
ALL THE TERRORISTS ARE DRUGGED
That is the argument forwarded by Tariq Alhomayed, the editor in chief of Asharq Al-Awsat.
HAMAS TO TURN SYNAGOGUE TO WEAPONS' MUSEUM
Hamas yesterday announced its plan to turn a synagogue in Netzarim into a museum that would display weapons employed by the terrorist group's members against Israeli civilians.A statement issued yesterday by Hamas said, "Qassam rockets and other locally made arms will be exposed, since it is the legal weapon that evicted the occupation forces."
Do not worry its not reported in the NYT, only in the NY Sun
"I’m reading this again, and wondering where the hell is the world’s outrage about this? Newsweek prints a false rumor that a Koran was dunked in a toilet, and the entire planet goes nuts. Hamas announces that they’re going to turn a Jewish house of worship into a memorial to mass murder ... and the silence is absolutely deafening.
Because as always Hamas lives down to our lowest expectations. One only has to view this slide show
BAHRAINI WOMAN TRAINS TO BE A BUS DRIVER.
It took three years. It began in 2002 with Leila and is continuing in 2005 with Fatima,soon about to be the second female with a heavy vehicle permit.
Faster, please?
Thursday, September 22, 2005
ONE GOOD THING ABOUT RITA
It will steal the thunder of the Jerks.
CHILDREN ARE SEXUALLY ABUSED IN PAKISTAN AND PHILADELPHIA
The Muslim community and parents must be just as horrified as Catholics ones.
Can you think of a worse betrayal?
Will shaming be enough of a deterrance, punishment?
RUSSIAN-JAPANESE RELATIONS THEN AND NOW
Then is during the Cold War. KGB eyed Tokyo nuke 'accident': late archivist. The late archivist name is Vasili Mitrokhin who hand copied hundreds of pages of KGB document immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union. They reveal just how successfully the KGB penetrated Japan but also how ultimately unimportant that penetration was.
Now is during a neo-mercantilist period when "Japan Holds the Chips, Russia the Isles, Oil Aces. So, Japanese business is trying to mediate.
TURKEY WINS THE GERMAN ELECTIONS
The results of the German elections may not have been good for the German or the European economies but they were an unexpected reprieve for Erdagan and his efforts to join the EU.
It did not happen as we feared," wrote the Turkish daily Aksam on Monday. The daily Milliyet said, "Merkel did not benefit from her anti-Turkish stance," while the Radikal newspaper added that the conservative bloc led by Merkel was in "a state of disillusion.
So are the people around Merkel's French counterpart, Nicholas Sarkozy who argues that "We have drawn some bad lessons from the German elections."
Only the future will tell. In the meantime, the Turkish-German discussions will begin on time.
NEW ORLEANS WATCHES: WILL GALVESTON'S SEA WALLS HOLD?
To be honest, I was delighted to read that Rita has peaked. We are so prepared that I have difficulty believing Rita will be anything like Katrina. It never (o.k. very rarely) rains when I carry an umbrella.
Still, a severe storm may provide us with invaluable information about the right way to rebuild New Orleans. Galveston built a 17 foot seawall and raised the city. No storm since then has breached it. If Rita his Galveston and the city survives, it would prove that raising New Orleans is the way to go.
SHARON TO FOLLOW BARAK?
When I turned on my computer, I found an email from Ritzy asking me to comment on Debka's claim that Sharon is about to retire to his ranch. I was surprised as he is the son of two famously stubborn parents.
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
SAUDIS DO NOT WANT PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST
Two thirds of the Palestinians in Gaza, not to mention the West Bank want to see an end the Intifada but not the Saudis. How do I know? They continue to raise money for it publically:
An August 29, 2005 program on Saudi Iqra TV was devoted to supporting Jihad in Palestine. The program host began by telling all Saudis that they must donate and explained how to do so.A caption then appeared on the screen: "Saudi Committee for Support of the Al-Quds Intifada, Account No. 98, a joint account at all Saudi banks." A moderator stated that "Jihad is the pinnacle of Islam" and explained that the funds would go directly to those waging Jihad, where it would "help them carry out this mission."
The program included the secretary-general of the Saudi government's Muslim World League Koran Memorization Commission, Sheikh Abdallah Basfar, who explained why it was an "obligation" for all Muslims to support Jihad. He also promised that "all of the funds sent via the known charities and organizations" would reach "your Muslim brothers."
How come? They must continue to find hate targets for their people outside the kingdom's borders.
What is to be done? Call their bluff. They are VERY sensitive about their image.
GAZA VIOLENCE MEANS THAT PEACE WILL HAVE TO WAIT
No, it is not my conclusion. It is Jonathan Gurwitz' but I agree. Therefore the US has no reason to waste an additional 50 million dollars on gutless Abbas. After all, the Palestinians are careful not to spend their own resources in Gaza.
Who ruined Gaza? Not Israel, Ephraim Karsh answers:
GAY YOUTH LASHED IN IRAN
Sad but true. Then it was the Nazis who persecuted the Jews, Gypsies and Homosexuals and kept women in "their place." Now, it is the Islamo-fascist in Iran.
ACADEMICS SHOULD BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE
That is the reason I am posting Joffe's response to the Polk attack on Campus Watch on this website.
I support Campus Watch. Why? Because the ideological fervor of my graduate school teachers was so strong, that my fellow students would come to me after class and whisper: "We just want to tell you we agree with you." I asked why they do not speak out and they refused to answer. No, the subject was not the Middle East. It was Africa.
I also agree with Martin Kramer that academics should be held accountable for their predictions. Unfortunately, regional scholarship often goes native and hence, the Middle East scholars like the Soviet ones before them, proved to be "know nothings."
IRAN: WRANGLE CONTINUES OVER DIPLOMA MILL
You are right, Frieda, it is funny.
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
CHINA NEEDS SERVICE JOBS
and service jobs need a free press; that is the message of Zhiwu Chen, a professor of finance at Yale School of Management. He explains:
CHINESE CYBEROFFENSIVE PENETRATES US NETWORKS
AFIO reports: - "Since 2003, in a cyberoffensive that American officials have christened Titan Rain, a massive Chinese computer espionage ring has begun penetrating sensitive US government and business networks, the American Foreign Policy Council’s China Reform Monitor reported on 12 September. www.afpc.org
US officials consider Infiltration by these cyberspies to be serious and to include breaches of facilities such as the Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico and the U.S. Army's Aviation and Missile Command.
Analysts estimate that, given the scope of its activities, the espionage network, which has been traced back to China's Guandong province, is made up of multiple hackers manning six to ten computer terminals around the clock. The intrusion has been going on so long and is so well organized that the whole thing must be state sponsored, a computer specialist told Time magazine. (Gene P., DKR)"
WOMEN AND MINORITIES REMANIN UNSAFE IN PAKISTAN
Nick Kristof, God bless him, continues to use his column to shine a light on those the world would like to ignore.
Musharraf is making strides in some areas, such as his attitudes towards Jews and Israel, Pakistani law leaves much to be desired when in comes to the protection of women (see bellow) and minorities.
Plus, Madrassahs abuse children.
AN ARMENIAN IN EASTERN TURKEY
Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard inaugurated a new online magazine. The first issue includes Notes from the Field: There was and there was not. The story of Rachel Goshgarian and her father's hunt to find the medieval Armenian monastery of Surp Nerses in Eastern Anatolia. It is a place that never recuperated from the Armenian genocide. I know. I visited it and it is just the way she describes it, beautiful, haunted and empty.
It seemed like the right kind of tribute to Simon Wiesenthal who LIVED to a ripe old age of 96.
This just in: "A Turkish court has ruled that a controversial conference on the mass killing of Armenians living under the Ottoman Empire should be suspended."
EGYPTIAN COMEDY PRO PEACE WITH ISRAEL
Isn't this wonderful news?
THE LIMITS OF CHINESE- RUSSIAN MILITARY COOPERATION
As I suspected there is not much to worry about for quite some time. The Russians thought they were the superior and more experience force and the correspondent summed up the exercise thus:
The Russian-Chinese joint military exercise "Peace Mission-2005" proved once again the correctness of the popular proverb, which says: "We are friends, but let's keep our tobacco separate". The exercise was held jointly, but each side was pursuing its own interests, and the competition spirit could always be felt.
Moreover, low pay and moral continue to plague the Russian army. A couple of articles from Johnson's Russia List 9249 are worth reading:
HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE POLITICS OF HUNGER IN THE KOREAS & UPDATE
The world had hardly had time to evaluate the deal cut by the six parties in Beijing when North Korea threw a monkey wrench into the entire process with old/new demands.
Be that as it may, hats off to Freedom House for reminding us that the production of nuclear weapons is not Pyongyang's only transgression. Of immediate concern should be the fact that:
Monday, September 19, 2005
IRAQIS SET BRITONS ON FIRE
And I thought that the the British, unlike the naive Americans, knew how to handle "the natives."
PRIEST GIVEN OPPORTUNITY TO MOLEST IN TWO COUNTRIES
“I take responsibility for what has happened,” Rev. Denis Vadeboncoeur, a priest in the Evreux diocese, told a court at the opening of his trial. “Now, I must accept and assume the consequence of my acts.”What did he do? He gave a Canadian priest convicted of child molestation a job in his village High School.
To be honest, the high school student molested by the priest, not to mention the priest who confessed and was sentenced to 20 years, will pay the price.
Clearly, some priests have yet to learn to care more for children than their fellow priests.
ROBERTS RIGHT ON FOREIGN LAW
I am naturally suspicious of a person everybody likes and thinks brilliant. So, it was not until I read Ann Althouse's Nyt op-ed piece that I joined the crowd. This is the paragraph that did it:
LOOKING at foreign law for support is like looking out over a crowd and picking out your friends," Judge John Roberts told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, responding to a question from Senator Jon Kyl about Supreme Court justices citing foreign law as they interpret the Constitution. "Foreign law, you can find anything you want. If you don't find it in the decisions of France or Italy, it's in the decisions of Somalia or Japan or Indonesia or wherever."
This is an argument I do not remember either Scalia or Breyer making when they debated the issue and it is a good one. The constitution and precedents provide plenty of discretion to the 9 most powerful and least accountable men in the country. There last thing they need is more power or more discretion.
If John Roberts understands that he is unlikely to make the worst mistake a judge can make, overreach.
