Karzai: bin Laden in region, will be caught. Afghan President Hamid Karzai says that Osama bin Laden is "definitely" in the Afghanistan/Pakistan region, and that he will be caught. In a CNN interview Sunday, Karzai also responded to questions about Afghanistan's ongoing opium production problem, and to allegations of misconduct by US troops. (CNN)
Bomb/shooting attack on border post at Rafah. A bombing and shooting attack from a secret, half-mile-long tunnel injured 11 Israeli soldiers at the Rafah post on the Israel/Egypt border. Debka reports that the attack is designed to thwart the candidacy or Mahmoud Abbas, Egyptian/Israeli cooperation, and the disengagement plans of President Bush and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. While the Israeli authorities had ample warning that an attack on the post was likely, the report adds, Israel re-opened the post under intense pressure. More importantly, 'Sunday night, all the Palestinian terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip proved they could work together under a single commander. DEBKAfile’s military sources name him as 62-year old Khan Younes-based Palestinian brigadier general Saib Ajez, a veteran officer of the moribund commando-trained Palestinian Liberation Army and the best tactical brain the Palestinians have. He has 20,000 men under arms at his disposal. The rank and file are members of the Palestinian General Security Service, but their disciplined hard core is made up of Fatah, Hamas and Jihad Islami units in Rafah, Deir el Balah and Khan Younes. This unified force Ajez deployed last May to repulse the IDF’s first offensive against the smuggling tunnels of Rafah.'
Martial law remembered. At the time, it looked like the beginning of the end; in retrospect, it was the end of the beginning. Arthur Chrenkoff remembers martial law in his native Poland, which was imposed 20 years ago in reaction to the Solidarity movement: 'No, there were only two real possibilities: either we (the opposition, the overwhelming majority of the nation) did them (the communists) in, or they did us in. At midday, when the radio stations stopped playing somber classical music and the vision came back on TV screens, we knew it had been the latter. General Jaruzelski, stiffened by his orthopedic corset, his eyes hidden behind large dark sunglasses (a legacy of a Siberian internment by the Soviets, when strong sunlight reflecting off snow damaged his eyesight), faced the nation and read a proclamation declaring martial law. The army has taken over the government to suppress the opposition and save Poland from inevitable bloodshed. What freedoms there still existed under our communist government were suppressed; curfews imposed, freedom of movement within the country restricted. "Solidarity", the movement of some 10 million members (out of the population of 36 million) was cleanly decapitated just after midnight on Sunday morning, when the security forces swept in and arrested almost all of the trade union's leaders attending a national congress in Gdansk.' Read the whole post for Chrenkoff's reflections on that Sunday morning twenty years ago, as witnessed by a nine-and-a-half-year-old boy in Krakow.
2004-12-13
2004-12-10
New Posts
Chapter 1 of "Pacific Memories" is now complete. The Monroe has crossed the equator, its men duly inducted into the Order of King Neptune. A cook's unsettling habits are grublingly tolerated. The ship arrives safely in New Zealand, and my father describes the mood as the men look out from the lighted deck, to the strains of "Anacreon In Heaven." Read the story at Pacific Memories.
New poetry at Wilderness Vision. Like most of my sister's best poetry, these pieces were written during her late teen years, around 1978 - 1982. I don't have exact dates for her works at the moment, but I will post them as soon as I find them.
New poetry at Wilderness Vision. Like most of my sister's best poetry, these pieces were written during her late teen years, around 1978 - 1982. I don't have exact dates for her works at the moment, but I will post them as soon as I find them.
Fadhil Brothers Meet President Bush!
The Fadhil brothers of Iraq The Model have met with President Bush, according to this report at American Faith. (Hat tip: Little Green Footballs.)
This is very exciting news! I've been following Omar, Ali, and Mohammed at ITM for a year now; their meeting with the Chief is a well-earned honor. I hope the exchange was inspiring and informative to all parties.
Now here’s the best part: today, without prior notice, Omar and Mohammed went to the Oval Office and met with President Bush! They said that the meeting lasted about a half hour, and the President was very interested in hearing the thoughts and opinions of Iraqi citizens first hand. He wasn’t aware until then of the good things that Spirit Of America has been doing over there to help the Iraqi people and assist in their obtaining democracy. Omar joked that he got to meet POTUS and they didn’t even search his pockets beforehand.
This is very exciting news! I've been following Omar, Ali, and Mohammed at ITM for a year now; their meeting with the Chief is a well-earned honor. I hope the exchange was inspiring and informative to all parties.
