March 2007

A great post by Umar Lee, a Muslim convert. I really enjoy reading his posts. Maybe you will too. His views are very unique. I pray for the victims and their families.

Finnpundit made a great replying comment on this post, that I think deserves to be given more attention. I found it very interesting and different in terms of the everyday perspective I’m exposed to. Here it is:

Regarding China and economy. It isn’t outsourcing that’s the risk, but rather Chinese toys. If the firm is Chinese, and the production is Chinese, then the money flows only one way. Into China.

Actually, you’re completely in error there. The Chinese get paid in dollars for their exports to the US. Where do these dollars go? Dollars are useless in China, so the money can only go abroad. Part of them get diverted to purchases of oil, which is traded in petrodollars, but that still leaves a huge chunk of change. That leftover cash has predominantly gone… back to America, to Chinese puchases of US Treasury notes.

How do you think America finances its budget deficits? The Chinese have had no choice but to do exactly that.

And if you think the Chinese are free to pull the cash out, think again. The collapse of the US financial system would mean the collapse of China. But even if that would happen, the US has the right to freeze foreign assets. (That, more than anything, is a guarantee that there will be peace between China and the US).

If you don’t think a freeze would never happen, think again. The US still holds, IIRC, some quarter of a trillion dollars in Iranian cash in its treasury, stemming from the days of the American embassy hostage crisis of 1978-80 (the US Treasury dutifully pays interest on the money, but refuses to let Iranians have it, until all the issues and claims from the embassy takeover are resolved. That’s not likely to happen, though there was some talk about it when Khatami was in power).

Information-based economy? Who needs it when they can undermine you with mass-produced, slave-labor made fluffy teddy bears?

A Finnish friend once described a recent purchase of some electronic gadget he needed at work, and marvelled at the power of globalization when this gadget came by the way of the Philippines. When I asked how did he find this gadget, he mentioned that it was through a website, which turned out to be maintained by Americans. When I asked how he paid for it, he mentioned it was paid through a credit card… maintained by American financial institutions.

So there you have it: Americans never even had to deal with the manufacturing, or the shipping of the product. The only thing they controlled was the marketing and financial information. That’s a pretty good chunk of change for merely providing information. (Keep in mind that financial services are part of the information industry).

How’s the trade difference between China and the US doing these days? Still horribly large?

Again, the US deficit in regards to trade in China is really an irrelevant factor if the Chinese have no choice but to invest the money back in the US. You should read up on the significance of globalized trade, before venturing statements on its feasibilty.

Okay dude, seriously what the hell are you reading?

Okay, someone please help me make sense of this! It sounds bizarre!

March 12, 2007 (LONDON) — The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) reportedly would construct the largest operative center for East Africa in Sudan, said a report published yesterday.

The Sudanese government has permitted 400 containers that belonged to the US embassy in Khartoum, to enter the country following long standing objections by the Sudanese treasury. According to the London based al-Hayat newspaper, the shipment is believed to contain special equipments and building materials used to construct the new US embassy in Khartoum.

The report added that the embassy will include a regional center for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) with spy equipment directed to East Africa in the context of the increased cooperation between the CIA and the Sudanese intelligence services.

The Los Angeles Times, last year has revealed that Sudanese intelligence chief Salah Gosh was flown to Washington in April 2005 on board a private jet to meet with CIA officials as part of their partnership for the war on terror.

I know that the last paragraph is true. It’s not a mystery. In fact, it’s common knowledge in Khartoum. I also remember that there has been a decent amount of talk and controversy in the American media about it. I’ve discussed something relating to this issue previously:

Bec also asked the following question:

They [CBS] claimed that Bashir has been feeding little snippets of info about Bin Laden to the US and that’s why Bush has been hesitant to act in Darfur. Do you think this is credible at all?

