American foreign policy and the sad state of ”War on terrorism” August 22, 2008

I know this blog’s About Page proclaims my passion for America and English speaking world. But of late I am growing very weary of latest international developments. It appears that America and NATO don’t really have any aspiring noble central aim for a better, safer, peaceful and a progressive world. The latest conflict over Georgia was a calamity in the making propelled by consistent undermining and mockery of Russia even after the collapse of Soviet Union. Stoking the selfish interests of Georgia and its president like spoiled brats did not help either.

The latest result in violent attacks on Western forces in Taliban is not the result of strengthened Islamist forces but because of NATO’s own lack of purpose and decline in popularity among native people.

The New York Times comes up with naive editorials LIKE THIS about how to win war on terrorism in Afghanistan. I really don’t understand what would NATO’s victory mean? Beat back Islamist forces as they can escape to all the neighboring shelters and later they can reemerge at any moment? What Western military alliance does not understand is that Afghanistan is where these terrorists live and recruit. It is their home. But western military forces are only foreigners living in military camps and one day they’ve got to leave. Fire power will never resolve these conflicts. It is time to negotiate with those who control the levers of these terrorists. Also, negotiate with regional military forces: Iran, Pakistan and to some extent Russia and India who can help bring peace in this region if they iron out their own differences with Western world and establish mutual understanding with the regional powers.

Bad news sells: What is so appealing about tragedies and sadness? November 30, 2007

Why all bad news is good news?

 

 

USA: Diabolical government and CIA, Conspiracy theories, illegal immigration from Latinos and Muslims, Neo Imperialism, Freemasons, New World Order, corruption, TERRORISM, racism, poverty, drug trafficking, breaking out of all sorts of illnesses and falling economy.

 

Europe: World Wars, Holocaust, falling birth rates, dying out of White race, moral decadence, loss of values and Christian morals, invasion of immigrants and Muslims, spread of Islam into Europe, crippling social security systems, declining economies, rise of the right wing, xenophobia, rise of anarchy, crime and dictatorships in the Central, Eastern Europe and Russia.

 

Asia, Africa, Arab world and the rest: Huge natural calamities, disasters, death tolls, horrendous corruption, wars, genocide, AIDS, Fundamentalism, Female genital mutilation, Poverty, sex tourism industries for Western people fulfilling their every sexual fantasy including pedophilia, ever looming threats of big scale wars that may erupt any time and maybe engulf the whole world in a Third World War.

 

 

 

I have been trying to find the answer to this question since the time I realized, while reading literature, that the greatest novels considered ”classics” are mostly tragic and sad. Not only that, the authors or artists who happen to have a tragic life or commit suicide often see the sales of their works shoot sky-high, after they’re lowered into the grave. Later while studying media, I realized that anything newsworthy must be ominous. If you have some interest in literature then you may not have necessarily read but would have heard about the great Greek tragedies, Shakespearean tragedies etc.

 

 

The writers who have written extensively end up writing their ”masterpieces” that are tragic. Charles Dickens’ greatest novels are not the likes of Pickwick Papers but David Copperfield. Shakespeare’s tragedies far outweigh the critical praise and popularity of his comedies. Here are two quotes to consider about human love affair with sadness or the romance of sorrow (Despite the ever resounding slogans urging people, ”Hey! You should laugh lots and you should stay happy man!” and ”Don’t worry be happy”):

 

 

 

“For the Great Gaels of Ireland

Are the men that God made mad,

For all their wars are merry

And all their songs are sad.”

From Ballad of the White Horse by G.K. Chesterton.

 

 

And here is the second one

”Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought.”

By English poet P.B. Shelley

So…? What’s the idea? Is it a great international conspiracy (or hypocrisy) to urge everyone to be happy but at the same time to be in love with sorrow, secretly?

Freedom quote and the Right to Privacy November 28, 2007

”When the government is allowed to show up unannounced without a warrant and search people’s homes, it is bad news for all of us.”

 

 
— Says New York Times in an editorial (A Loss for Privacy Rights) against unwarranted police searches in California (In breach of the 4th Amendment that forbids unreasonable searches and seizures) targeted at poor people who apply for social security.

Class system is still rife in UK, reports Guardian November 28, 2007

This news story from The Guardian newspaper in London, ”Riven by class and no social mobility – Britain in 2007” is kind of disconcerting and even depressing to read. Rest of the world has very romantic notions about Britain including England, Wales, Scotland. Millions of people want to go to UK from all over the world to visit, holiday, study, work and immigrate permanently. This trend is seen among the developed countries like USA, Canada, Australia as well as the developing countries in Asia, Eastern Europe, Africa etc.

