June 2008

Say WHAT?!

Her Lebanese fans are traitors, stinking, filthy TRAITORS I tell you!

(Thanks for forwarding me the link Howie and getting me all riled up. This is bad, absolutely bad.)

P.S.: You can listen to the song here.

I’m not a fan of neo-cons, but not necessarily yesterday’s, not this one. Oh no, not this one. This was a different kind of neo-con. Actually, I’m not even sure if you can call him a neo-con. He was a neo-con far from perfect, one with mistakes on his record worthy of strong criticism, and yet he was a perfectionist, a perfectionist at least in his oratory displays. He is the neo-con who was even praised by the Donkey Obama. He is the neo-con who destroyed communism, torn its iron curtain, and as a result brought freedom to many millions of people in Eastern Europe, a magnificent achievement deserving of much praise. He’s the man today’s Elephants can only dream of being like but can never truly match. Hate him or love him, he is Ronald Reagan, and this is the excellent speech that launched his political career.

P.S.: I know some people will fume over this post (and rightly so) probably for a number of reasons already mentioned here (I only agree with parts of the piece). Like I said, the man did make some messed up mistakes (including initiating the damaging marriage between his party and Christian evangelicals). Still though, I have never really understood why so many liberals hate Reagan so much. Is it because he represents what they’re staunchly against i.e. smaller government, lower taxes and a strong emphasis on military power?

P.P.S: Even though the speech is more than 40 years old, it still sounds fresh and “speakable” in today’s American political context.

P.P.P.S: Okay, so it’s no secret that I like dude (while I recognize his mistakes). He’s done more good than bad.

What, you didn’t know it was… erm… sort of mentioned? Well, here is the Quranic verse in question, in three different recognized English translations:

YUSUFALI: And We said thereafter to the Children of Israel, “Dwell securely in the land (of promise)”: but when the second of the warnings came to pass, We gathered you together in a mingled crowd.

PICKTHAL: And We said unto the Children of Israel after him: Dwell in the land; but when the promise of the Hereafter cometh to pass We shall bring you as a crowd gathered out of various nations.

SHAKIR: And We said to the Israelites after him: Dwell in the land: and when the promise of the next life shall come to pass, we will bring you both together in judgment.

Oh my, Islam supports Zionism? Find out here at this nice discussion and make up your own mind. As for me, this is my position:

FACT: Moses is a Prophet recognized and respected in Islam.

FACT: The story of how Moses led his people away from the Pharaoh’s oppression and into the “promised land” is one that is recognized and told in Islam.

FACT: Before the Kabba was cleansed of idols, Muslims prayed towards Jerusalem.

FACT: Based on the facts above, there is evidence that clearly indicates the inherent ties between the promised land and the Jewish people. However, there is no evidence indicating that the land is exclusively Jewish or exclusively meant for Jews.

Admittedly, the definition of “Jews” or “Jewish” in this context is still up for debate. Eat up the details here. Good stuff.

Beautiful, absolutely beautiful. Lovely read. Soroush articulates many similar thoughts I have on Islam in a nice, poetic way. He lays it down wonderfully.

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An interesting a piece by SLM’s head Abdul Wahid Al-Nur, published at the Wall Street Journal. He makes it utterly clear that in SLM’s eyes the only way forward is to eradicate the current regime.

It is inconceivable that the racist, Islamo-fascist regime in Khartoum can reform itself. It must disappear. Did the world ever attempt to “reform” the Nazi regime?

We must prevail to preserve the unity of Sudan. In a truly democratic and secular Sudan, neither the South, nor Darfur, nor any other region would be tempted to secede. We must prevail to eliminate the presence of terrorist groups, such as al Qaeda and Hamas, which are guests of the regime in Khartoum. We must prevail to stabilize the region and spread democracy.

We must prevail to help Sudan return to its natural, legitimate geopolitical place — which is the African continent and not the Arab or Muslim world. At the same time, we must forge new alliances, no longer based upon race or religion, but upon shared values of freedom and democracy. This is why we opened a representative office in Israel last February.

We know we can prevail over a regime which, despite its appearances, is weak. We are well-organized and increasingly popular throughout the country. With the help of those who share our values and cherish freedom, victory is within reach.

His article is cleverly written for an American audience. Some parts of it are not factual but merely designed to gather more support for SLM. On top of that, he leaves some questions unanswered. Overall though, it certainly is an interesting piece.

There is more to comment on. Hopefully I’ll do it later if I have time.

(hat tip: Sigmund, Carl and Alfred)

UPDATE:

1. Terrorists aren’t guests of this regime anymore really, at least not in the sense that it harbors them (Hamas people do drop by from time to time and the government is lenient about it). Today, the regime’s focus is investment, investment and more investment. Terrorists are bad for business. Plus, keep in mind the heavy cooperation between the CIA and the Sudanese intelligence.