BILL CLINTON IS HELD TO A LOWER STANDARD THAN YAHOO
I am sorry to be harping on this issue but it gets under my skin. Yesterday I watched Bill Clinton bloviating on the talk shows on everything except his failure to raise the problem of Yahoo helping to put a reporter in jail for a decade. Not that either Russett or Stephanapolos cared enough to ask him about the travesty of Yahoo's willingness to obey Chinese orders so accurately condemned in the Washington Post editorial.
THE DEAL WITH NORTH KOREA WEAKENS IRANIAN POSTION
When all said and done, China came through. Will Europe?
IRAN, US, INDIA
By putting its relationship with Teheran before its relationship with Washington, India is playing hardball with the US before it has cemented the relationship.
Not smart. The non-proliferation "party" in and out of Congress not to mention business interests who like the stability of China will be delighted.
Sunday, September 18, 2005
CHINESE MEDIA REPORTS ON AFGHANI VOTE
Call me an optimist but I believe that the headlines bellow help not only democratize the Middle East but also China.
Afghan women walking towards realization of franchise
Vote counting of Afghan parliamentary elections to begin Tuesday.
How long will the Communist party be able to convice its citizens that they should have fewer rights than the Afghanis?
BUSH 8 - OPPONENTS 1/ UPDATE GERMAN ELECTIONS
You would not know it from the media or the pundits but Anti-Americanism is a losing strategy.
Here are some other observation you may not encounter. Angela Merkel got fewer votes than expected because she is a women and an East German. People do not tell pollsters the truth about such prejudices. The same discrepency between polls and voting has been observed in the US when black candidates are running.
Let's not forget, that unlike the British who had powerful queens, this is the first time that Germans will be ruled by a woman. I like it.
UPDATE: No longer. My husband may be right. Being the daughter of a Protestant minister in a Catholic party may not have helped either.
See Bruce Kesler for updates on the German elections. Deutche Welle has great graphic and they tell a sad story. Apparently, both Merkel and Schroeder lost votes. Schroader lost 4.2% and Merkel 3.3% and we thought no one could be worst than Stoiber. The Greens also lost 0.5%. The free democrats gained 2.4% and the left 4.7%.
Everybody is selling Euros.
FRANCE EVICTS 13,000 ILLEGALS
And earns Mohammed A. R. Galadari's praise.
EGYPT VIOLETS AGREEMENT BEFORE ITS INK DRIED
In "Egypt: No Control Over Gaza Border, Planning Border Changes," Hillel Fendel describes the complete disregard with which the Egyptian and Palestinians treat agreements reached with Israel and the US. The Money quote:
Left-wing MKs Matan Vilnai (Labor) and Chemi Doron (Shinui) also criticized the Egyptians for their behavior in southern Gaza. "Egypt must wake up quickly, prevent violations of diplomatic agreements, and stabilize their control," Vilnai said. Doron said that Egypt is violating the agreement even before its ink has dried.
SAUDIS REMAIN AL QAEDA TARGETS AND SUPPORTERS
I believe that the best thing that can happen to the world is another a year or two of high oil prices. It would unleash the creativity of the best minds, end our oil dependence and turn oil companies into energy companies. Environmentalists should be celebrating.
In the meantime Mordechai Abir analysis of the post-Katrian US-Saudi relations includes some interesting information about the distinction Saudis make between fighting terror at home and financing it abroad and about Al Qaeda's almost successful attempt to blow up the Saudi oil fields.
NEW TROJAN SWAPS PORN FOR KORAN
NOW AS THEN, BRITISH UNIVERSITIES ARE ENEMY RECRUITING GROUNDS
A leaked govenment report due for publication next week which found its way to the Guardian a lists the British universities where extremist or terror groups have been detected:
Saturday, September 17, 2005
THE WOMBS OF SUNNI WOMEN HAVE CRUSADERS' SPERM
Leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq Al-Zarqawi Declares "Total War" on Shi'ites, States that the Sunni Women of Tel'afar Had "Their Wombs Filled with the Sperm of the Crusaders"
Gross
AL QAEDA DEN WAS IN A PAKISTANI MADRASSA
No, we are not picking on innocent Islamic schoolsSome have many more weapons than Korans.
9/11 CHANGED THE ME FOR BETTER OR WORSE?
The answer depends on the pundit's view of the pre 9/11 status quo. For example, Jamil Al-Ziyabi likes the changes very much indeed:
"I remember my first trip to the US soon after the 11 September attacks, how I sat glued to my seat on the plane without looking at anyone for fear that they might see my Arab-Asian face and become terrorised." Mistrust of every Arab and Muslim was soon overcome, however, writes Al-Ziyabi, and positive changes on the Arab scene soon took place, manifest in the wave of reform "even in Libya, in Egypt [with its new democratic experiment], in the Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon. Palestine is edging towards peace, with Arafat gone and Sharon dismantling the settlements." Similar changes are taking place in Mauritania, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, the writer asserts. "All this happened after the attacks on New York and Washington. Can we deign to say: 'we have 11 September to thank?"'
But Abdul-Wahab Badrakhan believes the changes were all for the worse:
We almost forgot about 11 September, not because we want to or because we don't honor the victims (who fell that day) but because the bitterness and the tragedies have grown even more... we have not forgotten what happened in those four years, and what will still happen (under the rule) of George Bush." Badrakhan alludes to the failure of US intelligence to prevent the attacks, and the disintegrating and violent situation in Iraq. "Bush might have taken the US to war in order to avert another 11 September -- he might have succeeded in that specific objective but he ignored what happened to the world in the process."
The world is divided between those who put democracy first and those who put their love of power and dislike of America/Bush first.
THE ELECTIONS SHOOK UP EGYPT AND THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD
This week's semi-official Al Ahram Weekly gives the impression that the Egyptian political establishment is far from satisfied with the election results. After all, only 60% of the eligible voter registered and a paultry 23% of them bothered to show up at the polls. Mubarak was so humiliated by the low turnout that a law to ,fine those who fail to vote was introduces in Parliament. Salama A Salama writes:
NY TIMES TALKS THE TALK BUT DOES NOT WALK THE WALK
Read all about the way they evict property owners.
Krugman, meanwhile is rebuked by the paper's own public editor.
Friday, September 16, 2005
CONDI FALLS FOR MUSHARRAF'S FEIGNED WEAKNESS
Can't you do something to help Musharraf? Condi asked Singh. It is a question American policy makers always ask Israeli leaders. Did Musharraf learned the value of feigning weakness from Arafat and company? Read and judge for yourself. To me the story had an eery familiarity.
Musharraf knows how to face reality:Israel’s right to exist now unquestioned: Musharraf
He is also capable of making really stupid comments like the one "that many Pakistanis felt that crying rape was an easy way to make money and move to Canada."
FREEZING NORTH KOREAN (IRANIAN AND SYRIAN) ASSETS IS A GOOD IDEA: THREATENING TO DO IT, IS NOT
In the US we focus on American-North Korean salvos but it is China's butt which is on the line. Indeed, China tabled a new resolution which would grant Pyongyang the right to develop peaceful neclear energy in the future, in the long run.
Freezing assets can make sense. Threatening asset freeze merely encourages their removal from American control. Not smart.
GO, ANGIE, GO!
I just cannot see the German being so conservative, so anti-feminists, so anti East Germam accents and so scared of change as to elect Schroeder for a third term. And, yes, she cannot but imporve the Sixty Eighters' foreign policy record.
Schoeder also must lose because he is a low life. His campaign advertisement shows American flag draped coffins on their way home from Iraq with the motto: "She would have sent soldiers." Must view.
IRAN PUTS HER HATE OF US AHEAD OF IRAQI SHIA
How else can you explain its refusal to condemn Zarqaui's declaration of war against the Shia?
THREE SYRIAN TRANSGRESSIONS: LEBANON, ISRAEL, IRAQ
QUESTION: In the best of all possible worlds -- forgive me for getting back to Syria -- what can Syria do to diminish U.S. hostility or skepticism about Syria? And how can Syria best help us, conceivably, in Iraq?
SECRETARY RICE: Yes. Well, all the way back well before the Iraq war, Colin Powell went to Syria and he -- this was at the time that we were trying to re-invigorate the sanctions -- the smart sanctions -- and said, you know, cut off this pipeline. It didn't happen. Every time the United States has gone to the Syrians at a diplomatic level and said here are things that need to be done, the Syrians have either done nothing or done the absolute minimum that they could do.
The question is: If Syria doesn't want to be a problem in the Middle East, why is it continuing to strangle or try to strangle Lebanon in the way that it is? I will tell you, I was in Lebanon and you feel the dead hand of Syria in Lebanon. You really feel it. And at the time, they were cutting off 47 percent of the trade across that border because they know it will destroy the Lebanese economy. All right, if they're really living up to Resolution 1559, if they really bear the Lebanese people no ill will, why are they are doing that?
Secondly, if they really are in favor of a comprehensive peace in the Middle East and a Palestinian state, then why are they supporting Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Damascus and Hezbollah and getting money to Palestinian rejectionists at the time that Mahmoud Abbas is trying to cut off terrorist activity and make peace with the Israelis?
Third, if they really are supportive of a peaceful neighbor in Iraq, why are Iraqi -- foreign fighters who are fueling the terror against Iraqis continuing to flow out of Syria?
Thanks Michael Petrelis. For Debka's detailed investigation report
TURKISH WOMEN UNSAFE FROM THEIR OWN FAMILIES EVEN IN GERMANY
The good news: Signs in Berlin: "No to honor killings" At least, the brother is on trial. In the Kingdom of Jordan, the law states that family members who carry out honor killings are “totally exempt from sentence.” Between 28 and 60 such murders are estimated to take place annually in that country. The Palestinian Authority also permits these killings, with up to 22 a year reportedly taking place. Do remember all efforts to change the law to punish "honor killings" in Jordan failed though the US and "Freedom House" are doing their best. Feminist are NOT!
BRITISH INANE ANTI-TERROR STRATEGY
A Scholar specializing in terrorism waylaid by British police for reading article about terrorism
KATRINA'S RECONSTRUCTION WILL INSURE AMERICA'S CONTINUED GROWTH
Every so often I put my two cents in about the economy. It's dangerous because knowledge is rather basic. So here goes. Katrina threatened to slow the rate of growth in America. The reconstruction will make sure it does not. The problem of capitalism is not lack of capital but over production. That is the reason car manufaturers build in obsolesence.
I cannot and do not recommend having cities totaled. But the economic value of rebuilding cannot be overstated. The building of infrastructure is the best type of investment govenments can make and if you wish to see real free enterprise zones at work go to China. That is the strategy it uses so successfully.