 

 

 

I don’t know what the fuss is all about? Lots of people say many British people leave UK and live in other countries as expats because life is not all that nice (weather being the prime subject to moan about) and taxes are too high.

 

 

 

 

Anyway, this report notes that 89% people in UK say they’re judged by their class. The trends are not so different in Wales and Scotland. Working class people are very much likely to stay working class. Same is true with the middle class. Here is what report mentions:

 

”But many class attitudes have survived economic change. That suggests people are still judged by where they come from rather than how much they earn.”


This above quote from the story must appear as quite an uncool truth about UK to many readers I suppose? Well, wherever you’re from, express your thoughts in the comments section. Cheers.

Something about The New York Times November 26, 2007

In one little sentence, The New York Times is great.**CLICK HERE TO VISIT THEIR GREAT WEBSITE)** But of course it is often bitterly (from ”conservatives”) and sometimes idealistically (Noam Chomsky, Gore Vidal, Columbia Journalism Review) criticized for its coverage. Of course I do not worship New York Times as I used to as a teenager. It certainly is a business wanting to make money and has a political agenda that usually serves liberal and Democratic party interests. But like any humongous entity it is bound to have cracks, errors, corruption, scandals etc. But it has survived and stood tall.

 

My real introduction to New York Times was in 1999 when I got internet for the first time. I had always heard about it but never had laid an eye on it. (Fact: To this day I have never held the original paper copy of NYT in my hands as even the best libraries in New Zealand, both public and academic, do not subscribe to NYT in paper form) But internet access changed it. At the age of 19 it completely satisfied my extreme lust for international affairs, American issues, intellectual stimulation and good writing. I remember, my dial up connection used to be pitifully slow and it cost me for the time I was online. So I used to cheat. I discovered that by making little tweaks in the URL address of news stories I can open all articles for printers, which means all text and no graphics or ads. So, everyday I would quickly download several articles, save them, disconnect internet and read them at my own leisure.



Then I came to New Zealand to study media in 2002. I was introduced to Noam Chomsky and many other resources. New York Times was not the infallible broadsheet it once was. I did not read it all that much. In 2005 I was so incensed with ”TIMES SELECT” (the subscription only sections), I completely stopped reading NYT. I think I even shot a couple of angry emails to NYT. The most annoying bit was, I would get links to NYT stories in Google news and My Yahoo, click on them and be asked to subscribe to TIMES SELECT before I could read! But TIMES SELECT was a flop. It displeased readers, alienated them and the NYT writers. Moreover, many Bloggers would just copy paste articles and make them available to the world for free.



So, in September 2007 NYT decided to scrap TIMES SELECT. I’ve had lots of free time for the last one week and compulsively started reading on the web only then I got to know about the death of TIMES SELECT. And boy am I happy… I have been surfing the delightful maze of a Website of NYT with passion and pleasure. I don’t read it just for News and Politics but also for great writing. The sections on science and technology and especially books and writers are just super awesome. The New York Times is here to stay.



I just read this article from Michele Malkin’s website, CLICK TO READ> ”New York Times hits new 5-year low”. It is almost laughable when ”conservative” writers feel compelled to condemn almost everything they fear as ”liberal media”. I have been visiting lots of conservative blogs and they all religiously drub NYT as the part of their ”conservative” intellectual underpinning. As for the dropped sales, I believe it might be the result of NYT stand on War in Iraq and people’s displeasure with it, TIMES SELECT, rise of internet news services. But it is comforting to know that NYT has not turned into a crowd pleaser like Fox News and various other ”Conservative” media and writers. But here is just one question: Where else do these people suggest we should go? Washington Times? or New York Post? DO YOU HEAR SOMETHING? This is the sound of my skin crawling and my brain screaming.


And what is a NYT 5 year low anyway? Let’s say Michele Malkin’s readership and credibility trebled in the same period. So what would it be now? Up from 0.00000001% to 0.0001% of the total readers ? She sure has benefited from The New York Times’ temporarily declining readership.

Attention! The East Europeans are coming…… November 25, 2007

Two days ago, I had written a post about the Pole who was tasered to death in Canada. That post also mentioned the immigration of Poles into Western countries. But this Guardian news story was bit of an eye opener, CLICK TO READ, ”Teachers: Help us cope with migrants”. Apparently British schools are getting bogged down by the sudden influx of East European children who speak no English and seem to ”appear from nowhere”. The schools have no staff or infrastructure to handle them. The government aid pitifully falls short of real requirements.

