Abdel-Karim Nabil Suleiman, the Egyptian blogger from Alexandria was this week, sentenced to four years in prison for what he wrote in his blog. He was first arrested in 2005. A blogger and a law student in Al Azhar (world's second oldest operating University), Karim's blog was critical of the University which he termed "was promoting extreme ideas". Point to note is that he was a casual blogger who commented on issues around him occasionally. Karim's post accusing Muslims of savagery during clashes between Muslims and Christians in Alexandria in 2005 titled “The Naked Truth of Islam as I Saw it" created an uproar in the Sunni fundamentalist circles.
Excerpt :
"It is worth mentioning that although some people may think that this Christian-owned liquor store was particularly targeted because the owner is selling the forbidden alcoholic beverages that is forbidden in Islam, but another liquor store in front of the Christian-owned store happens to be owned by a Moslem merchant, and none of the thugs dared to attack, as they did with the Christian-owned store. Now you can see the hateful sectarian actions."
Karim's criticism of Papa Bear Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s president since 1981, "likening him to the dictatorial pharaohs who ruled ancient Egypt" is cited as yet another reason to jail him - as criticizing the President put "National Security at a higher risk".
Egypt, an Enemy of the Internet is a long way away from individual freedom. A country where the supreme religious leader, the Grand Mufti is in favour of reconstructive hymen surgery for women who lost their virginity before marriage cannot be expected to be a beacon for secular progressive forces; and its not.
The fate of Abdel-Karim Nabil Suleiman does not bother me, if it bothers you, you might find something here. What bothers me is the fact that Egypt is arguably the cradle of human civilization, man and his intelligence has constantly worked wonders by the banks of the Nile.
If what Egypt implies is that individual freedom and human progress are not directly proportional to the age of civilization, then they should be products of certain choices the society makes as a whole. We need to find those choices; We need to make those choices; We cannot afford to be Egypt.
As for Egypt, USA's Man Friday in the region, you can wait by the Nile , looking upstream till Uncle Sam sends you a wooden basket down the river with Nile's gift of democracy. This will take some time of course and Egypt being obedient to US is not helping things at all. If you are obedient, you don't get the democracy gift - see Saudi, Kuwait, UAE, Jordan. All the prodigal disobedient kids got democracy - see Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan. The whole point is obedience.
Good Night and Good Luck !
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
The Slow Drumbeat of Another war
One can sense it, the slow drumbeat of another war. In the past two weeks the military-intelligence-government complex has been building up a new case against Iran. A confrontation with Iran seems inevitable when one looks at the way the story is being built-up in the media, especially the news deprived 24\7 network channels.
It could be a war or a swift and precise bombing of key installations in Iran. The truth being a full scale war with Iran will be unacceptable to the USA at a time when the extrapolated cost of the Iraq quagmire is touching a senseless 1 Trillion dollars and the fact being Iran is no Iraq.
The war in Iraq was a success in meeting the short term goals of the US,
1. Checkmating Iraq's firepower - Especially the Scud threat against Israel
2. Unseating the Saddam regime and a cleanup of the Baath-Sunni oligarchy
But in a war with Iran, what would be the short term goals,
1. Taking out Iran's nuclear capablity - this will not be easy, given the fact that Atomic installations in Iran are geographically wide-spread and high in count.
2. Unseating the regime - Iran is a functioning democracy and even in their wildest dreams, the US will not be thinking about this.
3. Containing Iran's reaction - will be tough. Iran could go on a rampage in the Persian Gulf and across the middle-east if it is hit. Iran has the firepower to accomplish that and the American forces in Iraq and rest of the middle-east will be sitting ducks despite any ramp up the US intends to and is perhaps currently doing in the Persian Gulf.
Going into a war with Iran has two critical reasons against it,
1. American public opinion - which a propaganda campaign over a period of time may perhaps be able to change
2. World opinion - which asks this Question, but which, if Iraq is any example the current establishment does not really care about
Despite this why would the US make this mistake perhaps in another year or two - the answer is, the conservative right which has placed George Bush and Dick Cheney in charge of the country will not let them go back home without doing something about Iran. There is not much of a choice here and the way things are piling up, it is surely going their way. It may not happen soon, but there is another 'solid' two years left in the Bush Presidency.
