Towards a global perspective . . .

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 »

It has been brought up that I might seem to be advocating for Kurdish independence from Iran.  That was not my point.  I  support civil rights for the Kurds in Iran and everyone else there as well.   But my point was that the Kurds have been disenfranchised within the ‘modern’ countries where they reside, and that the European colonialists, by alternately supporting their quest for civil rights, and sovereignty, then opposing them at their convenience and for the furtherance of their own purposes, has seriously aggravated the problem.

The situation of the Kurds in Iraq is, I think, very fragile at present.  The convenience to the US of their independence is passing.  Yet they have used it well over the last 10 years, and it would be a good thing if they were rewarded for their success.  For them to become, at least, a self governed, federalist state of Iraq and be free to continue their progress would be good for the Kurds and good for Iraq.   They have much recent experience in developing a working state infrastructure to share.   And, their assertion of self direction and self government would be a safety valve of sorts for all of the Kurds in the region.  Of course this would only be true if the Kurds possessed the freedom in the countries where they reside to speak their language and and express their ethnicity without fear of reprisal.

This is my response to the previous entry, a poetic description of the conditions under which many Kurds live, and have lived for the last century.   The letter was posted on Facebook by a friend of the author, a Kurdish dissident in Iran, who was recently executed after about 5 years on death row in Iran’s notorious Evan Prison. The Kurds have many sad stories.  The story below is similar to other stories the Kurds tell.  And the ending is consistent as well, with the Kurdish experience.  The Peshmerga, the Kurdish militia, are “those who don’t fear death.”

I spent some time in Kurdish Iraq last summer.  They are doing pretty well there right now.  But, they have terrible stories to tell and their suffering continues in their feelings for lost relatives and friends and homes. Across the northern mountainous region of the Middle East and Persia, the Kurds are, and have been persecuted and disenfranchised for a hundred years and more.   Read the rest of this entry »

One of the 5 individuals recently executed in Iran was Farzad Kamanghar, a Kurdish school teacher and poet from Northern Iran.   I don’t know what specific deed he was accused of.   His lawyer says he had a perfunctory trial, with no evidence and no time for presenting a defense.   The others were involved in various bombings in Iran, but it appears likely the crimes Mamostay Kamanghar were more crimes of thought and communication.  It’s a sad world when encouraging young people to learn their ethnic heritage and to fight for the right to assert it is a crime.  Perhaps, Kak Kamanghar did more than that.  We can never know, and in light of following, I’m not sure it matters.

Below is a translation of a letter written from prison to a friend by Farzad Kamanghar, generously posted on Facebook by the recipient.  Whatever he may or may not have done, the heart breaking context he describes with such eloquence is the legacy of the Kurds, not only in Iran, but in Iraq, Turkey and Syria; not only in the present, but through more than a hundred years of  oppression, rejection and cultural annihilation.

*************************************************** Read the rest of this entry »

I saw this great little video on GritTV today.  When I visited Kurdistan, I saw that the women were strong and independent.    Banaz, the female half of the couple who hosted me there, was a business woman who handled most of the business end of the schools.   She received an award as Business Woman of the Year in Suleimaniya during the year before I met her.

This film tells a little of the tragic past and something about their way into the future.     In Iran as well, Architecture is a popular career for women.

Some background: In the late 80s, and especially, 1988, Saddam Hussein accelerated what was already an ethnic cleansing campaign against the Kurds to Genocide.  The Barzanis were specifically targeted because Mustafa Barzani was a significant leader in the Kurdish struggle for independence.  He was, and is, a great hero to most Kurds in Iraq, and some in Iran.   His son, Masoud Barzani, is now President of the Kurdistan Region Government of Iraq.

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

From The Times of India “Taliban’s Political Ace: A letter to Shanghai Group”

The Taliban sent a letter last week to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, an Asian Co-Op headed by China and Russia, which includes the Stans as well as Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan and India.   According to this article, the letter shows that “that the Taliban are functioning as a unified organization, with a definite leadership, and feeling strong enough to seek negotiations as a political body” and highlights “the general perception that the SCO is intended to keep the US out of the Central Asian region”.    The writers of the letter speak  as a De Facto government of what they call “The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan”, and the letter asks the SCO to come out against the “occupation” of Afghanistan and assist against would be colonialists.   In return they offer to mind their own business and make peace with their neighbors.