I answered with this long comment:

Yes, it’s quite possible and it will certainly explain many things. I’ve always been quite amazed at the NCP’s sarcastic attitude when it brushes off threats and demands by the US and UK…
Let me be clear and honest though. Is Bashir’s regime providing information about al-Qaeda to the US? Yes I can confirm that to you a 100%. Does Sudan continue to provide this information. Yes it still does BUT… There are sources that indicate the information being provided by the NCP to the US is still very valuable and there are other sources that indicate the value of the information has been decreasing significantly and that at the moment the NCP doesn’t really have much valuable information to offer like it did in the past anymore. So basically there’s a contradiction there. However the fact remains that the NCP is STILL providing information and intelligence to America. Whether this info and intel is very valuable or not, I can’t really say or confirm to you.

Another thing I would like to add is many believe that ties to al-Qaeda are still maintained. The NCP doesn’t provide material support or anything to terrorism anymore but I think it’s very logical when people say, some ties do remain between NCP and al-Qaeda. These are people who shared the ideology of Bin Laden openly and still continue to but “under the carpet” now. I doubt they’ll completely cut their ties to Osama’s people. It’s just my humble guess.

A while ago, I made up my mind that the intel Sudan is providing to the CIA is of little or no value at the moment. I’m not really sure what to make up of this whole thing now. If this turns out to be true, then it makes the case against Bush much stronger and it would explain quite a lot. As for now, my head hurts!

Yes, only this time it’s louder and it’s all over the news.

GENEVA (Reuters) - A United Nations human rights mission on Monday accused the government of Sudan of orchestrating and taking part in international crimes in Darfur.

Wow, really? Cooooooooooool!

The mission, led by Nobel peace prize laureate Jody Williams, was sent by the U.N. Human Rights Council to investigate allegations of widespread abuse in the vast western region of the country.

“The mission further concludes that the government of Sudan has manifestly failed to protect the population of Darfur from large-scale international crimes and has itself orchestrated and participated in these crimes,” the mission said.

Seriously?! They actually concluded THAT?!! Yaaaaaaay!

The Darfur violence, described as genocide by Washington in a term Khartoum rejects, has driven 2.5 million people from their homes and killed an estimated 200,000 since rebels took up arms in 2003.

Khartoum says those numbers are exaggerated and accuses the Western media of blowing the conflict out of proportion.

Well of course the Western media is blowing things out of proportion. It’s controled by the evil piggy apes Zionist CrUSAders remember? *Yawn*. Solution? Drima for Secretary-General!!

Maybe, I’ll be able to bring much needed reform and restructuring to our beloved UN. LOL!

Oh yes it is:

March 12, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — Differences among the members of the national unity government on the ICC led to postponing discussions on the issue till next week. During the council of Council of Ministers session differing points of views were expressed in the verbal reports on how to deal with the issue made by political forces forming the GoNU.

In a cabinet meeting chaired by the Second Vice-President, Ali Osman Taha, on Sunday, the Presidential Senior aide, Minni Minawi, demanded that minister Haroun be dismissed from his post and turned over to the ICC along with Kushayb. While the ministers of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement advocated cooperation with the ICC provided that the accused are tried in Khartoum by international and Sudanese judges.

The ministers of the National Congress Party, the senior government partner, led the trend for rejecting the trial of any Sudanese national outside the country.

Why am I not surprised?

Oh yeah more are trying to make it into the home of the evil piggy apes Zionist CrUSAders! Israelis are in for a real dilemma.

Hmmmmm…

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that many people think Disney is racist because of you know… well let’s see… okay here’s one, in Aladdin everyone speaks with an American accent except for evil Jafaar who speaks with an Arab accent. And also in the movie The Lion King the good lions are fair while the evil lions are dark.

Interesting huh?

I really like this one. I have no idea who sings it but I’ve been listening to it day after day.

Which one do you think sounds absurd?

UPDATE: Bingo! Sayed’s comment is pretty close to the answer I had in mind:

If the question is which “sounds more absurd”, on a purely technical “by the book” level, I’d say Gay Catholic and Islamic Terrorist. Technically both terrorism and homosexuality go against Islam and Catholicism.