The deficits have been dropping, they will go up again but, no problem, money remains very cheep and, hence, this is a good time to rebuild.
TALABANI ASKS FOR HELP AGAINST "THE FORCES OF DARKNESS"
His plea reminds me of a poem by Nathan alterman. It can be paraphrased thus: The dead being "the silver platter" on which democracy was presented to Iraq these days.
Thursday, September 15, 2005
IRAN AND NORTH KOREA CALL THE NEGOTIATORS' BLUFF
"If you think we are uncooperative now, we can do worse" declared Iran and North Korea. Iran threatens to replace Pakistan as the leading proliferator of nuclear Know how and North Korea threatens to boost further its weapons production.
Its time to end meaningless threats and endless patience. They simply embolden those at whom they are directed. The US may not be able to remake the world but she sure can blow-up the status quo!
DONKEYS AND CAMELS TO HELP IN AFGHANISTAN VOTE
I cannot find a picture. But Deutche Welle showed it. Camels carrying ballot boxes. Be cynical but the Afghanis they interviewed were not. Afghanistan does not enjoy a perfect democracy, but its citizens have more choice than their Muslim brethrens in Egypt or their Asian brethrens in China.
Food for thought.
A TALE OF TWO INDIAN MUSLIM WOMEN
In June, the old and new media were outraged by a Muslim court ruling which demanded Irmana divorce her husband because she was raped by her father in law. At the time NGOs and other social groups promised to support her but failed to follow through and she was left to wage a lonely battle. The government has arrested her father in law but her husband, family and community unite in pressuring the poor and sick woman to drop her accusations.
The same cannot be said about Sania Mizra, the Indian tennis star whose scant clothing raised the ire of a cleric called Siddqi. He issued a fatwa against her.
IN GAZA, LIKE IN IRAQ, THE VIOLENCE IS MINORITY DRIVEN
Poll suggests 'optimism' in Gaza reveals that 38% think the Intifada should continue. 67% think that "military operations from the Gaza Strip against Israel" should cease while 33% oppose those strikes. They were hopeful about potential economic improvement but are too experienced not to worry "about the ability of their security forces to keep public order."
The preferred solution, a grand governing coalition which includes Hamas. Clearly, Gazans hope that giving Hamas a piece of the pie would tame it. I do not blame them. The looting and increased flow of weapons from Egypt to Gaza hardly serves to calm their concerns.
INDONESIA JOINS PAKISTAN IN MAKING ITS RELATIONS WITH ISRAEL MORE VISIBLE
There is no better way for a country to signal a commitment to fight extremism than to publicize its improving its relations with Israel. This is particularly true about countries with large Muslim populations. As exciting as the fact that Israeli, Indonesian FMs meet for first time in New York, it should not be forgotten that Israel has long standing commercial ties with Indonesia. For example, Israel is importing clean coal from that country. The moderate Muslim scholar and Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid has visited Israel twice.
Pakistan, Israel have 10 years old ties. There are also rumors of an upcoming meeting between Israeli and Algerian officials at the UN. Israeli Silvan Shalom claims that the Gaza withdrawal is the immediate reason for the improvement. He has a point. I would add that experience with terrorism is a much larger factor. Countries which experience terror are far less prone to condemn Israel's response to unending Palestinian terror.
Progress. And more may be coming. Israel is considering opening interest sections possibly under Turkish auspices in Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia and, perhaps, Algeria. Clearly, there is safety in numbers.
Palestinian clerics do their best to insure that peace does not progress by issuing a fatwa against normalizations of relations with Israel.
A STEP CLOSER TO THE INCLUSION OF A RED STAR OF DAVID
The international Red Cross, it is argued is not a political organization. Wrong. It is. It has accepted the Red Crescent and excluded the Red Star of David amongst others.
Finally, it is coming closer to a solution. It plans to organize a conference before the end of the year in which it would agree that a new symbol Crystal may join Red Cross, Crescent. Countries could then insert their own symbols into the crystal.
Progress.
IS GOD PART OF ORGANIZED RELIGION?
That is the question facing the supreme court. For as far as the law is concerned organized religions stand and fall together. There is no way for democratic governments to play favorites between one religion or another. Consequently, funding Catholic schools or even vouchers for Catholic schools would mean vouchers for Madrassahs. Hence, prohibitions on veils led to prohibitions on Kippot and (large) crosses. In Canada, the decision not to permit Muslims to follow the Shariah in personal matters affects already functioning Jewish courts. Miriam lays out the problem admirably.
Only the most abstract concepts, the ones shared by all religions, if they are any, can survive the war against scourge of religiously motivated terror.
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
A WAR AGAINST THE SHIA
The Sunni would stop at nothing. With the constitution amended to pacify the Arab neigbors, it could no longer afford to hide behind "resistance to occupation." Zarqaui had to put his cards on the table and declare a religious war which the media is going to insist on calling a civil war.
The Iraqi Sunni are facing a stark choice, go along with a new Iraq or engage in a lengthy war in which the best they can hope for is to be ruled by Zarqaui.
The Iranian revolution demonstrated that any idea of using the Islamists to win power in the hope of outwitting them is a pipedream.
My condolences to the victims. It is an ugly, ugly war in which an international intent on an American defeat is Zarqaui's best ally.
SCHROEDER COMPLAINS OF NOT ENOUGH MEDIA BIAS
Used to being the media darling, Schroeder complains about no longer being the only darling. I must admit I watch Deutche Welle in English and find the coverage shockingly pro-Schroeder. He is always shown surrounded by adoring fans while Merkel is shown answering reporters' questions. No contest.
INDIANS LIKE AMERICANS MORE THAN CHINESE DO
The Pew Research Center's global attitude project collects data about attitudes towards Americans in various countries. The one conducted in June 2005 found significant differences between the Chinese and Indian views of Americans. No strategist or businessman should ignore these findings.
81% of Indians vs. 44% of Chinese view Americans as hard working.
58% of Indians vs. 35% of Chinese view Americans as honest.
86% of Indians vs. 70% of Chinese view Americans as inventive.
43% of Indians vs. 57% of Chinese view Americans as greedy.
27% of Indians vs. 44% of Chinese view Americans as rude.
36% of Indians vs. 44% of Chinese view Americans as immoral.
39% of Indians vs. 61% of Chinese view Americans as violent.
MUSLIM WOMEN TAKE ON THE SHARIAH
Sharia courts must be stopped!Our fight must go on!
This is a speech made at 8th September protest meeting against Sharia courts in Paris by Azar Majedi and emailed to me because I wrote about the subject. Muslim women today, like Black women earlier are asked to put their own interest aside for the sake of the "larger community." Some do as the recent arrest for terrorism of a woman in Spain demonstrates. But other do not:
September 11th brought a terrible reality home to many who had chosen to see political Islam as something belonging to those strange so-called Islamic countries. With the aid of a self-serving theory of cultural relativism minds could be set at ease while brutality, torture, stoning and terrorism were taking place in those “exotic” places. By saying that, it is “their culture” and “their religion”, heads could be turned the other way. As though some masochists inhabited those countries, who like to practice “their culture” and “their religion” by being stoned,flogged, maimed, executed and terrorized. “It is not our business,” was the response to all these horrendous acts. However, I am happy to see that our 27 years of struggle is paying off. We are now able to mobilize a great force against political Islam, we are able to organise a great force to defend secularism and universal laws for all citizens.
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
88% OF IRAQIS WANT TO VOTE - THEY HAVE LEARNED THAT THEIR VOTE COUNTS
Read the poll results and then the rest of the good news from Iraq. I, usually do not bother posting this as it is so widely posted on the net. But we so need good news.
CRY, FOR THE IRANIAN WOMEN
So much was going on, that I failed to keep up with the fate of my Iranian sisters.
It got worse.
Women lose jobs, are found incompetent to manage restaurants are are being flogged for "bad" veiling.
If half the noise made about the French prohibition against veiling was made for Iranian flogging for "improperly veiled women" and similar transgressions, I would be satisfied.
It's all here including the pictures.
BOLTON FOLDED ON UN NON-REFORM
POWER GRABING COURTS
What goes around, comes around. This time, real fast. A few days ago, an Israeli general narrowly avoided arrest by an activist British judge who wanted to examine his behavior as an Israeli officer in Gaza.
Today, the so called Strasbourg Court decided to give EU commissioners "the power to compel British courts to fine or imprison people for breaking EU laws, even if the Government and Parliament are opposed."
Good Luck, French and Dutch voters. Unelected judges decided your votes do not matter. Do I hear an American type of "Red Europe" rising?
FIGHTING EXTREMISM TURNS TO APPEASEMENT IN BRITAIN
Tony Blair appointed a committee to tackle extremism. Its first recommendation, Ditch Holocaust Day . It offends Muslims.
How did it happen? Appointments, my dear Watson, appointments.
ANTI-AMERICANISM IN EGYPT AND BELGIUM
In an op-ed in the Egyptian government daily Al-Akhbar, columnist Ayman Hamam writes:
Nausea and revulsion arose in September 2001 when the American president George Bush declared war on terrorism, and when he undertook to destroy every terrorist organization. If Bush really wants to realize this lofty goal in order to give the world respite from terror, he must begin by destroying the biggest terror organization, and that is the American Central Intelligence Agency – the CIA. This way, he will save the world from terrorism!
I am sure you are pleased to know that the US is giving 3 billion dollars a year to support the government that appointed the editors who chose to publish this diatribe.
Some Belgians go further. Their fall guy is not limited to the CIA, it encompasses all the English speaking people. The following song is playing on Belgian state own radio:
Hamburgers and coke, yes you already knew But do you also know the cause of the general decay? Short-sighted thinking, loud talking Sticking to one-liners forever Down with America! Down with the jerks from America Down with America! [...] Down with American colonialism Down with that ugly, biting English All the Anglo-Saxon pretence, arrogance . . .
"Incitement to hatred against people based on (i.a.) nationality is a crime in Belgium," explains Luc van Braekel. "In practice however, this law is only enforced when Arab, muslim or African minorities are criticized. Hate speech against the Americans or the British remains unsanctioned, as was recently shown when the leftist newspaper De Morgen published an article that complained about the British, "with their unique mixture of wantonness and arrogance, their pathetic addiction to drink, their bad taste, and actually just their ugliness and thickheaded presence."