 

 

EU expansion in 2005 has caused this flooding of UK with immigrants from Eastern Europe. The reports note that in UK there are now:

 

 

• 12,900 children from the Czech Republic.
• 30,400 from Lithuania.
• 28,700 from Slovakia
• 170,000 from Poland

 

The biggest challenge and even threat is that they speak no English at all, they’re culturally different, and may even end up changing the whole culture of schools. I never thought it was all that big a deal. All I heard was that after the expansion of EU, UK did not want to limit immigration from Eastern Europe along with Sweden. And now this…..

 

 

 

I would be very interested to hear from readers in Sweden, Germany, France etc. if they have seen any such sudden influx of East Europeans into their country after the expansion? I never heard anything like that from Sweden. I don’t understand why everyone from the Baltic, Eastern and Central Europe is running only for British Isles? Would anybody enlighten me?

The Australian Elections and Howard’s End November 24, 2007

The news is in and has become history (CLICK FOR BBC NEWS LINK). The Australian Prime Minister John Howard (of Conservative Party) ends his 11 year old rule and concedes defeat to Kevin Rudd (of Labour Party). John Howard was a very shrewd politician who made the most of September 11 terrorist attacks in America and the consequent war on terrorism like many other international politicians.

 

 

Kevin Rudd on the other hand is a bit of a geek who has always been more into policy making than politics. Though as The New York Times reminds he added some frills to his ”dry” image when on a tour of New York in 2003, he made a pilgrimage to a strip club. Not only that- would you believe it?- Kevin Rudd can also speak fluent Mandarin (Chinese). In fact he impressed everyone by addressing the Chinese President Hu Jintao in September, in Chinese. I mean read this headline in red:

 

”The New Australian Prime Minister speaks Chinese”

Sounds impressive huh?

 

 

Something on the Corporate Media and stale reportage:

Here I digress, I leave you with a brain teaser. Not long ago, The New York Times bought International Herald Tribune which is published from Paris for international readership. More often than not, their international coverage is same, I mean word for word. But wait. Not always. The report on Australian elections was written by their journalist, Tim Johnston. Though the write up is same, I presume, the newspaper copy writers were clever enough to shuffle the paragraphs and make it seem like these were two differently written works. That’s cheap journalism, in my opinion. Decide for yourself. I am giving you Links to both stories which are essentially the same….

 

 

New York Times, ”Bush Ally Defeated in Australia”

 

 

International Herald Tribune, ”Australian oust Howard after 4 terms”

Religion and tribalism- Fourth honor killing in small palestinian town in a month November 20, 2007

I just read this sickening news story, ‘‘As order slides, Palestinian women face

honor killings.” <<Click to Read>> This reports the ghastly murder of a young woman in Palestine, according to a law based on an old Jordanian law that makes it almost lawful to kill women for ”honor”. Members of family can convict a woman for breaching family honor and kill her. If arrested they can get only about 6 months prison according to the law. The report notes:

 

 

 

 

‘A few weeks ago, the body of the young mother of four was found in a garbage dump east of town. Police arrested two of the woman’s male cousins for having trapped Ms. Wahdan and shot her to death, committing the third “honor killing” in Qalqilya last month.”

 

 

 

 

This is truly disgusting. Most Arab countries and societies exhibit shocking tribalism, especially in their treatment of women. **Notably, other Muslim countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, Lebanon do not display such brutal tendencies. But many non Islamic societies in the region also show trend towards honor killing of women. For example many parts of India, especially Northern India (CLICK HERE to read this blog and related news story) **

 

 

 

In short this is a crime against humanity and not just a concern of the Arab world. It is a concern for international community and this must not be tolerated. I personally think (pardon the rhetoric) that the United States and NATO should consider Iranian nuclear development as the second threat to the civilized world. If slaughtering of women like pigs goes on in Arab and Iranian society, I believe NATO, Israel along with any other willing partners have the moral right as well as obligation to militarily invade such tribalistic enclaves and shoot their madmen on sight.

 

 

 

I also use this post to shame all the prominent Arab leaders and that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad clown from Iran. They have absolutely no right to mourn ”occupation” and ”human rights abuses” in Palestine, allegedly, at the hands of Israel. Not condemning this barbarity perpetrated and connived at by their own society but crying foul over Israel (and even denying Holocaust) all the time shows how moronic and hypocritical they are. I think Israel is the only bright hope for human freedom in the whole of Middle East and North Africa. Israel should be encouraged to take over all Palestinian land (and any other such criminal and dysfunctional society or country) and put it under civilized rule of law to stop crime.

 

 

 

 

Arab hands are covered in blood of their own weak, poor, vulnerable and the innocent. Arab leaders are not only a stigma on humanity but also a blot on the name of Islam, which literally means peace. Whole civilized world and every true Muslim anywhere on this planet must act to stop these crimes occurring within their own society right now.

Bangladesh Cyclone kills more than 2,000 people November 18, 2007

”As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods; they kill us for their sport” — William Shakespeare.