Of course there those in (and out of) both faiths that will argue otherwise.

But if the question is which is least likely, or which have we never heard of, then it’s the Vegetarian Butcher.

I was thinking of writing a long post very similar to what I’m posting below but I’m not going to anymore. The first reason is due to lack of time and the second is because Jinkess has already written a super excellent piece at Shamarat that addresses everything I wanted to talk about.

We first have to agree that one Sudanese life wasted in a senseless war is one life too many but at the same time we have to understand the nature of this war, the reasons behind it, the true figures and how to get Sudanese citizens involved to put an end to this tragedy.

Many of the youth in Khartoum that I have talked to during my last trip to Sudan would tell me that they are being targeted by the western media in order to prepare for an Iraqi like invasion of Sudan. Even though many of them are against the policies of the Bashir government and openly voiced their opposition to it they still have a strong belief that West has plans to re-colonize Sudan by dividing it in order to control its resources.

This is exactly what many Sudanese tell me.

Upon further discussion they would back their arguments by stating how the war is painted as ‘Black’ Africans vs. ‘Arab’ Muslims whereas all of those involved in the conflict are ‘Black’, ‘African’, ‘Muslim’ and that use of the description ‘Arab’ is only used to create a divide by the accusers because even the Janjaweed themselves do not subscribe to a certain tribe but are a mixture of criminals from different tribes.

This is why I get so pissed off sometimes with that whole “Darfur is a gencide waged by Arabs against Africans” crap. The media needs to stop oversimplifying things. It’s counter productive in various ways.

Another very important issue to the youth I talked to is the figures of those killed in conflict, every news media reports a different figure that to them (Sudanese youth) is not based on actual information. The numbers range from tens of thousands to over four hundred thousand, this automatically raises a red flag of foul play and to them this is evidence that the west is exaggerating the facts of the conflict. Many would point out that in Khartoum and all of the major cities everyone is living peacefully together and that almost every part of the country is suffering from neglect not just western Sudan.

Old time and regular readers of this blog will remember that when the guys at Mideast Youth came up with the banner for our Darfur-Awareness site, the banner displayed 400,000 DEAD instead of the current 200,000. I was the one that told them 400,000 is way too high and that it should be changed to 200,000 as it would be more accurate. Moreover that way more Sudanese will be receptive towards the site. Anyways…

I remember a young very well educated young Sudanese telling me that during his studies in the US he would find himself actually defending the government of Sudan without realizing it because he found himself to be under constant attack in the media, college and even by his classmates for being a Sudanese of Arab descent. To them the ‘Arabs’ of Sudan were committing genocide, raping and burning villages of the ‘Black’ Africans of Sudan, for him this was a lie because the Sudanese he knows could never commit such acts and now his very own ethnicity was the one to blame. He told me that the west was encouraging the rebels not to reach a peace deal by placing all the blame on the Khartoum government thus prolonging the suffering of Sudanese. To him the whole exaggerated media frenzy is to mask the atrocities committed by the Bush administration in Iraq and Afghanistan, and provides a cover for the Israelis to continue their aggression towards the Palestinians while the world media is busy painting Arabs as wild savages with no humanity who feast on Africans.

Many others I talked to in Sudan said they simply don’t have enough information in order to formulate an opinion and most claim that with the daily hustle in providing a living they don’t even have the time to research the issue to discover the facts. To them they know many Sudanese from different parts of Sudan who are living in very harsh conditions but they didn’t pick up arms and even if they did the West would have no interest in them because they wouldn’t be able to place labels and make use of it to further their (West) cause.

Nevertheless the suffering of Sudanese from all over Sudan continues and instead of Sudanese sticking together to bring upon peace and prosperity to their county they find themselves aiding in the destruction of the very social fabric and morality that makes us what we are. I guess this is the reason behind starting this topic to get us talking about not just how we feel towards the conflict in Darfur but also about the extensive damage Sudan has endured at the hands of its sons and daughters.

Go Jinkess! RESPECT man!

