Once again, sorry for the lack of Links posts last week. I was busy with other matters. This post covers June 22nd through today, June 29th. Not surprisingly, most of the links deal with the Iranian election aftermath; stories on Israel are also increasing, mostly due to renewed settlement in the West Bank. And the newest, hottest story is of the coup in Honduras.)
Americas:
Coup In Honduras
20 People Killed in Peru in Demonstrations
Europe:
Merkel Stands Besides Demonstrators - "in Iran" (In Germany, not so much.)
Russia Ready for Deep Nuclear Arms Cuts: Medvedev
Middle East:
Odierno: Iraqis Ready for Handover
Violence Erupts in Baghdad as Deadline for U.S. Troops to Withdraw From Major Cities Nears
Iraq After The U.S. Retreat
FBI Files: Saddam Hussein Faked Having WMDs (Old news, but worth linking to.)
Karim Sadjadpour Reminds Chris Wallace That U.S. Meddling in Middle East Politics is Not Productive
David Gregory Badgers Benjamin Netanyahu Over Whether Israel Will Take Unilateral Action Against Iran
Resisting Calls, Israel Insists on Building in the West Bank
Israel Deploys Troops Along Lebanese Border (Near Shebaa Farms, specifically.)
Barak Authorizes Construction of 300 New Homes in West Bank (American reaction? Nothing.)
Pakistan Navy Slated for Major Revamp
Iran:
Has There Been a Military Coup in Iran by the Revolutionary Guard in Iran?
Reza Aslan on Iran (His interview on The Daily Show.)
Neda: A Civil Rights Struggle
Obama: Neda Video 'Heartbreaking'
The Meaning of Neda
In Iran, Authorities Admit Voting Discrepancies
Rachel Maddow: Iranian Protesters Targetting the Basiji
Evidence Of Western Intelligence Meddling in Iran
Sunday's Protest March Broken Up; Rafsanjani Defers to Khamenei (Sunday referring to June 28th.)
5,000 March Silently in Iran
Washington and the Iran Protests: Would they be Allowed in the US?
Guardianship Council Rules out Annulment of Election Results; Reformists Planning Strikes, Mourning
Chatham House Study Definitively Shows Massive Ballot Fraud in Iran's Reported Results
More Details on Saturday's Demonstrations (This would have been Saturday, June 20th.)
An Interesting Detail
Iran Election Wrap Up
Has the U.S. Played a Role in Fomenting Unrest During Iran’s Election?
Iran: 'There is Very Little Logic at Work' (This was a very interesting personal essay. Must read.)
Obama Questions Legitimacy of Iranian Elections, Says It is ‘Up to the Iranian People to Decide’ Their Leadership.
Lugar: The U.S. Should Still Be Willing To ‘Sit Down’ With Iran For Nuclear Talks
Asia:
China Crosses the Rubicon
China-India Relations: An Unresolved Border and 60,000 Troops Deployed
Thousands of Anti-Govt Protesters Mass in Bangkok (Former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra wants to come home.)
Miscellaneous:
Senegal: Islam, Democracy, Sexy
Indefinite Detention, Anyone? White House is Drafting New Executive Order
Obama Considering an Executive Order Allowing Indefinite Detention.
Showing posts with label Guantanamo Bay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Guantanamo Bay. Show all posts
June 29, 2009
June 9, 2009
International Politics Links (8 June 2009)
My series of links posts, which went on a brief hiatus last week, resumes tonight with two major changes. The first is that I've decided to go with a revolving format; for example, international politics will be every Monday, insha'allah. My tentative schedule for the remainder of the week is: Tuesdays - Business/Economics, Wednesdays - Islam/Muslim Blogs, Thursdays - Miscellaneous (e.g., science, science fiction, photos, etc.), and Fridays - Open. Of course, all of this is subject to change without notice.
The other big change is that I've decided not to do links for American politics, for two reasons: one, it's such a fast-moving and huge topic that to do it justice would mean a daily commitment, one which I'm not sure I want to make; and two, most of the political blogs I read follow the philosophy of "know thy enemy," which, in this case is the Republican party. The sheer stupidity and evil of many Republicans really disgust me. I've decided I'd rather not comment on those matters for the most part, although I may occasionally link to posts about American politics in so far as it deals with international politics and economics.
With regard to international politics, I've separated links into geographical areas (continents) for the most part. For example, in today's post, links are for Europe, the Middle East and Asia, with "Miscellaneous" being for other parts of the world or multiple countries discussed in the post. Within each geographical area, I've tried to alphabetize the countries mentioned. So, once more, for example, with respect to the Middle East the countries are Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Pakistan, and Syria.
And, of course, if my readers have legitimate suggestions for links, please add them in the comments.