I am glad anti-Muslim hate speech is punished. I would like to see the same standard applied to anti-American and anti-Semitic hate speech. It is not only fair, it is healthy. This level of ingratitude is bad for the soul.
A JAUNDICED EYE ON THE UN
Eye on the UN is a particularly timely website. The institution is 60 years old and remains what it has always been, a debate society to which high level bureaucrats can be kicked upstairs. They are joined there with unelected, unaccountable "idealists" who preach producers of their responsibilities to the less fortunate then they. Together they decided that Israel was the number one Human Rights violator in the world and the US number five. Canada shares with Malaysia and Saudi Arabia the 32nd spot just above Zimbabwe.
Its a must read website for anyone interested in the institutions which endeavors to become our highest government. Undeservedly, it already posses the power to legitimize or delegitimize state's actions. So, giving up on the institution is simply not an option. Reforming it is going to be a hard but necessary slog. As long as the MSM had a monopoly in information, the exposure of its inequities was severely limited. Now things are changing and Anne Bayefsky's site is an important part of that change.
Good job, Anne.
IN NORWAY, LIKE IN THE US, ELECTORAL MAJORITY DOES NOT MEAN VICTORY
(Prime Minister) Bondevik said his alliance and Progress had apparently won more votes than the "Red-Green" coalition, about 1.27 million to 1.25 million. Election rules give more weight to voters in remote rural districts, like the Arctic north.
Hence, the power in Norway will shift to the Red-Green coalition. Unfortunately, one of the reasons for Bondevik's defeat is his unwillingness to cooperate with the far right, anti-immigration party or, apparently, deal with the unease many Norwegians feel about immigration. The result, the big winner in the past election is the Progress party which more than doubled the number of its voters. In fact, it became the second largest party in the Norwegian parliament.
Norwegians do not mind paying taxes. Indeed, a Norwegian friend told me that the problem with Americans is the fact that they do not like paying taxes. But Norwegians do not like foreigners. When I was in Oslo, people who I know voted labor, told my husband and me that they used to go to the market but they no longer do because it is filled with foreigners.
I hope the new government will tackle the issue before Progress' Hagen becomes the only alternative.
ISRAEL RESEARCHERS DISOVER AN ALTERNATIVE TO FOSSIL FEUL?
Hydrogen, the most plentiful element in the universe, has long been viewed as an attractive candidate for becoming the pollution-free fuel of the future.It looks good.However, nearly all hydrogen fuel used today is produced by means of expensive processes that require combustion of polluting fossil fuels. Moreover, storing and transporting hydrogen is extremely difficult and costly.
In a breakthrough that has dramatic implications for energy use worldwide, Israeli researchers have shown that hydrogen fuel can be produced with the help of sunlight - propelling the dream forward of using hydrogen as a 'green' fuel.
Monday, September 12, 2005
AYODHYA IN GAZA
In 1990 the world was horrified by the destruction of the Ayodhya mosque by a Hindu mob. Since then, churches were destroyed in Palestine, Bosnia and Kosovo and no one made a peep. Today synagogues were destroyed in Gaza and, the media chorus chants, what did you expect?
I did not expect anything else and that is the tragedy. I hoped that having had all this time to prepare Abbas would show a bit of gumption. Unfortunately, for all of us, he did not. They had the right to celebrate, Abbas said. They did it in a way which brought them death and destruction.
Even the Green Houses Wolfensohn bought them are being looted.
The media, as usual, blames ISRAEL.
How discouraging.
AFIO REPORTS: WITNESS TO TESTIFY ON DESTROYED ABLE DANGER DATA
– A DoD employee will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on 21 September that in 2000 civilian superiors ordered him to destroy a huge cache of data from the Able Danger unit on potential terrorists or he would lose his job or go to jail, Rep. Curt Weldon said, Congressional Quarterly reported on 8 September.
It should be interesting. I had the opportunity to listen to Curt Weldon. He impressed me not as the usual Congressman on the make. But a person who cares deeply and passionately about the fate of the country. This story is important not to our past but for our future.
"A FEDERALIST PAUSE"
Amity Shlaes takes issue with the argument of the type I presented on this site:
Incompetence has been the word used the world over to describe the rescue from Hurricane Katrina. The US Federal Emergency Management Agency and its parent, the new, giant Department of Homeland Security, did not respond fast enough. Worse yet, President George W. Bush did not respond fast enough. This, the commander-in-chief who wages lightning wars?The critics are right on one point. There was hesitation. That hesitation at times represented incompetence. But it was also something else: what we might call the Federalist Pause.
She has a point. Bush did hesitate to override the will of the Louisiana governor. Federalism is invaluable. The best government is the one closest to the people. Unfortunately, there are times when pauses cost lives. She believes federalism is worth paying it. I hope we can find a way to distinguish effectively between ordinary and extraordinary times.
In any case, this is a discussion worth having before the next disaster strikes as it inevitably will.
CHINA MAY HAVE WON THE FIRST ROUND, BUT THE INTERNET BATTLE HAS ONLY JUST BEGUN
The internet was designed to be free but consolidation provided a few companies with a way to control the easy flow of the information. To their eternal shame, instead of protecting their clients, they bow down to their totalitarian Chinese masters. Connsequently, writing from the internet conference in Beijing, Peter Harmrsen declares that China won:
"The Chinese government has won. They basically censor the Internet," said Becquelin. "The system relies both on hard and soft methods -- the hard methods being blocking websites and so on, and the soft methods being to make examples of people in order to instill self-censorship in Internet users."
But the war is far from over. Indeed, it has just begun. Defensive self-righteousness will not save Yahoo and its co-appeasers from public shaming. Moreover, new techonogies can be developed to bypass the Chinese controls. The article Harmrsen wrote began thus:
Liu Di, a 24-year-old Beijing translator, uses encryption software whenever she sends off emails, but not everyone is that careful."People aren't aware of the risks that are involved when they receive or send emails," she said. "But most emails are in fact monitored."
The current publicity and the 10 year prison sentence for Shi will make them much more careful. Moreover, people living in totalitarian states excel in finding ways around forbidden words. So, don't declare the battle lost. Do your best, to help win it.
Start by not letting the ethically challenged Bill Clinton off the hook.
PALESTINIAN GUNMEN CELEBRATE BY BURNING EMPTY SYNAGOGUES
Thousands of triumphant Palestinians poured into the abandoned Jewish settlement of Netzarim early on Monday, setting an empty synagogue on fire and shooting in the air, as convoys of Israeli troops rolled out of the Gaza Strip in the final phase of Israel's pullout from the territory after 38 years of occupation.Palestinian police stood by as gunmen raised flags of militant groups and crowds smashed what was left in the ruins or set fire to the debris.
There were similar scenes throughout Gaza.
The synagogue buildings were a focus of Palestinian anger after 38 years of Israeli occupation, primarily because they were among the only buildings left standing.
Pathetic.
Sunday, September 11, 2005
INDIAN MUSLIM WOMEN AWAKEN
Muslim women get own Jamaat, want mosque:
PUDUKOTTAI, SEPTEMBER 10: It began as a regular statement against gender bias. But development organisation STEPS, now made up of some 8,000 determined Muslim women spread across Tamil Nadu’s southern districts, is rewriting history.
The censervative-reformist battle for the soul of Islam is taking some interesting directions.
UPDATE: NO SHARIA IN ONTARIO
That was quick. Too much opposition?
FRIEND - A SONG FOR TODAY AND TOMORROW
FRIEND
(Heye Chazak Chaver)
Little things, simple things
and a few surprises in the middle of the road
Times pass and change,
yesterday you were king.
Where did the exceptions go
and you are left without an answer.
You haven't done all you wanted
and what is left from all the love.
Chorus:
Every thing depends on you, my friend,
be strong, don't break,
Don't let sadness touch you,
be strong and get over your challenges.
Everything depends on you......
It is hard to see - but sometimes
the circle is closed in the middle of the story.
And your body has no more strength to pull,
You could have given
up but you are not allowed to.
Every thing is up to you........
The conclusion, my friend,
is: gather all your strength. It is easier to talk
when you get over your fear.
You understand that this is the way,
Be strong my friend be strong.
Every thing is up to you........
ON 9/11 WE HAD TO ADMIT WE HAVE CANCER AND WE HAVE BEEN HAVING CHEMO EVER SINCE
For decades terrorism was justified, ignored and appeased. We all knew it but 9/11 left us no place to hide. It's like discovering you have pretty advanced cancer. The treatment is far from pleasant. First, it's surgery to take out the big mass, then radiation and chemo to deal with the rest of the malignant cells. The treatment makes you look much worse than you ever did before. In the process, you discover that certain drugs have not worked as expected and you may even need some additional surgery. Still, you fight it with all the ammunition fallible doctors can provide because you all know the alternative is unacceptable. The alternative is death.
That is my take. But do visit The Wind of Change for a wrap up of what the rest do. (hat tip: Instapundit.com)
Saturday, September 10, 2005
MUSLIM WOMEN TAKE UP ARMS AGAINST ISLAMISTS IN KASHMIR
COWARDLY CLINTON AVOIDS CHASTIZING YAHOO FOR HELPING CONVICT SHI
Clinton is no longer president. He can afford to take the moral high ground with impunity (or do the Chinese own him?). In any case, he refuses to condemn either China or Yahoo. The man who let Rwandan be massacred without lifting a finger and pretended not to know the name of "that woman" has learned nothing.
As for Yahoo's chief Yang, he admitted that there was nothing exceptional about Yahoo's response to the Chinese government's request for information about Shi. They have routinely cooperated in other cases. There is no way of knowing the number of people arrested, harassed, dismissed etc. on the basis of Yahoo's information. Hiding behind "local laws" in a totalitarian country is hideous and many around the world are letting Yahoo know. Oh, yes, the Swiss banks also supplied information to the Nazis about Jewish bank accounts.
I already sold all my Yahoo stock. I hope I will not be the only one.
Also see: Bubba Yahoos for yen, and doesn't "feel your pain" by Bruce Kesler
Bubba Balks at China Internet Summit by Gateway Pundit
September 11, 2005: Yahoo - A Good 1940s German Company by Roger L. Simon
Yahoo! e-mail in China: must be evil to be legal by RConversation.
Clinton stays mum on Chinese Internet controls in the Taipei Times.
Clinton sidesteps China rights issue in the Washington Times.
"I had a cold," he later explained.
LAWYERS ARE UNSUITABLE TO DEAL EFFECTIVELY WITH EMERGENCIES
Lawyers are carefully taught to act cautiously, follow regulations and value "due process." These traits so admirable in normal times are useless, indeed, dangerous during emergencies.