Here and here. Enjoy! And now me must go to bed. I’m so busy nowadays, you have no idea. I’m not complaining but I’m just letting you know. I might be away for 3 or 4 days. Please forgive me and stick around until I’m back. By the way, I haven’t forgotten my promises. Meanwhile, ya’ll take care. Peace & love. Sincerely, the one and only “Dreamy” Drima.

I do believe so. The Iraq war isn’t going well. In fact the War or Terror as a whole isn’t going well if you judge by news reports on Afghanistan, Iraq and al-Qaeda regrouping. Yes, America has certainly won the war against Iraq but it hasn’t won the peace (yet). Furthermore we all already know how withdrawing will be perceived “before the job is done” as Bush likes to say. DEFEAT. That won’t be good. If America withdraws before the job in Iraq is done, the message sent around the Arab and Muslim worlds will be loud and clear. “America is defeatable” (unless nuclear weapons come into play). That’s surely going to boost up confidence much higher than it has been boosted after Nasrallah’s victory against Israel. I fear this happening. High confidence within the average Arab or Muslim is not something I worry about. I’m afraid of the dark prospect of super confident terrorists (who by the way show no mercy even to Muslims themselves).Donkeys are currently in control of Congress and they have the power to cut funding for the war. Will they? Even if they don’t, just look at the Donkey candidates for the 2008 race. If I’m not mistaken all of them support immediate withdrawal of US troops from Iraq except Hillary. Now, I know tons of people who passionately hate Bush and Elephants. I bet some of you do. Me? I try my best to be practical by looking at things critically and I realize that withdrawing US troops from Iraq is a bad idea. It’s bad for Iraq, it’s bad for America and it’s bad for the Middle East as a whole.

On the other hand, there’s the threat of China as a rising superpower. I’m not very comfortable with that rise as I’ve mentioned previously here:

I fear what I don’t understand and I don’t understand China’s intentions well (maybe I should engage Chinese bloggers more often). I do however understand America’s and the West’s much better. Therefore I don’t mistrust them much. Moreover China is no democracy. It’s a country with no real freedom and a place where human rights are not well respected. It is communist, it is against religious freedom and it is essentially God denying. That does not sit well with me.

Anyways, you may hate Bush and you may hate Elephants. Hell even I myself hate many things about Bush and various things about Elephants, but you, ehm we need to be practical and realize the threat we’re facing. Donkeys? Me like them when it comes to some issues but not others. However when it comes to the Iraq war, me generally don’t like their views.

Some of my hopes and wishes? 1) That the American Right and Elephants stop being stubborn in regards to their rigid stance of not engaging Iran and Syria. 2) That Donkey candidates, come up with a decent plan for winning peace in Iraq first and THEN withdrawing. If both do that, I’ll probably be fine with whoever wins in ‘08. For now, me leaning towards Elephants or at least Hillary even though she’s boring (Obama is fun but he wants immediate withdrawal). As for China, I’m not really sure. I’d just love it if it had a higher level of transparency.

PS: I know many conservative right wingers will strongly oppose 1). I would like to remind them that, the US is currently allied with Maliki’s government and Maliki is backed up by al-Sadr. Moreover the US supported Bin Laden and trained him during his rightful jihad against the former Soviet Union before he started pursuing his second loony “jihad”. Why is engaging Iran and Syria such a big deal then? It’s worth a try, you know. Plus, according to this, it might already be on the way to happening.

I just got back from Genting Highlands. It’s was a good trip and I pretty much enjoyed it. My relatives will be going back soon as their holiday here with us is nearing its end. Internship is good, really good. I have learnt so much. I’ve still got a lot more to learn in the coming months so I’m looking forward to them. I’m also in the process of writing 3 long posts (one is long, the other 2 quite long). They should be up quite soon. Meanwhile, I have to go to bed. I’m tired and I need rest so good night/good morning depending on the time zone you’re in.

PS: The Eteraz-Spencer debate continues. It’s getting really good.

*Yawn*. So what’s new?