Morning Report: June 14, 2005

Barzani named head of Kurdish Iraq. Debka reports: 'Kurdish parliament unanimously appoints Masoud Barzani president of Kurdish autonomous region of Iraq. His ally and former rival Jalal Talabani was last month named president of Iraq.' (Debka)

Interrogation video shows nervous Saddam. Saddam Hussein, whose "indefatigability" won him the admiration of certain types of people in the West, "appeared to be a shadow of his former self" in a video recently released by Iraq's Special Tribunal, according to this AP report (via the Chicago Tribune): ' Unlike Hussein's last video appearance, when he was arraigned just over a year ago, the man on a tape released Monday by Iraq's Special Tribunal appeared to be a shadow of his former self. Gone was the bluster and aggressiveness. The new Hussein had bags under his eyes, often clasped his hands and squeezed his fingers. He constantly ran his hand through his beard, which had more gray in it than a year ago. When quizzed by chief trial Raid Juhi, a man about half Hussein's age, the former dictator smiled meekly.' (AP via Chicago Tribune)

State Department tracks anti-gay incidents abroad. The US Department of State is holding foreign human-rights violations against lesbians and gays to greater scrutiny, the Washington Blade reports: 'The 2004 State Department report on human rights, released four months ago, condemns the treatment of gays by certain foreign countries and tracks employment discrimination, arrests, murder, imprisonment and torture of gays around the globe. ... A State Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity said that the department took extra steps to ensure gay rights violations were included in the 2004 report by asking foreign posts to report on HIV/AIDS discrimination and discriminatory laws. The department also relies on information from Amnesty International and other groups. “We felt this was an area we weren’t dealing with sufficient intensity,” the official said.' The article also notes that some US gay rights groups claim that the policy is a "double standard". (Washington Blade)

Klansman to stand trial; Senate regrets inaction on domestic terrorism. Accused in the infamous 1964 slayings of pro-democracy activists James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner in Mississippi, Edgar Ray Killen is now on trial for his role in the murders. Jury selection in the case has begun. An AP article in the Washington Post reports: 'The slayings of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner _ three young men who were helping register blacks during the "Freedom Summer" of 1964 and were investigating a church burning the night they disappeared _ galvanized the civil rights movement and helped win passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. ... Killen's name has been associated with the slayings from the beginning. FBI records and witnesses indicated he organized the carloads of Klansmen who followed Goodman, Chaney and Schwerner and stopped them in their station wagon. Chaney, a black man from Mississippi, and Schwerner and Goodman, white men from New York, were beaten and shot to death. Their bodies were found 44 days later, buried in an earthen dam. Killen was tried along with several others in 1967 on federal charges of violating the victims' civil rights. The all-white jury deadlocked in Killen's case, but seven others were convicted. None served more than six years. Killen is the only person ever indicted on state murder charges in the case.' The article also notes that "about a quarter of the jury pool on Monday was black, roughly reflecting the racial makeup of the county's 28,700 residents. In 1964, very few blacks were registered to vote in Neshoba County, and juries were usually all-white." Meanwhile, news sources report that the United States Senate has formally apologized for its failure to act against lynching, a form of domestic terrorism that claimed some 4,700 American lives between 1880 and 1960. Most of the victims were African Americans. The resolution, sponsored by Sen. George Allen, R-Va and Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., passed without objection. A Washington Post editorial remarks, 'It is tempting to say that the Senate's expression of regret comes too late. It is never too late or too untimely, however, for a great nation to remember terrible wrongs, and lynching was a crime of national proportion. Senate Resolution 39 notes that incidents of lynching were recorded in all but four states, thus having it succeed slavery as "the ultimate expression of racism in the United States following Reconstruction." ' UPDATE: LaShawn Barber isn't impressed. (AP, Knight Ridder via AZ Central, Washintgon Post, LaShawn Barber)

Belmont Club: Deep strike. In a Monday post at The Belmont Club, Wretchard reflects on the state of the Iraqi insurgency today, and considers the question of 'whether it is enough to merely stay the current strategic course, trusting that current trends will eventually break the enemy, or find new methods which will accelerate victory.' In World War II, "accelerating victory" meant destroying the enemy's infrastructure, often by ruthless means. Today, more congenial methods are available: ''Democratization' is fundamentally an attempt to destroy the fabric on which the terrorist war-making potential rests. It is the American weapon of choice in lieu of the Atomic Bomb.' But as Michael Ledeen observes, "more time has passed since 9/11 than transpired between Pearl Harbor and the surrender of the Japanese empire," and a resolution is needed sooner rather than later. (In Ledeen's famous phrase: "Faster, please".) And by the same token, the enemy - and its sympathizers in the West - possess a "deep strike" weapon of their own: 'the conviction that that no series of foreign military victories can offset a determined depiction of defeat at home.' In short, the current conflict is nothing more nor less than a battle of wills. (Belmont Club)