Europe:
Majid: Dangerous Purities (An interesting guest op-ed essay on the 400th anniversary of the expulsion of the Moriscos from Spain. The Moriscos were Spaniards of Muslim descent, either themselves or their parents/grandparents, who had converted from Islam to Christianity. But even their conversion was not enough to satisfy the Catholics, so roughly 300,000 Moriscos, or five percent of the Spanish population, was forced to flee their own country, with most of them dying in the process.)
Biased Election Reporting (On the German results for the European Parliament election.)
Russian Warns Against Relying on Dollar
Middle East:
Obama in the Middle East
Reactions to Obama's Speech
Obama's Speech in Cairo (Juan Cole)
Obama's Speech In Cairo (Moon of Alabama)
Iraqi Prime Minister Warned Obama About Photos: 'Baghdad Will Burn'
It's Only Make-Believe: Bush Policy on Israeli Settlement Freeze Was An 'Understanding'
Obama and Resolving the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
OSC: Israeli Press on Obama's Cairo Address
Netanyahu's Problem
UN: Israeli Buffer Zone Eats Up 30 Percent of Gaza's Arable Land
Jewish Settlers Rampage in West Bank
March 14 Faction Wins in Lebanon
OSC: Pakistani Editorialists Respond to Obama
Thousands Flee Mingora in Panic; Army advances toward Kalam; 9 Soldiers Killed, 27 militants
Mysterious 'Chip' is CIA's Latest Weapon Against al-Qaida Targets Hiding in Pakistan's Tribal Belt ("Don't like your neighbor? Drop a chip in his house and the CIA will bomb him.")
Syrian Newspapers on Obama's Arab Tour (OSC)
Asia:
Made in China Means Quality
American Journalists Sentenced In North Korea To 12 Years Labor Camp
Star War Fantasy Drill (Is North Korea a military threat to America? No, and a military hardware project called the "star war fantasy drill" from the US budget, to the howls of protest by some.)
Seoul Boosts Forces Against N Korea
Miscellaneous:
Fleischer criticizes Obama’s Cairo speech as being too ‘balanced.’
EU And Lebanon Elections
NYT Finally Runs ‘Editor’s Note’ Correction To Misleading Gitmo Detainee ‘Recidivism’ Story
The other big change is that I've decided not to do links for American politics, for two reasons: one, it's such a fast-moving and huge topic that to do it justice would mean a daily commitment, one which I'm not sure I want to make; and two, most of the political blogs I read follow the philosophy of "know thy enemy," which, in this case is the Republican party. The sheer stupidity and evil of many Republicans really disgust me. I've decided I'd rather not comment on those matters for the most part, although I may occasionally link to posts about American politics in so far as it deals with international politics and economics.
With regard to international politics, I've separated links into geographical areas (continents) for the most part. For example, in today's post, links are for Europe, the Middle East and Asia, with "Miscellaneous" being for other parts of the world or multiple countries discussed in the post. Within each geographical area, I've tried to alphabetize the countries mentioned. So, once more, for example, with respect to the Middle East the countries are Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Pakistan, and Syria.
And, of course, if my readers have legitimate suggestions for links, please add them in the comments.
Europe:
Majid: Dangerous Purities (An interesting guest op-ed essay on the 400th anniversary of the expulsion of the Moriscos from Spain. The Moriscos were Spaniards of Muslim descent, either themselves or their parents/grandparents, who had converted from Islam to Christianity. But even their conversion was not enough to satisfy the Catholics, so roughly 300,000 Moriscos, or five percent of the Spanish population, was forced to flee their own country, with most of them dying in the process.)
Biased Election Reporting (On the German results for the European Parliament election.)
Russian Warns Against Relying on Dollar
Middle East:
Obama in the Middle East
Reactions to Obama's Speech
Obama's Speech in Cairo (Juan Cole)
Obama's Speech In Cairo (Moon of Alabama)
Iraqi Prime Minister Warned Obama About Photos: 'Baghdad Will Burn'
It's Only Make-Believe: Bush Policy on Israeli Settlement Freeze Was An 'Understanding'
Obama and Resolving the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
OSC: Israeli Press on Obama's Cairo Address
Netanyahu's Problem
UN: Israeli Buffer Zone Eats Up 30 Percent of Gaza's Arable Land
Jewish Settlers Rampage in West Bank
March 14 Faction Wins in Lebanon
OSC: Pakistani Editorialists Respond to Obama
Thousands Flee Mingora in Panic; Army advances toward Kalam; 9 Soldiers Killed, 27 militants
Mysterious 'Chip' is CIA's Latest Weapon Against al-Qaida Targets Hiding in Pakistan's Tribal Belt ("Don't like your neighbor? Drop a chip in his house and the CIA will bomb him.")
