FNS – Christopher Dickey on Syria – Political Analysis – And One or Two Grandiose Thoughts

29 Thursday Aug 2013

Posted by commart in A Little Wisdom, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Fast News Share, Islamic Small Wars, Middle East, Regions, Syria

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

consciousness, political philosophy, Syria, World Wide Web Civilization

The other great American ally in the region, Israel, has for the most part recused itself from the Syrian conflict. Its only direct action has been to strike Hezbollah supply networks that might have carried threatening missiles into Lebanon, and to shell Syrian fighters who brought their war too close to the Israeli frontier. In fact, although Saudi Arabia and Israel are technically enemies, their interests coincide very closely in Syria. Both want to see Iran weakened, neither wants to see Assad last, and neither want to see the Brotherhood or al Qaeda take control. In such a situation, a protracted war draining the resources of its enemies is not the worst thing that could happen from Israel’s point of view.

Dickey, Christopher. “Let It Bleed: No American Action Can Resolve the Syrian Conflict.” The Daily Beast, August 28, 2013.

We don’t put humans in zoos (except for criminals best kept in cages): some “uncontacted people” we, well, the world of scholars, try to leave alone; some primitive tribes enjoy nominal to effective state-based protective security with freedom to choose their communal way exclusively or assimilate incrementally under their own volition.

Noting that and sometimes likening Sunni vs. Shiite strife to “two mad wasps in a bell jar,” one may well view Syria’s agony and its surround of political drivers, from the post-Soviet interest of neo-oligarch Russia to the alien-to-the-west ambitions of Iran and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as taking place in a political crucible so isolated as to be compared an island or pit expressly designed for viewing Homo sapiens sapiens at its worst.

It’s not called a “theater” for nothin’.

* * *

Last Wednesday, in the hours after a horrific chemical attack east of Damascus, an official at the Syrian Ministry of Defense exchanged panicked phone calls with a leader of a chemical weapons unit, demanding answers for a nerve agent strike that killed more than 1,000 people. Those conversations were overheard by U.S. intelligence services, The Cable has learned.

Schachtman, Noah. “Exclusive: Intercepted Calls Prove Syrian Army Used Nerve Gas, U.S. Spies Say.” The Cable, Foreign Policy, August 27, 2013.

I may disagree here with Christopher Dickey as regards the effects of a punitive strike against the Syrian military to discourage additional chemical weapons attacks: the mentality involved has long proven itself beyond criticism, conscience, and prudence.

Maher is accused of multiple human rights abuses and is considered the most feared man in Syria. Aside from the recent chemical attacks, there are several examples of horrible atrocities carried out by troops he commands. In March 2011, his fourth division lead a siege against a “group of schoolboys” who were calling for Bashar to leave. Maher ordered them all killed.

Michelson, Brad. “Maher al-Assad: Top 10 Facts You Need to Know.” Heavy, August 28, 2013.

About that group of schoolboys: Chulov, Martin. “Did Assad’s ruthless brother mastermind alleged Syria gas attack?” The Guardian, August 24, 2013.

* * *

Theologist Thomas Berry placed man as the enabled living agent in an unfolding earth process: we’re able to live with the earth, respond to our own presence in it (as we do with anti-pollution controls, laws, and strategies). Beside that thought I would place the idea that the World Wide Web and its social networks form a nerve-type skein around the globe’s human affairs — even “human process” — too, and we know where life is burning and where it is sweet, where correction is wanted and peace is needed.

I’ve never really liked the brand name “Google” (goes with a child’s rattling toy) nor the slogan “Islamic Awakening” but ironically, oddly, both terms may refer to an organismic acquisition of a new consciousness and conscience. Not since God sewed skins for Adam and Even on their way out into their human journey has mankind enjoyed such an expansion of awareness.

I’ll spare you the “Pale Blue Dot” on this post.

What’s happening in Syria today: evil.

Whatever the cloaks and covers, the excuses and the temptations, it’s not what anyone wants or should want.

