Tag Archives: political psychology

A Short Note on The Dictator, The Mirror, and the Fragile Surface

16 Monday Sep 2013

Posted by in Africa, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Facsimile Bipolar Political Sociopathy, Politics, Psychology, Regions, Zimbabwe

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When Robert Mugabe dies — I predict peacefully, in his sleep — he will go believing himself the most beneficent and magnanimous of leaders, the champion of his state, black and beautiful, bountiful and good.

If the children of Zimbabwe are starving or dying of the cholera he introduced to some parts, if the currency would seem to be forever foundering, if the cries of brutality, corruption, and injustice remain constant in the air and on the airwaves of either opposition or truthful radio, all of that would be no fault of his: he, Robert Mugabe, did what he could.

And he got away with it!

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Do dictators know what they do?

I don’t think they do.

At least they may not be aware of their effects with a depth in any way anchored in a human and sentimental heart.

In the Great Halls of Mirrors, the brightest reflections are of heroic men, each dictator alpha among others, struggling on their own behalf, their families (not really but it’s made to look that way, for image matters), and their people for place of pride against a world that would otherwise undo and enslave them.

Theirs is a fight for every inch and measurable Nth of property, business, and resource, while every reflection — the stuff of “narcissistic supply” — by way of paid and patronized advisers and associates, fawning (or faking it) family, and permitted controlled media agree with that outlook.

In the contempt and disparagement of others, in the inability to connect with a common humanity, in the abuse and intimidation of others, in the callous disregard of deep injustice and tragedy suffered by others directly or indirectly at their hands, there seems a surface ever ready to shatter, ever uncertain of its own basis in being that has long gone missing.

______

I may slip from analysis to poetry to fiction here as the depth of what one witnesses in such figures eludes “observable-measurable” note making.  However, for this post, the following statement and the URLs accompanying it all report or reflect on what is known:

A power-sharing deal signed on September 15 aimed to bring together the current president Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, signaled a moment of hope for the future of Zimbabwe. Instead, it marked the start of the country’s most recent descent into chaos: water and sanitation services shut down; inflation skyrocketed; food shortages spread across the country; hospitals and clinics closed their doors; outbreaks of cholera, anthrax, and possibly malaria threaten lives; and in a country where where AIDS kills over 400 Zimbabweans a day, care for HIV/AIDS and opportunistic infections have lost priority. While innocent civilians fight for their lives the governing parties clash over the rule of Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe Health System Crisis, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, n.d.

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▶ Robert Mugabe Denies Cholera Epidemic in Zimbabwe – YouTube 12/12/2008

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Zimbabwe Economy

allAfrica.com: Zimbabwe: Intensifying Government Bankruptcy (Page 1 of 2) 2/8/2013

Face up to reality and start talking to Robert Mugabe – FT.com 9/10/2013

allAfrica.com: Zimbabwe Sails Close to Economic Rocks (Page 1 of 2) 8/28/2013:

According to Zimbabwe’s Indigenisation Act of 2007, foreign-owned companies are forced to cede 51 percent of their shares to local people. But economists warn that the indigenisation policy is driving investors away.

“Foreign investors are obliged to bring in 100 percent of the capital, bear 100 percent of the risk, provide 100 percent of the technology, and in turn settle for 49 percent of the equity and pay taxes,” independent economist Kingston Nyakurukwa told IPS.

China, whose labor has been keeping me in sharp western-designed clothing for a while, may prove up to burden of keeping the ever dapper Robert Mugabe looking equally as good.

Zimbabwe Gets Computers to Track Epidemics, Diseases 12/20/2012 — Still, the United States lends a helping hand.  However, notes this article, such aid, which admittedly focuses on HIV/AIDS control and contributes to the American Center for Disease Control (CDC) data base, arrives within this context:

As a result of bankruptcy, President Robert Mugabe’s government in Zimbabwe is failing to meet the Abuja Declarations which recommends that African governments allocate 15 percent of their budgets towards health.

Saudi Gazette – Mugabe’s bankruptcy (near direct-to-print URL), n.d.

BBC News – Bitterness and unease in bankrupt Zimbabwe 3/6/2010

Zimbabwe Egalitarian and Equal Opportunity Measures

Robert Mugabe’s land reform comes under fresh scrutiny | World news | theguardian.com 5/10/2013

When a Crocodile Eats the Sun: A Memoir of Africa: Peter Godwin: 9780316018715: Amazon.com: Books (2007)

Mugabe and the White African | POV | PBS

Zimbabwe Food Security

Zimbabwe faces looming food crisis, says UN | World news | theguardian.com 9/4/2013:

Zimbabwe is facing a “looming food crisis” with one in four people in rural areas at risk of hunger early next year, the highest number in half a decade, the UN has warned.

