Month: July 2005

It was so wonderful to see that shuttle soar. Then, trouble. My Israeli niece helped prepare one of the experiments that went down with the Columbia. I wish they did not announce the grounding until they brought them safely home. So, here are some good news to cheer us up.
posted by Judith

We used to be told Asian values are different. Internal affairs are irrelevant. They still do not matter at the UN. But change is on the horizon. ASEAN countries take turns chairing the conference alphabetically. It was supposed to be Burma’s turn. The Generals spent a fortune beautifying Rangoon. All for naught.

Dictatorships are no longer cool or even acceptable. Regional organizations are ashamed to be chaired by them. “Their domestic politics and our interests as a region have been intertwined,” George Yeo, Singapore’s foreign minister said. “It is good that these will be decoupled.”

Before Burma can be allowed to take a leadership role on the regional stage, it must get its own house in order: “At a carefully choreographed press conference, Somsavat Lengsavat, the Lao foreign minister, said the junta had opted to forgo its turn to host ASEAN meetings to concentrate instead on “national reconciliation and democratization”.

The opposition is not all that happy. It wants to play a greater role in the democratic transition. The US has just extended economic sanctions in the hope of pushing the process along.

We are getting closer. Soon, there may even be a cigar.
posted by Judith

To be honest, the Irish Americans were an important source of water for even the provisional IRA fish. I remember the cold shoulder Philadelphians gave Gerry Adams when he spoke at the World Affairs Council after the Good Friday agreements. Not any more. During his last visit he was practically shunned. Indeed, Blair got in trouble when he seemed to suggest that the IRA was not as bad as Al Qaeda. So, here are the good news:

Mr. O’Dowd the publisher of a magazine, Irish America, and a newspaper, Irish Voice, said Mr. Adams and other senior republicans had persuaded the I.R.A. membership that it could succeed politically. Sinn Fein is now the second-largest party in Northern Ireland, and it has made significant gains among voters in the Republic of Ireland since 1994.

“This is a truly historic moment in Irish history,” Mr. O’Dowd said. “It is the first time since the founding of the Irish state that the I.R.A. has agreed that there should be no armed struggle. Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness have taken an armed revolutionary movement and succeeded in placing it on a political path. Irish history is littered with people such as Michael Collins, who tried to do the same and failed.”

posted by Judith

Janet Albrechtsen argues that our (I guess she means the baby boomers) age of innocence is over.

Finally, more of us are saying “Hang on, some values are non-negotiable.” Perhaps we can draw a shade on the ’60s view that all cultures are equal. That utopian-driven decade is drawing to a close on other fronts too. Welfare is not all it’s cracked up to be. No-fault divorce has not been the blessing it promised to be. It seems we may be growing up, learning to draw a line in at least some of the right places. Who knows which of the ’60s sacred cows will be next?

posted by Judith

It used to be difficult to find open condemnation of terror. Not any more. Now the editorial in Al Jazeera declares that “The world faces one threat.” It informs us that “Arabic newspapers unequivocally condemned both attacks, and called for a united response to combat “terrorism.” The accompanying picture is a must see of a Jordanian lighting a candle for the victims of the London blasts. Even the comments bellow are no longer confined to the usual conspiracy theories.

Self criticism is becoming the order of the day. Ahmed Al-Rabei compares the Western and Muslim cultures and finds his wanting:

In the United States, the congressman for the state of Colorado made outrageous and disrespectable comments saying, “If America was to be subjected to terrorist attacks by Muslim fundamentalist, then we could take out their holy sites.” When the radio show host asked him, “Do you mean the Kaaba?” He replied saying, “Sure”.

This American congressman is now experiencing an enmity campaign against him from politicians and media figures alike in the United States. The White House and the American state department have clearly denounced his statements. The American press accused him of racism and hatred, and the reaction from within American society was much stronger than that of any Islamic country.

On the other hand, we hear of hatred and racist statements made by prominent figures of the Arab world against other nations and cultures, yet nobody is prepared to confront boldly such messages. Provocative thoughts and ideology have been spread by Yusuf Al-Qaradawy for example, who issued a religious ruling that states that Iraqi civilians are to be killed if they show any cooperation with occupying forces. He confidently spreads these messages via the satellite channels, mosques, and the Arab press.

We all remember when Abu Hamza Al-Masri who lives in Britain and has British nationality was asked why he lives in London considering his denunciation that it is an atheist country. He answered that, “Britain is like a toilet, we just do what we must and leave!”

