Towards a global perspective . . .

I could have written more.  I should have written sooner.  But, here’s something now.

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Pakistan
The Pakistani army has balked at attacking yet another province.   Apparently, they don’t really want to wipe out the man who connects them with the Taliban.  With more than 2 million internal refugees created so far by doing America’s bidding, perhaps they are getting tired of destroying their own country.  The Kerry Luger bribe might not be enough to cover it.  The US has told the Pakistani Army, either clean up (attack) Quetta or we’ll send in the drones.  The message hasn’t been well received.   Apparently,  American Diplomats in Pakistan are being harassed, and there is resentment and even hostility towards their US benefactors in the Pakistani military. *

Meanwhile, Pakistani President Zardari has suggested that the membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization could help with their counter-terrorism campaign.**  Pakistani Prime Minister Gilani has also requested membership in the SCO for Pakistan and reached out to them with a vision of  “shared peace”.  ***  He is working hard to solidify alliances and trade agreements with the neighboring ‘Stans’ who comprise the core membership in the SCO along with Russia and China.   I don’t think they can join while there is a perception that America controls their military actions.   Even so, while the US operates with lump sums (big ones), the Chinese and Russians are doing an increasing amount of business on the ground in Pakistan.

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Afghanistan
President Obama has announced an expanded commitment to the ‘war’ in Afghanistan, committing 30K more troops in addition to the 20K troops he OK’d earlier this year.  The Generals say that we need even more troops.  And the Generals concede that there are only 100 Al Qaeda operatives on the Afghanistan/Pakistan border.  So what gives?  If this is the best ‘Jobs Program’ Obama can come up with, we have a serious problem.

Meanwhile, the Taliban have reached out to the SCO for support as well.  They promised not to mess with their neighbors.  They just want their country back. ****   Kyrgyzstan, an Afghan neighbor and full member of the SCO,  is looking into trading some of it’s national debt for assisting in Afghanistan. *****   I’d say China is teaching it’s children well.

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Yemen
The Yemeni government is fighting a civil war on two different fronts.  The Yemeni Government blames the Iranians and accuses them of arming the ‘insurgents’, but there is no confirmation for their accusation, and it’s an easy out for them to blame the Iranians for any failures they have.******   The Saudi’s have joined in the war on the Northern front, enthusiastically bombing Yemeni towns. *******  Now, the US has now engaged in Yemen.   It is rumored that a couple of recent strikes on Al Qaeda were perpetrated by Americans.   The Yemeni government insists that they are responsible, and you might say that’s true, whether their men our ours physically launched the missiles.  Certainly that’s how the Yemeni people feel.  And they aren’t very happy about it either.

A significant Al Qaeda operative was the target of one of the strikes, but he escaped though while ‘terrorists’ were apprehended and killed.   The other strike killed at least 30  civilians including women and children, causing significant upset in the population.   Could you call the murder of 10 civilians with Hellfire missiles ‘terrorism’?  What ever happened to police actions.  Now, it’s all armies.

The Yemeni-American preacher who had been in contact with the soldier who recently killed 13 people on a killing spree at fort Hood was rumored to have been at both sites.     Since he has repeatedly denied any connection with Al Qaeda (unusual for Al Qaeda suspects not in custody), it seems unlikely he would be hanging out with their leadership.    It seems he might have been the target of the second strike, which killed the women and children, and which may have be conducted by Americans.

If they wanted him for conspiracy or as an accomplice to the crime, one would think they could just ask the Yemeni government to pick him up and extradite him. . . . .  perhaps secretly, as in rendition, if there’s a public relations problem.   I’m not advocating the latter.  In fact, I’m not sure this guy would be convicted if given a fair trial.   But it would certainly be better than killing 30 innocent people with Hellfire missiles.

By the way, when did our war on Yemen begin?  Was it the reference in Obama’s Afghanistan speech?   Kind of like Bush’s references to the Axis of Evil?  Obama doesn’t even need to use hyperbolic language.  He just mentions a country, and that’s enough.   Of course, the Saudi’s were already there, softening things up.

