Towards a global perspective . . .

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.

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I netted an interesting pair of articles in my daily  news troll, today.

The first,   from Kazinform, a Kazakh news outlet says that the Secretaries of the Security Councils of SCO members just met in Tashkent, the Uzbek capital city.   Afghanistan was a significant topic at the meeting where it was discussed in a tense manner, and agreed that “stability and security in the Central Asian region is not possible without a solution to the Afghan problem”.

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The other from the China section of the Global Times (via AFP), Read the rest of this entry »

I saw the film “Men Who Stare at Goats” yesterday evening.    I really enjoyed he film, which harks back to a time that was hopeful and happy for some of us.    It was fun and well acted, with big stars making fun of the kind of aggressive parody of masculinity that the military models and idealizes in it’s training practices, and also of the new age practices that were popularized during the 70s, and which have since been commercialized and regimented in various social sciences.    It was silly.  And, it  is based on a true story, which shows that the world is bigger than it seems sometimes.

The film is based on true events during the 70s when the military had experimental units investigating the paranormal and new age trainings that proclaimed to enhance ordinary humans capacity to perform and to empower individuals in unique ways.   They really did want to produce ‘super soldiers’.   Read the rest of this entry »

Some very interesting thinking on Iran has surfaced through this past week.   Robert Gate’s leaked memo has created a new opening for discussion of Iran policy in some significant circles.   I was starting to write a little piece based on an article by Flynt and Hillary Mann Leverett, posted on Politico Blog earlier this week, called The Slippery Slope to Strikes on Iran, where they say that they agree with Gates general analysis, but they disagree with his conclusion because they think that ‘containment’ is a ‘slippery slope’ that could easily lead to a military encounter.   They also quote Dennis Ross, Senior Adviser to the Obama Administration on Iran, as telling them before Obama took office, that he was assuming with regard to Iran,  that a little negotiation would prepare the way for a likely military military strike, which they believe would be a devastating mistake.   I wondered as I read this why Dennis Ross is in the White House and Flynt Leverett is at the New America Foundation.

Meanwhile, NIAC (National Iranian American Council) has come out in support of Keith Ellison’s Stand with the Iranian People Act, which suggests that restrictions on interactions between Iranian and American people should be eased (I whole heartedly agree), and that sanctions should target human rights violators rather than the people as a whole.   Read the rest of this entry »

I found this interesting article on a website called PRNewswire that looked like it was on the up and up – though the website was a little fishy.  The title was: US Government asked to Regulate AIPAC as a Foreign Agent of the Israeli Government.   It begins as follows:

“The US Department of Justice has been formally asked to begin regulating the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) as the foreign agent of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  A 392 page legal filing presented by a four person IRmep delegation in a two hour meeting with top officials of the Internal Security Section . . .”

Too good to be true, I thought, and after all, who or what is IRmep?   A quick search on Google turned up a site that said IRmep is one guy who needs a maid.  Hey, don’t they all?   As the previous complaint said, the IRmep website is a blog, put up by a young man named Grant Smith.  Read the rest of this entry »

I just want to mention this interview with Robert Blake, by Narayan Lakshman that I found on the Op/Ed page of the online version of The Hindu, the 2nd largest English language newspaper in India.  Blake is Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia       I’m thinking this piece might be the answer the question “What are some issues that educated Indian Citizens would like to ask about American policy in Central and South Asia?“  I suppose it will also shed some light on how the State Department would respond to those questions.

I was a little surprised by the very first question, though the answer is a blow off.  The interviewer asks about Indian workers in the US having to pay Social Security taxes.  Read the rest of this entry »

This week’s Niqash Newsletter, which is published in English, Arabic an Kurdish, had some interesting stories.  In fact, this is a great little news outlet for those interested in seeing events in Iraq from a variety of Iraqi perspectives.    I have been getting the newsletter in my email for some time.   You can also get an RSS feed if you prefer.   If you are interest in Iraq, it’s worth your while to at least scan the Niqash headlines occasionally.

Today, there is a story about how the Sadrists have increased their legitimate power in the government.  Savvy Sadrists by Alice Fordham talks about the sophisticated political means they used to win the confidence of the electorate, and obtain seats in the Iraqi Parliament.   It contradicts the oft promoted view of the Sadrists as a bunch of ignorant thugs Read the rest of this entry »