Amy Goodman talks to John Pace, the former human rights chief for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq. Transcript and audio available on Democracy Now.
Random Voices ............................. أصوات متفرقه
Random Voice is a place to share ideas & views with friends. Interests include: Current Affairs, Politics, Cultural Issues, Cinema, Middle East/US Affairs & Islam. Current contributors are Atef Ziko (RandomVoice), JM, FE and the Silent Poet.
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Darfur conflict spread to neighboring Chad, deepening one of the world's worst refugee crises. (NYT)
Anthony Lagouranis served in the Army from May 2001 to July 2005. Here is the concluding paragraph of his column in today's NYT. "Those who serve in the prisons of Iraq deserve to know clearly the difference between legal and illegal orders. Soldiers on the ground need a commander in chief who does not seek strained legalisms that "permit" the use of torture. The McCain amendment, prohibiting "cruel, inhuman, or degrading" treatment in all instances, is an accurate reflection of the true values of the military and American society. We should adhere to it strictly and in all cases. I know, from personal experience, that any leeway given will be used to maximum effect against detainees. No slope is more slippery, I learned in Iraq, than the one that leads to torture."
المهندس نجيب ساويريس – رئيس شركة موبينيل
تابعت منذ نحو ساعة اللقاء الذي أجري معك في برنامج "مطلوب التعقيب"، والذي أعيد بثه الليلة على القناة الثانية؛ وقد كان لقاءا شيقا ومثيرا حقا. ومادُمتَ تكره الظلم هكذا؛ فلعلك لا تتعجل إصدار الأحكام على عباد الله، دون التحقق. وكإنسان على درجة عالية من الثقافة والتفتح، فإنك من غير شك تدرك حقيقة أن الشعار الانتخابي "الإسلام هو الحل" كان شعارا سياسيا وليس دينيا أبدا؛ فليس في الدين شعارات، وإنما هناك قيم ومبادئ وعمل صالح. والذي يعرف دينه ويحترمه يجد التعصب جهلا وفسوقا. وأعضاء الجماعة الذين رميتهم بالتعصب هم أبعد ما يكونون عنه؛ لأنهم من أكثر العارفين بعقيدتهم ومن أكثر الناس احتراما لها. وإذا كنت رأيت في أحد تعصبا فبالقطع لن يكون واحدا منهم (وادعاء نملة بأنها فيل، لا يجعل منها فيلا). وما دمت تقضي أوقات فراغك في قراءة التاريخ، فلعلك وقفت في قراءتك على حقائق كفاحهم المشرف في فلسطين وفي القنال؛ وقرأت أكثر من ذلك عن سنين الاضطهاد والتعذيب والتنكيل التي تعرضوا لها؛ على أيدي مصريين مسلمين. وإذا كان الإعلام هنا يستنكر ما تقترفه قوات الاحتلال في سجون العراق وفلسطين من فظائع؛ فإنه سكت على ما هو أبشع منه مما اقترفه مصريون مسلمون بحق مصريين مسلمين. فهل تتصور في صنوف التعذيب مثلا ما يفوق بشاعة وصفة طبيب برتبة لواء (أدى قسم المهنة)؛ بأن يحدّق معتقل مريض في قرص شمس الظهيرة لعشر دقائق. فلا يربش، فإن فعل يعاد حساب الزمن من جديد؟! حدث ذلك في معتقل السجن الحربي عام 1955 والضحية الآن حي يرزق لكن بشبكية محمصة
· صاحبت اغتيال الشيخ حسن البنا، مؤسس الجماعة، حملات اعتقال أحدثت حالة من الذعر بين أفراد الأمة لدرجة أن أحدا من أهل مصر المعمورة المحروسة لم يجرؤ على الخروج للسير في جنازته؛ باستثناء ستة أفراد : خمسة من عائلة البنا وحدها (بينهم نجله الصبي حينئذ)؛ والسادس من أصحاب الشجاعة النادرة وأحد زعماء الأمة الأجلاء "لعله كان صديقا حميما أو أخا عطوفا أو متصدقا رءوفا" اسمه وليم مكرم عبيد، والشهير بمكرم باشا عبيد رئيس وزعيم حزب الكتلة
· في حملة الاعتقالات الأخرى الكبرى التي لم تبق ولم تذر، كان من بين عشرات الألوف الذين ألقي القبض عليهم في الموجة الأولى رجل فاضل اسمه "وهيب دوس"؛ باعتباره أحد أقطاب وقادة الجماعة واستنادا إلى ظهور اسمه في وثيقة دامغة تسجل محضر اجتماع "مجلس الشورى" للجماعة. ولسبب ما قرأها رجال المباحث العامة والمحققون "مجلس الثورة "؛ بإحلال الثاء محل الشين وإحلال التاء المربوطة محل الياء المرفوعة. وقد أطلق سراحه طبعا؛ بعد ثبوت أنه فعلا مسيحي مصري، وأنه حضر الاجتماع المذكور فقط بصفته المهنية كمستشار قانوني رسمي للجماعة
وإخراج العقيدة من السياسة، أو من أي نشاط بشري، مثل إخراج الروح من الجسد والضمير من العمل والقيم السوية من السلوك الشخصي والعام. ذلك أن السياسة، مثل السوق، مصالح تجري على أسس من الأنانية المفرطة، فيها : " الغاية تبرر الوسيلة"، "السوق لا يرحم"، "التحالف حتى مع الشيطان"، "اللي تغلب به العب به"، و"عندك قرش تساوي قرشا". وأنت يا سيدي، رغم ثقافتك وتفتحك، تجد من يستمع إليك؛ ليس بقوة منطقك الفكري وإنما بقوة موقفك المالي. وإذا كنت تعيب على الوضع القائم حالة الفوضى السائدة، فإنك لم تر للأسف إسهام إدخال "فوضى المحمول" دون تخطيط اقتصادي سليم رحيم؛ في تفاقم هذه الفوضى. ولأن "الربح" غاية، كان من الضروري في غيبة التخطيط السليم الرحيم أن يقابله خراب بيوت في قطاعات أخرى؛ وهذا قانون طبيعة. ولقد تعدت الفوضى نطاق خراب البيوت إلى خراب الضمائر الذي من دلائله هذا الطوفان من المسابقات التليفونية المبتزة والمسفهة للعقول، والتي وصلت إلى حد العبث بالحج والعمرة؛ فصارتا وسيلتي ابتزاز تبرره غاية "التربح" الكسول
· يخصص، بموجب التعديلات الدستورية المقترحة، عدد خمسين مقعدا (أو أكثر) للمرأة. وفي غيبة آلية انتخابية لضمان ذلك الحق، تعهد إلى المجلس القومي للمرأة مسئولية وصلاحية اختيار ممثلي المرأة في المجلس النيابي (والعدد المقابل بمجلس الشورى)؛ من بين الكفاءات العالية القادرة الخبيرة المؤهلة المنجزة، والمشرّفة
· يخصص، بموجب التعديلات الدستورية المقترحة، عدد أربعة وأربعين مقعدا (أو أكثر) لغير المسلمين. وفي غيبة آلية انتخابية لضمان ذلك الحق، تعهد إلى الكنيسة الأرثوذكسية مسئولية وصلاحية اختيار ممثلي المسيحيين الأرثوذكس (بعدد أربعين نائبا) في المجلس النيابي (والعدد المقابل بمجلس الشورى)؛ من بين الكفاءات العالية القادرة الخبيرة المؤهلة المنجزة، والمشرّفة. وتخصص أربعة مقاعد لأتباع الكنائس الأخرى، بنفس هذه الآلية
· تختار الكنيسة الأرثوذكسية أربعة (إلى ستة) مرشحين لشغل منصب الوزير فى الحكومة ويُعتمَد الترشيح من خلال المجلس النيابي ومجلس الشورى
Monday, February 27, 2006
What role did Egypt & Saudi Arabia play in the Iraq war?