The gloomy prediction was seen as a blow to analysts who have argued that Robert Mugabe’s widely condemned land reform programme is starting to pay dividends.

IRIN Africa | Army worm outbreak threatens Zimbabwe’s food security | Zimbabwe | Early Warning | Food Security 1/14/2013

Zimbabwe Health

IPS – Rebuilding Zimbabwe’s Health System | Inter Press Service 6/19/2013:

Every day, eight women and 100 children die from pregnancy- and delivery-related complications in Zimbabwe, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Most of them die of easily preventable causes and illnesses.

Kubatana – Archive – A call to the new government of Zimbabwe to prioritize the right to health and clean water – ZADHR- Sep 12, 2013

Zimbabwe Media

Media group says Zimbabwe police ban on hand-cranked, solar radios illegal ahead of polling | Fox News 2/22/2013

In Zimbabwe’s Media, It’s All About Robert Mugabe : NPR 5/13/2012

Zimbabwe journalists worried: Mugabe cabinet includes ‘media hangman’ – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) 9/13/2013

Zimbabwe – Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ’s main Zimbabwe page)

Q&A: Zenzele Ndebele promotes radio in Zimbabwe – Blog – Committee to Protect Journalists 7/29/2013

Zimbabwe Refugees

Zimbabwean refugees: Between haven and hell – Features – Al Jazeera English 8/1/2013

UNHCR – Zimbabwe – “2013 UNCHR regional operations profile – Southern Africa”:

At the end of 2011, there were some 449,000 people of concern to UNHCR in Southern Africa, including 145,000 refugees, 245,000 asylum-seekers, 55,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) and 4,000 returnees.

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When the day after comes, as it comes to all survivors, how will Zimbabwe remember Robert Mugabe?

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UNHCR Video: “Zimbabweans in South Africa”

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Syria’s CW Whodunit

05 Thursday Sep 2013

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Fast News Share, Islamic Small Wars, Middle East, Politics, Psychology, Regions, Syria

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I trust the Jews to tell the truth.

When the IDF leaks an intercept that makes its way into Harriet Sherwood’s reporting for The Guardian, I believe it.

Not only has the IDF immense stakes in integrity — in concept, in embrace, and in practice — so does Harriet Sherwood, a career journalist writing for The Guardian and one not particularly noted for favoring anything Israel in her stories (see, for example, CiF Watch’s recent story, “Qalandiya “Martyrdom”: Harriet Sherwood Tweets fromt he Palestinian street,” August 26, 2013 as well as other pieces on the link).

So somebody overheard something — purely circumstantial guff is what that comes to.

So we’ll go on but with something like ‘preponderance of the evidence” for guidance.

* * *

With Maher al Assad well known and with a peerless reputation, some media have dragged out an old familiar (to policy wonks): Bandar bin Sultan.

Beneath the banner, “Saudi Arabia’s ‘Chemical Bandar’ behind the Syrian chemical attacks?”, RT came out shouting, “Nothing the US claims about what happened in Syria adds up. We are being asked to believe an illogical story, when it is much more likely that it was Israel and Saudi Arabia who enabled the Obama Administration to threaten Syria with war” about half a day ago.

Of course, those who may lie know it’s the first one that counts, so going on to say, “The Obama Administration’s intelligence report on Syria was a rehash of Iraq,” seems only fair.

Until one recalls Saddam Hussein to fond memory.

* * *

This finger pointing at the Saudi prince has been joined by, among others DigitalJournal, CounterPunch, OpEd News (from the video on the page and within its first 11 seconds, “It is growing increasingly possible that public outcry might make the imperial force of American exceptionalism with its humanitarian war sites set on Syria back down or at the very least delay”), PressTV, MintPress News, Larouche Pac, InfoWars, etc.

For InfoWars, Paul Joseph Watson wraps up with something between a disclaimer and validation:

UPDATE: Associated Press contacted us to confirm that Dale Gavlak is an AP correspondent, but that her story was not published under the banner of the Associated Press. We didn’t claim this was the case, we merely pointed to Gavlak’s credentials to stress that she is a credible source, being not only an AP correspondent, but also having written for PBS, BBC and Salon.com.

Proving integrity may be as difficult — it certainly is a sensitive issue — as proving dishonesty in a dimension or region in behavior in which plans, good or evil, rife with brutality, deflection, dishonesty, and disingenuous speech or listening, searching, defensive, and protective — are put together out of range of public sight and oversight.

* * *

If rebel forces suffered a mortal oops, it would seem more characteristic in Arab language culture to point the finger at someone else.

If a brigade under Maher al Assad’s command done it, it would be mafia cool to do it — record it, leak it, plaster it across the web — as rebels.