Morning Report: June 12, 2005

Bombs kill 8 in western Iran. Free Iran citing AFP reports: 'A TV grab taken 12 June 2005 from Iranian Al-Alam TV shows a wrecked car in Iran's restive southwestern city of Ahvaz, an ethnic-Arab majority city close to the border with Iraq, following a string of bomb attacks that targetted several public buildings. At least eight people were killed and 75 others injured when a string of bomb attacks rocked the city just days before the Islamic republic's presidential election. At least eight people were killed and 75 others injured when a string of bomb attacks rocked Iran's restive southwestern city of Ahvaz just days before the Islamic republic's presidential election. Four blasts targetted several public buildings in Ahvaz, an ethnic-Arab majority city close to the border with Iraq and capital of oil-rich Khuzestan province. "The victims were two employees of the budget planning organisation and six residents of the city who were outside the prefecture and housing ministry office," deputy provincial police commander General Hassan Assad Masjedi told the official news agency IRNA. "Because of the seriousness of some of the injuries, the death toll could rise further," he added. Khuzestan's deputy governor Gholam Reza Shariati said the unidentified attackers were trying to damage "the territorial integrity of the country and the election process". ' A comment at Free Iran asserts: 'Today 4 bombs in Ahvaz damaged goverment buildings, killing 8 and injuring many. The opposition groups beleive this to be part of the infightings which is in the rise and now reaches a point that the two sides attack each other with bombs! This is a continuation of assasinations which took many victims from mostly 'reform' side. It's possible that the hardliners are planning more assasinations, in case the so called reform candidates win the election. Although, the mojahedin [=Mojahedin-e-Khalq?] group announced last week that they will create chaos within the regime, they haven't taken responsibilities of these recent bombings yet. The other opposition group, Anjoman e Padeshahi declared that any attacks will not include bombs, and will be announced. Mr. Fouladvand said today that anjoman does not support bombings, and has not ordered this action.' (AFP and Iran Press News via Free Iran)

A Beautiful and Fun Blog

Paula Gaon, an artist and a very dear friend of mine now living in Israel, has started a blog called Beautiful & Fun Things. Paula describes herself as "one of many aging BabyBoomers scratching my head and wondering where the time went and why I still feel so confused." She loves life in the desert, Harry Potter, Motown, and the Beatles. Her blog covers astrology and art - go check it out, and be sure to visit her site at CafePress.

Regime Watch Iran

Militia motorbike torched in southern Tehran. Free Iran: 'A militia motorbike carrying a club welding passenger was caught by a group of young demonstrators in Eslamshar a poor suburb of Tehran and scene of various riots.

The two regime agents who had beaten up several celebrators were caught few meters away and injured in their fall.

Their light transmission materials and pistols were taken by those demonstrators who vanished in the crowd which is shouting slogans against the leaders of the regime or dancing and chanting.'

Clashes in Esfahan, Mashar, Shiraz, Madar, Tajrish. Free Iran: 'Several clashes have been reported from several areas of the Greater Tehran and cities, such as, Esfahan, Mashad and Shiraz.

Plainclothes agents or paramilitary Bassij members have tried at several occasions to attack and end some of the celebration gatherings turned into massive shows of popular defiance and rejection of all symbols of the Islamic regime especially its upcoming sham Presidential elections.

Some female demonstrators who had pulled off their veils were beaten and injured in Madar and Tajrish areas.

Several demonstrators identified of having destroyed regime's advertisements were also beaten up or arrested in Esfahan's Enghelab square and in Darvaze Shiraz.

In Shiraz clashes have happened near Darvaze Ghoran as groups of demonstrators were shouting slogans against the regime and its supreme leader.

In Mashad, clashes have taken place around the university.

Several plainclothes agents have been injured in Ray and Narmak areas.

It's believed that the regime forces are waiting that most residents get back to their homes in order to crackdown on demonstrators.'

Commenter Liberty Now, citing Iranian media, adds this invaluable detail: 'A GROUP OF THUGS AND BUTCHERS REACHED THE LOCATION IN AN AMBULANCE (!!) TO ATTACK THE WOMEN.

THERE WERE LAST SEEN RUNNING BACK TO THE VEHICLE WHILE THE NEARBY GAURDS HAD TO ESCORT THEM OUT OF THE CROWD!'