I just watched Joe Lieberman on Democracy Now! (yes, it’s Monday) say that if we don’t act preemptively, Yemen will be tomorrow’s war.”  I’d say it’s a done deal.   Guess that answers the question as to whether we were on the scene in those recent strikes.   +

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Iran
The voices for change in Iran will not be silenced by brutality.  Ayatollah Montazeri, the rightful heir to Khomeini died this week.   He would have preferred a more muted role for the Welayat Faqih and for the clergy in the Islamic Republic.   I suppose it’s a waste of time to consider the ‘path not taken’ at this point.   Montazeri has been supporting the dissidents who have been in the streets repeatedly since the June election which the opposition claimed was fraudulent.  With his death so close to Ashura, renewed protests are assured.

Ashura falls on today, December 27th.   This is the day of atonement for the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, the Prophet’s grandson.   This is the most important Shi’ite holiday, when many people are in the streets.   Not surprisingly, there have been clashes between protesters and the police.   According to Al Jazeera, 5 protesters have died, including Mir Hossein Mousavi’s nephew, who is rumored to have been shot.  The Iranian police say that some of these people died in a car accident, and only one was killed by a bullet,but they don’t know how this happened, because the police weren’t using bullets.++   I don’t think that’s going to fly at this point.   On Democracy Now! this morning, Hadi Ghaemi said Mousavi’s murder was reportedly an assassination.  He was shot point blank.The chief of Police in Tehran said that 300 demonstrators were arrested Sunday.

In the US, Sanctions have once again been passed by Congress.  They are unilateral as China and Russia are critical of the use of sanctions to limit Iran’s nuclear program, and will not support them in the Security Council.  The US can enforce them by penalizing other countries that trade with Iran, not Russia and China, of course.  No, we can only penalize our friends.

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Palestine
Egypt is blocking the Viva Palestina Convoy, an International initiative to bring material assistance and moral support to Gaza from entering.  Of course, Israel isn’t a possible alternative point of entry.  Their vindictive and racist agenda is not open to question or debate.   Israel has allowed little in the way of building materials into Gaza since they bombed it to rubble a year ago.  There is little water and minimal food for survival.   Few are allowed out for medical care and medical supplies are inadequate within.   There is no fuel for cooking and heating.  Now Israel is building an underground wall to block the tunnels in Rafah that provide the inhabitants of Gaza with what little they have.  Then what?

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Israel
The deal to free Gilad Shalit from Hamas is slowly progressing.   The deal would have Israel trade 1000 prisoners for Shalit.   A significant portion of the Israeli public is not just in favor of the trade, but insistent on it.    They say there are a few Palestinian prisoners with ‘Israeli blood on their hands’ who are being disputed.   100 or 150 of the prisoner’s will be released only on the condition that they are barred from Palestine.   Last I heard, Marwan Barghouti is among those likely to be released, though his brother Abdullah is one of the handful who are likely to be rejected.   +++

Marwan is the interesting brother, though.  He’s a Fatah hero who ran for President of Palestine from prison in 2006.   Surely he will be on good terms with Hamas if they can free him along with 1000 others from Israeli prisons.  Seems like he might be just what the Dr. has ordered for Palestine.  A man who with good connections to both Fatah and Hamas, a man who is popular with the people, a revolutionary hero with political ambitions.   Perhaps the Israeli apartheid is finding it’s Nelson Mandela.

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Lebanon
Ha’aretz says US President Obama has suggested to the new Lebanese government that they should ‘crack down’ on Hezbollah ‘arms smuggling’.    It seems that he missed the point that the new government has integrated the Opposition, of which Hezbollah is a significant member, and passed a law to legitimize Hezbollah as a  necessary part of their defense infrastructure.   In that case, I’m not sure you can call it smuggling.  In the same article, they say refer, once again, to the pirate arms shipment from Iran that it supposedly confiscated last month. ++++     [see next post]

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The Kurds

There’s more violence in Kirkuk and Mosul.   I’ve been reading about the runup to the Iraq war, and the Kurds were in it up to their eyeballs.  Who can blame them, after the horrific abuse they have suffered from Sadam.  However, from an objective standpoint, it seems like the US could have supported them without destroying the rest of Iraq.  Even now, the contention over Kirkuk is complicated, but there is a paragraph in the constitution that says exactly how to handle it.  But, the Iraqi government isn’t willing to implement it.   The International Crisis Group says it could spark a civil war in Iraq to do so.