Syria False Flag Caught On leaked Video Shows FSA Rebels Launch Chemical Attacks

Edited!

Underscored!

Produced!

* * *

Rebel weapons accident (as reported) or chemical weapons launch (as reported and “displayed”)?

Choose.

As long as it’s them.

Because if they didn’t do it . . . .

* * *

From the Wikipedia entry on Bandar:

According to Iran’s PressTV, Bandar was under house arrest for an attempted coup,[35][36] while opposition sources said he was in Dhaban Prison.[34] Some rumors alleged that his coup was exposed by Russian intelligence services because of his frequent trips to Moscow to encourage cooperation against Iran.[34]

Veteran journalist Bill Neely writing about Maher al al-Assad today:

A month ago rebels fired rockets at Bashar’s motorcade as he headed for a Mosque in the centre of Damascus. The attempt to kill the President failed but one of his bodyguards, said to have been a particular favourite of his children Hafez, Karim and Zein was killed.

Many inside and outside Syria believe this may have been the last straw for the hot-headed Maher. No assassination attempt of Bashar al-Assad could go unpunished, especially not one in the heart of the capital.

Neely, Bill.  “Maher al-Assad: The brutal enforcer of the family regime.”  ITV, September 5, 2013.

* * *

A War About Integrity.

Who would have ever thought of that?

A war about language.

The answer to “Syria’s CW Whodunit” may come to light if one intelligence industry or another turns up its cards and reveals its methods, capabilities, and limitations.

“So-and-so said” seems to be working to confuse rather than inform the public.

In addition to the challenge involving “Political Spychology” there is that other political psychology involving the character in personality associated with “malignant narcissism”, the features of which include delusions of grandeur, messianic complexes, paranoia, resistance to criticism, etc. (I’ll lay out a page on the language associated with that subject soon).

Through the lens that looks into dictatorship and across dictatorships, things may look a little different, for the want to control the subjugated by controlling a large information environment (“gaslighting” on a large scale) would seem inseparable from other behaviors having to do with hiding things while deeply controlling others.

Additional Reference

Gavlak, Dale and Yahya Ababneh.  “EXCLUSIVE: Syrians in Ghouta Claim Saudi-Supplied Rebels Behind Chemical Attack.”  Mint Press News, August 29, 2013.

Larouche PAC.  “Did Saudi Prince Bandar Give Chemical Weapons to the Syrian Opposition?”  September 1, 2013.

Lee, Peter.  “We Need to Talk About Prince Bandar.”  Counterpunch, September 4, 2013.

Lopez, Ralph.  , “Syrians say Saudi intelligence gave chemical weapons to rebels,” DigitalJournal, September 2, 2013.

Murphy, Dan.  “Syrian chemical weapons claims: How strong is the evidence.”  The Christian Science Monitor, September 3, 2013.

Naureckas, Jim.  “Which Syrian Chemical Attack Account is More Credible.”  FAIR, September 1, 2013.  Of accounts that may be argued point by point, I would call this one the most balanced and conservative with its conclusion:

This humility about the difficulty of reporting on a covert, invisible attack in the midst of a chaotic civil war actually adds to the credibility of the Mint account. It’s those who are most certain about matters of which they clearly lack firsthand knowledge who should make us most skeptical.

PressTV.  “Saudi Prince Bandar behind chemical attack in Syria: Report.”  September 1, 2013.

PressTV.  “Syria gas attack to Saudi-Israeli benefit.”  August 30, 2013:

It’s not such a silly question. After all, the Americans are continually attacking everybody, aren’t they?

Then there’s the Israelis always doing a bit of assassinating, phosphorus spraying and creeping genocide in Palestine (although they’re never particular about confining their activities to Palestine).

The Guardian.  “Harriet Sherwood.”  Recent articles page.

Trainor, Dennis Jr.  “Syrian Rebels Claim Saudi Prince Bandar Responsible for Chemical Weapons Attack.”  OpEd News, September 2, 2013.

Watson, Paul Joseph.  “Rebels Admit Responsibility for Chemical Weapons Attack.”  InfoWars, August 30, 2013.

Related from BackChannels

“Syria – Chemical Warhead Launch Ascribed to 155th Brigade – 4th Armored Division – Syrian Army,” August 28, 2013.

“Syria – Define Your World,” September 2, 2013.

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Syria – Equal Time – Putin Challenges Obama’s Evidence

03 Tuesday Sep 2013

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Islamic Small Wars, Middle East, Politics, Psychology, Regions, Syria

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Putin dismisses calls for Syria intervention as ‘utter nonsense’ – video (Posted today too).

