Blogging the democratic revolution
Daniel Storobin from Global Politician is pondering the possiblity of a U.S. invasion of Iran and Syria. Now let’s pick it apart, because I only agree with him to a point, at which point some things stop being considered. Some reports also suggested that Iraq was chosen as the second step in the War on Terror to surround Iran, with American troops to the east of the Islamic Republic in Afghanistan and to the west of it in Iraq. While such claims remain unsubstantiated, having well over 100,000 American soldiers stationed right next to Iran certainly does help Washington and…
It’s not like we didn’t know this already, but it’s coming out at a very opportune time for making the case against Iran.
In an interesting development, the Palestinian Authority is actually taking a stand against militants and deploying troops. This is actually rather unprecedented, and I hope Abbas is able to win true authority over the militants with this. We’ll see how it plays out
It looks as if the U.S. military and the interim government are finally instituting how they will make the elections safer. Here is a quick run-down of what they will do: -Seal the borders (I’m skeptical as if this is possible). -Extend a curfew. -Restrict movement.
Can anyone help Hossein Derakhshan get to the UNESCO conference on free speech in cyberspace? So does anyone know someone who might be of help, especially in the French councilor in Toronto or in the Embassy in Ottawa? To give some background info, he is a college student and a leading activist for freedom in Iran. I write a bit about him here. This is what he plans to do there, if he can make it: At least to embarrass the Iranian delegation which will be arrogant enough to take part in such conference, even with its horrible record of…
Quickly becoming a favorite blogger of mine, Crossroads Arabia talks of recent initiatives to empower the intellectual youth in Saudi Arabia. This is the kind of thing I like to hear, as John notes: A lot of Americans complain that ???????Arabs never talk about change.??????? Those complaints are wrong, of course, but understandable. Stories that contradict the chosen US media narrative rarely get reported. He is right, I never hear about these things on CNN. Perhaps the U.S. news media simply doesn’t cover these things unless they appear in the Human Rights Watch report. It certainly wouldn’t cover it if…
And here is Hersh’s entire piece along with the Pentagon press release.
Bush announced just a day after a reports of espionage in Iran by Seymour Hersh that he will not rule out action. Awesome. “The Iranian regime’s apparent nuclear ambitions and its demonstrated support for terrorist organizations is a global challenge that deserves much more serious treatment than Seymour Hersh provides in the New Yorker article titled “The Coming Wars,” the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, Lawrence DiRita, said in a statement. Hersh sounds more like a phony — well, loser is a better word — the more I read about him. A much more extended response about him here. And here. Very…
Abbas, under huge pressure from Israel, finally made a declaration for militants to halt their attacks against Israel. But Hamas rejected this call just a few hours after it was made, launching rockets into a nearby settlement. According to the articles, Abbas will be spending a few days in Gaza to have talks with the militants, but that is likely to lead nowhere. Terrorist organizations like Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah are self-interested and have no desire to bring the Palestinians a free, thriving society. They know that if that ever happens, they’ll be out of business. Let’s see if…
Lawrence DiRita of the Pentagon issued a two-page statement rejecting claims of operations in Iran and other countries. There were four specific refutations named. Among these, and let me pat myself on the back, were quotes made by a “government consultant” and a “high-level intelligence officer.” You see, this is why anonymous quotes don’t work. And he was called on it, so he better hope he can prove himself.
Reported here. As much as people are going to complain that Israel is not even giving Abbas a chance, after some rethinking over the past few days, I am going to have to side with Sharon on this. The Palestinian Authority simply cannot act against the militants because they do not have the capabilities to do so. Sharon is actually making a clear-cut distinction here between the terrorists and the Palestinians. The huge division between the Palestinian Authority, organizations like Hamas an Islamic Jihad, and the people is so great that the hyperplurality of it won’t permit the necessary conditions…
This article could have been written any time since the summer of 2003. Of course they’re going to try their hardest to screw with the elections. This isn’t anything new. And they make this foreign fighter issue seem like it’s new as well.
Seymour Hersh from The New Yorker has reported that the U.S. is conducting secret operations in Iran. They are scouting for potential military and nuclear facilities; very necessary information for a future bombing run. The story makes extensive use of anonymous quotes, and as a journalist, that doesn’t bode too well with me. Like I said, I have no doubt that the U.S. is conducting covert operations, but anonymous quotes make me feel very skeptical. Let’s not forget about Jason Blair. Hersh quotes one government consultant with close ties to the Pentagon as saying, “The civilians in the Pentagon want…
She’s a fiesty Nobel Laureate defying one of the cruelest totalitarian regimes of our day. But no, I won’t be adding her to the “Babes of Politics” section. Not that her doing this will mean too much. I can imagine it will infuriate the student resistance movement if she is imprisoned, but more importantly, it garners attention from the outside world toward Iran. The more human rights abuses getting focus in the U.S., the better the Iranian peoples’ chances at getting help.