Syrian Newspapers on Obama's Arab Tour (OSC)
Asia:
Made in China Means Quality
American Journalists Sentenced In North Korea To 12 Years Labor Camp
Star War Fantasy Drill (Is North Korea a military threat to America? No, and a military hardware project called the "star war fantasy drill" from the US budget, to the howls of protest by some.)
Seoul Boosts Forces Against N Korea
Miscellaneous:
Fleischer criticizes Obama’s Cairo speech as being too ‘balanced.’
EU And Lebanon Elections
NYT Finally Runs ‘Editor’s Note’ Correction To Misleading Gitmo Detainee ‘Recidivism’ Story
June 1, 2009
Links for 1 June 2009
I've been debating whether to continue the Links series of posts, either in its current format (published primarily on weekdays) or in an alternative format (e.g., weekly, rotating, sans the Politics section or American politics). While I won't stop reading the various blogs and websites that I link to, the actual writing of the Links posts takes a little longer than I would like. Suggestions? Thumbs up? Thumbs down?)
Politics:
Dr George Tiller shot to death at Wichita church (By now you've probably heard about the Kansan abortion doctor who was murdered in a church Sunday. This is one of the early reports. Other links you might find of interest include Bill O'Reilly has Dr. George Tiller's blood on his well-stained hands, Operation Rescue's Randall Terry Is Sorry Tiller Didn't Get Proper Trial And Execution, and Operation Rescue Distances Itself From Roeder’s Activities On Behalf Of The Group (sorry, the blood doesn't wash off your hands that easily). )
Lindsey Graham Says Sotomayor Is Not A Racist But Should Apologize Anyway (Sometimes I think of doing an intelligence index for Republicans; say, start at 100 and then add or subtract points based on any smart or (much more likely) stupid things Republicans say publicly. If we started today, Lindsey Graham would take the Republicans down to 99 already.)
Pressing China With A Nuclear Japan?
Gen. Ricardo Sanchez calls for war crimes truth commission.
Obama Administration Files Petition To Block Uighurs From Entering U.S., Praises Gitmo Conditions (Ridiculous!)
Economics:
What to Do Now with $50,000 Cash? ("If you have USD $50,000 in cash, what do you actually do with the money now? It is probably different by age group, but does one buy Ford at $2/share, swiss francs, some gold?")
Supply, demand, and the price of oil
Guest Blog: Japan's first trade deficit in 28 years
The View from the 23rd Century (This was a rather interesting column, looking at some of the ideas floating around in the field of growth economics and applying a Star Trek-twist to them. Some of the essay is "old" in the respect that the notion of "bits and atoms" has been talked about for a few years now. However, the basic idea of the essay is sound: growth in developed economies is strongest and can be very long lasting when it's based on knowledge ("bits"), with government legislation and spending often the key to moving the knowledge acquisition forward.)
"Incarceration as a Labor Market Outcome" (Although I've been looking at unemployment statistics for a few months now, the incorporation of incarceration rates into the analysis wass a new idea for me.)
Business:
At Harvard, Some Students Are Taking an M.B.A. Honor Oath (As an MBA who's Muslim, I find this type of oath a day late and a dollar short. I think it really speaks volumes about the lack of values inherent in Western society, especially within the business sub-culture.)
Islam/Muslim Blogs:
Jesus (AS) in Islam (Austrolabe finally came back online after a five-month hiatus with a link to a documentary on the Muslim view about Jesus (pbuh).)
Al-Muhajiroun sent packing
Miscellaneous:
Alien reboot, a prequel, is confirmed! (The Scott brothers, Ridley and Tony, are going to make an Alien prequel.)
Politics:
Dr George Tiller shot to death at Wichita church (By now you've probably heard about the Kansan abortion doctor who was murdered in a church Sunday. This is one of the early reports. Other links you might find of interest include Bill O'Reilly has Dr. George Tiller's blood on his well-stained hands, Operation Rescue's Randall Terry Is Sorry Tiller Didn't Get Proper Trial And Execution, and Operation Rescue Distances Itself From Roeder’s Activities On Behalf Of The Group (sorry, the blood doesn't wash off your hands that easily). )
Lindsey Graham Says Sotomayor Is Not A Racist But Should Apologize Anyway (Sometimes I think of doing an intelligence index for Republicans; say, start at 100 and then add or subtract points based on any smart or (much more likely) stupid things Republicans say publicly. If we started today, Lindsey Graham would take the Republicans down to 99 already.)
Pressing China With A Nuclear Japan?
Gen. Ricardo Sanchez calls for war crimes truth commission.
Obama Administration Files Petition To Block Uighurs From Entering U.S., Praises Gitmo Conditions (Ridiculous!)