Morning Report: December 10, 2004
Sharon wins Knesset majority, new coalition. According to the latest bulletin from Debka: 'Sharon is now set to build a new government coalition with Knesset majority. After fierce contest, Israel’s ruling Likud voted Thursday 62% - 38% to grant Sharon a mandate for boosting his minority cabinet by co-opting Labor and ultra-religious parties. Dispute in Labor between two former prime ministers, chairman Peres and challenger Barak, has also been settled with an agreement to hold leadership primaries on June 29. This argument threatened to hold Labor back from joining the Sharon government.' (Debka)
White House warns IRI on Iraq interference. The Bush administration cautioned the Iran regime against attempting to destabilize Iraq, according to this AP item: 'Bush talked about Iran in meetings Monday with Jordan's King Abdullah II and Ghazi al-Yawer, the interim Iraqi president, both Sunni Muslims. Iran and Syria joined other nations at an international conference on Iraq last month at the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh in pledging to contribute to Iraq's stability and to prevent terrorists from coming into Iraq, White House press secretary Scott McClellan said. The communique also called on all parties to tighten border controls. "We expect them to abide by that commitment," McClellan said. "Iraq has talked to Iran about these issues," the spokesman said. "We've made our views very clear to Iran, as well as others, and we continue to call on Iran to act in a responsible way and be helpful as the Iraqi people move forward on building a brighter future." (AP via Free Iran)
Most Germans see Israelis as Nazis, poll says. Jerusalem Post: 'Six decades after the mass extermination of six million Jews in the Holocaust by Nazi Germany, more than 50 percent of Germans believe that Israel's present-day treatment of the Palestinians is similar to what the Nazis did to the Jews during World War II, a German survey released this weekend shows. 51 percent of respondents said that there is not much of a difference between what Israel is doing to the Palestinians today and what the Nazis did to the Jews during the Holocaust, compared to 49% who disagreed with such a comparison, according to the poll carried out by Germany's University of Bielefeld. The survey also found that 68 percent of Germans believe that Israel is waging a "war of extermination" against the Palestinians, while some 32% disagreed with such a statement.' (Jerusalem Post via Roger L. Simon)
Japan adopts new defense doctrine. Japan has officially adopted a new defense doctrine which recognizes China and North Korea as threats. The policy change also eases restrictions on certain weapons. Details available from Stratfor. (Strategic Forecasting)
White House warns IRI on Iraq interference. The Bush administration cautioned the Iran regime against attempting to destabilize Iraq, according to this AP item: 'Bush talked about Iran in meetings Monday with Jordan's King Abdullah II and Ghazi al-Yawer, the interim Iraqi president, both Sunni Muslims. Iran and Syria joined other nations at an international conference on Iraq last month at the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh in pledging to contribute to Iraq's stability and to prevent terrorists from coming into Iraq, White House press secretary Scott McClellan said. The communique also called on all parties to tighten border controls. "We expect them to abide by that commitment," McClellan said. "Iraq has talked to Iran about these issues," the spokesman said. "We've made our views very clear to Iran, as well as others, and we continue to call on Iran to act in a responsible way and be helpful as the Iraqi people move forward on building a brighter future." (AP via Free Iran)
Most Germans see Israelis as Nazis, poll says. Jerusalem Post: 'Six decades after the mass extermination of six million Jews in the Holocaust by Nazi Germany, more than 50 percent of Germans believe that Israel's present-day treatment of the Palestinians is similar to what the Nazis did to the Jews during World War II, a German survey released this weekend shows. 51 percent of respondents said that there is not much of a difference between what Israel is doing to the Palestinians today and what the Nazis did to the Jews during the Holocaust, compared to 49% who disagreed with such a comparison, according to the poll carried out by Germany's University of Bielefeld. The survey also found that 68 percent of Germans believe that Israel is waging a "war of extermination" against the Palestinians, while some 32% disagreed with such a statement.' (Jerusalem Post via Roger L. Simon)
Japan adopts new defense doctrine. Japan has officially adopted a new defense doctrine which recognizes China and North Korea as threats. The policy change also eases restrictions on certain weapons. Details available from Stratfor. (Strategic Forecasting)
2004-12-04
New at "Pacific Memories"
In which my father decides not to write about flying fish.
Read the whole post at my father's warblog, Pacific Memories, along with all the gritty details of life aboard the U.S.S. President Monroe in 1942. His anthology of soldiers' poetry is also posted there.
I've also posted his reminiscence of his mother (Edith Cavannaugh McLintock, a singer originally from Savannah, Georgia) at Urban Renewal, where I'm collecting his poetry and other writing.