The NYT reports the following:
"Egypt & Saudi Saudi Arabia provided more help than they have disclosed. Egypt gave access for refueling planes, while Saudi Arabia allowed American special operations forces to initiate attacks from its territory"
"But Mr. Mubarak quietly allowed United States aerial refueling tankers to be based at an Egyptian airfield, according to a United States military official involved in managing the air war against Iraq, who asked to remain anonymous because he was speaking about delicate diplomatic arrangements."
"The tankers were used to refuel Navy aircraft in the Mediterranean and land-based warplanes on their missions to and from Iraq. United States warplanes also flew through Egyptian airspace to carry out missions over Iraq, American military officials said. "
"United States nuclear-powered vessels were allowed to quickly move through the Suez Canal, and cruise missiles were fired at targets in Iraq from the Red Sea."
"The Saudis have played down the extent of their cooperation with the Bush administration. But they allowed the Delta Force and other American Special Operations Forces to mount attacks in Iraq from a secret base at Arar, Saudi Arabia, according to United States commandos who asked not to be identified because their operations were secret. The public Saudi explanation was that the area was being cordoned off for a potential flood of Iraqi refugees. "
Stories of Sudanese refugees in Egypt (WP)
Sunday, February 26, 2006
At the Movies
La Femme de Gilles: Emmanuelle Devos, Clovis Cornillac & Laura Smet (Frédéric Fonteyne)
What does Islam art look like? A review of exhibits past and present in the US. (NYT)
Katrina: White House whitewash (WP)
Confluence of Islam & politics in Egypt (BBC)
Saturday, February 25, 2006
You don't have to hunt for Wi-Fi hot spots any more, carry your own. (NYT)
Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi was the Taliban spokesman, now he is a freshman at Yale. (NYT)
In a NYT column titled "Will fight for Oil", Ted Koppel suggests "For now America's rapt attention to the security of the Persian Gulf is what it has always been. It's about the oil." He cites the following from an answer given in 1990 by the then defense secretary Dick Cheney. "We're there because the fact of the matter is that part of the world controls the world supply of oil, and whoever controls the supply of oil, especially if it were a man like Saddam Hussein, with a large army and sophisticated weapons, would have a stranglehold on the American economy and on — indeed on the world economy."
The NYT calls Loving County Texas "America's emptiest county." Loving County has a population of 71 and its area is 645 square miles.
Google is testing a new product that makes creating web pages as easy as creating a document in a word processor. Google Page Creator is a free tool that lets you create web pages right in your browser and publish them to the web with one click. There's no software to download and no web designer to hire.
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
What is happening here?
I am minding my own business, relaxing and reading the newspapers on the net. All of a sudden something stupid/unusual comes up, and you have no idea what hit you. Here are three examples
NYT article about three men from Toledo, Ohio who were charged with conspiring to kill US troops in Iraq. "The indictment says the charges are based on a series of activities by the three defendants, including viewing materials on Web sites on building explosive devices like those used against allied forces in Iraq and others that showed how to make a suicide bomb vest." I am surprised that reading material on the web is an indictable offense. That should be a warning to all not to click on the cute links sent to you asking you to click on this cute link.
The second story is also from the NYT about force-feeding detainees at Guantanamo. According to the story "General Craddock suggested that the medical staff had indulged the hunger strikers to the point that they had been allowed to choose the color of their feeding tubes." Gee man thanks, I will take mine in topaz, if you don't mind.
The last story is also from the NYT and deals with the American Medical Association development of more than 100 standard measures of performance, which doctors will report to the federal government on an effort to improve the quality of care. Not a bad thing until you read this " The agreement, dated Dec. 16, was signed by Dr. Duane M. Cady, chairman of the American Medical Association, and by three Republican members of Congress responsible for Medicare legislation: Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa and Representatives Bill Thomas of California and Nathan Deal of Georgia." And that is the way this Congress is run, no consultation with the minority party and no checks on the Republican administration. It is time that this Congress wakes up to the mood of the country, and starts doing the peoples business and not the Republican Party agenda.
Maureen Dowd's column in NYT today is titled "G.O.P to W.: You're Nuts!". The subject of her essay is the DP World contract to manage 5 US ports.
As usual she quickly dispense with formalities and goes for the kill. She said, "Was W. too busy not calling Dick Cheney to find out why he shot a guy to not be involved in a critical decision about U.S. security? What is he waiting for - a presidential daily brief warning, "Bin Laden Determined to Attack U.S. Ports?"