What is happening around Syria, whether with concerns for refugees, with “tracking” the conflict, with ideas in an Awesome Conversation taking place around the world in real time 24/7/365, that is what is wanted.

Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!

Additional Reference

Reilly, Jill. “U.S. spies certain Assad used nerve gas ‘after intercepting phone call from panicking Syrian defence chief demanding an explanation from its chemical weapon military unit’.” Mail Online, August 28, 2013.

# # #

FNS – IPT – “Stigmatizing Their Critics”

29 Thursday Aug 2013

Posted by commart in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Fast News Share

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Islam, narcissism, narcissistic defense, political psychology

A segment in the Investigative Project on Terrorism’s new award-winning documentary “Jihad in America: The Grand Deception” focuses on Islamists and how they try to control public perception. Part of it is by manipulating a lazy and gullible media. But another part is to shut down any criticism of Islamist ideology – the notion that society is best governed by Islamic law.

The Investigative Project on Terrorism. “Stigmatizing Their Critics – An IPT Video Report: Panel Discussion Focuses on Islamist Intimidation.” August 28, 2013.

Without narcissism and vanity, we would not have, say, Cadillacs and golf courses for starters; with too much, control issues — control of others, ambiguities involving locus of control in cultural, personal, and political dimensions — may become prominent, obsessive, and destructive.

The coin “Facsimile Bipolar Political Sociopathy” serves to define a trait in dictators who so often lead their states to ruin, but in and through it, one may also catch on to the rejection of criticism accompanied by grandiose delusions in the mirroring taking place within more average souls on similarly inspired missions.

Is it there by nature or has it been nurtured?

My briefest brush with someone else’s clinically diagnosed “bipolar disorder” makes a strong case for nature as regards that specific — distinctive, florid, and unmistakable — psychopathology. However, for the purposes of social and political psychology, I would make a case for language-informed “social grammar” constructing or programming a kind of person who would believe himself remiss if he demurred from enforcing what he believes to be divine favor and instruction already undergirded by congruent and unconsciously managed basic attitudes and beliefs.

# # #

FNS – Syria – Rebels Accuse Assad Regime of Launching Chemical Attack

21 Wednesday Aug 2013

Posted by commart in Fast News Share, Islamic Small Wars, Journalism, Middle East, Politics, Regions, Syria, Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

attack, chemical weapons, Syria

SYRIA Man Struggles For Air, Chemical Weapons Kill 650 In Damascus: Suspicious Timing

***

Rockets with toxic agents were launched at the suburbs of the Ghouta region early on Wednesday as part of a major bombardment on rebel forces, they say.

The Syrian army says the accusations have been fabricated to cover up rebel losses.

The main opposition alliance said that more than 1,000 people were killed by the attacks.

BBC. “Syria conflict: ‘Chemical attacks’ kill hundreds.” August 21, 2013.

BBC correspondent Frank Gardner comments on the suspicious timing of the alleged attack — why now? — but also the horrifying and likely authentic extent of the suffering witnessed.

Without press freedom, privilege, and security in the world’s combat zones, their darkness fades to a plain and evil black.

Search string “Ghouta chemical attack” seems to work.

At the top of my list at the moment: Al Arabiya. “Syrian opposition: 1,300 killed in chemical attack on Ghouta region.” August 21, 2013.

I would want to know whether any of the the satellite-enabled and watching military organizations involved worldwide have recorded data of the rockets delivering the chemical warheads involved.

If not, how was this crime — still being checked out — committed?

I have to go. Last glance: Morris, Loveday, and Ahmed Ramadan. “Syrian activists accuse government of deadly chemical attack near Damascus.” The Washington Post, August 21, 2013.

Did it happen?

Did Assad do it?

Is it a false flag designed to enlarge the war on the rebel’s behalf?

Whatever you answer, prove it.

I can’t.

I’m not sure about what I’m looking at.

As most of you do, I see what’s reported, although perhaps I give the overview a little more time with attention to comparison and corroboration and spin.