After 9/11 Giuliani took charge and Bush ordered them to rewrite the law. Unfortunately, he, then, appointed lawyers to head FEMA and Homeland security. Moreover,after Katrina, he not only listened to his lawyers's advice but he failed to order them to forget about rules governing separation of powers written for normal times.
Finally, we have a general and admiral in charge. Let's hope lawyers and bureaucrats who are still in inappropriate jobs have learn their lesson. The demotion of Michael Brown should help.
FT CALLS THAI MUSLIM MURDERERS ANYTHING BUT TERRORISTS
Thailand Muslim Militants Threaten to Chop Off Ears" reports Richard S. Ehrlich from Bangkok:
After a dozen beheadings in the Muslim-majority south, leaflets have appeared reportedly threatening to chop off the ears of any Muslim who works on weekends.Islamist separatists are fighting to restore the south's long-lost independence from Buddhist-majority Thailand. More than 800 people have died since January 2004 amid bombings, assassinations, arson and other assaults in rebel-torn Yala province, along the border with Malaysia, intelligence officials are investigating leaflets "urging local residents to stop working on Saturdays and Sundays, or they would have their ears cut off," the Bangkok Post newspaper has reported.
You's think this behavior should qualify them as bona fide terrorists. No way. Instead, in a story about 131 Muslims fleeing to Malaysia, the FT called them "suspected militants" and "separatist insurgents."
To justify that name they ignore the bombing campaign which led to the exodus or the fact that teaching in the region became so hazardous that armed guards need to accompany teachers. Why? Because
In the main, the killings target Buddhist teachers or government workers, as well as soldiers and police, leading to speculation that they are part of a campaign to rid southern Thailand of outside, non-Muslim influence.
Now, if Israel did not exist and the US existed Iraq . . . . .
THE TWO FRANCES SOUND LIKE THE TWO AMERICAS
The author suggests that every French person must now choose whether to go on the offensive and join the "France that works" or hunker down behind a new Maginot line in the "France that moans".Writes John Thornhill.
To me, it sounds like red and blue America.
"OLD DOG" MUBARAK HAS NO MANDATE BUT "YOUNG TURK" NOUR DOES
You cannot teach an old dog new tricks. Regardless of all his obvious advantages, Mubarak could not convince himself he can win a fair elections. The result, a ridiculous and corrupt exercise in which even the long suffering Egyptians so little reason to participate.
54% of the Egyptians turned out in May to approve of multi-candidate elections. 23% turned out to chose a candidate.
still, by coming in a surprising second, Nour has the mandate to act as the head of the opposition. His political talent will determine whether Mubarak Fils has just acquired a serious rival. In other words, the elections may not have been for naught after all.
UGLY, VICIOUS GRETNA
It closed the bridge and did not permit the people of New Orleans to escape the flood.
Let their name be mud.
IRAQI SOLDIERS CONTRIBUTE 1,000,000 DINARS TO KATRINA VICTIMS
"We are all brothers. When one suffers tragedy, we all suffer their pain." Said Iraqi Col. Abbas Fadhil.
Gratitude and initiative are wondrous things to behold.
Friday, September 9, 2005
EU FUNDED PALESTINIAN "HUMAN RIGHTS"GROUP SANCTIONS TERROR
Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook of Palestinian Media Watch report: "EU-funded Palestinian "human rights" group sanctions terror and murder of Israeli civilians.
DENMARK: ENCOURGING TERROR IS TERROR
The Danes have their own born and bred Islamist terrorist. His name is Mansoor and they have been watching him for years. In 2003 they apprehended him filming escape routes on a ferry to Norway. Then, they let him go. Now, after the London bombing, they arrested him for distributing tapes encouraging joining the anti-Western Jihad.
Clearly, London has scared the Europeans.
AL QAEDA FAMILY: FROM MOROCCO TO BOSNIA TO AFHAHISTAN AND SAUDI ARABIA VIA NEW JERSEY
Memri calls it a love story. I call it a classic chreche le femme. You decide. Either way, it's will not make you sleep better.
LANTOS: INDIA MUST CHOSE BETWEEN IRAN AND THE US
“India must decide where it will stand — with the ayatollahs of terror in Tehran or with the United States,” said Tom Lantos, the powerful Democratic member of the House International Relations Committee. The US not only objects to a gas pipeline between India and Iran but, that was not the reason Lantos is justifiably enraged.
AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL
There is no other way to describe the way American citizens, as separate from the American government (glad to see Michael Brown "reassigned"), opened their hearts, their homes and their wallets to help their fellow citizens.
It was the BBC of all places which directed me to the New Orleans Picayune site where individuals can offer their homes to those made homless by the Hurricane. Even they were impressed by the American generosity of spirit. Here is an example:
5392. GA: FREE Room in Our House by lzimmerman, 9/9/05 21:40 ET We have a room available in our Alpharetta (just north of Atlanta) house. It is furnished, can have 1 or 2 beds with cable tv/dvd, phone and computer with high-speed internet access. Shared kitchen and bathroom but plenty of privacy! We live near some of the best schools in the state. The elementary school is within walking distance as is a local park. It is a great neighborhood with lots of children. Would be the ideal situation for a parent with an elementary school age child needing a long-term housing situation. We have 4 children ourselves but 3 are only here on weekends making for a bit more space during the week. We alose have a dog, clyde the bassett hound and welcome your pet. If you are a smoker, you are welcome just please, no smoking inside the house. Although it is ideal for a single parent and child, we will welcome others if it is a good fit. Please come join our home, our family as you get back on your feet after having to evacuate your home. Please contact me, Larry, at lzimmerman13@hotmail.com or you can call toll-free to 800.774.5052 or my cell at 678.923.8315. It is my (home)office toll-free number but only I answer it and if not please leave a message. Just wanting to help and getting fed up with the government, the relief organizations and all the red tape.
Paul forwarded me a message sent by the president of Texas A&M to his university community describing the university's relief efforts. It's well worth reading.
Thursday, September 8, 2005
MORE THAN TIME TO COLLECT THE BODIES
BBC news did an entire segments on the failure to collect the rotting bodies. Yes, extracting the living is the first priority but can't they do both?
The French are getting annoyed that their volunteers are cooling their heels in Arkansas instead of helping. The reporter had to explain that all the foreign volunteers are treated equally badly.
WHO PREVENTED RED CROSS FROM ENTERING NEW ORLEANS
Radio blogger runs an interview with Major Garrett in which the report asserts that it was the state of Louisiana which prevented the Red Cross from entering the city with supplies. They wanted to evacuate the city and worried that making the people comfortable in it would slow the evacuation. If so, it was on the same page with FEMA. As I saw and interview with Michael Brown offering the same reasoning to a TV interviewer a day or two after Katrina hit.
MISS MABROUK REPORTS ON ELECTION IRREGULARITIES IN EGYPT
HAMAS WOMEN YEARN TO BECOME HUMAN BOMBS.
Their heroine , Reem Al-Riyashi, a mother of two young children, who carried out the January 2004 suicide attack at the Erez crossing in Gaza:
Q: "What do you think about women who carried out martyrdom operations, like the martyr Reem Al-Riyashi, who belonged to the Al-Qassam Brigades?"(3)A: "The martyr Reem Al-Riyashi is like a crown on our heads and a pioneer of the resistance. Nobody can fathom the magnitude of her sacrifice."
Q: "Do you hope to be like Reem Al-Riyashi?"
A: "By the name of Allah, we hope to become like her at once."
Q: "What do women like you tell your children?"
A: "Our message is to educate them to jihad, which is a sacred duty which cannot be neglected..."
These are the BBC's, NYT's, Reuters' etc's radicals, extremists, militants, anything but not terrorists. These are the people Abbas invited to participate in running Gaza. So, these are the people which the US will help finance to the tune of 50 million dollars.
ECONOMIC GROWTH, NOT WORLD LEADERS, DECREASE POVERTY
U.N. report: World leaders fail to cut poverty scream headlines around the world. The reality is far different. On page 34 of the report you can find the following:
No country has successfully sustained progress in reducing poverty with a stagnating economy. In East Asia high growth has been central to the reduction of income poverty. More recently, economic take off in India has created the potential for accelerated poverty reduction. At the 4% annual per capita growth rate achieved since 1980, income double every 17 years. With the 1% per capita growth rate India experienced in the two decades before 1980 it took 66 years for incomes to double.
PALESTINE BEATS SOUTH AFRICA ON UN DEVELOPMENT INDEX
That is the apparently a major blow to the South Africans self-image.
Johannesburg - South Africa is lower on the UN Development Programme's human development index (HDI) than the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The UNDP's HDI measures achievement in terms of life expectancy, educational attainment and adjusted real income. South Africa is 120th on a list of 177 countries. Palestine is 102nd. . . . South Africa has fallen 35 places in the HDI rankings since 1990.
Independence has not been kind to the country. Aids is and probably is partially to blame. The government's stubborn refusal to acknowledge the problem or take steps to combat it are well known to all. As far as I am concerned, the current reluctance to embark on a major effort to circumcise the adult population is similarly unforgivable.
What is the real value of "the nurturing of a global icon such as Nelson Mandela?"
Very little. South Africa is the growth engine of Southern Africa and when it falters, the region falters with it, aid or no aid. Yes, trade.
The UN is wrong. The US has more than pulled its weight in reducing world poverty. The huge trade deficit the US runs with China is doing more for poverty reduction than all the "feel good" concerts, charities and bureaucratic schemes devised by the global chattering classes.
BROWN NOT FIRED, JUST PUSHED ASIDE
Vice Adm. Thad W. Allen, the Coast Guard's chief of staff, was assigned on Monday to be Brown's deputy and to take over operational control of the search-and-rescue and recovery efforts along the Gulf Coast.
Fine, for the moment. It takes care of immediate business.
DISENGAGEMENT PHOTO ESSAY
AMERICAN MUSLIMS HELP KATRINA'S VICTIMS
While it was sad to see the devastation caused by Tsunami and now by hurricane Katrina, I am heartened to see now in both natural disasters people discarded their religious garbs and came together in helping fellow humans irrespective of faith. Last weekend I was in Chicago attending the 38th annual convention of Islamic Medical Association of North America (IMANA) and 42nd annual convention of Islamic Society of North America (ISNA).
This is how Dr. Shahid Athar starts his story.