The DP World affair has drawn a lot of rational and irrational comments. The sounds of reason come from a WP editorial that culminates in the following paragraph "we're wondering if perhaps American politicians are having trouble understanding some of the most basic goals of contemporary U.S. foreign policy. A goal of "democracy promotion" in the Middle East, after all, is to encourage Arab countries to become economically and politically integrated with the rest of the world. What better way to do so than by encouraging Arab companies to invest in the United States? Clearly, Congress doesn't understand that basic principle, since its members prefer instead to spread prejudice and misinformation."
Daniel Shorr on NPR's "All Things Considered" said the quarrel about port operations is a case of globalization meets xenophobia.
NYT editorial visit Darfur again. Glad to see that the issue is not forgotten. The editorial concludes with the following " It's not America's job to police the world. But Darfur is a special case, which the Bush administration has rightly described as genocide. Mr. Bush has shown that he understands the scope and urgency of Darfur's crisis. The next step is for him to accept the role America needs to play in a timely solution, before thousands more people needlessly die."
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Calling off local elections in Egypt has drawn the ire of the WP. An an editorial today the paper said
"Mr. Mubarak's apologists claim that the election was postponed -- nominally for two years -- to make way for a constitutional reform giving more power to local governments. Even Egyptians normally sympathetic to the regime laugh off this nonsense. As so often, the 77-year-old dictator's strategy is crudely obvious: He wishes to prevent the Muslim Brotherhood from winning seats on local councils because, under the byzantine terms of the presidential election law passed last year, it might then gain the legal right to nominate a candidate in the next presidential election. At the moment, only the ruling party qualifies to nominate a contender, which means that there would be no opposition if Mr. Mubarak proposed his 43-year-old son, Gamal."
WP covers free software designed to take users around filters in China. Will this work in the Middle East? Let me know if you try it.
Chicago Classical Oriental Ensemble, have recorded "The Songs of Sayyed Darweesh Soul of a People". The record is released by Xauen Music. Ben Sisario of the NYT talks about the ensemble and Sayid Darwish in an article titled "An American salute to Egypt's Verdi"
There was joke in Egypt's Nasser about about materials translated from open sources for the intelligence apparatus. Once translated, the material became classified, despite the fact that the original source is available for all to see.
Fastforward to the USA in 2006. The NYT reports today on reclassification of many documents in secret review. Here is a paragraph from that article "Historian, William Burr, found a dozen documents he had copied years ago whose reclassification he considers "silly," including a 1962 telegram from George F. Kennan, then ambassador to Yugoslavia, containing an English translation of a Belgrade newspaper article on China's nuclear weapons program."
A group of historians posted some of the reclassified documents today.
A group of British actors were held at Luton Airport upon returning from Berlin. The group star in the movie "The Road To Guantanamo", the winner of the Berinale International Jury Silver Bear Award for best director. (BBC)
Sunday, February 19, 2006
At the Movies
Firewall: Harrison Ford, Paul Bettany & Virginia Madsen (Richard Loncraine)
Freedomland: Samuel Jackson, Julianne Moore, Edie Falco & Ron Eldard (Joe Roth)
Imagine Me & You: Piepr Perabo, Lena Headey, Celia Imrie & Matthew Goode (Ol Parker)
Why We Fight: Documentary (Eugene Jarecki)
Jennifer Conlin reports in today's NYT about Paris for children.
Jim Yardley of the NYT reports on Islam in Linxia, China. The multimedia presentation is excellent.
Saving my Vote for Kinky
Next month, the State of Texas will hold primaries for 2006 election candidates. In Texas registered voters are free to vote in either the Democratic or Republican primaries. Independent candidates have to wait after the primaries and collect enough signatures to have their names placed on the ballot in November. The catch is, only voters who did not participate in the primaries can sign such petitions.
That is why I am not voting in the primaries, as I am saving my vote for Kinky Friedman, who is running for the office of Governor of Texas. Voters are disenfranchised these days, as our so-called established parties are caught in their own spin. Meanwhile no one is representing the interests of the average person.
Saturday, February 18, 2006
More disturbing pictures of Abu Gharib are posted at Salon.Com. Viewers discretion is advised.
In response to Voices in this Blog, a Friend writes
Dear All,
You all write very well and have followed the Koranic call in forgiving those who transgressed upon you. I am on the side of the angry ones, even those who were so enraged and driven by anger and indignation to damage Danish and Norwegian properties in Syria and Lebanon. I consider this to be "collateral damage", which fades in comparison to the collateral damage in Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan estimated in hundreds of thousands of lost lives and billions of dollars in deliberately damaged properties. To be sure, a contingency of Danish troops is still aiding the occupiers of Iraq and the tormentors of the Iraqis. It was anger that gave birth to the French and Russian revolutions. It was anger that inspired millions of Chinese to join the Long Marsh of Mao; it was anger that liberated India , South Africa and Cuba.
Our anger pales in comparison, because it is mainly directed inwardly and does not produce the results manifest in France, Russia, China, India and Cuba.
For a long time we have been transgressed upon, but instead of matching transgression with equally potent transgression, we chose to forgive at the end.
Few years ago a new Qura'n was published on the Internet adulterating the divine text and insulting the Prophet, but it did not get noticed but by those who can access the Internet who are infinitesimally small in number because most of us are still analphabets. Falsifying the Quraan did not generate an anger similar to that produced by imagery because of this ignorance.
The west will never apologize, not even to its coreligionists. Remember what happened to the colonized of the Roman Impire, to the Byzantine Christians in Asia Minor during the Crusades, to the Jews of Europe in their forced ghettos and the pogroms that they were its fuel, before and after the third Reich, the Protestants of Europe, the Catholics of Ireland, the African slaves of the Americas??? Collin Powell a descendant of African slaves himself, did not apologize on behalf of his white government because of what the US did to slaves during more than two centuries, at a recent summit meeting in South Africa, and withdrew in anger when he was pushed to offer an apology !! Even if perfunctory apology is offered, the stereotyping is still alive and thriving in the west. The rise of Noe Nazism, the hushed mutterings about Jews, Catholics, Japanese, Chinese, Arabs, and Blacks are every where in the so called rich, civilized and democratic North.
Let anger be legitimized and disciplined to produce enlightenment, prosperity and peace. Let us all remember that Allah, subhanaho wa ta'la, described the Prophet in the beautiful words of "wa innaka la ala kholiqen azeem".
