Towards a global perspective . . .

I have been reading the reactions from various quarters to Obama’s selection of Rahm Emanuel as his chief of staff with some interest.  As a supporter of Palestinian rights, and the rights of sovereignty of the surrounding nations in the Middle East, I was personally rather dismayed by this choice.  But, being a person of hope, I did, at least, entertain the thought (however whistfully) that Obama is bringing in the troublemakers so that they will have to support him if he moves against their traditional agenda, or be disloyal.   If they can’t move him from the inside, they can’t complain in quite the same tone as they might as open adversaries.

For example, and no one that I know of has emphasized this point, it is said that Emanuel is in line to become Speaker of the House.   I don’t know what they are planning on doing with Nancy Pelosi, but this is a very powerful position.  It is a position without the direct control of a boss who demands level of personal loyalty.   Would it be better for Obama to have this man inside his team, or on the outside, leading the lower house of the Congress, potentially, in opposition to his plans?

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When Emanuel made the comment that he was most honored that his parents are still alive to savor his achievement, it seemed a little unusual, but honorable.   The fact that the parent he is so pleased to impress is a former member of the Irgun, an Israeli terrorist group that participated vigorously in the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their homeland around 1948 makes me a little uncomfortable.  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 »

You all may have seen something about this. The Bushies are doing their best to secure their permanent war on the way out. They have just added a new country to those subject to unprovoked attacks. The US brought Special Forces into Syria by helicopter, who then killed eight civilians, including four children and a woman, last weekend. Of course, they have an excuse. They say they attacked a man known to facilitate bringing foreign fighters and weapons into Iraq. If they knew that were the case, then they should have informed the Syrian Government and given them an opportunity to address the problem.

The arrogance of the US and other members of the international community amazes me. A post on the Syriacomment blog complained that last year the Syrian Government went so far as to make some studies on Syria compulsory in the American School and forcing the students to take Arabic. Syria has now said they will close the American School, which is attended by the children of UN workers and corporations like Shell. Who can blame them? Imagine if that were the US and some resident foreigners insisted that they did not want their children to study American Culture or History, and the English language in school.
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I’m on a business trip in Boston. I don’t have a lot of time to do things, but I took off this afternoon. After first spending some time at the Christian Science Plaza, I went on a DUCK Tour. Since it is just a block from my hotel, I started with a stroll through the Christian Science plaza. The Christian Science Buildings, and the plaza are very beautiful. There are fountains at one end of the plaza and a large pool in the center, with water that is constantly in motion. As I approached, there is a tower in front of the fountains, on the far side a half moon shaped building, and to my my right, across the pool is the old church. Behind it it the Mary Baker Eddy Library, and the press where the Christian Science Monitor is published. On a nice day, the plaza would be a wonderful place to sit. Today was cold and windy, so I contented myself with walking around the Plaza, snapping numerous photos, and touring the old church, built in 1906 and the Mary Baker Eddy Library.

I don’t know enough about the Christian Science religion to say much, however, the inside of both the original chapel and a larger chapel built more recently in an extension are beautifully architected and exquisitely decorated. Read the rest of this entry »

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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I got these stories from the Mosaic show of 10/07. For those who don’t regularly listen to Mosaic News on Link TV, you can find a link to a page where I have the show embedded on the left hand sidebar of my website. You can also find the show’s homepage here. Mosaic provides glimpses of the news from various National and Satellite TV Stations in the Middle East. It is a half hour show that airs on LinkTV, Monday through Friday at 10:30 pm. All their shows are available on their website. They provide a very interesting insight into what people are thinking about in the Middle East.

So, two stories about Saudi women caught my eye yesterday. The first is a clip from New TV in Beirut Lebanon, listing some recent, bizarre fatwas pronounced by powerful clerics in Saudi Arabia. They sound like jokes from late night TV, but apparently, they are real and enforceable legal assertions.
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Just over a week ago, I was privileged to attend a meeting convened by Fellowship of Reconciliation on behalf the the Iranian Diplomatic Mission in the US, where 150 representatives of US peace and justice organizations, and religious communities met with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, who was accompanied by members of his staff, Iranian Foreign Minister Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, and U.N. Ambassador Mohammad Khazaee.   Eleven activists, including myself, stated an array of the most frequently asked questions to the President, while he listened courteously, and, along with some of his staff, took copious notes, and which later allowed him to addressed each question in some manner.

For myself, I thought the exchange went extremely well. Of course, President Ahmadinejad wasn’t going to tell us everything we wanted to hear. There are tough issues, and the fact that our questions were accepted and our viewpoint was respected is a significant accomplishment. However, it was a case where it was clear, that you get what you give. We took the risk of extending ourselves, and were met half way. We met a man who is looked on by many of us as a challenging adversary, with respect and dignity. In return our dignity was respected, and our dearest values were reflected in the occasion. Was is it political? Sure, to an extent it was. Is that a problem? Not in a political context.
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About the War on Terror:
How’s this for terrorism. Buried on page 4a of today’s hardcopy Democrat and Chronicle is an article titled “CIA uses missile strikes to guage enemy reaction”. To paraphrase, Michael Hayden, Director of the CIA, said that they are using missle strikes to ‘tickle’ the enemy along the Afganistan-Pakistan border. Apparently they are bombing civilian targets to “provoke the enemy” to respond because “in that response, we learn so much.”

So! Now I get it. It’s only an experiment! We have killed over 100 civilians to evaluate the terrorist’s response patterns.
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A group of local IndyMedia people and activists went to the Democratic and Republican Conventions. There was a great deal of violence directed toward protesters, especially at the RNC in St.Paul/Minneapolis. When our representatives arrived safely home, they had video from these events, and some very disturbing stories of violence against activists engaged in legal activities, media people on the streets, and in their homes and against anyone they chose to attack any time, any place they chose to attack them. The images of violence were a vivid reminder of my first experiences in demonstrations while I was in college.

Their stories brought me back to November 1969 in DC. I attended a huge demonstration in Washington DC that fall. I had never been to such an event before, but I wanted to join the movement, and a friend gave me a ride down an back. Unfortunately, he was staying with his family, and didn’t want his family to think he had a girlfriend, so I found myself on the street alone, wandering through the crowds. I was naive, and had no idea what to expect. When I was sprayed with teargas by the police, I was too shocked to be angry or afraid, and after a time, I ended up in the basement of a church where a fellow protester got some water and a cloth, and tried to help me get the coating of chemicals off my face and out of my eyes. The minister offered to put me us up for the night at his home along with some other young men who were alone and had no where to go.
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The upcoming election is getting pretty hairy.   Only a couple of weeks ago, I was planning on voting for Cynthia McKinney to make a statement about the options.  I live in a solid blue state after all, so it is unlikely to affect the outcome of the election.  However, since the Georgia fiasco, the violent repression of dissent AND the PRESS at the RNC, and Sarah Palin coming on line, I have changed my mind.  It’s time to step back from the brink, and so I will have to vote for Obama.

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