Wednesday, September 7, 2005
BLAMING BUSH FOR KATRINA'S DEVASTATION IS PLAIN SILLY
Dr. Mohammed T. Al-Rasheed writes in the Arab News:
ACCIDENTS happen; and natural disasters are part of this earth’s make up. If you build villages next to Mt. Vesuvius, you cannot complain about them being obliterated when the mountain unleashes its fury. After all, the mountain has been doing it since the year 1700 BC, which is about sixteen centuries before it took out Pompeii. Similarly, if you build New Orleans in a literal bowl under sea level, you will expect it to flood at any given time.
Apparently 87% of the Americans agree. Why don't most of them want to hold bungling bureaucrats accountable? They do not expect much from them to start with. This lack of high expectations may annoy Europeans but it is the key to the success story called America, excuse me, the United States of America.
SUCCESS IN SADR CITY
Some really good news from Iraq.
EGYPTIAN ELECTIONS WERE NOTHING LIKE THOSE IN IRAQ
The BBC asked voters to post on its websites. The comparison is striking. Still, Egypt, too, has begun its road to greater democratization. Here is the story of a blogger who attended his first political rally and he vows never to forget it.
Just as importantly, the Chinese news agency reported about it. How long until the Chinese will be too ashamed to continue their non-elections?
MALAYSIA PROTECTS THAI TERRORISTS
131 Thai muslims escaped to Malaysia. Do note the BBC politically correct language:
"Nearly 900 people have died in southern Thailand since the beginning of last year, in violence thought to be fuelled by disenchantment within the predominantly Muslim community."
FRENCH AUTHOR: 9/11 WAS PEPETRATED BY THE AMERICAN GOVENMENT
French Author Thierry Meyssan to Iranian TV: 9/11 Was Carried Out by the U.S. Government. Next, he'll explain how Tony Blair arranged the London bombings.
IT IS NOT JUST SUNNI VS. SHIA BUT ARAB VS. NON ARAB
That is the thorny problem Barry Rubin explains in his article aptly entitled Opting out of Arabism in Iraq. Abdallah Al-Ashaal's The end of Arab Iraq proves his point.
ISRAELIS TO AID ALSO WITH THE DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD
It is considered a mitzva, a good deed.
WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATION OF THE MIXING OF FREE AND STATE OWNED STRATEGIC RESOURCES SUCH AS OIL?
Vladimir Socor examines the question.
RUSSIA USES PIPELINES TO CEMENT STRATEGIC RELATIONS WITH GERMANY AND CHINA
Putin's fairwell visit to Germany will include an agreement to build a vast pipeline throuth the Baltic. It will bypass and, hence deprive
unhappy Poland and the Ukraine of transit fees.
Russia will also build first a Siberian pipeline to China and, only second, a pipeline to the cost to supply Japan.
Clearly, Putin likes to reward friends and punish enemies.
Tuesday, September 6, 2005
FOR YAHOO, "IT'S THE CHINESE MARKET UBER ALES"
It's not enough that Yahoo, like Google and Microsoft help the Chinese government block access to parts of the internet.According to reporters without borders, Ait has recently provided the Chinese government with the information it needed to put journalist Shi Tao in prison for 10 years.
Shame on it.
PROTESTERS MARCH AGAINST SHARIAH IN ONTARIO
"Marches to protest against the possibility of allowing shariah in Ontario are planned this week for cities around the world, including Toronto, Paris, London, Stockholm and Düsseldorf, Germany."
THE MODERN BLOOD LIBEL
Amongst the anti-Semitic myths which are passe in Christendom found a new life in the Arab world. For a while none was more virulent than the infamous Blood libel. But, then came the infamous
Al-Dura Affair. That is the reason Nidra Poller explains it in such a meticulous fashion.
EXTREMIST IMAMS FIGHT DEPORTATION FROM THE LANDS OF THE INFIDELS.
Italy expels the first "major" Imam. His supporters complain that he was expelled merely because of "his opinion." Of course, the expelled Imam was not a great believer in the freedom he demanded for himself. The Northern League and Bouriqi Bouchta "recently crossed swords after the party organized a screening in Turin of Submission, a controversial short film about abuse of Muslim women directed by murdered Dutch director Theo van Gogh."
Norway is waiting for Iraq to confirm its new constitution and, then, she would finally rid herself of Mullah Krekar. He threatened to respond "like an oriental" and "punish" Norway if they dare expel him. They have been trying to get rid of him since February 2003.
The French Council of Imam blocked the deportation of Zuhir Rizkullah they accused of inciting hatred.
HEBREW UNIVERSITY OFFERS FULL TUITION TO STUDENTS AFFECTED BY KATRINA
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem is offering full tuition scholarships to students affected by Hurricane Katrina.
Do note, Israeli universities begin in mid-October!
PA GETS $50M FROM US, THEN CALLS FOR TERROR AGAINST US SOLDIERS
By Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook
Palestinian Authority hatred of the United States is so deeply ingrained in its ideology that it continues to openly promote vicious anti-American hatred - even right after signing a deal to receive $50 million in direct aid from the US.
WARNING: DO NOT TURN THE GULF REGION INTO CHERNOBYLAND
This following report could not have been published in a more crucial time as it warns about the perils of misplaced generosity:
Nearly 20 years after the huge accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine, a new scientific report has found that its aftereffects on health and the environment have not proved as dire as scientists had predicted.The report was prepared by a panel of more than 100 experts convened by United Nations agencies.
It says huge compensation programs for people in the Chernobyl region have become "a major barrier to the region's recovery," both by creating a culture of dependency and by soaking up a high percentage of the region's resources. It recommends that the compensation programs be cut back.
Suggested changes would shift programs away from those that foster "dependency" and a "victim" mentality, and replacing them with initiatives that encourage opportunity, support local development, and give people confidence in their futures.
So, for the sake of the poor people, the region and all of us, do not give hand out and bring in the minimum amount of outside experts. HIRE AND TURN VICTIM/REFUGEES INTO REBUILDERS STAT
Monday, September 5, 2005
ABBAS: 2.5% JEWISH SETTLEMENTS IN GAZA WERE BUILT ON PRIVATE ARAB LAND
This is a smaller pecentge that priviously claimed. The last figure given by the PA was 5% Why is the number shrinking because the PA wants to give the land to their cronies.
Also, clearly the claim that "the Jewish communities in the Gaza Strip were built on land taken from Arab families" was bogus. In any case, Palestinians were not kicked out of their homes to make room for Jewish settlers. That small percentage was land taken for security reasons during the intifadas. The same is true in the West Bank.
CHRISTIAN UNSAFE IN PA, NOR ARE MANY OTHERS
Muslims ransack Christian village . This explains the reasons Christians are leaving Arab lands.
4 dead 38 wounded in a Gaza blast caused by an explosion in a Hamas bomb making factory.
9/11 AND TSUNAMI VICTIMS STAND WITH KATRINA'S
This should make your heart rejoice.
Sept. 11 Families: It's Time To Give Back
Hundreds of New York firefighters, police officers head to New Orleans
Tsunami nations lend disaster advice to U.S.
ISRAELIS STAND WITH KATRINAS VICTIMS
The world is eager to show Americans that they have not forgotten her past generosity and that they are not ingrates. So, offers for help abound. But for Israel the US is special. So,
IRAN CALLS THE CHARGES AGAINST SADDAM PETTY
Because "Saddam’s crimes against human rights during the war and his continuation of such crimes in Halabja and Kurdistan are not among the accusations brought up in this trial.”
Funny complaint given the Nobel Peace prize winner's accusation that "Sadly the job security of lawyers has been ruined, so they are less willing to defend political defendants."
Iran is riding high. After a brief period of resolve, Britain and Germany began backtracking from the threats to drag Iran before the UN and Russia happily joined the fray
INTERNET POLLS: MUBARAK NOUR NECK AND NECK
If Mubarak does not get 51% in the first round, there may be need for a second round Reports The Independent. Moreover,
Internet opinion polls predict that Mr Nour and Mr Mubarak will be neck and neck in Wednesday's polling, with between 30 and 40 per cent, while some 20 per cent is expected for Noaman Gomaa of the New Wafd Party, who is seen as a Government-backed spoiler candidate to sabotage Mr Nour.
This may explain Mubarak's refusal to permit civil society oversight of the polls. He would consider the need for a second round a major humiliation. On the other hand, if he tries to steal the elections, we may be faced with another color revolution.
ATTEMPTS TO RALLY PAKISTANIS AGAINST IMPORVED RELATIONS WITH ISRAEL FAILS
News of the meeting in Turkey surprised many here, and hard-line clerics from an influential, anti-U.S. opposition bloc in Pakistan’s Parliament quickly responded with a call for protests in major cities across the country.The rallies fizzled. At the largest, about 300 supporters of an opposition coalition of six Islamic parties, Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal [MMA] gathered in the northwestern city of Peshawar. Smaller protests were staged by the coalition in Quetta and Karachi. At a rally in Rawalpindi, near the capital, only about a dozen people showed up.
Why?
Moin Ansari explains
Sunday, September 4, 2005
WASHINGTON "EMPTY, RUINED AND DESPERATE"
Reports the Guardian:
In belated recognition of the depth of the crisis, Washington swallowed its pride and asked for blankets, food and water trucks from the EU and Nato, and beds and medical supplies from Canada.
What the hack?!
THE RED CROSS FALTERS YET AGAIN
Red Cross bureaucracy causing frustrations. Give to smaller charities and, perhaps directly to friends and friends of friends. The Red Cross is too big and, to my taste, fund raises too aggressively. They did the same thing after 9/11.
FREEDOM FOR GANJI AND A JOB FOR KHATAMI?
Ganji has just been transferred back to prison. But perhaps not for long.
In the meantime, Kofi Annan found a job in his ineffective, incompetent and corrupt organization nan for the incompetent,ineffective and corrupt(?) ex-Iranian president.
Where? In the "Alliance of Civilizations," which "is a high-level UN organization consisting of 18 members with a task to promote communication and alliance among civilizations, especially between the West and the Islamic world."
Plus ca change . . . do forgive my French
The court rules, the rulers ignore the ruling. So, "Egyptian poll monitors 'banned." Clearly, politics played a part in this selection. But any 18 year old young woman who speaks 6 language deserves to make history.
Congratulation Hammasa Kohistani Yes. German politics is being Americanized. Germany is a parliamentary system in which the voters elect a party, not a person. But for the first time, the leaders of the two major parties confronted each other in a live debate. An instant poll found that 48% thought Schroeder had won the debate, and only 28% percent regarded Merkel as a winner.