I’ve maintained that Syria has been for decades in Russia’s sphere of influence — and across quite a few military, political, and trade issues — and rightly in the post-Soviet period should have been of concern to Russians.  It may have been so but with the Assad regime and society overall still difficult and remote in its own right.

Putin’s challenge to the IDF SIGINT intercept — BackChannels: “Syria – Chemical Warhead Launch Ascribed to 155th Brigade — 4th Armored Division — Syrian Army” — may involve showing a part of the hand owned by the American intelligence industry difficult to disclose without compromising security.

* * *

As an aside here, the spy games popping up through Manning, Assange, and Snowden (oh my!) have been a much obscured part of the Islamic Small Wars throughout the range.  For Pakistanis, “ISI” is ever on the lips but equally off the radar and inscrutable; for Somalis, the Al Qaeda types come and go — I got my first online news glimpse in the Islamic Courts Union era and my last somewhere between Al Shabaab and a separate raid on kidnappers that raised a lot of unanswerable questions, starting with, “So how did you guys (SEALS) know who, where, and when?”

The world “behind the curtains”, from diplomatic missions to intelligence operations coursing through every sector of state-defined societies is immense, and it’s foolish to think that those hidden hands (plus eyes and ears and mouths) are not playing around in Syria.

Indeed, these are the best of times for the writers (and movie producers) of spy thrillers.

* * *

At stake in Syria, perhaps beautifully so, is a test of the definition of political and social obligation to others.

It’s much easier to express that when children, displaced persons, and refugees are the subject of whatever topic may be at hand: such are the victim of horrific circumstance and a portion of the soul of the world evident in the NGOs and the United Nations and all who support them comes out to do its thing, which is being helpful in the absolute worst conditions.

The spectacle of jets flown against neighborhoods, mass beheading, savage, if symbolic, cannibalism, and, finally, the taboo of chemical warfare brings something else into display, and it confronts these two incredibly unique men, President Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama with exactly what each might detest or fear most: differentially, a test of conscience on one hand, and a test of courage on the other: however, neither the former nor latter involve Syrians per se.

Instead, they involve the political grammars and structures on which the present has arrived, and in light of the savagery exhibited in Syria, as much seem to have grown old and to be moving out of favor.

I’ve been deliberately oblique in this last section, but fit to context, I think the poetry about right.

Additional Reference

A Delicate Truth: A Novel

Spies for Hire

The Man Without A Face

The New Nobility

The Russians

From the News

Beattie, Jason.  “Syria: Britain ‘could join America in arming rebel forces fighting Assad regime’.”  Mirror News, September 3, 2013.

Oudat, Bassel.  “Who’s fighting in Syria?”  Al-Ahram Weekly, September 4, 2013.  This story recaps the development of rebel forces from about six months after the start of popular protests.  Excerpt:

According to opposition figure Ayman Abdel-Nour, Al-Assad told the Syrian media recently that the regular army’s inability to take the city of Daria near Damascus after 120 days of non-stop shelling was because of the presence of foreign contingents fighting in the city, including Israelis and US commandos, for example.

However, the regime itself has been involved in forming the armed groups and of being a key mover in some of them. During the first year of the uprising, the regime released more than 60,000 prisoners by presidential decree, which facilitated the creation of the armed rebel groups and served its interests in painting them as criminals and former prisoners.

Williams, Carol J.  “Russia bolstering naval presence amid expected Syria airstrikes.”  Los Angeles Times, August 29, 2013.

Withnall, Adam.  “Syria crisis: First CIA-trained rebel unit about to join fighting against Assad regime, says Obama.”  The Independent, September 3, 2013.

Wintour, Patrick and Kim Willsher.  “Syria crisis: Vladimir Putin under growing pressure.”  The Guardian, September 2, 2013:

Nearly 47 amateur video clips reportedly filmed on the morning of the attack and showing the impact on civilians had been authenticated by French military doctors, according to the intelligence. French evidence gave details of other suspected chemical attacks, in the towns of Saraqib and Jobar in April, which now appeared to have killed about 280 people, the report said.

Tribune news wire reports.  “Syria strike: Top Republicans back Obama as refugee crisis mounts.”  Chicago Tribune, September 3, 2013.

Care and Integrity in Language – and Syria

02 Monday Sep 2013

Posted by in A Little Wisdom, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Philology, Politics, Psychology

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The lie never serves the listener.

The lie always serves the liar in two ways: to conceal discomforting information or though — material that would be embarrassing, impolite, or shameful if expressed — or to manipulate the listener for gain, emotional or monetary, directly or indirectly.

Perhaps fiction serves for exception, but that entails literary invention in service to the emotional, political, social, and structural truth of a thing in aspects beyond the purview of journalism (for the journalist cannot record, for example, interior monologue).