The troops' mess was a melancholy affair. When the ship rolled, which it did about every eight or ten seconds, any semi-liquid food in the serving kettles, such as stewed tomatoes, would splash over and drift around on the floor. Likewise, trays, like boats broken loose from their moorings, would slide about on the long tables until reaching the end. Then, usually with half-eaten dinners, they would crash to the floor. I really sympathized with the harrassed K.P.'s on that trip. They could not keep the floor clean so long as chow was being served, and the floor was strewn with food, som that had not been eaten, some that already had. Movement over this floor in the conventional way, i.e., erectly and with sure steps, was dismally difficult. The place was in that desperate sort of confusion you might see in a Laurel and Hardy picture or hear depicted in Dukas's "The Sourcerer's Apprentice."
For me, there was always fascination in watching the ocean. I think it was not so much in the varying waves and hues as in the expectation of seeing something different, some abrupt change in the seascape - an unscheduled appearance of land, for instance. I enjoyed the Pacific most when it was the rich, wonderful, almost unbelievable blue which it was so often when I saw it. There seemed to be a total absence of greenness in it - just pure blue.
When we got into warmer waters we began seeing flying fish. They are pretty little things which shoot up out of the water and glide for a remarkable distance. They are an iridescent greenish-blue, and remind one of swallows as they skim over the water. I got a sort of poetical feeling, and thought I ought to do something about it, but after remembering that Kipling had written some rather famous lines about flying fish, I decided that anything I wrote about them might seem trite or superfluous, even if I was nowhere near Mandalay at the time. So I stifled the impulse. The next occasion I had to write verse on a ship was one night on the President Coolidge on the way from Auckland to Suva. On that occasion, the subject happened to be phosphorescence in the water. I shall leave it to someone else to decide whether phosphorescence is as worthy a subject of a poem as are flying fishes, as Kipling calls them.
Read the whole post at my father's warblog, Pacific Memories, along with all the gritty details of life aboard the U.S.S. President Monroe in 1942. His anthology of soldiers' poetry is also posted there.
I've also posted his reminiscence of his mother (Edith Cavannaugh McLintock, a singer originally from Savannah, Georgia) at Urban Renewal, where I'm collecting his poetry and other writing.
Class Essay
Edited from a paper I wrote for an undergraduate class. The book 'Uprooting Racism' by Paul Kivel was one of the principal texts.
Political Correctness
On page 60 of Uprooting Racism, Paul Kivel alleges that the phrase “politically correct” is a racially coded phrase, and therefore should be avoided. I believe that political fashion, or “correctness”, can indeed be wrongly adduced to rationalize the use of derogatory language; but it does not follow that “political correctness” – in the sense of intellectually and morally stultifying liberal dogma – does not exist, or that it is not a problem. It does, and it is.
...
[The full text of this post can now be found at my Portfolio under Reflections on Paul Kivel.]
Political Correctness
On page 60 of Uprooting Racism, Paul Kivel alleges that the phrase “politically correct” is a racially coded phrase, and therefore should be avoided. I believe that political fashion, or “correctness”, can indeed be wrongly adduced to rationalize the use of derogatory language; but it does not follow that “political correctness” – in the sense of intellectually and morally stultifying liberal dogma – does not exist, or that it is not a problem. It does, and it is.
...
[The full text of this post can now be found at my Portfolio under Reflections on Paul Kivel.]
Woo hoo
I've added BlogRolling to my sidebar. Yup, Dreams Into Lightning is gettin' all high-tech and stuff ...
2004-12-03
"Democracy for the Middle East"
A recent addition to my blogroll is the site Democracy for the Middle East, which promotes just that. It's also a great resource for information on neoconservative thought, and has some great articles and links on Leo Strauss. DFME also has an introduction to Leo Strauss here.
One of the main points brought up by DFME (and by Strauss) is that the United States and Europe have fundamentally different interpretations of liberalism; and in an interesting parallel, the US and Israel have different interpretations of Zionism.
A recent post quoting Rabbi Shmuley Boteach contains the following remarkable statement:
Many religious Jews would consider such a comparison heretical, but not Rabbi Boteach. It is this same reconciliation of the particularizing and universalizing trends in Judaism (and, even more so, in Zionism) that appears to have informed Strauss's political philosophy.
From what I have read of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, I believe Rav Kook's outlook was similar. One of my most important teachers, Rabbi Baruch Melman, expressed a similar idea when he expounded on the symbolism of Sinai and Jerusalem, which represent the universalistic and particularistic aspects of the Jewish worldview. Once the semester ends (finals are next week) I hope to get some serious reading done and post some more on the subject.