2.  Most Sudanese are Muslims and most speak Arabic. Reversing what happened is the equivalent of saying ludicrous things like “the United States should go back to its natural state which was Indian and not white.” It’s been hundreds of years already. Sudan is Afro-Arab. Period.

Imagine how race-based politics will play out if Steele instead of McCain was running against, let’s say… John Kerry. Something tells me African-Americans (who are overwhelmingly Donkeys) will get a headache.

Ops, I meant superb, you know… like this one. The aftermath of conferences like these is consumed cakes and more brainfarts (as if there aren’t enough as it is already).

Yes, unfortunately I’ll miss the Global Voices Online Summit again! The first time I got invited by the awesome Harvard-based GV was for the New Delhi 2006 Summit. I received the invitation on very short notice so I couldn’t make preparations in time and I ended up missing the conference. This year, I got invited again (with fully-paid expenses) and I was told about the details three months before the conference (which will be held in Budapest) so I applied at the Hungarian Embassy and man… don’t get me started.

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Surprise? This shouldn’t be. We all knew this was going on now:

Communications Minister Mahamat Hissene told the BBC that the garrison town of Ade had been attacked by ground troops supported by helicopters.

Mr Hissene said the fighting was continuing and confirmed a rebel raid on the smaller town of Am Zoer.

Last month, Sudan accused Chad of helping a Darfur rebel group attack a city just outside the Sudanese capital.

Chad denied the allegation but the UN says Sudan and Chad have been fighting a proxy war through each other’s rebel groups.

It would become a horrendous situation if the beef between Sudan and Chad intensified big time. Darfurians already have enough of a headache (an understatement).

An interesting development.

BAGHDAD — Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki raised the possibility that his country won’t sign a status of forces agreement with the United States and will ask U.S. troops to go home when their U.N. mandate to be in Iraq expires at the end of the year.

… Maliki acknowledged that talks with the U.S. on a status of forces agreement “reached an impasse” after the American negotiators presented a draft that would have given the U.S. access to 58 military bases, control of Iraqi airspace and immunity from prosecution for both U.S. soldiers and private contractors.

The Iraqis rejected those demands, and U.S. diplomats have submitted a second draft, which Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih told McClatchy included several major concessions.

Among those would be allowing Iraq to prosecute private contractors for violations of Iraqi law and requiring U.S. forces to turn over to Iraqi authorities Iraqis that the Americans detain.

Here’s what Mohammed at Iraq the Model had to say about this issue previously:

For our government, I hope that accepting or rejecting it would be based on its impact on Iraq’s interests.

Will Iraqis accept the agreement? No one can tell at this point, and this is the difference between democracies and non-democracies.

Indeed

Had the question been posed in Iran or Syria, it would take one man’s word to offer an answer. I am pleased to see that our government is dealing pragmatically with the issue and is seeking the opinion of countries that have experience with long-term U.S. military presence. The government sent delegations to Germany, Japan, and South Korea to listen to what they, not the mullahs, have to say about it.

She’s been blogging for a while now over at GV and I’m totally digging her writing which focuses on many of the retarded things and blatant double standards in our patriarchal culture. Check out what she has to say here and here. Oh and don’t miss this post about her revealing, unpleasant “encounter” with a popular Muslim televangelist.

What? You think that’s ridiculous? Rubbish. If al-Bashir says the International Criminal Court is a terrorist organization, then it most definitely is a terrorist organization. End of discussion. Understood?

June 10, 2008 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese president Omar Hassan Al-Bashir reiterated today his country’s rejection of calls to hand over two Darfur war crimes suspects to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

“We view the ICC as a first class terrorist organization” Al-Bashir told Al-Sa’aa” Egyptian TV in an interview.

Yeah, show them Bashir. Show these bastards what they need to hear. More tough talk please. I beg you. Keep it coming. You’re the man!

LGF has been busy lately cleverly exposing some not-so-pleasant stuff on Obama’s official website. Here’s why it’s obviously clever:

1. By showing the presence of communists, conspiracy theorists etc., LGF attempts to create a need for Obama to explicitly reject their support or at least pushes the site’s administrators to delete the exposed blogs. It also attempts to strengthen the notion that he’s way too leftist.

2. By showing the lack of security in the site’s design, LGF attempts to strengthen the notion that Obama is weak on national security.

Meanwhile, Obama is considering a world tour. That will be a pretty good strategic move on his part. He’ll be like “hey Americans, look, the world loves me which means if you elect me, America will be loved by the world again. Vote for me. McCain sucks. Most would hate to see “another” Bush in office. Seriously, look. The world loves me. Isn’t that great?”

Yes dear Obama, but you might want to pay attention to the infestation in your site. And damn it people, when the hell are the one-on-one debates going to start?