Economics:
What to Do Now with $50,000 Cash? ("If you have USD $50,000 in cash, what do you actually do with the money now? It is probably different by age group, but does one buy Ford at $2/share, swiss francs, some gold?")
Supply, demand, and the price of oil
Guest Blog: Japan's first trade deficit in 28 years
The View from the 23rd Century (This was a rather interesting column, looking at some of the ideas floating around in the field of growth economics and applying a Star Trek-twist to them. Some of the essay is "old" in the respect that the notion of "bits and atoms" has been talked about for a few years now. However, the basic idea of the essay is sound: growth in developed economies is strongest and can be very long lasting when it's based on knowledge ("bits"), with government legislation and spending often the key to moving the knowledge acquisition forward.)
"Incarceration as a Labor Market Outcome" (Although I've been looking at unemployment statistics for a few months now, the incorporation of incarceration rates into the analysis wass a new idea for me.)
Business:
At Harvard, Some Students Are Taking an M.B.A. Honor Oath (As an MBA who's Muslim, I find this type of oath a day late and a dollar short. I think it really speaks volumes about the lack of values inherent in Western society, especially within the business sub-culture.)
Islam/Muslim Blogs:
Jesus (AS) in Islam (Austrolabe finally came back online after a five-month hiatus with a link to a documentary on the Muslim view about Jesus (pbuh).)
Al-Muhajiroun sent packing
Miscellaneous:
Alien reboot, a prequel, is confirmed! (The Scott brothers, Ridley and Tony, are going to make an Alien prequel.)
May 30, 2009
Links for 29 May 2009
Politics:
Dick Morris Thinks Convincing the Japanese to Develop Nuclear Weapons is the Solution to Dealing With North Korea (Oh, yeah, that's the ticket! Bring all of Northeast Asia into a nuclear arms race. No, thank you!)
Another Ralph Peters idea: Eventually, soldiers will need to start killing the media too (Yesterday, I linked to a post where Col. Ralph Peters suggested we should just kill all the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. Some people have been looking into his previous statements, and found that he's also suggested that the military kill the media as well: "Rejecting the god of their fathers, the neo-pagans who dominate the media serve as lackeys at the terrorists’ bloody altar. ... Although it seems unthinkable now, future wars may require censorship, news blackouts and, ultimately, military attacks on the partisan media." Unthinkable now, unthinkable in the future, too, you nitwit!)
Fox News Embraces Right-Wing Theory That Obama Is Forcing GOP-Owned Car Dealerships To Close (Of course, no one seems to consider that "...all car dealers are, in fact, overwhelmingly more likely to donate to Republicans than to Democrats — not just those who are having their doors closed.” But why let facts get in the way of a good hysteria? See also TBogg's Negro president locks Republican car dealers in the trunk and Yet another intrepid Malkin 'investigative scoop' goes pffffft.)
Was Rape an Enhanced Interrogation Technique? (The answer: YES! No wonder the Obama administration is trying to keep the new photos from Abu Ghraib secret.)
Rachel Maddow Responds to Tancredo's Racist Screed
Countdown: Jesse Ventura on Torture Prosecutions and Waterboarding (Ventura on "why he thinks we haven't had any prosecutions for torture in the United States, 'Mancow' Muller's waterboarding and Sean Hannity never agreeing to go through it himself.")
How to talk to a right winger ("What was ostensibly good for Israel for 40 years will also be good for another 400 years. For 40 years we were able to deceive ourselves, to mock the world, to occupy, to oppress, to trample and to kill. So why shouldn't we continue?")
The Potential Korea Escalation
Economics:
Yield Curve
"Fermi Problems" (Fermi Problems are interesting; I've run into a few, and I know that Microsoft has used them as part of their recruiting process. Thoma mentions that "Watching someone work out a Fermi problem in real time reveals a lot about their brainpower." More specifically, what it really does, IMO, is show how one works through a problem: the assumptions made and the logic necessary to solve the problem itself. Whether the solution itself is correct is mostly irrelevant. How one comes up with the solution is what's at stake.)
Are Durable Goods Orders Bottoming? (Another sign that might indicate the recession is beginning to fade.)
Islam/Muslim Blogs:
A quote to remember...
Miscellaneous:
Closer: The Cutout Of Delight (Always carry an extra hand in your purse, my dear?)
Russian police find feral girl in Siberia (Astaghfirullah! Poor girl. Russian police have taken into care a 5-year-old girl who has been shut up in a flat in the company of cats and dogs for her entire life, police said on Wednesday. ... The girl, who lived in the Eastern Siberian city of Chita, could not speak Russian and acted like an dog when police took her into care. ... "For five years, the girl was 'brought up' by several dogs and cats and had never been outside," a police statement said.)