No apology should be rendered to the Danes and their ilk and likes for the collateral damage wreaked by not "mobs", but by the salt of the earth, the fomentors of positive change. Let this anger change our submission to authority and the dictates of the West to a submission to our Allah as we are enjoined to do and to give meaning to the word ISLAM.
Contibutor: Dr. O E A
Friday, February 17, 2006
Thursday, February 16, 2006
My Friend Comments on an article by Robert Fisk
Dear Mr. Fisk:
I had the pleasure of receiving, through my e-mail, the circulated text of your excellent article of 4th instant titled "Don't be fooled, this isn't an issue about Islam versus secularism". Needless to say, the article is very fair and rational. While one cannot argue your statement about the Koran not forbidding images of the Prophet, the Koran also did not forbid riding on a dart train or a jet plane!! What is certain, however, is that the Koran strictly forbids angry reactions; particularly to insults and obscenities, of the kind the condemned cartoon generated. One can readily appreciate the reason why the Koran forbids this, for anger must come to show its ugly face; with a big bang of Bigotry and not a drop of Faith. If, for the sake of argument, a kind of punishment for the offence were due; it should only be imposed on the offender (the Editor or the Publisher in this case); but never ever will the Koran allow extending the punishment to the well-established Trade and Diplomatic Links; let alone the Danish Government and the Danish Nation.
To look at the affair in perspective, it will amount only to a matter of artistic imagination, public sense and public taste. In this context, the condemned cartoons should offend the good Danes the most; which strictly means that the Muslim masses are completely out of this entirely internal affair. This is particularly true; since Muslims know, or should know, that the attack on Islam and the Prophet had never ceased; ever since the advent of the Faith, and will never cease. On many occasions the Prophet Himself had been abused, both verbally and physically; which He had spontaneously ignored, or graciously and charitably forgone and forgiven. The Koran, also on many occasions, had commanded Muslims to do the same in the face of even the severest provocations; and in all events angry reactions are not permissible, nor are they in any way admissible, In Islam. Going as far as proudly declaring, in public posters and banners allover the place, the readiness to die (or kill!!) for the sake of the Prophet; is really absurd. What would honour and please the Prophet the most is for Muslims to live, as he did, for Islam; peaceably, gracefully, graciously, selflessly and honourably.
There is, however, a particularly important and useful lesson for the Muslim masses to heed; to absolutely trust the Koran as the best guide to a sensible and dignified living. When God preserved the text of the Koran and kept the whole contents completely intact, He had simultaneously protected the image of the Prophet from the slightest abuse. This is supported by the fact that God had sent Him with the Message of Islam in a land whose people were renowned for their immense adoration of the "Word", which they glorified and for which they held annual competitions and festivals. Learning the Koran by heart was, therefore, for them; not only a great pleasure, but also a most easy task to undertake. Had the Prophet's Society been blessed with the same gifts and exceptional genius in fine art, as those Ancient Egyptians; they would have produced a great abundance of the Prophet's images (in statues, steles, plaques and mural paintings). Images of the great Pharaohs bearing their exact likings, from as far as 3600 years before the time of the Prophet, are now reproduced in newspapers, books, posters and magazines. Their pictures, along with millions upon millions of those of World leaders and other great symbolic figures of known and famous faces, find their ways every day; to garbage cans and rubbish dumps. The face of the Prophet remains, forever; infinitely far beyond that reach; even if He were depicted in cartoons as an archangel or a Greek god, instead.
On the other hand, you were extremely kind to Muslims at large when you thought that they take their religion seriously. In fact, only exceptionally few do, and most signs of true adherence are false indications. There is a famous observation recorded in a testimony made by the renowned Muslim Imam Sheikh Mohamed Abdu, over a century ago; upon his return from Paris. He said: "When in Paris I witnessed Islam without Muslims, but here in Egypt I witness Muslims without Islam". This is most inspiring; since it explains how Islam will never be in any danger, because it is constantly found in all forms of highly refined human decency and human dignity [i.e. Islam stays with or without Muslims]. The credible Testimony accredited to the Grand Sheikh and wise Imam also implies that if Muslims really appreciated and valued the significance of their chosen Faith; that cartoon affair would never have happened, and Muslims would suffer far less animosities.
Contrary to the projection of Islam imposed by complacent Muslims, the Faith constitutes no danger; for Islam by definition is the Mission of "Mercy and compassion to all Mankind", a mission of Reason and Justice. These are the True "Fundamentals" of Islam that make a label like "Islamic Fundamentalists" a misnomer, and a term like "Islamic extremists" self-contradictory. It is, therefore, the complacent Muslims who pose a grave danger to themselves and to the Muslim communities everywhere. Complacency among Muslims shows itself in many forms; extremist ideologies are perhaps the least damaging of all, because their dangers are far more limited and can be contained. The gravest and most extensive dangers come from two sources of "Mass Moral and Cultural Destruction". One deadly source is attributed to the degrading and demeaning Media glorifying debauchery and loose ethics. The other source strangely comes, in Egypt anyhow, from what one may call "The Slum Mosques"; though they may be found even in exclusive areas maintaining the same mentality. The two sources constitute a "state of truly chaotic chaos versus Islam; the most disciplined, exact and correct of all life norms".
The Slum Mosques may be classified as those "Houses of Hypocrisy" alluded to in the Koran and they can never, by any stretch of imagination, relate to the message of Islam "Mercy, Reason and Justice"; and the Western Hypocrisy you describe in your article is very little and very benign in comparison. The message of Islam is an exceptionally quiet, calm, composed, pleasant, serene and captivating call. At the same time the message of the "Slum Mosques" is, on the contrary, everything but that; extremely noisy, extremely aggressive, extremely offensive and extremely revolting. Yet the perpetrators do not feel it; evidently for lack of feeling, and the Governments will do nothing about it; evidently for hopeless lack of concern and helpless lack of vision.
In conclusion and in the same spirit of your inspired title, it may be appropriate to assert that: "This isn't a reaction, for Islam and the Prophet, by religious adherents". Furthermore, the whole cartoon affair (with its consequences) reminds one of the old saying: "Ask a silly question, you get a silly answer"; which in this situation translates into: "Publish a silly cartoon, you get a more silly reaction"!!