Before the bombing starts, lets take a minute off to see what Iran (which has not invaded a country in the past one hundred years) looks like. After the bombing we'll be left with rubble, like Afghanistan and Iraq, it is in the nature of bombs.
P.S : Per the state of the Union did you hear about yesterday's "Valentine's Day Massacre"
P.P.S : Take a look at the 2008 Budget Request (courtesy : RoseCoveredGlasses)
It could be a war or a swift and precise bombing of key installations in Iran. The truth being a full scale war with Iran will be unacceptable to the USA at a time when the extrapolated cost of the Iraq quagmire is touching a senseless 1 Trillion dollars and the fact being Iran is no Iraq.
The war in Iraq was a success in meeting the short term goals of the US,
1. Checkmating Iraq's firepower - Especially the Scud threat against Israel
2. Unseating the Saddam regime and a cleanup of the Baath-Sunni oligarchy
But in a war with Iran, what would be the short term goals,
1. Taking out Iran's nuclear capablity - this will not be easy, given the fact that Atomic installations in Iran are geographically wide-spread and high in count.
2. Unseating the regime - Iran is a functioning democracy and even in their wildest dreams, the US will not be thinking about this.
3. Containing Iran's reaction - will be tough. Iran could go on a rampage in the Persian Gulf and across the middle-east if it is hit. Iran has the firepower to accomplish that and the American forces in Iraq and rest of the middle-east will be sitting ducks despite any ramp up the US intends to and is perhaps currently doing in the Persian Gulf.
Going into a war with Iran has two critical reasons against it,
1. American public opinion - which a propaganda campaign over a period of time may perhaps be able to change
2. World opinion - which asks this Question, but which, if Iraq is any example the current establishment does not really care about
Despite this why would the US make this mistake perhaps in another year or two - the answer is, the conservative right which has placed George Bush and Dick Cheney in charge of the country will not let them go back home without doing something about Iran. There is not much of a choice here and the way things are piling up, it is surely going their way. It may not happen soon, but there is another 'solid' two years left in the Bush Presidency.
Before the bombing starts, lets take a minute off to see what Iran (which has not invaded a country in the past one hundred years) looks like. After the bombing we'll be left with rubble, like Afghanistan and Iraq, it is in the nature of bombs.
P.S : Per the state of the Union did you hear about yesterday's "Valentine's Day Massacre"
P.P.S : Take a look at the 2008 Budget Request (courtesy : RoseCoveredGlasses)
Saturday, February 03, 2007
Road to the White House - Miami Caucuses
With the Presidential race for 2008 getting heated up , Miami Caucuses yesterday decided on a bipartisan ticket for 2008. The Caucuses across Budweiser suggested a Republican as President and a Democrat as his VP. The Lincoln-Kennedy '08 ticket was announced by the Caucus leader Stephen Colbert with much fanfare outside Sunday's Superbowl venue. Within minutes CIA's closest base at Bay of Pigs with written authorization from Langley informed the Caucus that both Lincoln and Kennedy were killed and probably both were dead. The Caucus in a state of extreme shock, downed a gallon of Mojito and observed a moment of silence. The Caucus also decided that probably a bipartisan ticket might not be a good idea in a country that has opinions. The search for a new President is on.
How does this CV look like ?
Eric Seagal's book Love Story was closely based on him and his Harvard roomie Tomy Lee Jones.
Serves in Apple's board of Directors and advisor to Google's senior management.
Consistently opposed the war in Iraq and Abu Ghraib, stating the facts. He said "We would not have invaded a country that did not attack us. We would not have taken money from the working families and given it to the most wealthy families. We would not be trying to control and intimidate the news media. We would not be routinely torturing people."