***

The Russian Foreign Ministry, citing its sources, said that a homemade rocket carrying unidentified chemical substances had been launched from an area controlled by the opposition.

“A homemade rocket with a poisonous substance that has not been identified yet – one similar to the rocket used by terrorists on March 19 in Khan al-Assal – was fired early on August 21 [at Damascus suburbs] from a position occupied by the insurgents,” Lukashevich said.

RT. “Russia suggests Syria ‘chemical attack’ was ‘planned provocation’ by rebels.” August 21, 2013.

Turn the matter of the Hague, says I, for without an independent investigation by an an accepted neutral authority, whether detective or journalist, the little boys doing the fighting and the Big Bothers watching them and may, can, and will lie like hell in their own interests.

Additional Reference

Reuters. “US joins calls for probe into alleged Syrian chemical attack.” The Jerusalem Post, August 21, 2013.

# # #

Somebody Help This Fellow Out – Raif Badawai – On a Kingdom’s Bad Side

31 Wednesday Jul 2013

Posted by commart in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Fast News Share, Free Speech, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation, Islamic Small Wars, Journalism, Middle East, Politics, Regions, Saudi Arabia

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Islam, Islamic reform, politics, Raif Badawi, Saudi Arabia

Abu al-Khair said that the judge sentenced Badawi to five years in prison for insulting Islam and violating provisions of Saudi Arabia’s 2007 anti-cybercrime law through his liberal website, affirming that liberalism is akin to unbelief.

————–

From today’s start of the awesome conversation:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Free-Raif-Badawi/397956733638642 — Okay, Facebookers: do your thing! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raif_Badawi ;http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/495854/20130731/raif-badawi-saudi-arabia-lashes-islam-editor.htm ;http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE23/021/2013/en

I have to wonder what Raif Badawi wrote or otherwise said that may have been so egregious in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as to have the kingdom throw him in jail and the court sentence him to seven years in prison plus 600 lashes.

While the kingdom modernizes — “Related Stories” dredged up on the New York Daily News page include such titles as “Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah grants women seats on the nation’s top advisory council” and “King Abdullah: Saudi Arabia women can vote, hold elected office” — the persistent throttling of expression, the disproportionate sentencing, and the medieval cruelty of lashing to boot (imagine having that to look forward to each week for, say, 30 weeks) tell of a willful egomania thundering atop a fragile surface of faith.

Every tyrants first concern in power has to do with making a convincing case for authority and maintaining it.

Perhaps with that in mind, we say in the United States with regard to the famous Freedom of Speech principle, “Without the First Amendment, all of the others are worthless.”

The Mellow Jihadi reports, “Raif’s site discussed the role of religion in Saudi Arabia, and he has been held since June 2012 on charges of cyber crime and disobeying his father – a crime in the conservative kingdom.“

About eight months ago, Reuters reporting on the Raif Badawi case noted, “Judges base their decisions on their own interpretation of religious law rather than on a written legal code or on precedent.” That is, if I may interpret, responsibility for this ethical and moral confusion may not rest so much with King Abdullah as with an archaic clerical class, but also, alas, that which doubtlessly supports his authority.

Following Reuter’s latest on the case (published two hours ago) back to Human Rights Watch, this wrap may sum the Saudi state of mind:

Abu al-Khair said that the judge sentenced Badawi to five years in prison for insulting Islam and violating provisions of Saudi Arabia’s 2007 anti-cybercrime law through his liberal website, affirming that liberalism is akin to unbelief. The judge ordered the closure of the website and added two years to Badawi’s sentence for insulting both Islam and Saudi Arabia’s Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, or religious police, in comments during television interviews.

Human Rights Watch. “Saudi Arabia: 600 Lashes, 7 Years for Activist.” July 31, 2013.