What could this awful ruling be?   Article 140 says that they will take a census in Kirkuk and have a referendum there to decide whether or not it is part of Kurdistan.  Since  Kurdistan is part of Iraq and, for now, no one is disputing that, it seems like a fair solution.  Maybe the loser will be upset, but as in any democratic action, the winner will have a measure of truth on their side.   On the other hand, not following through has Kurds once again talking about independence.

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The United States
Looks like ‘Conservative Democrats’ are urging Obama to shelve Climate Change and work on a much needed Jobs Bill instead.  I bet they can’t pat their heads and rub their bellies at the same time either.

• *              New York Times
• **            Pakistani Associate Press
• ***          The Nation
• ****        Pakistani Defense Forum, Global Military News, Xinhua
• *****      Central Asia News, Ferghana, RU
• ******    Glenn Greenwald interview with Gregory Johnson
• *******  Al Arabia News
• +               Democracy Now!  Headlines.
• ++            Al Jazeera
• +++         IBA, Jerusalem; Ha’aretz
• ++++      Ha’aretz

Finally, success has come after months of struggle. Saad Hariri, the son of the much lauded Lebanese leader Rafiq Hariri, has managed to form a viable government in Lebanon.  Hariri was given the position of PM after the victory of the American backed March 14th coalition in the election last spring. Forming a government was problematic because his American and Saudi backers were adamant that Hezbollah not be included in the government, and that the opposition not get enough ministries to wield a veto.

It was no secret that before the election, the US lobbied like crazy for their preferred candidates. Read the rest of this entry »

I just saw  “Waltz with Bashir”.   The film has been promoted as a deeply affecting portrayal of the effect of war on the soldiers.  Many people who see it would agree, I think, with that analysis.   People I know found the film beautiful, and very moving.  But, after watching Mosaic and Al Jazeera’s coverage of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, Israel’s attack on Lebanon in the summer of 2006 and, most recently, the Israeli assault on Gaza last winter,  I found the film didn’t really engage my emotions with it’s surreal imagery,  contextualized through reminiscences and intellectual conversations.  You can watch the film and feel sadness, whereas, when you see the reality, you feel sick.   

“Waltz with Bashir” focuses on  the young Israeli soldiers who participated in the Lebanese occupation, and were in Beirut at the time of the massacre of Palestinians at Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps.   Read the rest of this entry »

INN showed Tzipi Livni at the National Press Club today.  She said that the Peace Process should go on while the IDF massacres the citizens of Gaza.  This is because Palestine is now divided, and Hamas is irrelevant.  The conflict, she tells us, is helping the Moderates.  No one will ever talk to Hamas, she said, so why concern ourselves with their elimination.  Now they can really move forward with the Moderates.  Has anyone seen the most recent maps of the West Bank?

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A few days ago, Amy Goodman had a segment about negative and hostile framing of Arabs in the media, by the candidates (both of them). Worse, they discussed a highly prejudicial film targeting Arabs called “Obsession”, millions of copies of which have been distributed though out ‘swing states’ by an Israeli based not-for-profit organization, apparently interested in swinging the voters in these states toward voting for McCain. The clip they showed from the film was extremely prejudicial. It was the “Arab< =>Terrorist” logic on steroids. It was ugly and frightening.

The evening before that, James Zogby, who has a talk show, “Viewpoint’, which addresses Middle East Issues, and who is a tireless advocate for better communication and understanding between East and West, took a moment to talk about his response to a much played comment made by John McCain on the campaign trail. McCain told a follower that Obama is “not an Arab”, he is a “good family man”. Zogby said that he responded with an op-ed piece stating that he is an Arab, and a good family man as well, and he did not feel that one identity should exclude the other. He went on to express gratitude for the numerous positive responses he had received from readers. I was struck by his sincerity, and by the empathy his honesty elicited. One response he shared was from an individual who said “We are all Arabs” today. It struck me because, immediately following the attacks of 9/11, there were vigils in Iran, and people there said “We are all Americans today”.
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First Hassan Nasrallah secures an agreement that Israel will trade the remains of 150 soldiers, and 3 live prisoners, one of whom they judge a notorious criminal (though the Lebanese disagree with their facts as well as their evaluation of the situation) for the remains of 2 dead soldiers and information about an incident where a pilot was lost over Lebanon in the 80′s. Read the rest of this entry »

I have added several new links to my list. Helena Coban’s ‘Just World News’ is insightful and well thought out. The ‘Angry Arab News Service’ provides interesting insights. Alternate Focus website has dozens of great videos (about 1/2 hr each) about the Middle East hotspots. Some are little Documentaries, and others are speakers.