Yours sincerely,
Prof. F A E
Came upon this web-site that records conversations of people in public in New York city. (Overheard in NY)
Here is a sample from the C Train:
Guy: Hey, is this the train that stops at that museum?
Girl: Which museum? The art museum?
Guy No, the other one with all the bones and dead animals.
Girl: Ew. Why would you wanna go someplace like that?
NPR has been obsessing about the Great Firewall of China. Today, Morning Edition talked to Bennett Haselton, an American software developer who gives free a program to circumvent the Chinese firewall. When asked, how do you make your living if you give the software for free? The answer was "I work for the Voice of America and they help me with the development costs." Is this part of the mission of the VOA?
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Bless her pen. Maureen Dowd is at again, this time the context of her column (again) is the shooting incident involving VP Cheney. Here is a sampler from her column.
"As the story of the weekend's bizarre hunting accident is wrenched out of the White House, the picture isn't pretty: With American soldiers dying in Iraq, Five-Deferment Dick "I Had Other Priorities in the 60's Than Military Service" Cheney gets his macho kicks gunning down little birds and the occasional old man while W. rides his bike, blissfully oblivious to any collateral damage. Shouldn't these guys work on weekends until we figure out how to fix Iraq, New Orleans, Medicare and gas prices? "
Her columns used to published in Arabic in al-Sharq al-Awsat. But so much of the edginess is lost in translation.
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
My Friend writes to the Danish Prime Minister
Your Excellency:
As an individual I cannot speak for other Muslims, nor can I speak for Islam; for no one is qualified to speak for The Faith: as only the Quran is The One absolutely reliable source on Islam. But, at the same time, as a Muslim I have a duty and an obligation to The Faith; to correct the wrong I see “by hand, or tongue or heart”, in whichever dignified and honorable way commanded by The Prophet – within one’s means and power.
Hence, I regret that the most I could do in the present situation is to offer my own personal humblest apologies and express my deepest and saddest grief for the tragic offensive behaviour of some Muslim masses against your Country; a behavior that neither Islam nor the Prophet nor the Faithful Muslims would ever condone, under any circumstances and for any reason or justification. This I expressed very clearly in an urgent call to the Mufti of Egypt, whom I trust is an enlightened Faithful Muslim; asking him to take the right and honorable practical steps to correct the great wrongs committed by the angry Muslim masses of the Muslim World. The least, I believe, he could do is to arrange with the Muftis of other Muslim Countries; to lead goodwill missions to Denmark, aiming at doing their utmost to restore the traditional mutual trust and warm links with your Great Country and Great Nation.
Yours faithfully,
Posted by: Prof. F A E
Yesterday, the NYT published a report about the Secretary of Defense visit to Algeria. The paper said "Pentagon officials said they believed that Mr. Rumsfeld was the first secretary of defense to Visit Algeria." The report later indicates that"Mr. Rumsfeld is the second senior American official to visit Algeria recently. The director of the FBI held talks with Algerian law enforcement officials this month."
The report ends there, and the rest is my comment. I can't think of why the two high US official show interest in Algeria & North African now? Is it possible that this has to do with the secret CIA prisons reported to have been in Eastern Europe. Earlier reports about these sites indicate that they have been moved to North Africa.
The following words of wisdom are from Maureen Dowd's column titled "Smoking Dutch Cleanser" published in the NYT Feb 11, 2006.
"Instead of just going after the 9/11 fiends, as W. promised with his bullhorn, the president and Vice President Strangelove have cynically played the terror card to accrue power and sidestep blame. They have twisted our values, mismanaged crises, fueled fundamentalist successes and violence around the world, and magnified a clash of civilizations."
Ms. Dowd manages to speak for those of us with no voice, at a time when the Administration and both political parties seem to be living in a parallel universe different from where the average citizen lives.
The current US administration is intent on spreading democracy in the Middle East, and promotes this as the inherent right of every human being on the face of the earth, and especially in the Middle East. Two reports in today's NYT cast doubts on the intention of the administration. The first (by Steven Erlanger) talks about US and Israeli plans to oust Hamas. The second (by Michael Slackman) describe US reaction to Mubarak's government plans to postpone local elections for two years.
Egyptian business give food aid to the poor (BBC)
An American athlete with a gold heart wins a gold medal at the Winter Olympics. American speed skater Joey Cheek did something very unusual after winning the 500 meter race at the Winter Olympics. He announced he's contributing his $25,000 gold medal award from the U.S. Olympic Committee to refugees from Darfur. And he urged Olympic sponsors to support the same relief effort.
This morning on NPR radio he told the press that he will talk about the race e just won, but will talk about the plight of the refugees in Darfur. With this simple act of humility he is teaching of all us about the important things in life.
Daniel Williams of the WP goes to a midnight viewing of "King Kong" at Cairo's Odeon Cinema. His amusing report about the audience is more entertaining than the three hours epic. I wished I saw the movie with him. However, his foreign eyes capture the interaction of the Cairo audience in a hilarious way.
The White House handling of the accidental shooting of Henry Whittington by Vice President Cheney gets a scathing editorial in the NYT today.
The paper ends its editorial as follows "The vice president appears to have behaved like a teenager who thinks that if he keeps quiet about the wreck, no one will notice that the family car is missing its right door. The administration's communications department has proved that its skills at actually communicating are so rusty it can't get a minor police-blotter story straight. And the White House, in trying to cover up the cover-up, has once again demonstrated that it would rather look inept than open. "
Monday, February 13, 2006
عاصفة الصحيفة الدنمركية
عن الزواج
At the Movies
Cache: Daniel Auteuil & Juliette Binoche (Michael Haneke)
The Pink Panther: Steve Martin, Kevin Kline, Emily Mortimer & Beyonce Knowles (Shawn Levy)
Sunday, February 12, 2006
No Time for Apathy on Sudan: By Kofi A. Annan
When I visited Darfur last May, I felt hopeful. Today I am pessimistic, unless a major new international effort is mustered in the coming weeks.
I visited a village whose people had returned after fleeing from violence and were living in relative safety, thanks to the presence of troops from the African Union (A.U.). True, this was only a beginning. Much of the vast region was prey to sporadic violence, with more than a million people living in camps. But thanks to a massive relief operation led by the United Nations, the number dying from hunger or disease was falling dramatically. A cease-fire, admittedly flawed, was in place. Peace talks between the Sudanese government and the rebel movements, ably mediated by A.U. representatives, were proceeding in Abuja, Nigeria. It was hoped that agreement could be reached by the end of the year.