How can such an ideology live peacefully in this world? I do not believe it can.

The following day the same paper carried an article by Ghassan Al Imam which asks:

Is the Arab society sick? I say clearly and boldly that it is. To admit this is neither defeatist nor a self-indictment, but rather assurance that examination of the disease is the only way to find its cure. What are the features of such an ailing society? The anomalous increase in populations of Arab cities, and in turn, the despair and anger created by the masses due to the corruption that consumes the hearts of the cities. Such corruption is rife in the administration and the economy displayed by the luxurious living of the bourgeoisies.

Reformists have also began to make practical suggestions:

The question of how to fight Islamic terrorism preoccupies many Arab reformists who are working to denounce Islamist thought, to encourage independent and critical thinking, and to establish values of democracy and human rights in the Muslim world. For example, in February 2005, a group of reformists submitted to the U.N. a request that it establish an international court to judge Muslim clerics who incite to violence and bloodshed. The request was examined by the U.N. legal counsel and distributed to the U.N. Security Council.(1)

Following the July 7, 2005 London bombings, Arab reformists further expanded their criticism and honed their arguments, not only regarding Muslim extremists, but also regarding the European countries, particularly Britain, which allows extremist activity within its borders in the name of protecting individual rights. They also increased their criticism of the silent Muslim majority and moderate Muslim intellectuals, who capitulate to Islamist pressure and do not speak out decisively against it.

You will find them enumerated here.

As I have written in the the story that the media misses interfaith dialogue is flourishing. A recent one took place in Bali.

Anne Applebaum is too pessimistic. Karen Hughes should not reconsider. In fact she is just in time to help along Our extreme makeover.
posted by Judith

There was no due process. Well done, Michael Petrelis.
posted by Judith

She is so right, of course.

By the way, I understand a group of Iranian activists are working in putting together a one-page add in NY Times addressing Kofi Anan appealing Ganji’s release. It is almost done and most likely will be published on Thursday.

In the meantime, you can read more updates on Ganji and the new attacks on NGOs.
posted by Judith

The realists and their Sunni (paymasters?) are at it again. They have sent up another trial balloon in this week’s Businessweek. They report “good” news form Iraq:

Until recently it has been almost pointless to try to negotiate with the insurgents, who are fragmented into dozens of groups. But that may be changing. One group that is emerging and gaining influence is the Iraqi National Foundation Congress, an anti-occupation organization that includes secular, Shiite, and Sunni groups. The Congress, which has lines into the insurgency, plans to hold a conference in Beirut soon with the aim of establishing a broad front against the American occupation. Such activity may sound ominous, but analysts say the formation of a political wing that can speak for the insurgency is vital for any peace process. . . .

How hard will the U.S. push the Shiite-dominated government to make a deal with its rivals? Analysts think it will respect the fact that Jaafari & Co. were duly elected and let them run their own affairs — another reason why turning Iraq around will be a long, bloody process.

In other words, if we only forgot about the 8 million people who risked their lives to vote and turned the country over to those who consider that vote illegitimate, we could have solved the problem. But silly us, we actually think that power should come from the ballot box and not from the barrel of a gun.

I can only hope that Lebanon will not be as ungrateful as to serve as a host to a blatantly anti American conference. The chutzpah!

P.S. Iraq is no longer occupied and neither are Germany, South Korea or the Philippines.
posted by Judith

in J’Accuse Episcopalians, Presbyterians, et al. It ends thus:

So I come to an unavoidable conclusion. The obsession here is not positive, for one side, but rather negative, against the other side. The clerics and the lay leaders on this indefensible crusade are so fixated on Palestine because their obsession, which can be buttressed by various Christian sources and traditions, is really with the Jews. A close look at this morbid passion makes one realize that its roots include an ancient hostility for the House of Israel, an ugly survival of a hoary intolerance into some of the allegedly enlightened precincts of modern Christendom.

To be honest, Peretz could have written this 30, 40 or 50 years ago. For me there is a feeling of Déjà Vu about the entire debate which I described in my book Vietnam, Jews and the Middle East. Even the split between the upper echelon and rank and file existed then as now.

Jews could still do worse than to heed John C. Bennett’s advice that they remember that “the enthusiasm, affection and admiration of a predominantly Christian nation is exceptionally pro-Israel” and constituted a “capital that should be invested, not squandered.”

Still, I can’t stop wondering if any of these religious leaders ever watched any of the Palestinian Media Watch video clips?
posted by Judith