Towards a global perspective . . .

In Afghanistan, the latest surge initiative is the cleaning up of the Taliban controlled town of Marjah. The fighting has been going on for about a week. Early in the week I saw the battle compared to the battle of Fallujah in Iraq. I was a little surprised because I thought we were in it to win ‘hearts and minds’, so totally destroying it while wiping out the adult male population and anyone else who got trapped there with them doesn’t seem like a recipe to win ‘hearts and minds’. An article by David Lindorff on Counterpunch Website entitled “The Battle of Marjah: Why the US has Already Lost” tells us that on the first day, 12 civilians were killed by missiles fired into their home by Marines. More civilian deaths have followed. . .  But, I suppose, we can be grateful it’s not another Fallujah.

This weekend, the Washington Post wants us to know that the US forces are already pondering the requisite effort to rebuild. Though the fighting continues in fits and starts as the Taliban have not been entirely eliminated from the area, they are canvasing the town, trying to meet with the townspeople, handing out goodies to children and talking to adults. Read the rest of this entry »

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

——————————————————————————————————-

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.

——————————————————————————————————-

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.

————————————————————————————————————–

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.   +

————————————————————————————————————-

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.

————————————————————————————————–

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?

————————————————————————————————————

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.

———————————————————————————————————-

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]

—————————————————————————————————-

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.

—————————————————————————————————————–

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

Tariq Ali,  a well known Pakistani writer and political activist, has lived in London for many years.  He has written numerous works of fiction and nonfiction.  He’s written books with Fidel Castro and Edward Said.   Tariq Ali has been involved in the anti-war movement since the 60s when he was a student in England.  He is not only an activist, but an extremely wise and well informed critic of the US wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan, with insight into the political and social context inside Pakistan as well as of the international context.  On the subject at hand, he published “The Duel: Pakistan on the Flightpath of American Power” a year ago, and “The Clash of Fundamentalisms” just after the beginning of the Iraq War.   He is also working on a series of novels, the fourth of which has just come out.    Sadly, when I searched the Monroe County Library system online for his books, not a single one showed up.   But, you can find  his books on Amazon.

As you can imagine, I was very interested when my friend Mara called to say that Tariq Ali would be speaking at a college a couple of hours from Rochester.   When she said that he had agreed to an interview, I was elated.    Mara was very excited about meeting Tariq, not only because she has long admired his work, but because he was born in Lahore like her, and in fact, went to school with her mother.  Mara had emailed him the day before the event about giving her an interview, and he had agreed to do one with us after the talk, which was very generous of him. %C

Transcript of Obama’s speech on Afghanistan
Last Updated: Tuesday, December 1, 2009 | 11:01 PM ET
CBC News

Annotated by yours truly in red.

Good evening. To the United States Corps of Cadets, to the men and women [ mostly men] of our armed services, and to my fellow Americans: I want to speak to you tonight about our effort in Afghanistan — the nature of our commitment there, the scope of our interests, and the strategy that my administration will pursue to bring this war to a successful conclusion. It is an honor for me to do so here — at West Point — where so many men and women have prepared to stand up for our security, and to represent what is finest about our country. [ Military Rules! ]

To address these issues, it is important to recall why America and our allies were compelled to fight a war in Afghanistan in the first place. We did not ask for this fight. On Sept. 11, 2001, 19 men hijacked four airplanes and used them to murder nearly 3,000 people. They struck at our military and economic nerve centers. They took the lives of innocent men, women, and children without regard to their faith or race or station. Were it not for the heroic actions of the passengers on board one of those flights, they could have also struck at one of the great symbols of our democracy in Washington and killed many more.   [Shades of GWB.  You'd never know that 8 years had passed]  Read the rest of this entry »

It looks like the nasty drug dealer brother who has been ‘dragging down’ Hamid Karzai’s reputation is actually a CIA operative.  Here we all were feeling sorry for this guy.  What a family!  But, I guess that isn’t a big surprise.  It seems like the CIA has been in the drug business for years.  What caught my eye in the NY Times article is the fact that Karzai is renting Mullah Omar’s compound to the US Military.  So, how did Ahmed Karzai come to be the owner of Mullah Omar’s compound?   Or is he just a middleman?   I wouldn’t ask except that Mullah Omar and the Taliban were originally supported by the US via the CIA (through the Pakistani Military) just like Ahmed Karzai.

**************************************************************

On a more personal note,  I keep thinking about the health care bill coming together in Congress.    Read the rest of this entry »

If you have a half hour or so to do so, listen to this podcast of a paper by Barnett R. Rubin and Ahmed Rashid *.  I have reprinted the first paragraph below.

“The Great Game is no fun anymore. The term “Great Game” was used by nineteenth-century British imperialists to describe the British-Russian struggle for position on the chessboard of Afghanistan and Central Asia — a contest with a few players, mostly limited to intelligence forays and short wars fought on horseback with rifles, and with those living on the chessboard largely bystanders or victims. More than a century later, the game continues. But now, the number of players has exploded, those living on the chessboard have become involved, and the intensity of the violence and the threats it produces affect the entire globe. The Great Game can no longer be treated as a sporting event for distant spectators. It is time to agree on some new rules.”

The article begins with a rather cavalier flourish, a little too cavalier for my taste.  However, the authors then proceed to analyze the players in the deteriorating Afghan standoff in some detail, and with significant authority.  Based on their analysis, they present of dizzying array of diplomatic possibilities and presumptive necessities for developing peace and stability in the region.  At the outset, they state that not everyone will agree with every idea presented, and going by the comments, there are those who vehemently disagree with certain aspects of the plan, and with any renewed Western meddling in Eastern affairs.  Wouldn’t it be better to discuss the issues, acknowledging the agendas of different players, and look for consensus, rather than either a) try to manipulate a particular outcome, or b) turn away and wash our hands of rest of the world?  Albeit, plan b) looks pretty good considering the blood on our hands.  Read the rest of this entry »