There were other positive signs. The U.N. Security Council had referred the situation to the International Criminal Court and had decided in principle to apply targeted sanctions to individuals who could be identified as responsible for the atrocities of the past two years.
I wish I could report that all these efforts had borne fruit -- that Darfur was at peace and on the road to recovery. Alas, the opposite is true. People in many parts of Darfur continue to be killed, raped and driven from their homes by the thousands. The number displaced has reached 2 million, while 3 million (half the total population of Darfur) are dependent on international relief for food and other basics. Many parts of Darfur are becoming too dangerous for relief workers to reach. The peace talks are far from reaching a conclusion. And fighting now threatens to spread into neighboring Chad, which has accused Sudan of arming rebels on its territory.
Despite a chronic funding crisis, A.U. troops in Darfur are doing a valiant job. People feel safer when the troops are present. But there are too few of them -- a protection force of only 5,000, with an additional 2,000 police and military observers, to cover a territory the size of Texas. They have neither the equipment nor the broad mandate they would need to protect the people under threat or to enforce a cease-fire routinely broken by the rebels, as well as by the Janjaweed militia and Sudanese government forces.
On Jan. 12, the African Union decided to renew the mission's mandate until March 31, while expressing support, in principle, for a transition to a U.N. operation this year. The timing of this transition is still being discussed, including at this week's A.U. summit in Khartoum. This puts the Security Council on the spot. The U.N. Charter gives the council primary responsibility for international peace and security. And in September, in a historic first, U.N. members unanimously accepted the responsibility to protect populations from genocide, ethnic cleansing, war crimes and crimes against humanity, pledging to take action through the Security Council when national authorities fail.
The transition from the A.U. force to a U.N. peace operation in Darfur is now inevitable. A firm decision by the Security Council is needed, and soon, for an effective transition to take place.
But let no one imagine that this crisis can be solved simply by giving the present A.U. mission a "U.N. hat." Any new mission will need a strong and clear mandate, allowing it to protect those under threat, by force if necessary, as well as the means to do so. That means it will need to be larger, more mobile and much better equipped than the current African Union mission. Those countries that have the required military assets must be ready to deploy them.
Such a force would take the United Nations months to deploy. In the meantime, the A.U. mission must be maintained and strengthened. We cannot afford any gaps or any weakening of the force in place. Last May the African Union and the United Nations organized a donor conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to raise money and logistical support for the A.U. force. A follow-up conference is planned for Feb. 20. At the same time, the massive relief operation must continue, and be fully funded, so that Darfur's people continue to receive clean water, food and other vital supplies.
Finally, and above all, much stronger pressure must be brought on all parties -- the rebels as well as the government -- to observe the cease-fire and commit themselves to the Abuja peace talks with a sense of urgency. The current delays are inexcusable; they cost lives every day. Those negotiating must be reminded of their personal responsibility.
One thing is clear: Whatever external force is sent to Darfur can provide at best only temporary security to the people there. Only a political agreement among their leaders can secure their future and the return of 2 million of them to their homes.
The writer is secretary general of the United Nations.
WP Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Here is something for Moslems to Angry About
The situation in Darfur deteriorates as the Moslem Sudanese Government inflicts pain and suffering on its own Moslem population in Darfur. The world calls it genocide, and governments in the Islamic world are not moved to stop it.
For details of the situation today, follow the link to an article in today's WP.
Kind of forgot how brilliant the British comedy series "Coupling" was/is. This weekend BBC America ran a Coupling Marathon over the weekend. My favorites episode is the one titled "The Girl with One Heart". That is the episode in which Patrick delivers the most hilarious monologue ever about the difference between the sexes. It starts with "we are men" and ends with "we want to walk the toilet mile alone"
Three stories from today's NYT worth looking at. First, Emran Qureshi, a fellow at Harvard Law School writes about "The Islam the Riots Drowend Out". Martin Burcharth is a US correspondent for a Danish newspaper writes "Capture the Flag." And Finally a report for Cairo by Michael Slackman about "Beneath the Rage in the Middle East."
Saturday, February 11, 2006
Lost in the City. Listen to Act 1 of "This American Life" episode 307 (Feb. 3, 2006)
In David Brooks' column (NYT Feb 9, 2006) titled "Drafting Hitler", I stopped when I saw this sentence "But you have a different way. When I say you, I don't mean you Muslims. I don't mean you genuine Islamic scholars and learners. I mean you Islamists."
Brooks and the rest of the western media are in the habit of taking words like Islamist, Jihadist, Madrassa out of their original linguistic and cultural context of the Arabic language. The western media is in effect defining the Moslem and Arab culture as they please and as it suits their argument. In a correspondence to Mr. Brooks, I suggested he should invent new words and leave ours to mean what they mean in the oriental societies.
NYT article on Feb. 10, 2006 focuses on the Danish Prime Minister's remarks that Iran & Syria have hijacked the cartoon crisis for their domestic ends. I can see some merit to this argument. But when he goes further to say "I don't think we could have done something in another way", I think I will have to take issue with him. To start with he could have met with the Moslem/Arab ambassadors, who requested to meet him when the story bubbled up. Something he was forced to do, when it was already to late.
The story was also covered in the WP on the same day.
Dinitia Smith wrote in today's NYT Arab-American playwrights. The majority of her article is about Yussef EL Guindi, an Egyptian whose new play is titled "Back of the Throat."
The Africa Cup extravaganza in Egypt is over, with the host country (Egypt) winning the Cup. I am glad I was not there to be sickened by the accolades and praise for the" Pharaohs" as well the dispute over Mido's expulsion from the Egyptian team.
Let us just hope that the people and their government will now pay the respect and attention to the 1,000 who perished less than two weeks ago as they crossed the Red Sea from Saudi Arabia
Waugh Bridge crosses Buffalo Bayou less than half a mile from where I live. Just found out that the bridge is inhabited by Mexican free-tailed bats. They estimate the colony is 250,000 strong. I first found about it from a sign on Memorial Drive. If you drive east on Memorial Drive, watch out for a small sign at the Waugh Drive South exit, which is easy to miss. A larger bat colony exits in Austin.