Crater on Mars named for Isaac Asimov (An asteroid was already named after him, but this is still an overdue honor.)
Dick Morris Thinks Convincing the Japanese to Develop Nuclear Weapons is the Solution to Dealing With North Korea (Oh, yeah, that's the ticket! Bring all of Northeast Asia into a nuclear arms race. No, thank you!)
Another Ralph Peters idea: Eventually, soldiers will need to start killing the media too (Yesterday, I linked to a post where Col. Ralph Peters suggested we should just kill all the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. Some people have been looking into his previous statements, and found that he's also suggested that the military kill the media as well: "Rejecting the god of their fathers, the neo-pagans who dominate the media serve as lackeys at the terrorists’ bloody altar. ... Although it seems unthinkable now, future wars may require censorship, news blackouts and, ultimately, military attacks on the partisan media." Unthinkable now, unthinkable in the future, too, you nitwit!)
Fox News Embraces Right-Wing Theory That Obama Is Forcing GOP-Owned Car Dealerships To Close (Of course, no one seems to consider that "...all car dealers are, in fact, overwhelmingly more likely to donate to Republicans than to Democrats — not just those who are having their doors closed.” But why let facts get in the way of a good hysteria? See also TBogg's Negro president locks Republican car dealers in the trunk and Yet another intrepid Malkin 'investigative scoop' goes pffffft.)
Was Rape an Enhanced Interrogation Technique? (The answer: YES! No wonder the Obama administration is trying to keep the new photos from Abu Ghraib secret.)
Rachel Maddow Responds to Tancredo's Racist Screed
Countdown: Jesse Ventura on Torture Prosecutions and Waterboarding (Ventura on "why he thinks we haven't had any prosecutions for torture in the United States, 'Mancow' Muller's waterboarding and Sean Hannity never agreeing to go through it himself.")
How to talk to a right winger ("What was ostensibly good for Israel for 40 years will also be good for another 400 years. For 40 years we were able to deceive ourselves, to mock the world, to occupy, to oppress, to trample and to kill. So why shouldn't we continue?")
The Potential Korea Escalation
Economics:
Yield Curve
"Fermi Problems" (Fermi Problems are interesting; I've run into a few, and I know that Microsoft has used them as part of their recruiting process. Thoma mentions that "Watching someone work out a Fermi problem in real time reveals a lot about their brainpower." More specifically, what it really does, IMO, is show how one works through a problem: the assumptions made and the logic necessary to solve the problem itself. Whether the solution itself is correct is mostly irrelevant. How one comes up with the solution is what's at stake.)
Are Durable Goods Orders Bottoming? (Another sign that might indicate the recession is beginning to fade.)
Islam/Muslim Blogs:
A quote to remember...
Miscellaneous:
Closer: The Cutout Of Delight (Always carry an extra hand in your purse, my dear?)
Russian police find feral girl in Siberia (Astaghfirullah! Poor girl. Russian police have taken into care a 5-year-old girl who has been shut up in a flat in the company of cats and dogs for her entire life, police said on Wednesday. ... The girl, who lived in the Eastern Siberian city of Chita, could not speak Russian and acted like an dog when police took her into care. ... "For five years, the girl was 'brought up' by several dogs and cats and had never been outside," a police statement said.)
Crater on Mars named for Isaac Asimov (An asteroid was already named after him, but this is still an overdue honor.)
May 29, 2009
Links for 28 May 2009
A little late but I have my reasons... :)
Politics:
Rachel Maddow Show: Cutting Through the Spin on Sonia Sotomayor
Fox talker Peters has a Gitmo solution: Just kill them all ("You have to wonder just what level of moral and ethical depravity you have to reach to be a Fox News talker these days. ... Col. Ralph Peters -- who doesn't exactly have a track record for probity to begin with -- went on Neil Cavuto and offered a solution to dealing with terrorists at Guantanamo Bay -- just kill them all.")
Krikorian: People should stop pronouncing Sotomayor’s name correctly. (It's amazing the amount of stupidity permeating the Republican party.)
Sotomayor and MLB (Interesting. "It was Sotomayor's ruling that forced Major League Baseball players and owners to resume the national pastime in 1995 after a 234-day player strike wiped out the final six weeks of the regular season and the entire postseason in 1994.")
‘Censored’ Abu Ghraib photographs show rape of detainees. (Both of male and female prisoners.)
Countdown: Worst Persons May 27, 2009
Miscellaneous:
The Phantom Torso Returns (The European Space Agency (ESA) sent a mannequin into space to determine radiation levels astronauts face. The conclusion: short trips (six months) to the moon are fine; trips to Mars may make the astronauts toast.)