* * *

A Jew may suggest, and possibly should, that each time the religion was hijacked, more or less, it may have been done with less concern for those inveigled in and by the New Power (two majors and lots of lesser camps in that category).  One gets a lesson, say, about snakes and devils, a fall from grace, but go back and read Genesis 2 and 3 and “The Fall” is not there — and what is there is an awakening in awareness, self-awareness, and conscience, each an aspect of consciousness and knowledge.

And while our Original Couple may “cover” with the fig leaves, it’s God who sews them clothes of skin — and clothed and conscious of their lives as human beings, out into the world they go.

What happened to that telling?

* * *

From Adam and Eve and the charming story of their creation and birth as human beings to Bashar and Maher al-Assad would seem a stretch, but it’s not.  The former emblematically tells a truth about the truth: indeed, humankind is conscious, self-conscious, and possessed of conscience; the latter symbolically tell a story about exceptional evil and how brazen, unconscious, uncaring, unconscionable, and sadistic a human or comparative handful of the same can be.

The initial mismatch involved in flying jets against neighborhoods in response to a guerrilla challenge at the low intensity level signals the delusion of grandeur in which the Assad brothers had been knocking about all of their lives.  Theirs was a kingdom, never mind the exploitation, hunger, and suffering of some fair portion of their constituency.

Damascus, 30 October 2007 (IRIN) – Syria is struggling to reform unsustainable and inequitable subsidies, despite warnings from leading economists that delays increase the likelihood of drastic economic shocks and possible social unrest.

 The question is how to do so without provoking sharp price increases in a country where the average state wage remains little over US$120 a month.

IRIN.  “SYRIA: Economic reforms threaten social unrest.”  October 30, 2007.

Ah, the good old days.

Syrians know how they lived.

Like kings, some.

Like peasants, most.

That is the way of kingdoms — and dictatorships — and they are all happy, are they not?

A more recent article in Al Monitor (“Failure of Economic Reform in Syria,” December 28, 2012) goes more deeply into the from-there-to-here aspect, but suffice it to say: all were not happy and however helped along or joined by fanatics or mercenaries, the seeds for insurrection would seem to have been homegrown.

As much, the Assad brothers would deny.

* * *

Remember: it’s never the narcissist.

* * *

Andrew Tabler: One of the ways the Syrian government defends itself is by obscuring everything that happens inside the country. Right now there’s a huge question about whether or not to intervene. The government can dispute whatever argument pro-interventionists have. This isn’t unusual for these kinds of regimes. Assad is a master at manipulating the press. Often times hardly anyone is even paying attention to Syria, though that’s changed now. At the time they could snow job us, but now it’s a lot harder, especially when so much violence is being captured on YouTube.

Totten, Michael J.  “An American in the Den of Assad.”  Interview with Andrew Tabler.  World Affairs, March 10, 2012.

A false false-flag in which troops dress down to look like rebels and a disinformation industry gins it up to look like “the other guy” tells the character of the primary actor, and it never changes: bullies are cowards and cowards are liars always.

* * *

This may be the last I write about language, integrity, narcissism, and political psychology for a while.  It may take funding or it may be for others to do, but with so much behavioral and cognitive machinery visible, one may pursue curiosity down into the nuts and bolts of child rearing, social grammar, the drama of, say, narcissistic mortification, and experiments with and development of criminal power as the basis for political and social power across large constituencies that will pay a high price for having allowed as much to happen to them.

The civil war in Syria provides the drama of the day; violence in Islam associated with mixed ambitions provides a convenient theme: however, observations proposed or stated here may have more universal qualities.

For certain, for example, Robert Mugabe has held on to power for decades, reintroduced cholera to Zimbabwe, displaced the white farmers, destroyed the nation’s agricultural prowess, watched as adults crawled across borders for work and children sank to eating bugs, and yet, probably, he will pass away peacefully in his sleep, fulfilling the dream of every dictator who ever believed he had actually defended and saved his country, accumulated his wealth legitimately, and arrived on his death bed with as good a conscience as any.

Additional Reference

Anderson, Hans Christian.  “The Emperor’s New Clothes”.

BackChannels.  “Syria – Dictators Do Not Negotiate Internal Affairs.”  May 28, 2013.

Debka File.  “Reported Syrian gas attack killing hundreds after first US-trained rebel incursion from Jordan.”  August 21, 2013.

Debka File.  “The sarin shells fired on Damascus – by Syrian 4th Division’s 155th Brigade – were followed by rockets on Israel and car bombings in Lebanon.”  August 24, 2013.

Dow, Nicole.  “Getting to know Syria’s first family.”  CNN, July 18, 2012.

Kahn, Laura H.  “Who would use chemical weapons?”  Bulleting of the Atomic Scientists.”  April 16, 2013.