All currently held Lebanese prisoners and some Palestinians will be released by Israel to Hezbollah in return for the bodies of the 2 soldiers abducted before Israel’s 2006 bombardment of Lebanon and some information about an Israeli who was lost some years ago.   Even Saniora is cheering.   As for Olmert, whatever it takes, he has to keep the masses behind him or he will be lost.   The Abu Dhabi TV station reported this as a defeat for Israel, but not a Lebanese victory as the Lebanese government was sidelined. Possibly this is true, but perhaps it is just another issue where the balance is being restored.  After all, the central government is still stonewalling the ‘opposition’ with regard to creating a government, and then blaming them for the impasse.

Read the rest of this entry »

Feeling depressed at the most of the day. Read through The Nation for this week yesterday evening, and got another email about McCain today. Looks like he is developing a strong relationship with the press corps behind the scenes, and morphing into a lovable rogue. Meanwhile we have Obama has opted out of the campaign finance system saying it doesn’t allow him to have enough money, pandered to AIPAC and snubbed Muslim supporters, and reversed himself on NAFTA. So, I suppose, when McCain beats him in the general elections, it won’t be a big loss. Except that McCain is a seriously scary guy who appears to be an uninformed bully who relies on his support people to tell him what’s what, but then is capable of a full force attack without premeditation or consultation, based on his mood an his current sensibilities. A scary guy indeed.

So, on to the news of the day. George Carlin died over the weekend at 71. Sad news. His most famous skit was about word’s not allowed on TV. He was a big fan of Lenny Bruce. Hurray. Every bit he did hit the mark. What a guy. Everyone is showing clips of his famous lines, but Democracy Now had the best I have seen.  Speaking of Democracy Now!, met with Chris Argento at Entercom. Have been running a psa looking for sponsors for the show for 2 weeks, ran a front page ad in the Metro Justice paper for DN Sponsors. No serious response. It looks like Democracy Now will soon be leaving WROC. I have a couple more leads to follow, but it isn’t much. No one is coming forward. I am not a salesperson. Chris is happy to oblige, but this isn’t first on his mind, and his boss didn’t show for our meeting. It’s a wash.

I’ve been reading Ilan Pappe’s “History of Modern Palestine”. There is a lot of interesting stuff in the book. It is interesting to triangulate with Patrick Seale’s book “Asad: The Struggle for the Middle East”, and “Nasser, the Last Arab” by Said K. Aburish. I am slowly formulating a 3 dimensional picture of the period. Read the rest of this entry »

The ‘Buzz’ in the US media is all about Iran. Everywhere you look, every newspaper and TV station is talking about Iran. ‘Iran is supplying weapons to Iraqi insurgents’, ‘Iran is sending Military people in to Iraq to fight US soldiers’, ‘Iran is the problem’ in Iraq. The ‘problem’ is spun and discussed in every venue. Al Arabiya, a Saudi satellite station, has even picked up the tone. The ‘problem’ has been in the public domain since Petraus speech, but didn’t really come to the forefront until after Iranian President Ahmadinejad’s visit to the US a couple of weeks ago. What was happening before that? What changed?

For the last few years, the US has been insisting that Iran’s nuclear development program, more specifically, their Uranium enrichment program is illegal, and that they are developing the technology to make an atomic bomb. Throughout this period, IAEA inspectors, under the leadership of IAEA Director General, Mohamed Baradei, have been working with Iran to clarify exactly what is going on with the Iranian Nuclear Program. What they say that they have found is that the program is as described by the Iranian’s and perhaps, a little less. They have found that the program is indeed, as the Iranians report, appropriate for peaceful use in nuclear power plants. In the US, we haven’t heard much about this. When the story finally hit the air, the networks began to buzz with disclaimers accusing Al Baradei, and by extension, the IAEA process, of being untrustworthy for a variety of reasons.

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