The revolution. Free Iran, from Iran va Jahan: 'Shaheen Fatemi, Iran va Jahan:The Message Is Emphatically Clear:

Aim: Regime Change
Method: Non-Violent Civil Disobedience
Goal: Democratic Government.

While the international attention is focused on Iran’s WMD program and the phony presidential “election,” most observers seem to be missing a veritable seismic popular movement for radical change.

With every passing day the number of people who dare to add their signature to those who are openly challenging the system and are asking for total boycott of the elections mounts.

The mood of the country is rebellious. Last Sunday I was invited by VOA’s Persian language program to speak to a live interactive audience calling in from all parts of Iran. While everyone knows that these programs are recorded by the dreadful agents of the regime, no one seemed to care. They were unequivocally calling for a regime change. I was truly surprised by the universal vehemence of their condemnation of the ruling Mullahs. [Posters note: This is the same lack of fear that permeated Lebanon during the Cedar Uprising!] ...' Read the full article at the link.

Even the MSM can see it: Football (soccer) rallies are political. Regime Change Iran cites a Reuters account: '"Iran erupted in a frenzy of raucous celebrations after the Islamic state booked its place at the 2006 World Cup soccer [football] finals in Germany with a 1-0 home win over Gulf rivals Bahrain on Wednesday. ... But though the mood was mostly joyous rather than tense, there were sporadic clashes between a hardline volunteer militia and revellers in eastern Tehran. A Reuters reporter saw at least three injured young people.' Doctor Zin at RCI adds: "Even Reuters is reporting the unrest. But these international media reporters tend to have minders with them and thus they do not go to where the unrest is."

Regime's days are numbered, say activists. This Friday will mark the official beginning of the revolution against the IRI, according to SOS Iran: 'We the 70 million people of Iran request your declaration to denounce the Islamic Republic as the legitimate government of Iran on the 10th of June. On this historic day, we the Iranian people will place our seal on a promise of this general uprising which will go down in history as a confrontation between good and evil. On the 10th of June, the people of the world shall rally to our cause, in solidarity with Iranians everywhere. We have given the mullahs until the 16th of June to submit to the will of the Iranian people and peacefully surrender the power to its rightful owners. We the 70 million Iranians hereby cast our vote to end the Islamic Republic’s reign of terror, and no longer consider the Islamic Republic a legitimate government. Should they be so unwise not to leave peacefully on June 16th, we are prepared to remove this dictatorship and bring to an end the 26 years of their shameful reign. We will strike on the 18th of June, from every corner of our land, in every city, at every outpost of the Islamic Republic, and will bring those who have wronged us to justice.' The full text of this ultimatum (PDF), signed by all the major Iranian opposition groups, can be found at the SOS Iran homepage. Iranians are urged to stay indoors with the lights out every evening, beginning this Friday, as a show of unity. The declaration also calls for acts of civil disobedience by Iranian expatriates in Europe in solidarity with activists in the homeland.

Iran of tomorrow. The dissidents' manifesto also declares the start of a transitional Iranian government in mid-June: 'We have asked the exiled Iranians to come together and aid us to the utmost of their abilities to form a legitimate interim government, for the people, to replace your totalitarian regime with a democratic system after the 16th of June. We are coming together to defeat the Islamic Republic dictatorship, like we did under the banner of Kaveh to defeat the Tazi, and as we have always united to defeat those who so naively believed they could conquer us. We have asked the Iran of Tomorrow Movement (IOTM) to devise and put into place a system for the registration of candidates for the Interim Government, and a voting system to be used by Iranians outside Iran to vote for the candidates. This secular Interim Government shall represent a cross section of our society, independent of political beliefs, and ready to assume all governmental functions by June 10th, 2005. We have full confidence in the formation of this Interim Government to provide a strong foundation for a democratic and secular government for our country.' In keeping with the spirit and intentions of our freedom-loving friends in Iran, Dreams Into Lightning will recognize this Interim Government as the legitimate government of the Iranian nation. Keep watching for new developments.

