I typically dread getting CNN Alerts. This was a good one though. Bravo to Curt Hopkins for his efforts to start a bloggers campaign for her. Read about her release here.
Its driving the right nuts. It is defiantly worth a read. Though it is obviously one sided, it primarily sticks to facts, statistics, and quotes that are usually easy to verify. Enjoy and let me know what you think. And if you care to repudiate, bring links to credible sources to the table.
John Mearsheimer is the Wendell Harrison Professor of Political Science at Chicago, and the author of The Tragedy of Great Power Politics.
Stephen Walt is the Robert and Renee Belfer Professor of International Affairs at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. His most recent book is Taming American Power: The Global Response to US Primacy.
The IsraelLobby
For the past several decades, and especially since the Six-Day War in 1967, the centrepiece of US Middle Eastern policy has been its relationship with Israel. The combination of unwavering support for Israel and the related effort to spread ‘democracy’ throughout the region has inflamed Arab and Islamic opinion and jeopardised not only US security but that of much of the rest of the world. This situation has no equal in American political history. Why has the US been willing to set aside its own security and that of many of its allies in order to advance the interests of another state? One might assume that the bond between the two countries was based on shared strategic interests or compelling moral imperatives, but neither explanation can account for the remarkable level of material and diplomatic support that the US provides.
Instead, the thrust of US policy in the region derives almost entirely from domestic politics, and especially the activities of the ‘Israel Lobby’. Other special-interest groups have managed to skew foreign policy, but no lobby has managed to divert it as far from what the national interest would suggest, while simultaneously convincing Americans that US interests and those of the other country – in this case, Israel – are essentially identical.
Click “Read More” below to see the whole thing or the edited version.
Source MEMRI
Renowned Syrian Poet "Adonis": The Arabs are Extinct, Like the Sumerians, Greeks, and Pharaohs; If the Arabs are So Inept They Cannot Be Democratic, External Intervention Will Not Make Them So
The following are excerpts from an interview with Syrian poet "Adonis," aired on Dubai TV on March 11, 2006. (Click here to view the clip)
Adonis: "Words are treated as a crime today. Throughout history, there has never been anything similar to what's happening today in our Arab society - when you say a word, it is like committing a crime."
Click “Read More” below to see the whole thing. (It is defiantly worth a read)
I am very interested in getting some Arab opinion on this.The Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies of Cairo, will be holding a demonstration in front of the White House on Saturday, March 25, 2006, from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., together with Freedom House to demand the release of jailed Egyptian opposition politician Ayman Nour. The organizations will be joined by members of the European Parliament and human rights activists from the Middle East, the United States and Europe.
Ayman Nour, currently imprisoned on what many claim are trumped-up charges, is a prominent figure in the Egyptian civil opposition movement. In the last presidential election, he ran against President Mubarak and came in second. He was thrown in prison by the Egyptian government immediately after the elections.
The Egyptian government has a long history of censoring political speech and imprisoning, on what are frequently claimed to be false charges, those who express opposition to President Mubarak’s regime. In many cases, members of the judiciary appear to closely endorse the government’s goals. The judge who sentenced Mr. Nour to five years imprisonment, Adel Abdel Salam Gom’a, is the same judge who previously sentenced Saad Eddin Ibrahim, the prominent democracy and human rights activist, to prison on similar charges. Mr. Gom’a is known among Egyptian human rights activists as the “regime’s judge.”
Freedom House and the Ibn Khaldun Center invite the media and all who wish to stand in defense of human rights, democracy, and reform in the Middle East to join the demonstration. The groups will urge President Bush’s administration to continue to pressure the Egyptian regime to release Ayman Nour and cease its persecution of Egyptian advocates of democracy and reform.
For more information, please contact the demonstration coordinators:
Magdi Khalil 202 725 3091
Anna Mahjar Barducci 202 701 7661
I am going to try my best to be there (I could have done with a little more notice and I’ll bet many more could have as well; my guess 50-100 people unless the hippies cant find another one and take up the cause as well) but if I do make it I’ll blog it for you.
Also don’t forget to sign the petition. Regardless of how good a presidential candidate you feel Nour may be he is a patriot. His current situation was not just a possibility to his actions last September; it was a guarantee, and he did it for his country which is much, much more than I can say for most of the rest of our legalized bandits.
-Karim Elsahy
Very interesting. In a world with a higher reality of ideology and religiosity than most would assume or would probably like to admit, this may very well be just what we need. The UN was spawned from WW2. One lesson we may have learned is that it is not always necessary to wait until after the event to put in place measures to resist a lapse. Is the next one not looming and will not religion will be at its core?
Pre-emptive Peace. Nice.
Rabbi Metzger was addressing the International Congress of Imams and Rabbis for Peace in Seville, Spain.
How did I never hear of this?
Read the whole article here and let me know what you think; to UN or no UN.
-Karim Elsahy
The most daring film of the year… hands down. Forget Munich, forget Paradise Now.