Pejmanesque is where I saw it first. The article is here. This report is heavily contradicting initial stories of “the most transparent ÄelectionÅ in modern Arab history.” Now that I think about that statement, it probably was more transparent than previous elections. But that doesn’t erase the mass fraud. “This proves that what happened is very serious and it must not happen again,” said Dwaik, the commission’s deputy chairman. “These pressures and threats lessened the degree of the integrity of the election, even though overall it was free and fair.” Serious indeed, when 46 members of your commission resign over…
John Burgess at Crossroads Arabia has a suggestion for an article that is simply must read. I’m inclined to agree.
Israel earlier decided to cut off all ties with Abbas due to recent militant strikes in Gaza. Being sworn in today, Abbas will have a lot to handle. Many people are calling what Israel is doing a blockade to the roadmap for peace. I don’t think so. I think this is a test for Abbas to see if he is really worth his weight in salt. “You do what you promise to stop the suicide bombers, and we’ll leave you alone.” That sounds fair to me. Talk is cheap, but if Abbas shows action, then we’ll be getting somewhere.
The Financial Times is reporting that after several phone calls between Bush and Allawi, they have decided to not put off elections in Iraq by a month. This comes amid increased violence in the region, when about 4 mostly Sunni provinces are considered not safe enough to vote in. But let’s refer back to my last post about Iraq with statistics saying 78.3% of Iraqis will turn out to vote because of security concerns. For every action, there is a reaction, and the large majority of the Iraqi population is fighting back with the vote. I seriously applaud the decision…
John Burgess over at Crossroads Arabia left a great comment on my recent post Invading Iran not the right idea — for now. It regards a mention in Singer’s article about the lack of U.S. pressure on Saudi Arabia to commit to open elections. Contra the article, the US has been preaching democracy in Saudi Arabia. And even more startling, the Saudis have been listening. Saudi Arabia is conducting the first stage of its first-ever, country-wide elections this month. The elections are for half of the seats on municipal councils. This month, the elections will take place in the central…
Blog-Iran over at Activist Chat posted some commentary regarding an article by Saul Singer: Singer had this to say about Bush’s policy toward Iran: “Branding Iran, Iraq, and North Korea as the “axis of evil” was the right thing to do. But saying that and then not having a policy, much less implementing it, toward Iran is worse than not having said it in the first place. Since then it seems that Bush has learned not to set such bold markers. That’s the wrong lesson; we need more markers and more follow-up.” I agree with the first part of Singer’s…
As seen in the World Tribune. The proposal was made to delay the elections about a month and would not be rescheduled after that. In order for this to go into effect, all sides would need to agree upon it. This may be a good idea, but it really shows a vote of no confidence by the government in its own abilities to conduct its operations. They are apparently very worried about insurgency attacks: Officials said Alawi and other senior ministers have assessed that the rise in insurgency attacks in Baghdad and the Sunni Triangle would dissuade most Sunni voters…
Parliamentary elections for Afghanistan have been given the go ahead for early spring. Violence was low-key during the presidential election due to stepped up security. Afghanistan may not have that benefit this time. This time around, we’re going to see an increased degree of violence from radical Islamist groups such as the old Taliban supporters, but also we’re going to see a lot of groups vying for power in the legislature. Whereas the position of presidency is only held by one person, a person generally very popular and well-known in the country, parliament seats can be acquired through all matter…
Norman Geras has found a report from Women for Women International that is an extensive public opinion poll of 1,000 women in Iraq. Now, the fact that there is now a country in the Middle East where a poll performed on women can be performed is incredible enough, but hear these responses… > 94% of women surveyed want to secure legal rights for women. > 84% of women want the right to vote on the final constitution. > Nearly 80% of women believe that their participation in local and national councils should not be limited. Due to the Interim Constitution…
Here’s the CNN article I don’t think any candidate could solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict without intense struggle. So on that note, Mahmoud Abbas is probably the best choice they have at the moment. If we remember correctly, Abbas once served as Prime Minister under Arafat, but quit because Arafat would not hand over the reins of power to him. That seems to give the hint to me that he’s a man willing to cause some change. Now that he’s at the head, let’s see what he can do. He won by a pretty clear margin. Exit polls indicate by about…
After the long overdue death of Yasser Arafat, the Palestinians are finally going to the polls. Mahmoud Abbas, a close adviser to Arafat, seems to be the frontrunner. As the news article suggests, he is promising to end the violence; however, he wants to do it through a cease fire without denouncing military groups like Hamas. This is the most troubling part about electing a leader so closely related to a regime that only had talk up its sleeve. You get more of the same: just talk. It seems likely that he will be elected, but for whoever eventually is,…