Morning Report: June 8, 2005

Ethiopia: Protests over disputed election claim 18 lives. CNN reports: 'The death toll from clashes between protesters and security forces in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa has risen to at least 18 in a third day of unrest following a disputed election. Sources at one hospital told Reuters on Wednesday that 11 people had died from gunshot wounds. Sources at another hospital said they had seven dead bodies with bullet wounds. Ethiopian families at the hospitals said they feared many more had been killed in the violence, Reuters reported. Meanwhile, a human rights group told The Associated Press that at least 20 people has been killed in the worst violence to hit the capital in four years.' (CNN)

Gaza pullout to proceed; conflict continues. Debka is currently reporting: 'Palestinians shell Israeli S. Gaza locations of Gadid, Neve Dekalim and IDF regional command, injuring one Israeli soldier. The barrage Wednesday follows Israeli airborne missile strike against Hamas mortar launchers ready to fire from nearby Khan Younes. The Gaza pull-back will be executed on schedule despite obstacles placed in its path by opponents, Israeli prime minister and defense minister asserted Wednesday. At ministerial panel on disengagement they dismissed as disinformation claims that nothing is ready and rejected calls for postponement. Palestinian fire continued Wednesday against IDF positions guarding Israel-Egyptian border on second day of ceasefire violations.' (Debka)

Wretchard: "Trouble brewing" in Zimbabwe. Wretchard writes at The Belmont Club: 'My own simpleminded take on all this, without the benefit of special knowledge or experience in southern Africa is that the opposition to Mugabe will be nonviolent for now, but is unlikely to remain so for long. The reason: food.' President Bush may be eyeing South Africa's Thabo Mbeki as a strategic partner, the post concludes, but ' things are going to have to get a lot worse before Mbeki and the "International Community" get themselves in gear.' Even so, Wretchard concludes, it's just a matter of time. Read the whole post, and don't forget to bookmark the new homepage. (Belmont Club)

Science and Space

Roger Penrose likes complex numbers. The renowned physicist Roger Penrose has written several excellent books on mathematical physics aimed at the interested layperson - these include the classic The Emperor's New Mind and his newest book The Road to Reality. What I like about Penrose is that he's easy to read, and he explains things as if he actually wants and expects you to understand them. I'm slowly working my way through TRTR right now. As in TENM, Penrose provides a lot of information on the role of complex numbers - numbers that have a "real" part and an "imaginary" part. Imaginary numbers are multiples of i, the square root of -1. (As we all know, -1 doesn't have a square root. That's why they're called "imaginary" numbers. No, really.) For Penrose, one of the key concepts in the development of mathematics (and science in general) has been the process of generalizing a useful concept to provide new insights. For example, transcendental numbers like pi - also called "irrational" numbers because they can't be expressed as the quotient, or "ratio", of two integers - were viewed warily in the Pythagorean world. But once mathematicians started allowing themselves to work with these numbers, many important discoveries were made. "In many instances, this drive for mathematical consistency and elegance takes us to mathematical structures and concepts which turn out to mirror the physical world in a much deeper and more broad-ranging way than those that we started with."

And so, the introduction of the concept of seemingly impossible imaginary numbers allows us to gain amazing new insights. Picture imaginary numbers on a "number line" of their own - at right angles to the familiar "number line" of real numbers. (And speaking of the number line, remember when you first learned about negative numbers? Up until then, you'd been taught that you couldn't have any number less than zero, and you couldn't subtract a bigger number from a smaller number. And then ... well, you see what RP is talking about.) So just for fun, we're turning the old number line into a grid, and now we can plot complex numbers (some real number + some imaginary number) on this grid. Now what happens if we add these numbers? Or multiply them? (Remember, i times i is minus one.) And now the real fun begins. You gotta read Penrose to find out the rest.

Volcano discovered on Titan. Space.com reports: 'Scientists think they've spotted a large volcano on Saturn's smoggy moon Titan. The mountain could be pumping methane into the atmosphere, which would explain the perplexing presence of the chemical that helps create Titan's dense atmospheric shroud. The new study, announced today [June 8], also adds to mounting evidence showing there are no widespread methane oceans on Titan, as scientists had predicted prior to the Cassini mission.' The volcano could help explain the presence of methane in Titan's atmosphere, as new evidence makes the presence of widespread methane oceans on the planet look increasingly unlikely. Frequent volcanic eruptions, with lava flows, would also account for the smooth appearance of Titan's surface.

Space enthusiast Maryam interviewed. Big news! Maryam, aka Kuwaiti Girl, is interviewed by Mister Ghost at In T Views. Read her thoughts on her interest in the space program, the Arab world, the Iraqi invasion of 1990, black holes, string theory, and (naturally) Sergei Kirkalev.

Women Today

Carrie Brownstein of Portland-based rock trio Sleater-Kinney is interviewed in the June 2005 print issue of Girlfriends. She has some very insightful comments about the 2004 election season:

Q: This was a tough election year in your home state, Oregon, including the passage of the first anti-gay marriage initiative. How did this make you feel?