Volcanic Terrain on Mercury
Politics:
Rachel Maddow Show: Cutting Through the Spin on Sonia Sotomayor
Fox talker Peters has a Gitmo solution: Just kill them all ("You have to wonder just what level of moral and ethical depravity you have to reach to be a Fox News talker these days. ... Col. Ralph Peters -- who doesn't exactly have a track record for probity to begin with -- went on Neil Cavuto and offered a solution to dealing with terrorists at Guantanamo Bay -- just kill them all.")
Krikorian: People should stop pronouncing Sotomayor’s name correctly. (It's amazing the amount of stupidity permeating the Republican party.)
Sotomayor and MLB (Interesting. "It was Sotomayor's ruling that forced Major League Baseball players and owners to resume the national pastime in 1995 after a 234-day player strike wiped out the final six weeks of the regular season and the entire postseason in 1994.")
‘Censored’ Abu Ghraib photographs show rape of detainees. (Both of male and female prisoners.)
Countdown: Worst Persons May 27, 2009
Miscellaneous:
The Phantom Torso Returns (The European Space Agency (ESA) sent a mannequin into space to determine radiation levels astronauts face. The conclusion: short trips (six months) to the moon are fine; trips to Mars may make the astronauts toast.)
Volcanic Terrain on Mercury
May 20, 2009
Links for 19 May 2009
Better late than never.
Politics:
Matthew Yglesias: Republican Efforts to Make Hay of Pelosi May Backfire (Classic quote: "You know, Newt Gingrich knows a lot about saying stupid things and being forced out of the job as Speaker.")
Jesse Ventura slams Sean Hannity, who actually says America is 'better off' after George Bush!
Ann Coulter attacks faith of Notre Dame officials, but gets rattled when called on the carpet (I'm amazed any news program bothers with this woman.)
Alan Keyes denounces President Obama as "the focal point of evil" (The stupid never stops, does it?)
Peter King says getting to the truth about torture is anti-American (How about "A Republican is, by defintion, anti-American?")
Where Art Thou, Howard Dean?
Obama/Netanyahu Meet Produces Few Results
Kuwait Elections: 4 Women in Parliament, Shiite Reps nearly Double
Montana town requests that U.S. government send 100 Gitmo detainees to its prison. ("Thar's gold in them there detainees!")
Obama: Israeli settlements ‘have to be stopped.’ (I'll believe it when I see it.)
Steele invokes Ronald Reagan to argue that the GOP should never look ‘backward.’ (Does this guy even think before speaking?)
Economics:
"Banks Just Don’t Go Under" (Angry Bear briefly looks at the possibility (more likely probability) that bank directors could be found personally liable for their bank's demise. This type of lawsuit has already been filed locally, here in Singapore, where a prominent investor, Oei Hong Leong is suing Citigroup because he lost $1 billion last year.)
Just How Serious is the Credit Contraction? (Not as bad as you might think.)
Islam/Muslim Blogs:
Oh man, white muslims again
Sites in 3D: 360 x 180° Panoramic Photographs
Don’t Be Ig’nit (An Izzy Mo rant, which most likely will generate tons of comments. Sometimes I feel jealous of not getting this type of attention. ;) )
Specter cancels appearance at ‘anti-Islamist’ conference. (Good news for once.)
Fear of the Muslim Mother (Umar Lee on the Muslim Demographics video.)
Miscellaneous:
Dilbert (As a matter of fact I do have an MBA. Why do you ask? ;) )
Discount Dance: Dance Dance Revulsion (Some Photoshoppers should leave well enough alone.)
Holy Season One, Batman! (In the "someone has too much time on their hands" department, a compendium of all the "Holy..." uttered by "Robin" in the first season (alone) of the 60s TV series Batman. A total of 111 of them, all in 3:19.)
Politics:
Matthew Yglesias: Republican Efforts to Make Hay of Pelosi May Backfire (Classic quote: "You know, Newt Gingrich knows a lot about saying stupid things and being forced out of the job as Speaker.")
Jesse Ventura slams Sean Hannity, who actually says America is 'better off' after George Bush!
Ann Coulter attacks faith of Notre Dame officials, but gets rattled when called on the carpet (I'm amazed any news program bothers with this woman.)
Alan Keyes denounces President Obama as "the focal point of evil" (The stupid never stops, does it?)
Peter King says getting to the truth about torture is anti-American (How about "A Republican is, by defintion, anti-American?")
Where Art Thou, Howard Dean?
Obama/Netanyahu Meet Produces Few Results
Kuwait Elections: 4 Women in Parliament, Shiite Reps nearly Double
Montana town requests that U.S. government send 100 Gitmo detainees to its prison. ("Thar's gold in them there detainees!")
Obama: Israeli settlements ‘have to be stopped.’ (I'll believe it when I see it.)