McIntyre, Douglas A.  “As War risk Falters: Syria’s Economy by the Numbers.”  24/7 Wall Street, September 1, 2013.

Oppenheim Arts & Letters.  “Chomsky Think.”  May 17, 2010.

Oppenheim Arts & Letters.  “Guilt and Jealousy in Two Lines.”  February 27, 2012.

Oppenheim Arts & Letters.  “Israel and the Dark Mirror.”  June 25, 2010.

Oppenheim Arts & Letters.  “Not Tolerance: Trust — Cordoba Initiative, Imam Faisal Abdul Raif, and Primary Commentary.  August 24, 2010.

Oppenheim Arts & Letters.  “Obama and the Double Story.”  May 20, 2010.

Oppenheim Arts & Letters.  “Obama’s Double Story and the Islamic Small Wars.”  July 31, 2012.

Oppenheim Arts & Letters.  “Ye Who Would Wish to Help Man, Write for God.”  February 2, 2012.

RIA Novosti.  “Moscow Concerned about Syria, Not Assad – Minister.”  February 25, 2013.

RIA Novosti.  “Syrian Communists Urge Economic Reforms as Crisis Solution.” February 26, 2013.

Tabler, Andrew J.  “The Day After Assad Wins: The Hard Truths About Post-War Syria.”  Foreign Affairs, August 21, 2013.

The Heritage Foundation.  “2013 Index of Economic Freedom: Syria”.

Wikipedia.  “Gaslighting”.

Zelizer, Julian.  “Obama’s Syria dilemma: Becoming the president he didn’t like.” CNN, September 1, 2013.

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Syria – Marking Time

30 Friday Aug 2013

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology

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The absence of conscience on the part of the Assad regime in its military actions, an aspect that reaches its nadir with the use of chemical weapons, and the historically astigmatic vision of the Al Qaeda-types serve to keep “awareness, self-awareness, and conscience” — God’s gift to humanity in my interpretation of the Jewish ethos expressed in Genesis 2 and 3 — restricted to their own minds, concerned only with themselves, and consequently locked in true “mortal combat” on a small stage surrounded by mirrors of their own image.

The primers are out.

Fisher, Max.  “9 questions about Syria you were too embarrassed to ask.”  The Washington Post, August 29, 2013.

I like Max Fisher’s term in the lead, ” . . . possibly imminent series of limited military strikes . . .” and the later too true observation, “The government responded, there is no getting around this, like monsters.”

Rankin, Seija.  “What you Need to Know About the Crisis in Syria.”  Refinery29, August 28, 2013:

However, over time the FSA became dominated by Islamist extremists (including some affiliated with Al Qaeda), bolstered by Sunni rulers in Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The rebels, as the overarching group is now referred to, slowly split into fractured groups, with the more radical fighters taking over areas to the north and east of Damascus, and the more secular fighters holding court in the southern suburbs.

In Seija’s backgrounder, the Assad will-to-dynasty gets referenced but not its dependence on the politics of the Cold War and the prism provided by Putin’s now delicate diplomacy of the day, which has seen the retrieval of Russian civilian and military personnel and assets from Syria while fulfilling old military contracts at the Iran-Syria nexus.

Russia may be yet interested in defeating the “Yankee Imperialists” in the cause of the “New Russian Oligarchs” — just a thought — but it has to work at keeping itself apart from the European part of NATO identity as a Christian state fending off Islamist intentions in Chechnya and as a modern proto-democratic (all the parts are in place) still autocratic state enjoying a somewhat pagan muscularity.

* * *

* * *

* * *

Is that above an Ayatollah’s best buddy?

* * *

Back on center stage, Amos Harel writing for Haaretz asks, “In all the global talk over the last week about the chemical weapons attack in Syria and the expected U.S. response, one interesting question has been shunted aside: Why on earth did Syrian President Bashar Assad do it?”

(Harel, Amos.  “Despite words of warning, Israel wants to stay out of Syria conflict.”  Haaretz, August 30, 2013).

Harel’s piece also covers the strategic basics.

Syria, specifically, and Putin in Syria, specifically, and a fair number of interlopers, not so specifically, would seem to be running around in there without much of a moral compass.

Again, “Syria Dark Star” consumes energy without transforming itself into a positive region although some of what has been taking place may be moving toward that, e.g., the Kurdish separation from Syria forced by the presence of Al Qaeda in the Kurdish sphere amid the absence of Syrian state forces; the fact that the seemingly moderate General Idris remains afield with a capable force fighting both Assad’s military and such as Al Nusra.

Still: where can the Syrian Civil War resolve?

The inability of Syrians and the world at large to address that question both ideally and politically serves to keep the conflict, in the way of fire, consuming and deadening.