Latest Bangladesh cyclone called Sidr has killed more than 2,000 people so far (**Click to Read BBC news story**). At least one big cyclone hits the south of Bangladesh every year. BBC news story notes a shocking fact that, ”Another storm in 1991 left some 143,000 dead”. Hurricane Katrina’s death toll according to Wikipedia was about 1,836. Sidr cyclone has not only killed and displaced people but has also destroyed nearly all standing crops and infrastructure. I find Bangladesh’s misery quite unnerving especially because this happens almost every year. In other words Bangladesh gets a Katrina almost every year and because it is one of the poorest third world countries, the damage done has extreme consequences.

 

 

 

 

I find it weird how nature turns its wrath every year on the weakest of the weak. Some people may take dark pleasure in the fact that Bangladeshi cyclones kill Muslims every year. If you may read some of my recent posts and comments you might know what I am referring to.

 

”We are the good guys”….

 

But also, ”Calamity is the test of integrity.”, said Samuel Richardson. How very true. It reminds me of Cormac McCarthy’s novel, The Road in which we see how human beings turn into beasts in the times of disaster. We noticed how during Katrina disaster there were criminal elements who were stealing food, goods from people and even raping women in refugee shelters! But as the protagonist in McCarthy’s novel says, ”We’re the good guys”, the human integrity is truly tested and emerges during such calamities. We can see the international community scrambling to help Bangladesh. Two U.S. navy ships have also been sent to Bangladesh. Animals don’t do that. Human beings do, the ones that ”are the good guys”. Because of them the world will survive, come what may.

Borat reports on the Shocking secret life of Ahmadinejad November 11, 2007

It all began when in late 2007 the Iranian President Most Honorable and Rt. Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad enlightened the whole world (to the great relief of millions of Christian evangelists all over the world) that there are no gay people in Iran. This was contradicted by quite a few people. For example this half Iranian happy boy who lives in U.K. wrote >> CLICK>>THIS ARTICLE<< in the Guardian newspaper mentioning how his affections were- supposedly- sought by a Muslim/Iranian queer in one of Iran’s public parks.

 

This whole controversy piqued the interest of Kazakh journalist who has already gained international fame by his courageous and meticulous reporting on Middle Eastern affairs. Kazakhstan Times –in special arrangement with these publications for different reasons; New York Times, Washington Times, Playboy, Hustler, National Review, Jerusalem Post, The Guardian, Al Jazeera and Catholicnews.com- sent Borat to Iran on a special assignment to discover the truth, the sole truth, nothing but the filthy, dirty and raw gay truth, if there was any.

 

Borat has already risked his life on many occasions to report with utmost courage on Middle Eastern affairs. Last time he was almost killed by American ”friendly fire” when he was traveling with some British soldiers on a secret military mission. But this time again, he rose up to the challenge and not fearing for his life, set for Iran to discover the sinister underworld of Iran that was to shock the world and make it pause **Reportedly Osama Bin Laden has issued a new video tape assuring that he does not share any values of his Iranian counterparts…..Though Britain may share some values with Saudi Arabia** This is what Borat unearthed….

 

Borat found the huge gay culture thriving in many parts of Iran that corresponds to ancient Iranian culture, history and literature. Iranian gay men have a passion for Bette Midler music. (something that the US State Department should take note of) But the truth is that it was always an open secret for international community and there was nothing shocking about it. Fags are everywhere; not just on cigarettes. Borat only confirmed what we all knew all along. But here is SOMETHING ELSE he managed uncover. Most of his pictures were destroyed while running away, escaping from gay Iranian soldiers who gave him a hot chase as he made his way out of Iran. This picture shows the secret life of Ahmadinejad himself who still claims there are no gay people in Iran…..

 

 

Borat managed to capture this photo when he secretly pursued Ahmedinejad’s Limo on horseback. He followed Ahmedinejad through a labyrinth of a rugged, mountainous terrain, close to the Afghnistan border. Borat was damn sure Ahmadinjead was going to meet some terrorists…. but……. what he found was that there was an elite secret gay club right in the middle of nowhere in a martian terrain of endless desert and bone dry mountains. This picture was taken from the keyhole of the gay club’s door with a special camera developed by Ukrainian spies working illegally in Ireland, on potato farms.

 

Now the official statement by Iranian President makes perfect sense. ”There are no homosexuals in Iran”. It denotes two things:

 

1.) Iranian president is living in denial about his happiness.

 

2.) Iranian president is trying to cover his tracks that lead to happiness.

 

P.S. — **It is also believed that the secret elite gay club Iranian president frequents serves no alcoholic beverages in strict compliance with Islamic laws**