Towards a global perspective . . .

I recently sent around an article with the title “UnHolyCost”.   I love puns, so I was really quite pleased with my term.  I thought it was pretty clever.  But, other’s didn’t see it that way, and I soon received a rejection notice, saying that the title of the article makes me sound like a ‘Holocaust Denier’.    The note went on to say that if I changed the title, my article would be considered.  Well, I don’t take these things personally.   It is no secret I have  trouble being consistently politically correct.

In this light, I have changed the title and resubmitted, as requested.  I’m not a  ‘Holocaust Denier’.  I just want to live in the present.  When I wrote the title, I was angry.   The piece was probably improved by removing a secondary and incomplete thread.  That particular title wasn’t necessary to it’s meaning.  The details of the story sounded like some HOLOCAUST  stories I have heard, but  it wasn’t necessary to mention it.  The story stands alone.

However, Read the rest of this entry »

I received an email to day, asking for an update on Can Iraq Form a New Government, my previous post about the Iraq election.  I had done a significant investigation at the time, and that post had a lot of detail and analysis of the ongoing process.   At the time I wrote the piece, I got interested responses from regional (i.e. Kurdish and Turkish) news outlets and even Iyad Allawi’s Office.  Since then, I haven’t revisited the subject because the dynamic hasn’t really changed.  The sources of my information have had less detailed discussion on the issue than they did when I wrote previously.   It is as if the situation is frozen.  Nothing has changed so there is nothing to say.

I do think the recent US interventions have unfortunately, and most likely inadvertently, tightened the deadlock.   Read the rest of this entry »

President Obama has finally convinced the Palestinians and Israelis to participate in bilateral talks that might lead to the much glorified 2 State Solution to the unrest in that region.  I don’t know what what these discussions can hope to achieve, given that settlement building in full swing in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, and Gazans living in a pile of rubble that is under siege for at least the 2nd year.  And, I don’t know what substance the talks can have, given that the Palestinian participants are unelected collaborators, and Hamas, the only government in Palestine that actually was elected and actually  governs in a region of Palestine, is specifically not invited.  But, somebody is going to talk about something, and the details of their stillborn initiative will be dutifully reported to us as ‘progress’, or at least ‘news’ for some time in the future.

I have just finished reading Joe Sacco’s book, “Footnotes in Gaza“.   Sacco was in Gaza researching this book before and during the initial invasion of Iraq in 2003, and at the time that Rachel Corrie was run over by an IDF Bulldozer as she attempted to stop it from destroying someone’s home.    His topic, however, was a massacre of between 50 and 100+ men in Rafah, depending on whose numbers you like, that occurred on November 12, 1956.    The research for the book involved finding and interviewing older people who actually participated in, or witnessed the event.

As Joe and his Palestinian helpers investigate this tragedy from the past, they inhabit a world of continuous threat and violence.   Read the rest of this entry »

The Atlantic published a disturbing article this week, “The Point of No Return“, by Jeffrey Goldberg.  Goldberg  makes the case that, since Israel is guaranteed to initiate an attack on Iran by next spring, we should take the initiative and do it ourselves.  There have been a number of  interesting responses to the article, including one from the Leveretts and Gareth Porter.  These people provide, what I feel is a pragmatic and informed response from professionals in the field.   I don’t agree with their every assertion, but I absolutely agree with their shifting of perspective to a pragmatic and functional one.

The ‘War with Iran’ propaganda machine is running full throttle.  First, there are the grand statements of propaganda denouncing the government for terrorism, barbarism, supporting terrorism, meddling in the affairs of their neighbors, not having a free press and other undemocratic practices.  All this floats atop the assumption/insinuation that they have a nuclear weapons program which will come to fruition in the very near future as an international menace of intolerable proportions.   Then the spinners.   There are 50 comments after every article and post, arguing, elaborating, spinning a story where the details have been obscured by lies, threats and counter-threats, innuendo, histrionics and a high energy conflagration of information with misinformation.  Ultimately, it’s really hard to predict whether there will be a strike on Iran just because there is so much unconstrained energy in the issue, and so little recourse to reason in addressing it.

After reading the article, I find myself inspired to add a few words to the ongoing discussion to address an aspect of The Atlantic’s presentation that has so far gone unmentioned. Read the rest of this entry »

Apparently, the OSCE, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, will soon be sending Peacekeepers  to Kyrgystan to police the upheaval that has followed the recent coup that deposed a corrupt and unpopular President Bakyev.   Though Kyrgystan is a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which is China and Russia’s regional platform,  China and Russia have stood down.   Not only have they not rushed to the aid of their beleaguered member state, but they have  turned away from formal pleas for assistance from the new government, which, we are told is more sincere, less corrupt and more popular than the deposed President Bakyev.    It appears that they have given over a corner of their world to the West.   Why?  Is it evidence of  internal weakness or weakness within the SCO?  Is it due to a conciliatory political pragmatism that defers to the real power in the world?   Maybe they think they are giving a bone to the wild dog pack?