But the media tells a different story.Merkel shines in Schröder showdown" writes the Telegraph. "Schröder falters in TV clash with rival" agrees the Guardian. How come? Because "54% of voters thought Merkel had done better than expected, while only 18% thought Schroeder had done better."
Still, the media has a point. Debates are an expectation game. The voters wanted to know if Merkel is tough enough for the job. Doing better than expected means that more voters would be ready to take a chance on letting her run the country. Chances are that this time neither flood nor anti-Americanism will save Schroeder from his dismal record. David Brooks is right. Bush is stubbornly Loyal. But this is too much. Enough is enough. Misplaced loyalty to subordinates breeds incompetence and is costing lives. Two examples:
1. I heard on the BBC that FEMA under Brown's leadership blocked the Red Cross from entering New Orleans as to not encourage its citizens to stay. That story is also on their website. They should NOT have acquiesced so easily and quietly!
2. Jefferson Parish President Broussard had the following exchange with Tim Russet.
MR. BROUSSARD: . . . Let me give you just three quick examples. We had Wal-Mart deliver three trucks of water, trailer trucks of water. FEMA turned them back. They said we didn't need them. This was a week ago. FEMA--we had 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel on a Coast Guard vessel docked in my parish. The Coast Guard said, "Come get the fuel right away." When we got there with our trucks, they got a word. "FEMA says don't give you the fuel." Yesterday--yesterday--FEMA comes in and cuts all of our emergency communication lines. They cut them without notice. Our sheriff, Harry Lee, goes back in, he reconnects the line. He posts armed guards on our line and says, "No one is getting near these lines." Sheriff Harry Lee said that if America--American government would have responded like Wal-Mart has responded, we wouldn't be in this crisis. Race and class were not the issue. Incompetence is and needs to be dealt with severely. It cannot continue to be safer to be incompetent than offending colleagues.
Andrew Sullivan also calls for the firing of Michael Brown as do others including Michelle Malkin. So, this is no longer a liberal vs. conservative issue. This is another incompetence issue.
The only synagogue in the Gulf is badly damaged. Still, the congregants are all accounted for and offers of help are pouring in. So, they look to the future with confidence.
Unfortunately, 2 Israeli are missing and half the 100,000 Jews from New Orleans were evacuated to Houston. The Jewish community will take care of them and others. UJA established a special Katrina fund and so did many other Jewish organizations. Rabbi Aron explains the theology of giving. Many houses of warship were damaged but faith survives though some of the theological explanation offered are rather disturbing.
How desperate did things get in New Orleans? In one hospital I know of, the staff were giving each other intravenous injections to prevent dehydration.
Thus begins Michael Vatikiotis article on Islamizing Indonesia. His focus is not on the particular problems of Christians there, but the message is clear. Islamization is bound to lead to a Christian exodus, the kind that happened in the Middle East and is described by Magdi Khalil. That is the question asked by Khalid Hasan of Pakistan.
Why aren't Muslim charities among those offering aid?
Why are so few Muslim countries offering aid?
Why is Venezuella the only OPEC country offering help with oil supplies?
Good questions. And, at least, American Muslims and Qatar's ruler are beginning to answer them.
Hasan also describes some absurd Christian responses to Katrina. There are similar Muslim responses. This just show you that clerical misunderstanding of theology is a not unique to any one religion. That's why their power should be carefully limited. Chrenkoff demonstrates that secularists can be just as stupid. Not very well or as invisibly as he has hoped. Saad Eddin Ibrahim describes a growingly defiant civil society:
Thus far, a standoff looks likely, as the head of the presidential election commission has stated publicly on Egyptian television that he refuses all citizen monitoring of the election process. Since he wrote the story it looks as if the judges won. Of course, something else may come up.
New Orleans, like San Francisco cannot really be made safe. That is the bottom line and nobody is guilty of criminal negligence except in failing to force the people to evacuate (Bush actually pleaded with the governor to declare mandatory evacuation but apparently should have sent in the first airborn to accomplish it) and then failing to send in help much, much faster.
I want to outsource it to the media. The Red Cross was afraid to send in its people. But the reporters went in there, stayed there and finally shamed the local, state and federal governments into action.
The new media is not only keeping officials and the old media honest but also trying to help. HNN is providing a substitute website for Tulane students and faculty.
Kudos. For The Sake of Life, Kill the Myths in Palestine and Israel!
The only Islamist Egyptian presidential candidate announced World must convert to Islam"
Thanks, Sarah.
All I hear is about the army and National guard. Where are the charities into which American are pouring their compassion? Are they husbanding their resources? The refugees are dropped off and no one is there to meet them.
I found out that one thing that the Red Cross is doing. Running classes for 3 week volunteers.
"These are classes for people who have not been volunteers before, because when they go they will be working probably in the shelters for all those thousands of people in shelters," Veselak said.
The first class has started and a second one is about to begin. I hope the hungry and thirsty can wait. Do these people know the meaning of emergency?
I heard on German TV that the ambassador has not decided yet whether to accept the German offers to help. Israel wanted to send doctors. Had they gotten the go ahead, they would have been there days ago. I know elephants move slowly but this one take the cake. She is the favorite though not the only Muslim Islamists are opposed.
I hope the pagent employs plenty of body guards. Click here for pictures. As its hard to blame the War in Iraq for Islamists blowing up a ferry, the media ignores it. Moreover, democracy in the Phillipines, like in the US, means, its politics above all. So, a warning about the dangers of seious terrorist attacks is described by a paper as raising "anew the terrorism bogey." It's fun to be a celebrity. You can get leftist kudos for criticize your government while promoting your product. Your country is in trouble, you can enjoy the good life in Venice feeling righteous. In other words, you have no need to grow up, ever.
Unlike you, even American Muslim leaders have left you and the message of your movie behind:
"The emphasis has so much been on civil liberties that sometimes the right balance wasn't achieved, and civil liberties became our defining issue," Mr. Hamid said. "I think there is now a realization that freedom of speech should not be absolute."
To be honest, I stopped writing about the subject because I did not know the answer. But Frieda brought this article which addresses just this question to my attention and I hurry to bring it to yours. The old Pakistani general Masood is also right about the ultimate reason for the rapproachment:
Israel likewise wishes to drain the sources of hostility aligned against her. The truth is that the moment Pakistan made the strategic decision to support the American war on terror, fighting Islamism means accepting Israel.
The Islamists are livid but, good new, they have just lost the municipal elections. The voters discovered that they are better at preaching than governing.
With every passing day and with every passing Sunni atrocity, my respect for the Iraqi Shia grows. The fact that they continue to follow Sistani's unity calls demonstrate an amazing level of political maturity. For with each passing day the Shia and Kurds are proving that they can be trusted with power and with every passing day the Sunni are proving that they cannot.
So, when Sunni women line up to register to vote to secure a say in the upcoming elections to the parliament, there is indeed reason to be optimistic about Iraq.
The coalition made plenty of mistakes, but so did its enemies. in low intensity jungle fighting. JORDAN TIMES 1 Sept.'05: By Rana Husseini
"sentenced a 20-year-old man to a six-month prison
term for killing his married sister"
"A second defendant, aged 27, who was standing trial
on charges of committing adultery with the victim,
was handed a three-year prison term by the same
tribunal."
Here are the latest examples:
Senior Kuwaiti Official: "Katrina is a Wind of Torment and Evil from Allah Sent to This American Empire"
Turkish Professor and Former Intelligence Officer: There is No Such Terror Organization as Al-Qaeda; Al-Qaeda is Code Name for a CIA Operation; The U.S. Government is Behind 9/11 and JFK's Assassination
Sheik Hareth Al-Dhari, Head of Sunni Clerics Association in Iraq: Terrorism in Iraq Carried Out by U.S., Israel, and Government Militias
Iranian Ayatollah Khamenei: ‘US to blame for Iraq stampede’
U.S.-Educated Palestinian-Jordanian Author Ibrahim 'Alloush on Al-Jazeera: The Holocaust is a Lie; Al-Qaeda in Iraq is Legitimate; The U.S. Brought 9/11 Upon Itself (Why am I not surprised he is US educated?)
It used to be said that Israel is the 51st state of the US. But the international coverage given to Netanyahu's Likud party leadership challenge convinced us otherwise. In the midst of a the Katrina disaster, the Iraqi mass tragedy and global concerns over the high price of oil (by the way, if the oil prices do not subside you can forget of reducing African poverty) the American, British, French and German half hour TV news all have time to include a story about an Israeli domestic row. I am sure that other news organizations followed suit and Israel is not even close to elections.
Weird. If you needed further proof of their sickness. "We are open to all offers of assistance from other nations, and I would expect we would take people up on offers of assistance when it's necessary," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters.
I am delighted as you can tell if you click here for a list of offers constantly updated list of help offers I am posting. "Democratic societies do tend to throw up solutions to problems, however agonizing the process may seem at times." John Thornhill, 9/1/2005 Much of what is right and wrong about BBC coverage can be found in its analysis of the changing Pakistani attitudes towards Israel. The piece accurately describes the recent thawing of the relations between the two governments as well as the obstacles to improved relations posed Pakistani anti-Semitism.
But, then, comes the noxious attempt at moral equivalency:
Well, I do not know of any particular Jewish Orthodox enmity towards Islam. On the contrary, given centuries of Christian murderous savagery toward Jews, Islamic Dhimitude seemed quite benign. In any case, Jews never exterminated large number of muslims. Muhammed, though, did exterminate 3 Jewish tribes and modern Jihadists use that precedent to justify their current antisemitism.
But the BBC will not permit mere facts to block its adherence to moral equivalency.
Let us not forget that women's rights are human rights. Their full implementation at the national level is thus a legal obligation. Yes.
Iranian Mullahs also want to help women. They are about to set up a Love Fund.
After Beslan Chechen terrorism sputtered out argues a Russian political expert. Let's hope so. Calling Karen Hughes. While she tries to organize a humble 9/11 remembrances around the world, some the rest of Foggy Bottom demonstrate their usual arrogance and tin ear. Note the following:
A senior State Department official said he was not aware of Caracas' proposal but noted that unsolicited offers can be "counterproductive." Stupid and shameful. Chavez is an elected president. He may be trying to rub it in or, to use this tragedy to rebuild relations. Either way, such a rude response would merely serve to strengthen the image of the insufferable arrogant Yanks.