Also in the NY Times “As Afghans Resist Taliban, US Spurs Rise of Militias”

So, we are inciting a civil war in Afghanistan.  What else is new.   Given that most experts agree that the Taliban is more and more comprised of locals who are angry and frustrated by the behavior of the occupying forces, and the difficulties of training an “Afghan” Army and Police Force that isn’t infiltrated by Taliban, why not just encourage anyone who wants to fight them.   This may be a temporarily effective strategy to hurt our ‘enemies’, but doesn’t sound like a serious foreign policy to me.

Earlier this week in the NY Times:  The Tab says “Pakistani Successes May Sway US Troop Decisions”

But the article is actually titled “Pakistani Military Encounters Little Fight as Militants Flee”.   I’m assuming this doesn’t count as a ‘success’.   The Pakistani Military showed off the massive destruction they had wrought to the international press, but they only had 7 casualties in 5 days so our government is concerned that they didn’t fight very hard.   I wonder how the local people feel about this?   The article goes on to say that the US is ‘concerned’ that they will call it a day, declare victory and make deals with all the rest of our enemies (oops, the Terrorists), without incurring enough casualties to call it a war.  Apparently, the Empire has no use  for political solutions in Pakistan.

In Today’s NY Times, “US Fears Iraqis Will Not Keep Up Rebuilt Projects”

This article raises many questions, and for better or worse, gives no hint of what should be done about the problem.  The title refers to “rebuilt” projects, but the text talks about projects too sophisticated or expensive for the Iraqis to maintain.      It points to the Iraqi’s lack of money for financing the maintenance of these projects, and lack of engineering capacity to operate them.    Basic water and sewage projects don’t have to be too high tech for basic engineering competence.  Hospitals without antibiotics, disinfectants  and bandages don’t need high tech equipment and aren’t expensive.  Furthermore, if Iraqis had been involved in the planning and implementation of their own infrastructure rehab program, then the projects would have people involved capable of carrying them forward.  This is the result of bad planning and assistance provided without insight into what the problems really are.

Forget “We broke it.  We bought it”.   The oft repeated cliche is superficial and self centered.   The fact is that we broke it, but there is no way the Iraqis are going to allow us to take it home.  So, its time to start thinking about, and discussing with the Iraqis what a viable restitution would look like.

American Village in Kurdistan

I was reading a not very interesting post on one of the English language news outlest from Kurdistan when a saw the ad.   In Erbil, they are building an American style housing complex for the rich.   You can buy an American style home, a Hawlerian Home (Kurdish name for Erbil) or a Palace.  That’s a lot of wood construction in a place where it is previously unheard of.   As for American style housing, I wonder what the shelf-life of wood is in the desert.   I stayed in a beautiful part of Suleimaniya, but I saw people on the other side of town still living in piles of rubble, probably left over from the 80s.  One might think that would be the place to begin construction, but the Kurds want to be Capitalists so they can be rich like us.

All the more so,  in light of Mark Grueter’s recent post on Alexander Cockburn’s Counterpunch blog, Inside the American University of Iraq,  where he says that the University, which is located in Suleimaniya, Kurdish Iraq, is not as it appears on it’s sophisticated web page which presents a fully functioning university with a diversity of students studying a broad range of subjects on beautiful buildings.   Grueter says that in fact, there are only a few students, mostly Iraqis who meet in temporary shacks to study English so as to obtain the requisite skill for other learning.  He ought to know, as he works there.