Vendetta is up there with the Wachowski brothers' first Matrix film, which anybody could see had more on its agenda than aerobatic martial arts. The brothers, who wrote the Vendetta script that James McTeigue spiffily directed, are back in top form--not larding political meaning on an action plot but finding a seamless blending of the two. Whether you're mindless or Mensa, you'll find stuff here to challenge and trouble you, the way a good piece of speculative fiction should.
It's more audacious still that the Wachowskis, rather than scrubbing their script clean of 9/11 references, would emphasize the connection, proposing a dapper quasi-hero who is part Zorro (with the fancy swordplay), part Phantom of the Opera (but with a jukebox in his underground lair instead of a pipe organ) and just a smidge of Osama bin Laden (but with tastes more aesthetic than ascetic).
That a government should literally poison its citizens, and that a terrorist should be considered a hero, is a pretty nervy premise for a mainstream film. But that's dystopic fiction for you. These days, with many millions around the world seeing every evil in Bush and Cheney, a film like Vendetta is, at least, timely. And if the villains are the big guys, the hero can be a terrorist--or should we call V an insurgent?
The daring or, as I am sure some will see it, the audacity, of the movie is almost unparalleled. Think of this movie as the Matrix but with the philosophical direction geared towards terrorism.
Personally I can’t stomach death, regardless of reason. In that sense I would probably make a horrible political leader. I am not easy to label; centrist maybe, but the one quote that adequately defines a very important part of me is Mohandas Gandhi’s “There are a thousand causes I would die for but none I would kill for.”
I have much invested in understanding terrorism. I am perpetually trying to answer the questions that have no one answer. The ones that only help you understand the position of the person answering them. The relentlessly changing ones. What is a terrorist? What is the difference between a terrorist and a freedom fighter? When is it OK to take up arms, when is it necessary, and when is it the last resort? Who is the oppressor, and who the oppressed? Is the oppressor vindicated in his virtue or is the oppressed; and how many levels of oppression are there, is some oppression necessary? Who gets to define the terms, who dictates, who refs, and who gets to fill these positions? What is tolerable for the good of the future and when will it become a national and historical stain. What means justify the end?
My audience is fairly diverse and I am sure not one of these questions would be very hard to answer by any of them. The difference between the answers is what interests me the most.
I once defined the difference between a terrorist and a freedom fighter as follows. “There is a fine line between terrorists and freedom fighters; and it is the masses that determine which side of the line one falls.”
I will change my position on that once again. The film alludes to the difference being defined by the success or failure of the group in its objectives; as a sub-paragraph in the clause that states history to be written by the victor.
So where does that leave the Palestinians in their struggle; between a rock and a hard place. The Palestinian struggle failed long ago. I feel that there should be a stopwatch to this; if you can’t get your land back before it’s over you lose it. I do not feel that Israel had any right to form in Palestine. I have heard all the silly arguments from Jews buying land there to its biblical proclamation. Buying land is not a prequel to declaring sovereignty and I certainly don’t believe in prophecy. The Arab countries had every right to reject the UN’s partition plan and retaliate. They did and they… we, lost. Things are different now. Israeli kids that were born and raised in a land to which they knew no other are not the generation of immigrants that took it over by force; they have every right to be there. The table turned. The sons and daughters of the fled and displaced are now the aggressor. Almost every country has laws that give people that stay on a land long enough its ownership. Egypt does and according to Abd ul-Rahman Hilmi so does Islam. Gaza and the West Bank are still up for grabs; hurry up.
Supposing we could all agree that an invading hostile should be fought. One could then give another timetable for freedom fighter vs. terrorist. At the door fight them; when it drags on to long and you’ve been replaced by your son, when fighting for your rights has manifested itself to point of matter of principle; game over. When it has become ingrained in your culture and synonymous with your religion then for god sake settle.
On the left V. On the right Guy Fawkes the man that tried to blow up the English Parliament on the 5th of November 1605 and the man the character is based on.
Another strong point delivered by the film is its portrayal of tyranny. The West finds it hard to understand life under bad rule. They may think they understand; all the elements are comprehensible, the oppression, big brother on steroids, parasitical leaders leaching the nations wealth, fear and its subsequent compliance. Sure they know what happens but knowing isn’t understanding. There used to be an AIDS campaign that showed streets in America empty with children walking around without parents in a parallel to AIDS stricken Africa. This is like that for life in the Middle East.
I never understood how America tolerated slavery for so long. I mean it’s all right there in the constitution; our rights as man. The constitution didn’t change (besides some minor amendments) only its interpretation. Slavery was the norm back then. Someone against it was a bleeding heart naïve dolt. I think Americans of the future will look back and fail to understand how we today fail to understand the rights of man in general. If America treated the world as it does its citizens we could touch on utopia.