Asian leaders offered condolences because they do not believe the US needs help. Pity. Permitting them to help would improve our image immensely.
Russia offers specific help:"An adviser to the Russian emergency situations minister, Viktor Beltsov has said two Ilyushin-76TD transport planes are ready to leave the Ramenskoye airdrome any time. They carry rescue workers, light helicopters and other equipment essential to effective operation in disaster areas."
The Netherlands has offered the US authorities the services of a dike inspection team to help combat the flooding in New Orleans.
The team is ready to leave for America if it is required, the Dutch Ministry of Transport and Waterways said on Thursday."
Israel "has offered the U.S. hundreds of doctors, nurses, experts in trauma and natural disasters, NBC News has learned. Sharon has also offered field hospitals and medical kits as well as temporary housing and told Bush in a letter that the medical assistance and other help could be deployed within 24 hours.
Specialized help was also offered by Australia:"The specialists from Emergency Management Australia (EMA) have experience in the area of community recovery after disasters.They worked with Indonesian officials following the Boxing Day tsunami."
Canada's "Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan says Canadian health authorities have offered to send emergency medical supplies from the country's emergency stockpile."
Italy Italy has offered to send aid to the U.S. and has readied two military transport planes to carry supplies and personnel to New Orleans or other areas hit by Hurricane Katrina, Italy's Civil Protection said Thursday.
Italy's aid effort would include pumps, generators, amphibious crafts, tents, as well as experts in managing and assisting evacuees, the Civil Protection said in a statement.
According to the State Department "offers so far had come from Belgium, Canada, Russia, Japan, France, Germany, Britain, China, Australia, Jamaica, Honduras, Greece, Venezuela, the Organization of American States, NATO, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Greece, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Mexico, South Korea, Israel and the United Arab Emirates."
This is good news. I wish to did not need their help as badly as we do.
Here I go again but I realized that the site does not include the most important aspect of the Galveston example. Nothing empowers people, especially in the aftermath of such devastation, than the physical work of cleaning and rebuilding. Katrina devastated their sense of control over their own lives. Hand outs enforces that sense of helplessness. A job cleaning up and rebuilding would help them regain that sense of control so very essential for a successful psychological recovery. As Michael Ledeen suggestes suspending minimus wage to hire teen-agers can further help.
New Orleans is a special case at the moment, but the rest of the region should follow the example of Galveston which actually enlisted and forced all the survivors to help clean up. We do not need to force the victim/refugees to do so, we can hire them to do the work. That would put money in their pocket and hope in their hearts. Work rather than charity whenever possible is the best strategy.
Let's help them roll up their sleeves.
I am no expert but I wish some foreigners came to help. Whoever, if anyone, is in charge is doing a terrible job. The chaos is really disheartening. Not so long ago, I had the opportunity to visit Galveston and all about that city's tsunami. The devastation was unbelievable but the rebuilding, of the rebuilding:
By 10 a.m. Sept. 9, Mayor Walter C. Jones had called emergency city council meetings and by the end of the day had appointed a Central Relief Committee.
Ignoring advice from its sister paper, The Dallas Morning News, that it move temporarily to Houston, The Galveston Daily News continued publishing from the island and never missed an issue. Sept. 9 and 10, 1900, were published together on a single sheet of paper. One side listed the dead. The other reported the devastation of the storm.
In the first week after the storm, according to McComb's book, telegraph and water service were restored. Lines for a new telephone system were being laid by the second.
"In the third week, Houston relief groups went home, the saloons reopened, the electric trolleys began operating and freight began moving through the harbor," McComb wrote.
MUBARAK'S EGYPT IS A LAWLESS COUNTRY
AN EX AFGHANI, NOT AN EX IRAQI, BECOMES THE FIRST MUSLIM MISS WORLD
MERKEL WINS THE EXPECTATION GAME, HENCE THE DEBATE
LOYALTY SHOULD HAVE LIMITS - FIRE BROWN NOW!
MR. RUSSERT: Hold on. Hold on, sir. Shouldn't the mayor of New Orleans and the governor of New Orleans bear some responsibility? Couldn't they have been much more forceful, much more effective and much more organized in evacuating the area?
Saturday, September 3, 2005
BILOXI'S SYNAGOGUE WILL BE REBUILT
(Congregation president)Richer said the congregation was able to get the Torahs out of the area before the storm hit, and they are safe.
"We'll be back. I can promise you that," Goldin (the former president) said. "It will be rebuilt, and our community will be as strong as it has been. Jewish people can overcome hardships. We'll overcome this too."
OIL WELLS SABOTAGED IN SOUTHERN IRAN
CHRISTIANS IN MUSLIM LANDS
KATRINA: WHERE ARE THE MUSLIMS?
CAN MUBARAK CONTROL THE ELECTIONS?
This year promises to be very different. In the spring the judges held a nation-wide assembly and resolved that unless the regime granted them full independence, and exclusive oversight of the voting process they would not supervise the upcoming presidential (or parliamentary) races. On September 2 they made their final demands: allow civil society groups to observe the voting process, stop interfering in the definition of legitimate judges for purposes of the election, and agree that no ballot box will leave the presence of a legitimate judge until its contents are counted, certified and reported.
KUDOS TO THE MEDIA ON KATRINA
A SAUDI PLEA FOR REALISM; AN EGYPTIAN TO DREAMWORLD
Friday, September 2, 2005
WHERE ARE THE RED CROSS, THE SALVATION ARMY, THE CHARITIES?
Before volunteers are deployed to the regions devastated by hurricane Katrina, they have to undergo a prescreening process and take "introduction to disaster and shelter operations" classes offered at the chapter's office in Stockton.
EX-IRAQI MISS ENGLAND?
RAISING THE TERRORISM "BOGEY" IN THE PHILLIPINES
CLOONEY IN VENICE IGNORES KATRINA, CRITICIZES US WAR ON TERROR
IRAN: IS THERE AN ANTI-HOMOSEXUAL CAMPAIGN?
ISRAEL AND PAKISTAN, MORE IN COMMON THAN MEETS THE EYE
In many ways, Islamic Pakistan and Jewish Israel resemble each other - despite Pakistan's political and economic instability. Both countries are based on ideology, with religion as the foundation of their nationhood. Although Israel does not state this openly, both have nuclear weapons. Both are security-driven. Both grapple with threats from neighbors who are reluctant or unwilling to accept them.
It is brilliant in the sense that you are disarming the hostility of all the sources that are trying to malign you . . . Pakistan has realized that it has to transform its antagonistic foreign policy to a functional relationship. It is concerned about the strategic relations of Israel and India and wants to countervail it.
SISTANI REMAINS DETERMINED TO PREVENT CIVIL WAR
INDIA TO TRAIN US SOLDIERS
JORDANIAN GETS 6 MONTHS FOR MURDERING HIS SISTER
Thursday, September 1, 2005
AND YOU THINK THIS IS A WAR OF CHOICE?
ISRAEL IS EVERY COUNTRY'S 51ST STATE
JIHADISTS TARGET OTHER MUSLIMS ON THEIR HOLIDAYS
US TO WELCOME HELP WITH THE AFTERMATH OF KATRINA
QU0TE OF THE DAY
ISRAEL, PAKISTAN AND THE BBC
It is perhaps this deep rooted suspicion between orthodox Jews and Muslims - a suspicion fuelled by events dating back to the times of the Muslim prophet Mohammed - that has led the Musharraf government to go one step at a time.
ANNAN CALLS FOR A MAJOR PUSH FOR WOMEN'S EQUALITY
What were once called women's issues have been transformed into matters of primary national and international significance. . . .
TERROR IN CHECHNA LOSES SPARK?
INTERNATIONAL HELP OFFERS SHOULD BE ACCEPTED GRACIOUSLY
The most concrete offer came from Venezuela, which offered to send fuel and humanitarian aid to victims, despite otherwise strained relations with the United States.
HIRE AND TURN VICTIM/REFUGEES INTO REBUILDERS STAT
KATRINA 2005 GALVESTON 1900
Historians contend that between 10,000 and 12,000 people died during the storm, at least 6,000 of them on Galveston Island. More than 3,600 homes were destroyed on Galveston Island and the added toll on commercial structures created a monetary loss of $30 million, about $700 million in today's dollars.
Despite the unimaginable devastation and what must have been a hard realization that it could happen again, the city immediately began pulling itself out of the mud. . . .
BOLTON FIGHTING WATERING DOWN ANTI-TERRORISM LANGUAGE
Much of the focus on the current US-Annan+NGO row focuses on the "feel good" issue of poverty. Annan because he know neither shame nor poverty and the NGOs, because that way they can send more idealistic, if useless, college graduates to fight poverty in Africa.
In any case, the focus on the Millenium goals obscures the attemept to gut the anti-terrorism clause.
The draft declaration condemns terrorism "in all its forms and manifestations, as it constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security."
In other words, it is a totally meaningless declaration.
The United States wants the declaration also to affirm that "the targeting and deliberate killing by terrorists of civilians and non-combatants cannot be justified or legitimized by any cause or grievance" and that "any such action intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants, when the purpose of such an act, by its nature or context, is to intimidate a population or to compel a government or an international organization to carry out or to abstain from any act cannot be justified on any grounds and constitutes an act of terrorism."The United States endorses language supporting the efforts of individual nations "to assist victims of terrorism to provide them and their families with support to cope with their loss and their grief."
The declaration also has the world leaders support the early entry into force of the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism, which opens for signature in September, and urges nations that have not done so to accede to the 12 other international conventions and protocols against terrorism without further delay.
Bolton is right. That's much better.
A JUDGE HOLD TERROR UNDERWRITERS RESPONSIBLE
He freezes Palestinian assets until they pay 116 million dollar terrorism judgement. Good for him.
UN PERMITS CONTINUED SERB AND ROMA ETHNIC CLEANSING IN KOSOVO
Of all the abnoxious titles the following takes the cake:Belgrade uses the fate of Serbs in Kosovo to pressure UNMIK (Zëri) Interestingly, it is not only Serbs that should not count but Roma (Gypsies) who ususally do enjoy the support of "the international community.
According to UNHCR, only 6,000 out of 240,000 Serbs and Roma have returned to Kosovo. UNMIK hesitates to return more displaced because they are afraid that Albanians will resist this. Every day the issue of returns is becoming an everyday policy.
You know why Western soldiers do not die in Kososvo? Because they are careful not to do anything the Albanians Muslims oppose.
JASON LEE STEORTS investigated further . . .
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