I was in Suleimaniya, Kurdish Iraq last summer, and I can attest to the fact that the people really do want to learn English.  They want to be included in the world community, and they want access to the resources for learning that are in English.   However, they haven’t got their program together for completing civil service projects, as numerous unfinished construction projects will attest.  Furthermore, they have little access to basic resources for learning, like paper and pencils and working computers.   They have high speed wireless internet routers, but they generally don’t have access to computer software that is up-to-date and viable.   They get Windows knock offs from Syria, which fail when caught by registration drones online.   Textbooks come from Iran, or are composed on a computer in Sorani Kurdish, then copied off on the printer or using a Xerox style copier.   There is a mandatory public school system, which is great.  What they need now is access to basic teaching resources.

UPI (United Press International) has “Arabs Go For Air Power to Counter Iran”

This is the war machine sustaining itself on thin air.   The article says that Egypt, UAE, the Saudis and generally the ‘Moderate’ Arab states, as bizarre a misnomer as ever was spoken, are buying advanced airplanes, missiles etc to protect themselves from Iran.   Iran has not threatened any of these countries in a very long time, and it isn’t a threat to them now, given that they are already armed to the teeth with American and Israeli super weapons.   The article even says that Iran is no match for these countries in terms of air power, but goes on to say that they may need these weapons because Iran has a bigger ground force.

It occurs to me that the reason for Iranians substantial ground force, aside from the fact that Iran has a bigger population,  is that the Iranians are actually willing to defend their country without exception, while the oppressed populations of some of these countries are not.   But then it goes on to say that among the goodies they are going to receive are air to air missiles.  But how will those help against a country with an inferior air force?     I think, whatever we want to sell them, they’ll buy.

BBC Arabic (from Mosaic) reports  Abbas Complains that Israel is Negotiating with Hamas

In the clip, Abbas seems a little put out.   He is being thrown over, and the wolves are at the door.  But, it isn’t any secret in Israel that the government is negotiating with Hamas.  In September, Israel made a deal with Hamas to exchange 20 female Palestinian Prisoners for a video showing that captured soldier Gilad Shalit is alive and well.    In today’s Haaretz, they have “President confirms ‘real progress’ in Shalit talks“.   The talks in progress are securing a deal where Israel will trade 1,000 Palestinian Prisoners for Shalit.   The numbers aren’t so far out when you consider that Hamas will be trading their only Israeli prisoner for only 1/12 of those Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.

Gathering in Front of the Institute

In late May, I traveled to Suleimaniya, a city in Kurdish Northern Iraq, to teach English to a broad spectrum of children and adults at Prestige Institute for Education, a small private school.   I had learned of the opportunity, a little over a month before my journey, through a friend who is on the email network of Christian Peacekeeper teams throughout the Middle East.  The email exchanges were brief.  I sent a resume that mentioned my 20 years as a computer programmer, but focused on the 2 years I spent as a teacher in a small rural town while I was finishing my degree, and my various avocations, writing, teaching yoga, my trip to Iran and other anti-war activities.   I had a brief phone interview with Sirwan, the male half of the husband and wife team who run the school, and was accepted a few days later. Read the rest of this entry »

Here, the KRG is investing in the company that it is hiring to extract the oil.   This way, they are taking ownership of the resource, while not having to build the infrastructure to run it.   I am not sure of all the negatives and positives here, but this method of getting a return would be an improvement over the kinds of contracts the Baghdad Government has been encouraged to adopt, and which they clearly don’ t really want to adopt.   Read original article:  Read the rest of this entry »

There is still conflict in the system, but they are finding ways to work together that benefit everyone.   The government of Iraq is in some ways strangled by the necessity of developing every action through laws created in an environment that is not unified.   The KRG is not without problems, but they do have an established structure, and they have been more or less disengaged from the ongoing civil war, which has allowed them to focus on other issues of governance.

Although nationalized oil production would be a good thing, the Baghdad Government doesn’t have anyone competent to run it.   They also don’t have a legal framework for it (other than the Saddam era laws), and they are under huge pressure to privatize.   The result appears to be an administration too internally conflicted to come up with a constructive solution.

By successfully integrating the Kurdish Region as a Federalist State, they can take advantage of the Kurdish progress in this area to begin developing resources for all of Iraq.     Read the article below: Read the rest of this entry »