I am sure there are all kinds of complex regional currents in the conflict.   It is true that Kyrgystan is a member of the SCO, and for purposes of local trade and regional solidarity, that makes sense.  However, the explanation for Russia and China’s reticence is very simple.  The US has it’s largest supply base for the Afghan war located in Kyrgystan.   The US has spent a fortune unconditionally supporting deposed President Bakyev to maintain this base, as they did with the corrupt government before him.    In that light, this base has most likely been a thorn in the side of the leaders of the SCO all along, so their boundaries are already compromised.   Now, if they go in to assist the new government in regaining order, their efforts will ultimately fall in one of two directions.  Either they will be expending their resources to protect US interests in the region, or they will be drawn into a proxy war against the US and it’s pawns.

Let me explain.   Read the rest of this entry »

Defamation, a documentary film written and directed by Israeli filmmaker Yoav Shamir, is a film that every American should see.     As far as I know, it hasn’t been shown in theaters here, but I’m sure you can rent it from various online sources.   Those like myself, who have Netflix can see it online for free on their Netflix account.   Yesterday, I couldn’t find a place to watch it on Youtube, but got a screen showing a copyright conflict. I wasn’t surprised because Gilad Atzmon’s website said it wasn’t available on Youtube in the US. Today I found that you can watch on Youtube by starting from the trailer on the web page for the film, linked below.

The film begins with the director saying that, as an Israeli, he has never experienced antisemitism, so he is going to explore the subject in this film. Read the rest of this entry »

I saw a performance by Gilad Atzmon a few days ago, and he really has something interesting to say.   A disaffected, anti-Zionist, ex-Israeli, he speaks not only for Palestinian rights, but for a reasonable assumption that no one is ‘chosen’ and all people should have equal rights.  As an ex-Israeli citizen, he critiques Israeli policy and Zionist culture in a way that is quite shocking by standards in the  US,  not that he doesn’t get some serious heat for his stance.

Gilad is a popular Saxophone player and Jazz Artist in the UK, and his music is most enjoyable.   You can sample his work on Amazon and iTunes.     He’s also written a couple of novels that I can’t say much about because I haven’t read them.  However, he has a great website, which I highly recommend.  It is linked in on the sidebar.

Recently, we haven’t been paying a lot of attention to Iraq.   When we do hear something, we hear about a prolonged and possibly rather disorderly process reflecting an incompetent or maybe recalcitrant embodiment of Democracy.   There are, in fact, some interesting and reasonably democratic forces at play, along with some that are less so.  In any case, the type of democracy they have is somewhat complicated, especially at the current stage they.   The situation is sometimes represented as a competition between two guys, Iyad Allawi and his people, and Nouri Al Maliki and his people.  We see Mr. Allawi insisting that he won, while Mr. Al Maliki is being a very bad sport, using all of the resources he can muster as the incumbent to change the outcome, so far without success.  And, at some level, this is all too true.

But there are some significant, and quite reasonable players driving events behind the scenes.   Read the rest of this entry »

The London Times online headline says Israel Stations Nuclear Missile Subs off Iran.   The article says that the subs have already spent time in the region, but a “decision has now been taken to insure the presence of at least one of the subs.” The New York Times headline says U.N. Says Iran Has Fuel for Two Nuclear Weapons.  They go on to say that “Iran has now produced a stockpile of nuclear fuel that experts say would be enough, with further enrichment, to build 2 nuclear bombs. ” What does that mean?   Iran has had the same amount of nuclear materials from the start.   It has taken them 10 years to enrich it to to 3%.   To be used in a bomb, it has to be enriched to 95%.   With relation to Iran, The NY Times is constantly trying to find a way to make newsworthy the absence of news.

But, there is some real news and the world press is reporting it: Read the rest of this entry »

This week congress decided, after much debate, to continue the unemployment benefits of the core of the 10% of the population currently being serviced.   In consideration of the deficit, they decided not to continue subsidies to the COBRA health plans of those on unemployment.   It’s a token at best.  The cost of COBRA assistance is trivial compared to the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, to the cost of the gulf catastrophe that has yet to begin accumulating.    But, it’s something.  And, as usual, the meek, who have yet to inherit the earth, are paying in advance.

I was thinking that I wouldn’t be affected because my COBRA coverage ends on June 30, but in fact, I will have to pay the full amount for June.   The full amount, for me, a single person, is more than my pre-tax weekly unemployment check.   I was notified on Friday, so I have no opportunity to adjust my plans.  Too bad.  Had I known a couple of months ago, I would have saved myself more than a week’s income, but at this point, I have long planned final Doctor appointments and prescription refills in the balance.   I’ll have to pay.

But, it isn’t just me.   Read the rest of this entry »