Yesterday, I went to the Landmark Theatre in River Oaks to see the French movie "Cache" with Juliette Binoche and Daniel Auteuil. The theatre upstairs at River Oaks is small and cozy, with a capacity of may be 120. I guess there were about 30 – 40 people present. Lack of audience has to do with people's aversion to films with sub-titles, which is how I grew up in Egypt. All films shown in theaters in Egypt in the 50s and 60s had Arabic and/or English and/or French subtitles.
As soon as the movie was over, the man next to me turned in my direction and asked in a loud voice "can you explain to me what happened here?" As soon as he said that a lot of other voices were raised asking "what is the ending all about?" and "what is this movie all about?"
Never before (except after Fahrenheit 911) did I see people stop after the movie to talk to total strangers. Trust me, I am not exaggerating when I say that half of the audience was engaged in group discussion as the credit lines were rolling. I guess this is the ending the director wanted, namely for people to talk. I am sure I will go again with friends, just to see what they think
Thursday, February 09, 2006
The NYT reported on the force feeding of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to break the hunger strike of the inmates.
A University of Memphis archeological team discovers a new tomb in the Valley of the Kings. The tomb dates back to the 18th dynasty. (Reuters)
How to protect your MP3 player? (NYT)
Yuval Diskin, the head of Israel's domestic security agency, Shin Bet suggests that Israel may rue the overthrow of Saddam. (BBC)
In an editorial today, the WP discussed what is needed to reform lobbying. It included: meals, entertainment & gifts, travel and disclosure. I say, isn't the oath of office taken by our lawmakers enough to keep them straight?
With every revelation of the Washington scandals and every proposal for reform proposed by our lawmakers, I get more and more depressed by the state of affairs in DC. Our lawmakers live in a universe of their own, and no longer speak for the people that elected them. I hope we remember that in November.
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
What was he thinking?
The Captain of the Saint Catherine did not respond to the call for help from al-Salam Boccaccio 98, in order to protect his passengers. About 1,00 people died when al-Salam Boccaccio went down. Both ships are operated by the same company "El Salam Maritime." (BBC)
Here is a bizarre story about US boycott of Cuba, which has lasted for over 50 years. A Cuban delegation was staying at the Sheraton Maria Isabel Hotel in Mexico City. The US Treasury Department contacted the Hotel owners and warned them that they were violating federal laws against trading with Cuba. The Cubans were asked to leave and the Hotel sent the delegation deposits to the Treasury Department. (NYT)
Google to launch today a new program, called Gmail Chat. It will let Gmail users exchange text messages with others without having to log onto a separate chat program, making instant messaging simpler and more integrated with the e-mail program. (NYT)
Monday, February 06, 2006
Apology of the Danish Newspaper-أعتذار الصحيفه الدنماركيه
نشرت الصحيفه أعتذار باللغة العربيه على موقعها على الانترنت. تابع التوصيله
The Danish Newspaper Jyallands-Posten published an apology in Arabic on its internet site. Follow the link to the PDF.
Turks flock to see the movie "Valley of the Wolves" depicting atrocities by US troops in Iraq. (AFP)
NYT editorial shows casualty in Iraq during the month of January in a map format. Article by A. L. de Albuquerque and A. Cheng.
صلاة الله على سيدي "كامل النور"
ومن العجب العجاب أن كثيرين من أولئك المبدعين التحرريين، ومن عامة المسلمين، يصلون ويصومون ويزكون ويحجون ويعتمرون؛ كما يلعنون الأب والأم ويسبون بالدين، ويعظوننا بمكارم الأخلاق. فأية عقيدة يظن أولئك أنهم إليها ينتمون، وأي نبي يظنون أنهم به مقتدون؛ بل وأي إله يظنون أنهم يعبدون وأنهم إليه راجعون؟! يقول المولى : "أرأيت من اتخذ إلهه هواه". والحق يقال، والشهادة لله وحده، فإن كثيرا ممن نشهد بين المسلمين في هذا العصر قد استحبوا العمى على الهدى فاستحقوا المذلة والهوان؛ وقد صدق فيهم قول المولى : "ذلك بما قدمت أيديكم وأن الله ليس بظلام للعبيد"، و"ذلك بأن الله لم يك مغيرا نعمة أنعمها على قوم حتى يغيروا ما بأنفسهم وأن الله سميع عليم". وعلى الله قصد السبيل، ولو شاء لهدانا أجمعين
السقوط المروع
ولكي نتصور، فداحة وحدّة وشراسة تلك العلة التي أصابت الصحافة المتطاولة (مرآة أممها) يمكن أن نسأل من نعرف ونطمئن بأنهم يقينا من العقلاء والأسوياء هذا السؤال البديهي والمنطقي : ماذا يمكن أن يكون بشر توفاه الله في القرن السابع الميلادي قد فعل بفرد أو أفراد يعيشون في هذا اقرن الحادي والعشرين للميلاد، وعلى بعد آلاف الأميال من أرض مولده؟! سبحان الله ولا إله إلا الله : أن جعل الذئب المفترس أقل شططا في افتراءاته؛ حين التهم الحمل بدعوى أنه سبّه في الربيع الماضي (حيث لم يكن قد ولد بعد)، فعدّل حيثيات الحكم بعقابه على جريمة أبيه، ولم يذهب خياله لألف عام سبقت!! والفارق أن خيال الذئب كان خيال الجائع أما خيال الصحافة المتطاولة (مرآة أممها) فإنه خيال حمى الفصام والبارانويا
The Editor; "Yellands-Posten" of Denmark
Dear Sirs,
It is extremely sad that the Muslim Masses had gone too far in exercising their rights to "Freedom of-Expression"; by burning down two embassies, and so many Danish flags and effigies. You see Sir, the problem with the Masses is that they are unable to read between the lines; whether in text or in drawings. You evidently did not insult Islam or the Prophet of Islam, but were only giving an honest illustrated diagnosis of the mental state of your own nation; and your message clearly reads: "The Danish Nation severely suffers from a Very Sick Imagination", and you must be extremely brave and honest to assert that observation. Naturally you could not be blamed; since, in your Nationwide Competition, you only strictly followed the most classic and standard procedures in Psychological Health Tests. Your message has, therefore, clearly missed its target; and its target was most certainly "the troubled Heart of the Danish Suffering Nation"!!