Steele invokes Ronald Reagan to argue that the GOP should never look ‘backward.’ (Does this guy even think before speaking?)
Economics:
"Banks Just Don’t Go Under" (Angry Bear briefly looks at the possibility (more likely probability) that bank directors could be found personally liable for their bank's demise. This type of lawsuit has already been filed locally, here in Singapore, where a prominent investor, Oei Hong Leong is suing Citigroup because he lost $1 billion last year.)
Just How Serious is the Credit Contraction? (Not as bad as you might think.)
Islam/Muslim Blogs:
Oh man, white muslims again
Sites in 3D: 360 x 180° Panoramic Photographs
Don’t Be Ig’nit (An Izzy Mo rant, which most likely will generate tons of comments. Sometimes I feel jealous of not getting this type of attention. ;) )
Specter cancels appearance at ‘anti-Islamist’ conference. (Good news for once.)
Fear of the Muslim Mother (Umar Lee on the Muslim Demographics video.)
Miscellaneous:
Dilbert (As a matter of fact I do have an MBA. Why do you ask? ;) )
Discount Dance: Dance Dance Revulsion (Some Photoshoppers should leave well enough alone.)
Holy Season One, Batman! (In the "someone has too much time on their hands" department, a compendium of all the "Holy..." uttered by "Robin" in the first season (alone) of the 60s TV series Batman. A total of 111 of them, all in 3:19.)
October 3, 2007
Dana Perino, Hypocrite
You just gotta love the hypocrisy of the Bush Administration. The following is taken directly from the White House's website, which has a transcript of Dana Perino's briefing to the White House Press Corps:
Gee, innocent people thrown into detention, held for years without representation or charges, where have I heard that one before?
Oh, yeah.
HT: Crooks & Liars
Q: And the protests, themselves, seem to have been stilled. What do you make of that?
MS. PERINO: Well, unfortunately, intimidation and force can chill peaceful demonstrations. And reports about very innocent people being thrown into detention, where they could be held for years without any representation or charges, is distressing; and we understand that some of the monasteries have been sealed. Now, obviously, this has, again, a chilling effect on protestors, but we would ask that everyone show restraint and allow those who want to express themselves to be able to do so in Burma. (Emphasis mine.)
Gee, innocent people thrown into detention, held for years without representation or charges, where have I heard that one before?
Oh, yeah.HT: Crooks & Liars
May 22, 2005
Guantánamo Comes to Define U.S. to Muslims
Another example in my near-daily embarrassment of my country. Excerpts from a NY Times article:
For many Muslims, Guantánamo stands as a confirmation of the low regard in which they believe the United States holds them. For many non-Muslims, regardless of their feelings toward the United States, it has emerged as a symbol of American hypocrisy.
...
The Bush administration's response to the Newsweek article - a general condemnation of prison abuses, coupled with an attack on the magazine - apparently did little to allay the concerns of many Muslims. Then on Thursday, the International Committee of the Red Cross issued a report detailing the many complaints from detainees at Guantánamo about desecrations of the Koran between early 2002 and mid-2003.
In India, a secular country by law whose people and government are growing increasingly close to the United States, a cartoon appeared in Midday, an afternoon tabloid, on Friday showing a panic-stricken Uncle Sam flushing copies of Newsweek magazine down a toilet.
To the cartoonist, Hemant Morparia, it appeared as though the Bush administration's answer to the problem was to bury the truth. [This is exactly the impression that I have been given over the past week.]
"People suspect American intentions," Mr. Morparia, a Mumbai-based radiologist who doubles as a cartoonist, said. "It has nothing to do with being Muslim."
...
In Europe, accusations of abuse at Guantánamo, as much as the war in Iraq, have become a symbol of what many see as America's dangerous drift away from the ideals that made it a moral beacon in the post-World War II era. There is a persistent and uneasy sense that the United States fundamentally changed after September 11, and not for the better.
"The simple truth is that America's leaders have constructed at Guantánamo Bay a legal monster," the French daily, Le Monde, said in a January editorial.
...
On many Arab streets, there was as much conspiracy seen in the retraction of the Newsweek story as in the story itself.
"People already expect the U.S. to deny it, because it already has no credibility in the region," said Mustafa al-Ani, director of the Security and Terrorism Studies Program at the Gulf Research Center in Dubai. "So the initial story will have an impact, and the response simply will not."
Or as a Jordanian pharmacist, Farouk Shoubaki, said of the original report, "It is something the Americans would do."
As Mr. Shoubaki's remark reflects, Guantánamo offers disconcerting testimony that for many Muslims, the America they used to admire has sunk to the level of their own repressive governments.