As I've argued previously on Dreams Into Lightning, I think one reason the old order finds Judaism (and in particular its political expression, Zionism) so threatening is that, properly understood, it calls for a renunciation of the aggressor/victim paradigm. It calls on us to transcend a basic aspect of human nature - our elemental response to a sense of grievance - and insists that we place the ideal of justice ahead of simple retribution. It asks us to participate in the moral struggle and deal with the challenges of power and freedom. This is the challenge before us - it is our "great work".
Meanwhile, go read Democracy for the Middle East.
One of the main points brought up by DFME (and by Strauss) is that the United States and Europe have fundamentally different interpretations of liberalism; and in an interesting parallel, the US and Israel have different interpretations of Zionism.
A recent post quoting Rabbi Shmuley Boteach contains the following remarkable statement:
In Israel, one can sense and feel God's holy presence. Thanks largely to evangelical Christians, the same is true today of the United States.
Many religious Jews would consider such a comparison heretical, but not Rabbi Boteach. It is this same reconciliation of the particularizing and universalizing trends in Judaism (and, even more so, in Zionism) that appears to have informed Strauss's political philosophy.
From what I have read of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, I believe Rav Kook's outlook was similar. One of my most important teachers, Rabbi Baruch Melman, expressed a similar idea when he expounded on the symbolism of Sinai and Jerusalem, which represent the universalistic and particularistic aspects of the Jewish worldview. Once the semester ends (finals are next week) I hope to get some serious reading done and post some more on the subject.
As I've argued previously on Dreams Into Lightning, I think one reason the old order finds Judaism (and in particular its political expression, Zionism) so threatening is that, properly understood, it calls for a renunciation of the aggressor/victim paradigm. It calls on us to transcend a basic aspect of human nature - our elemental response to a sense of grievance - and insists that we place the ideal of justice ahead of simple retribution. It asks us to participate in the moral struggle and deal with the challenges of power and freedom. This is the challenge before us - it is our "great work".
Meanwhile, go read Democracy for the Middle East.
2004-12-02
Bush: Iraq Elections Must Happen On Schedule
President Bush has refused to back down on holding national elections in Iraq on January 30, 2005, as scheduled. According to news reports, the Chief rejected calls from some political parties for postponing the elections, saying, 'It's time for Iraqi citizens to go to the polls.'
Providing some perspective on the various parties' attempts to delay the vote, Omar at Iraq the Model writes:
The Iraqi National Congress also stands firm on the election date:
The sooner Iraqis get to take an active role in choosing their own future, the better. The elections should take place as scheduled.
(Besides which, I confess I am a little bit partial to the January 30 date: it's my birthday.)
Providing some perspective on the various parties' attempts to delay the vote, Omar at Iraq the Model writes:
Some of these parties cannot think beyond their partisan interests and it seems they want things to calm down in the so-called Sunni triangle so that more Sunnis participate in the elections. This seems like a reasonable demand, but the problem is that they do not seek that as much as they seek to strengthen their own individual and partisan positions.
The Iraqi National Congress also stands firm on the election date:
Delay in holding the elections will be a delay in the restoration of full sovereignty to Iraq. It will also be a delay of withdrawal of foreign troops. The INC upholds that the legitimacy of the Iraqi government is based on the Transitional Administrative Law (TAL), which clearly states in Art.2.b.2. that elections must be held no later than 31 January 2004. Moreover, Art. 3 of the TAL reconfirms the January election timetable by stipulating that “likewise, no amendment may be made that could abridge in any way the rights of the Iraqi people…; extend the transitional period beyond the timeframe cited in this Law; delay the holding of elections to a new assembly”. The TAL is also reinforced in United Nations Security Resolution 1546 that also refers to date for the elections which must be respected.
The sooner Iraqis get to take an active role in choosing their own future, the better. The elections should take place as scheduled.
(Besides which, I confess I am a little bit partial to the January 30 date: it's my birthday.)
Iraq Checkpoint
Mohammed at ITM has a great new post about his recent experiences while riding a bus through a dangerous stretch of road near Latifiyah. Passing through first an IP and then and ING checkpoint, the passengers' fear and worry were soon replaced by confidence and trust. Go read the post.
2004-12-01
Sudan Campaign Update
The anti-slavery organization iAbolish has opened a new website dedicated specifically to the Sudan campaign. They are currently promoting a starkly worded petition to the UN representatives of China, Russia, Algeria, and Pakistan, asking that they allow the United Nations to take firm action to stop the genocide in Sudan. The petition pointedly notes that several key members of the UN Security Council have lucrative contracts in Sudan. These nations' obstructionist tactics will result in the loss of innocent lives; sign the petition now!
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