A: It was a little bit of a shock. It felt like [the whole West] was delusional for not having a sense of the broader political climate. People were forced to reevaluate the reality of the situation. Okay, well, maybe we're not going to get gay marriage. Maybe we skipped a couple of steps here. In the same way that thelarger political left groups feel like they need to go back and be a little more detailed on their agenda.

Two women appointed to office in Kuwait. Fatima al-Sabah and Fawzia al-Bahr have been appointed to a sixteen-member council that oversees planning and civil services in Kuwait, according to Feminist Daily News: 'Further advancing women's political involvement in Kuwait, two women have been appointed to the sixteen-member Municipal Council, which focuses on civil planning and social services. The Council is comprised of ten elected members and six members appointed by the Prime Minister. Reuters reports that Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah announced his appointments and the inclusion of two women earlier this week. According to BBC News, the councilors will be Fatima al-Sabah, a member of the royal family and assistant under-secretary at the Emiri diwan, and Fawzia al-Bahr, an engineer.' Full article at the link.

Iran Report

Regime deadline approaches. In case you missed my earlier post, a coalition of some 17 Iranian opposition groups delivered an ultimatum (PDF) to the IRI, giving the regime until June 16th to step down. The date corresponds with the date set by the regime for the so-called "elections" (in which just six out of about 1,000 candidates were officially "approved" to run). Some organizations are asking Iranians to stay home with lights darkened in the evenings beginning on June 10 (this Friday) as a gesture of solidarity. The ultimatum also designates June 10 as the starting date for Iran's provisional (post-IRI) government. Read the discussion on the thread at Free Iran.

Samir Kassir

Michael J. Totten remembers Lebanese freedom activist Samir Kassir of the Democratic Left movement, who was killed by a car bomb in Beirut, presumably by Syrian agents.

I met him several times when I was in Beirut, twice in the Democratic Left’s headquarters, and once again at a rally. I sat right across from him at a table in that headquarters - as an observer, of course. I can’t say I was scared when I was in Lebanon. I wasn’t, and I wished my wife could have gone with me. But when I sat across from him at those meetings I did feel a bit like I was in the line of fire. I guess I was right.

I can’t say I knew him well, but I did know him. On the surface at any rate, he was a kind, gentle, warm, and welcoming person.

Read the whole post at the link. Also follow Michael's links to the tributes at Lebanese Political Journal (mark that homepage on your browser while you're at it) and Reason Online.

Deepest sympathy to all those who knew Samir Kassir. And may Lebanon see freedom, security, and peace in our day.

No, seriously ...

Alison Bechdel nails it. Show of hands if you've ever been Cynthia ...

Morning Report: June 6, 2004

Good news from Afghanistan. Posting at Winds of Change and elsewhere, Arthur Chrenkoff reports that over 600 Afghan Islamic clerics convened in a ceremony to formally strip Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar of his religious authority. In recognition of this important event, Morning Report and Dreams Into Lightning will no longer refer to the Taliban leader as "Mullah" Omar. Chrenkoff writes: 'This important gathering and its implications were reported by only a handful of news outlets around the world - in stark contrast to the news several days later about the assassination at the hands of the Taliban of the head of the council and the suicide bombing at the historic mosque during his funeral, which appeared through hundreds of media outlets around the world. Faced with this sort of media coverage, President Karzai expressed his exasperation during his recent visit in the United States: "Sometimes - rather often - neither our press, nor your press, nor the press in the rest of the world will pick up the miseries of the Afghans three years ago and what has been achieved since then, until today."' (GNFI / Winds of Change)

Britain defers EU vote; death knell for union? Following a decisive defeat in France and an overwhelming one in the Netherlands, the proposed Constitution for the European Union suffered a potentially fatal setback in the United Kingdom on Monday, as the British government postponed a planned referendum on the document. CNN reports: 'British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has said a referendum on the European constitution has been postponed, following the document's rejection in France and the Netherlands. The EU Council, not the UK, will decide the future of the treaty, he said. But in the circumstances it would not now be sensible to press ahead with a referendum in Britain, Straw told MPs on Monday. "Until the consequences of France and the Netherlands being unable to ratify the treaty are clarified, it would not in our judgment now be sensible to set a date for second reading."' An analysis at Stratfor (subscription service) suggests that Britain prefers not to be seen as the party "putting the bullet in the charter's head", but notes that Britons have historically resisted both the EU project and the adoption of any written constitution. Stratfor concludes that "this sets the stage for a very awkward summit of EU heads of government in Luxembourg on June 16-17." (CNN, Stratfor)

So it's been a couple days,

okay, seven, but I needed to take a break from blogging to focus my energies on creative stuff. Light posting today, regular posting resumes tomorrow. Morning Report will return to duty tomorrow.