Najam Sethi, editor of The Daily Times, an English-language newspaper in Pakistan, said the Guantánamo accusations were seen in his country as "further proof" of hypocrisy and anti-Islamic sentiment in the government of the United States. To many, he said, it was taken "as evidence of how America and the West makes the war against terrorism synonymous with the war against Islam."
...
In Britain, Guantánamo has entered the political lexicon along with Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan and Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad as an emblem of American injustice and abuse. During the London marathon in April this year, David Nicholl, a neurologist, ran the race in an orange jumpsuit to protest the detention of five former British residents at Guantánamo.
"We are all against terrorism but we are not obliged to close our eyes to the excesses of our allies," Chris Mullin, a former British Foreign Office minister told Parliament on Wednesday.
In India, one human rights advocate who routinely takes the Indian military to task for its alleged abuses against insurgents in Kashmir and the northeast, said the United States stance on things like torture and interrogation of suspects at Guantánamo signaled what he called "a human rights disaster" for everyone.
On Friday afternoon in an Islamabad bookshop, Maheen Asif, 33, leafed through a women's magazine, and paused for only a moment when asked for her impression of Guantánamo Bay.
"Torture," she said, as her daughters, 8 and 5, scampered through the stalls. "The first word that comes to my mind is 'torture' - a place where Americans lock up and torture Muslims in the name of terrorism."
For many Muslims, Guantánamo stands as a confirmation of the low regard in which they believe the United States holds them. For many non-Muslims, regardless of their feelings toward the United States, it has emerged as a symbol of American hypocrisy.
...
The Bush administration's response to the Newsweek article - a general condemnation of prison abuses, coupled with an attack on the magazine - apparently did little to allay the concerns of many Muslims. Then on Thursday, the International Committee of the Red Cross issued a report detailing the many complaints from detainees at Guantánamo about desecrations of the Koran between early 2002 and mid-2003.
In India, a secular country by law whose people and government are growing increasingly close to the United States, a cartoon appeared in Midday, an afternoon tabloid, on Friday showing a panic-stricken Uncle Sam flushing copies of Newsweek magazine down a toilet.
To the cartoonist, Hemant Morparia, it appeared as though the Bush administration's answer to the problem was to bury the truth. [This is exactly the impression that I have been given over the past week.]
"People suspect American intentions," Mr. Morparia, a Mumbai-based radiologist who doubles as a cartoonist, said. "It has nothing to do with being Muslim."
...
In Europe, accusations of abuse at Guantánamo, as much as the war in Iraq, have become a symbol of what many see as America's dangerous drift away from the ideals that made it a moral beacon in the post-World War II era. There is a persistent and uneasy sense that the United States fundamentally changed after September 11, and not for the better.
"The simple truth is that America's leaders have constructed at Guantánamo Bay a legal monster," the French daily, Le Monde, said in a January editorial.
...
On many Arab streets, there was as much conspiracy seen in the retraction of the Newsweek story as in the story itself.
"People already expect the U.S. to deny it, because it already has no credibility in the region," said Mustafa al-Ani, director of the Security and Terrorism Studies Program at the Gulf Research Center in Dubai. "So the initial story will have an impact, and the response simply will not."
Or as a Jordanian pharmacist, Farouk Shoubaki, said of the original report, "It is something the Americans would do."
As Mr. Shoubaki's remark reflects, Guantánamo offers disconcerting testimony that for many Muslims, the America they used to admire has sunk to the level of their own repressive governments.
Najam Sethi, editor of The Daily Times, an English-language newspaper in Pakistan, said the Guantánamo accusations were seen in his country as "further proof" of hypocrisy and anti-Islamic sentiment in the government of the United States. To many, he said, it was taken "as evidence of how America and the West makes the war against terrorism synonymous with the war against Islam."
...
In Britain, Guantánamo has entered the political lexicon along with Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan and Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad as an emblem of American injustice and abuse. During the London marathon in April this year, David Nicholl, a neurologist, ran the race in an orange jumpsuit to protest the detention of five former British residents at Guantánamo.
"We are all against terrorism but we are not obliged to close our eyes to the excesses of our allies," Chris Mullin, a former British Foreign Office minister told Parliament on Wednesday.
In India, one human rights advocate who routinely takes the Indian military to task for its alleged abuses against insurgents in Kashmir and the northeast, said the United States stance on things like torture and interrogation of suspects at Guantánamo signaled what he called "a human rights disaster" for everyone.
On Friday afternoon in an Islamabad bookshop, Maheen Asif, 33, leafed through a women's magazine, and paused for only a moment when asked for her impression of Guantánamo Bay.
"Torture," she said, as her daughters, 8 and 5, scampered through the stalls. "The first word that comes to my mind is 'torture' - a place where Americans lock up and torture Muslims in the name of terrorism."
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