The movie adequately displays the reality that there is no Black and White and no guiltless party. The irony that it was brought to us by American cinema is something us Arabs should think about (you may need to see the movie to get that last bit; diversity of opinion is a beautiful thing.)
-Karim Elsahy
I figured I would check out what all the hype was about and I wasn’t disappointed. An excellent look at some of the most notoriously covered up aspects of the modern Egyptian society. Incredibly observant you get the feeling that there is no way one person could have such an intimate understanding of some of the various hushed up aspects of our particular social order; the whore, the homosexual, the politician, the dirty old man, the terrorist and most importantly their proximity both spatially and metaphysically.
My favorite quote? As the rich and ignorant businessman explains to his wife that he is running for Maglis El Shaab (Parliament);
“Do you understand what this means? If I get elected I could do business in the millions!”
The parallels drawn throughout the book are very loosely veiled making this book doubly interesting for Egyptians or people with a good understanding of the real connection. Though the translation was impeccable and really brings out the message while retaining the subtlety I can’t wait to read the original; not to mention watching the film.
You can buy it from Amazon here. Enjoy.
-Karim Elsahy
To: the Islamic Ummah
Firmly believing in Allah's divine mercy and compassion, and sharing his love for all his creatures, the undersigned members of the peace loving and moderate majority of Muslims, revolted and repulsed by blasphemous bloodshed in Allah's name, reject as un-Islamic conduct all acts of terrorism including but not limited to:
* school bus attack at Nahariya/Avivim (1970) which killed nine innocent children
* Ma'alot massacre (1974)
* Karni crossing bombing (2005)
* World Trade Center attacks
* Madrid rail bombing
* London rail bombing
* Beslan massacre
* genocide in Darfur
* Bali night club bombings
* decapitation of Danny Pearl
* decapitation of Nick Berg
We condemn, regardless of the identity of the victims, terrorism in all its forms, bombings, shootings, knifings, hijackings, abductions and mass casualty attacks because they do unjust injury to innocent people and irreparable damage to Islam.
We call for the exclusion of incitement to terrorist violence from our madrassah curriculum, kittab & kutbah and from the mass media of all Islamic nations.
We call for withholding Zakat from all organizations which teach, incite, facilitate or organize & perform acts of terrorism.
We call on all Imams and Mullahs to fill their kutbah with Allah's love, mercy and guidance, not with blood thirsty calls for Jihad. We call on the Ulema to reject, as inspired by Shaytan,[22:52] the ayats & ahadith used by radical extremists to rationalize their terrorism.
All this we declare on our own free will, without any hesitation, mental reservation, kitman or al-taqeya whatsoever, by him in whose hand our souls are!
Sincerely,
Sign it here and encourage as many as you can to do the same and link up.
Please.
- Karim Elsahy
Jill Carroll, a freelance reporter working for the Christian Science Monitor newspaper, was kidnapped in Baghdad over two months ago. All indications are that she is still alive. The Monitor has started a campaign, using Iraqi television, to distribute a video asking for Iraqis to help find and free Jill.
Jill is not a blogger but she's got that spirit. She's an independent intellect who is fascinated by the world and has a desire to speak what she sees. So let's not leave it up to the newspapers and television stations. She's ours as much as theirs.
So, I would like to ask every blogger who gives a damn about individual human life and the individual human voice, to post a link to this video on their blog, to blog about Jill and to pass along our concern to friends, family and other bloggers. Of greatest import are Iraqi blogs and blogs in the Arabic and Muslim worlds that may be read by people in a position to do good for Jill.
Here's a link to the Jill Carroll video.
Let's tag these posts "blogjill."
1 The story goes that an Arab named Khalid was tending his goats in the Kaffa region of southern Ethiopia, when he noticed his animals became livelier after eating a certain berry. He boiled the berries to make the first coffee. Certainly the first record of the drink is of beans exported from Ethiopia to Yemen where Sufis drank it to stay awake all night to pray on special occasions. By the late 15th century it had arrived in Mecca and Turkey from where it made its way to Venice in 1645. It was brought to England in 1650 by a Turk named Pasqua Rosee who opened the first coffee house in Lombard Street in the City of London. The Arabic qahwa became the Turkish kahve then the Italian caffé and then English coffee.
2 The ancient Greeks thought our eyes emitted rays, like a laser, which enabled us to see. The first person to realise that light enters the eye, rather than leaving it, was the 10th-century Muslim mathematician, astronomer and physicist Ibn al-Haitham. He invented the first pin-hole camera after noticing the way light came through a hole in window shutters. The smaller the hole, the better the picture, he worked out, and set up the first Camera Obscura (from the Arab word qamara for a dark or private room). He is also credited with being the first man to shift physics from a philosophical activity to an experimental one.
3 A form of chess was played in ancient India but the game was developed into the form we know it today in Persia. From there it spread westward to Europe - where it was introduced by the Moors in Spain in the 10th century - and eastward as far as Japan. The word rook comes from the Persian rukh, which means chariot.
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