Even while King Abdullah presses for reforms and aspects of modernity course through or make their way into the cultures of the Arabian Peninsula, the Anachronisms cling to a power today deeply mocked and reviled among the educated worldwide, and whether by way of “listening posts” or the perhaps guilty indulgence of going solo online, one by one, logged on and searching the world’s largest information mirror, that is how they will see themselves.

By way of the design in human nature, for which one might credit God, God being God, what Saudi Arabia’s most dogmatic clerics and judges had wished to avoid for want of pride has become precisely that which they must encounter in the feedback supplied by the World Wide Web.

Additional Reference

Malone, Noreen. “How Many Lashes Can One Man Take?” Slate, November 14, 2008.

# # #

FNS — Two Notes on Islam — From Islam

29 Monday Jul 2013

Posted by commart in Fast News Share, Free Speech, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation, Islamic Small Wars, Politics

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

democracy, ethical, ethics, modernity, Pakistan, political, political alignment, politics, religion, Turkey

For the biggest form of blasphemy that we all almost always commit is to force another to live in fear for believing, speaking, thinking and sometimes even existing, as we justify it in the name of our faith or stand silent as we bear witness.

No videos, sketches or hate speeches have hurt Islam more than the reckless army of blood thirsty goons justifying vandalism in the name of religion.

Saleem, Sana. “In Pursuit of Clarity.” Dawn, July 29, 2013.

As I have said in previous articles, a devout government must always support such principles as libertarianism, modernity and valuing women, beauty, art and science. It must not allow the slightest pressure or measure or reference reminiscent of pressure. It must turn its back on the possibility of radicalism and, as a “devout” administration, must apply democracy in the most perfect manner. We must admit that Mohamed Morsi and Recep Tayyip Erdogan have made errors on this.

Kocaman, Aylin. “A simple but burdensome word: Islamist.” Al-Ahram Weekly, July 23, 2013.

The World Wide Web has turned out a global mirror. Signal sent — signal returned: in language, we see ourselves as others (not always remote) may see us.

If the latest sentiments out of Pakistan and Turkey prove sustained, that thing called “The West” may have to resign itself to following rather than leading in the realm of ethical and moral investigation and righteousness, no doubt, however, while welcoming the competition.

# # #

Malala’s Sweet Tough 16th

12 Friday Jul 2013

Posted by commart in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Fast News Share, Islamic Small Wars, Pakistan, Politics

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

education, ethics, leadership, Malala Yousafzai, Pakistan, Pakistani, politics, progressive

Thanks to Al Jazeera:

In less than 20 minutes, Malala Yousafzai has done what few to none of Pakistan’s politicians have ever done: pushed Pakistan to the forefront of ethical and moral progress in the world.

Additional Reference

A World at School. “The text of Malala Yousafzai’s speech at the United Nations.” Transcript. July 12, 2013.

Ellick, Adam B. “Class Dismissed: Malala’s Story.” Video. (Back Story). The New York Times, October 9, 2012.

Imam, Zainab. “Malala and the lague of extraordinary Pakistani women.” The Express Tribune, July 13, 2013:

But on July 12, when a young Pakistani woman wowed the entire world by her simple yet powerful views, I let go of trying to look logically at the other view — I saw the tear that fell out of Malala’s mother’s eye and I felt what had caused it. Malala’s mother, purported to be a CIA agent, was crying because the little girl who she had carried in her womb for nine months and nurtured for 15 years was finally able to speak with her characteristic vigour after surviving a bullet to her head.

Johnston, Ian. “Malala Yousafzai: Being shot by Taliban made me stronger.” NBC News, July 12, 2013.

Plank, Elizabeth. “9 Best Quotes From Malala’s United Nations Speech.” Policymic, July 12, 2013.

Reuters. “Pakistan’s Malala celebrates 16th birthday with emotional U.N. speech (1:32), July 12, 2013.

Spiegal Online Staff. “Girl Rising: Malala Fires Up a New Generation.” Spiegal Online, July 12, 2013.

The Globe and Mail. “‘They thought that the bullet would silence us’: Malala addresses UN Youth Assembly.” July 12, 2013.