* * *

An Aside on Generalized Syrian Anti-Semitism

The presence and effects of general Syrian anti-Semitic acculturation also spells a dismal future, for that facet also stands signal to a lost humanity.

The absence of conscience on the part of the Assad regime in its military actions, an aspect that reaches its nadir with the use of chemical weapons, and the historically astigmatic vision of the Al Qaeda-types serve to keep “awareness, self-awareness, and conscience” — God’s gift to humanity in my interpretation of the Jewish ethos expressed in Genesis 2 and 3 — restricted to their own minds, concerned only with themselves, and consequently locked in true “mortal combat” on a small stage surrounded by mirrors of their own image.

In a sense, these actors cannot see themselves.

Those not a part of it and out searching on the World Wide Web may nonetheless see the same as they are and caught in a predicament of their own making, starting with the “malignant narcissism” so well displayed by the Assad’s in their “Arab Spring” response to their constituents.

“The government responded, there is no getting around this, like monsters,” wrote Max Fisher a few hours ago, and that is the truth.

How is it that they could not see themselves when they needed to see themselves most accurately, most completely, and most of all?

The coin “Facsimile Bipolar Political Sociopathy” may apply, but it serves as an aid to observation of leadership type and may not provide quite the key to insight and guidance needed in Syria.

Unfortunately, the conventions of diplomacy and war fighting won’t quell the dark energy in Syria either because in some the accumulated language-based “content of mind” has pushed them beyond the reach of their own and better humanity.  In reach-out, one may point to those who have exceeded limits, but, here’s the problem, they are also those fulfilling their programming.

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FNS – IPT – “Stigmatizing Their Critics”

29 Thursday Aug 2013

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

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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.

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FTAC – Armor for the People – Perceiving the Malignant Narcissist

19 Monday Aug 2013

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Philology, Politics, Psychology

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If it can be seen or perceived, there may be a word for it; however, one might ask, if there isn’t a word for it, can it, will it, be perceived or seen?

This short and off-the-cuff note associates with the theme I had wanted for this blog, far more than secondary coverage of the war news: i.e., a fair look into conflict and political psychology.

From The Awesome Conversation (FTAC) –>

” . . . how could a society allow the radical to run any sort of political business ?” There may be a form of moral and psychological weakness buttressed by stress plus challenges to personal and cultural self-esteem. Basically, The People Who Are Vulnerable may find themselves in want of a champion, a father, a demigod who can save them from their misery and restore them to (guess what) their former glory!

One does not have to relive the Battle of the Ditch to appreciate this.

The restoration of Jerusalem and the Temple of Solomon might do.

Perhaps the (American) South WILL rise again.

Or a once sprawling Berlin — is it still sprawling? — could become the definitive capital of a civilized empire (http://www.historytoday.com/roger-moorhouse/germania-hitlers-dream-capital)

“Malignant narcissists” possessed of charisma and grand enthusiasm (or grandiose delusions — see this blog’s note on Facsimile Bipolar Political Sociopathy) are inherently manipulative and without internal brakes as regards others (who exist to serve them — and supply them with adoration and love in infinite “narcissistic supply”).

The dictator of the day, at least Egypt’s day, is Morsi, and the language technology in play, at least in part, serves a readily angered population, and they too lose their brakes and take license; however, any may be invited to overview the “career paths” of other autocrats, present and past, and note the dynamic similarities across ideologies and purposes. Not all are awful, but from the junta in Burma to Mugabe in Zimbabwe, they are all thugs and their power is the power of the mob boss or malignant feudal lord.

It’s possible that in a language culture or society infused with “black and white thinking” that observation of the character of the dictator may add only to prowess in back-and-forth mudslinging.  Nonetheless, the possession of a concept universal in intent — i.e., the appearance of the autocrat in a social process, from board room to cabinet, from China to Cameroon, apart from legacy in culture, language, political system, and religion — may find a place in the political chemistry of constituencies engaged in conflict, in want of a way to the end of it and, through suffering perhaps, amenable to the adoption of an updating and progressive outlook.

It helps to know who really cares about you.

Not every leader with backbone or the inheritance, even, of a kingdom will prove a dictator in the depths of their psychology, but some, unfortunately, will, and they will always lead their people toward confusion and ruin, for what they most prize is their own aggrandized image and the comfort it brings them surrounded by sycophants and a visible sea of adoring loyal subjects.

Additional Reference

Fathali M. Moghaddam

Wikipedia.  “Malignant Narcissism”.

Wikipedia.  “Narcissistic Supply”.