He didn't say he "invented the internet" but played a major role in creating it. This is what Vinton Gray Cerf and Bob Kahn - the two founding fathers of Internet have to say about our candidate - " He was the first political leader to recognize the importance of the Internet and to promote and support its development. No one person or even small group of persons exclusively "invented" the Internet. It is the result of many years of ongoing collaboration among people in government and the university community. But as the two people who designed the basic architecture and the core protocols that make the Internet work, we would like to acknowledge his contributions as a Congressman, Senator and as Vice President. No other elected official, to our knowledge, has made a greater contribution over a longer period of time. "
He led the foreign policy initiatives during the Clinton years. Remember South Africa, Israel-Palestine, Bosnia - Yugoslavia.
He says Global Warming is not a myth and many of us are convinced. His latest Documentary on global warming has created a new found awareness on the issue. Its the third highest grossing documentary in US history, nominated for the 2007 Oscars. Point is he's been saying this since 1980s and got a copy of the Kyoto Protocol for record - though it didn't do much good.
Nominated for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his work on Global Warming.
He served in Vietnam (unlike Bush and Clinton who dodged the draft)
Pioneered the National Performance Review - something every country can do with.
He was elected President of the United States in 2000. But that was the year the US Supreme court elected its own President, our hero - Dubya.
More written word on PBS and NYTimes
Its a long campaign ahead - fresh faces, old horses, promises, vested interests and hypocrisies. More on the 2008 race later. Btw, according to Conan O'Brien, President Bush visited the New York Stock Exchange. It was an awkward moment when President Bush asked, "When do I get to meet Dow Jones?. Then he went on to say the economy is doing pretty good and all the Indian techies smiled. He said Iraq situation is difficult. If Iraq is 'difficult', 'pretty good' for the economy is surely an understatement.
Good Night and Good Luck :-)
How does this CV look like ?
Eric Seagal's book Love Story was closely based on him and his Harvard roomie Tomy Lee Jones.
Serves in Apple's board of Directors and advisor to Google's senior management.
Consistently opposed the war in Iraq and Abu Ghraib, stating the facts. He said "We would not have invaded a country that did not attack us. We would not have taken money from the working families and given it to the most wealthy families. We would not be trying to control and intimidate the news media. We would not be routinely torturing people."
He didn't say he "invented the internet" but played a major role in creating it. This is what Vinton Gray Cerf and Bob Kahn - the two founding fathers of Internet have to say about our candidate - " He was the first political leader to recognize the importance of the Internet and to promote and support its development. No one person or even small group of persons exclusively "invented" the Internet. It is the result of many years of ongoing collaboration among people in government and the university community. But as the two people who designed the basic architecture and the core protocols that make the Internet work, we would like to acknowledge his contributions as a Congressman, Senator and as Vice President. No other elected official, to our knowledge, has made a greater contribution over a longer period of time. "
He led the foreign policy initiatives during the Clinton years. Remember South Africa, Israel-Palestine, Bosnia - Yugoslavia.
He says Global Warming is not a myth and many of us are convinced. His latest Documentary on global warming has created a new found awareness on the issue. Its the third highest grossing documentary in US history, nominated for the 2007 Oscars. Point is he's been saying this since 1980s and got a copy of the Kyoto Protocol for record - though it didn't do much good.
Nominated for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his work on Global Warming.
He served in Vietnam (unlike Bush and Clinton who dodged the draft)
Pioneered the National Performance Review - something every country can do with.
He was elected President of the United States in 2000. But that was the year the US Supreme court elected its own President, our hero - Dubya.
More written word on PBS and NYTimes
Its a long campaign ahead - fresh faces, old horses, promises, vested interests and hypocrisies. More on the 2008 race later. Btw, according to Conan O'Brien, President Bush visited the New York Stock Exchange. It was an awkward moment when President Bush asked, "When do I get to meet Dow Jones?. Then he went on to say the economy is doing pretty good and all the Indian techies smiled. He said Iraq situation is difficult. If Iraq is 'difficult', 'pretty good' for the economy is surely an understatement.
Good Night and Good Luck :-)
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