This, of course, is apart from the fact that no one on this entire Planet can ever hurt Islam or the Prophet of Islam; and attempting this is not much unlike "that poor stag trying to crush a basalt rock, with its brittle horns"!!
Thank you Sir.
Yours faithfully,
(Professor) F. A. E.
Sunday, February 05, 2006
At the Movies
- A Good Woman: Helen Hunt, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Wilkinson, Stephen Campbell Moore & Mark Umbers (Mike Barker)
- Something New: Sanaa Lathan, Simon Baker, Blair Underwood, Alfree Woodard & Mike Epps (Sanaa Hamri)
- The Three Burial of Melquiades Estrada: Tommy Lee Jones, Julio Cedillo, Vanessa Bauche, Barry Pepper, Dwight Yoakam & Barry Tubb (Tommy Lee Jones)
Daniel Williams of WP (Feb. 3, 2006) suggests "Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood May Be Model for Islam's Political Adaptation"
WP editorial (Feb. 4, 2006) concludes "Democratization in the Middle East will inevitably mean that Islamists and others with anti-Western agendas will have the chance to compete for power -- and occasionally to govern. If so they will be forced to choose, as Hamas now will, between ideology and pragmatic success, and suffer democracy's consequences if they fail. To oppose that development is to invest in an untenable status quo and to raise the chances that the Islamists -- who are a force the Middle East will live with for decades to come -- will assume power and rule not by democracy but by violence."
NYT headline from Safaga, Egypt reads "Survivors Recount Begging Ferry Captain to Turn Back "
Saturday, February 04, 2006
For updated information on the days preceding the Iraq war, two web-sites have come to my attention this week. The first is Blair Watch, and the second is last night's episode of "Now", the PBS weekly program.
Arab News published an article about the Danish affair. The first paragraph goes like this: "Saudi newspapers seem to be the only winners in the controversy over the blasphemous cartoons. .... Local newspapers have been receiving a windfall of advertisements in recent days."
It is unfortunate that the newspaper is picking winners here. The only winners in my mind are the hate-mongers, the ignorant and the zealous fanatics on all sides of the issue.
On Feb. 2, 2006, the NYT published and editorial dealing with the battle over domestic spying . Following is the last paragraph which sums up my feelings and concerns.
"One of the oddest moments in Mr. Bush's defense of domestic spying came when he told his audience in Nashville, "If I was trying to pull a fast one on the American people, why did I brief Congress?" He did not mention that some lawmakers protested the spying at the briefings, or that they found them inadequate. The audience members who laughed and applauded Mr. Bush's version of the truth may have forgot that he said he briefed Congress fully on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. We know how that turned out."
Misstatement of the Union
The President left out a few things when surveying the State of the Union:
He proudly spoke of "writing a new chapter in the story of self-government" in Iraq and Afghanistan and said the number of democracies in the world is growing. He failed to mention that neither Iraq nor Afghanistan yet qualify as democracies according to the very group whose statistics he cited.- Bush called for Congress to pass a line-item veto, failing to mention that the Supreme Court struck down a line-item veto as unconstitutional in 1998. Bills now in Congress would propose a Constitutional amendment, but none have shown signs of life.
- The President said the economy gained 4.6 million jobs in the past two-and-a-half years, failing to note that it had lost 2.6 million jobs in his first two-and-a-half years in office. The net gain since Bush took office is just a little more than 2 million.
- He talked of cutting spending, but only "non-security discretionary spending." Actually, total federal spending has increased 42 percent since Bush took office.
- He spoke of being "on track" to cut the federal deficit in half by 2009. But the deficit is increasing this year, and according to the Congressional Budget Office it will decline by considerably less than half even if Bush's tax cuts are allowed to lapse.
- Bush spoke of a "goal" of cutting dependence on Middle Eastern oil, failing to mention that US dependence on imported oil and petroleum products increased substantially during his first five years in office, reaching 60 per cent of consumption last year.
Source: FactCheck
Thursday, February 02, 2006
It is business as usual on the Hill
The Republican caucus elected Rep. John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) as their leader. WP reported the following early in January "(sighting) Boehner's distribution of checks from tobacco concerns in 1995 to lawmakers on the House floor. "
Ed Henry of CNN reported the same afternoon, that the first ballot was a cause or concern. Apparently there were more ballots cast than members present. The CNN footage was later re-broadcast on "The Daily Show"
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
The Swiss branch of Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on the Swiss government to do more to expose alleged CIA detention camps in eastern Europe (SwissInfo)
In another news item, SwissInfo reported "The Swiss government has granted permission for overflights by non-commercial United States aircraft until the end of 2006."
سئلو صاحبى عن "سرعة البراق" وهذه خواطره
كل عام وأنتم والأسرة الكريمة بخير .. وبعد
معذرة أني لم أكن جاهزا لموضوع مبحثكم في اشتقاق السرعات الكونية من الآيات القرآنية، والذي هو في كل الأحوال خارج نطاق قدراتي ومعرفتي تماما. والذي تعلمته في الفيزياء أن حركة الأجسام ذات السرعات العادية تخضع لقوانين الحركة في الميكانيكا الكلاسيكية (وفق معادلات نيوتن)، وأن حركة الأجسام ذات السرعات العالية التي تقترب من سرعة الضوء في الفراغ تخضع لقوانين الحركة في الميكانيكا النسبية (وفق معادلات اينشتاين). وهذه وتلك تخص العالم المادي المعروف في الكون (أي الذي يمكن قياسه أو الكشف عنه)؛ وهو يمثل ما بين 1، 10 في المائة من إجمالي مادة الكون، وفيزياؤه معروفة إلى حد يكاد يكون كاملا. وتمثل النسبة المتبقية (بين 90، 99 بالمائة) ما يعرف باسم المادة المعتمة، ولا يعرف عنها أكثر من ذلك؛ لا فيزياء ولا معادلات رياضية يمكن أن يشتق منها شيء، أو يحسب شيء. ولعل أفضل إجابة ممكنة لسرعة الإسراء والمعراج، هي ما خرجت "أم أمان" بها تلقائيا : سرعة قانون "كن فيكون"، وهو يصدق على مادة الكون؛ المعروفة والمعتمة على حد سواء
مع بالغ الشكر والتقدير