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FTAC – Answering the Promotion of Islam as Regards a Woman’s Place – An Excerpt

21 Sunday Jul 2013

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation, Islamic Small Wars, Philology, Philosophy, Politics, Psychology, Religion

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I have altered the provocative voice to maintain only the line of thought pursued.

The answering voice, and more at length here, enough so to justify my noting that I have Martin Pembroke Harries’ permission to reprint his views here, takes an atheist’s stance in the formulation of ethics.  We’ve had some back-and-forth about circumcision, Abraham, obedience, and conscience, but here the topic around which the notes weave is grrrrrl power, which he defends well.

Other editing: I’ve added line breaks for readability and italicized the “point” voice to Pembroke’s counterpoint.

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Women are shy in the Koran and won’t perceive the crime the way a male would.

Is this a wind-up? I can’t decide whether you’re serious or a master of sarcasm.

If you are being serious, when you suggest to, say, Sheikh Hasina the prime Minister of Bangladesh, or Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, the prime Minister of Argentina, or Hilary Clinton, the former US Secretary of State, that their testimony would be worth half that of yours simply because you are a man, you would be well to stand well beyond their swinging fist distance!

While the Koran authorizes beating a wife after other steps have been tried, it tells us not to maim them.  In the west, it seems there are no rules.about how to beat one’s wife.

Again, is this for real?

If so, this is what religion can do to a nominally decent man, it forces him to justify the indefensible.

Do you think that because Sharia states that you can’t break her face when you beat your wife, that is some how a reflection of the nobility of Islam?

That is so sad first of all, but monstrously embarrassing soon afterward.

And let’s be honest, there is nothing in the Quran that states you can’t break your wife’s face when you’re beating her – If you actually read the Quran 4:34, you’ll find that there is no restriction at all.

Please don’t tell me I can find on the book shelves of my local mosque library “101 Halal ways to beat your wife!”, or “How to lovingly protect your wife from the shame of her disobedience through the use of a good timely thrashing” or “Sharia Wife-beating made simple and with a Smile – avoid the face, and Carry On!”

A woman in Islam may be a wife, mother, sister, or daughter.  There is no disrespect in that.

I’ve read numerous Muslims state that there is this nominal respect for one’s OWN mother and one’s OWN sister, but once your average MENA Muslim male leaves the house, that’s where respect for women, in general, ends.

Women lead in the percentage of Muslim reverts in the United States.  If the religion was so bad for them, why would they revert?

Yes, This is the case because non-Muslim females are marrying Muslim males – for love no less!

It’s probably to please the groom’s parents more than actually believing Mohamed’s story; whereas Muslim females are forbidden to marry non-Muslim men – often at the threat of her life. Again, this a shameful example of not giving equal rights to women. If Muslim men were forbidden to marry non-Muslim women the number of ‘converts’ would plummet.

Lastly, have you got the statistic of how many ‘converts’ have subsequently unconverted? Or how many have converted only nominally in order to facilitate the marriage? Those numbers would be far less flattering wouldn’t they?

Islam disallows Muslim daughters from marrying non-Muslims.  If you have a problem with that, it’s your problem.

Well, first of all it’s the daughters’ problem.

I respect your atheism.  I want you tor respect my belief in Allah.

No. I respect *your right to believe* what you want, but there is no way you should expect me to automatically respect *what you believe*. Nor should you expect me to automatically respect your right to practice your religion if the tenets of the religion are anathema to rational social harmony – and on those grounds masking the face would be contrary to those ideals. I’ll respect what you believe with respect to Mohamed’s story and social mores only if it reflects justice, morality and rationality – and there is your problem. But it shouldn’t be a big problem, it’s only unsubstantiated religion – folklore – after all.

There are probably a number of non-religious issues upon which we might agree. For instance, I reckon chicken biryani is a food of the gods!

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Harries is entitled to his opinion, but I myself never regard folklore as trivial: language is always (always) a cultural tool and what is invented in it, whether out of necessity and the need for useful signals or out of desire or play or the want of excitement and greatness (even if only in our own heads), each language and its lore and literature becomes a suspension for cultural self-concept.

With that, I’ll take this post a little further.

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Surat 4:34:

“Men are in charge of women, because Allah has made the one of them to excel the other, and because they spend of their property (for the support of women). So good women are the obedient, guarding in secret that which Allah has guarded. As for those from whom you fear rebellion, admonish them and banish them to beds apart, and scourge them. Then if they obey you, seek not a way against them. Lo! Allah is ever High Exalted, Great.” (Pickthall’s version of the Koran, Quran, 4:34)

The first commentary I’ve opened from web search: A Commentary on The Qur’an 4:34 By Dr. Ahmad Shafaat

Dr. Shafaat gets into the matter of entangled loyalty well with this statement on the violence involved:

“Beat them”. If even separation fails to work, then it is suggested that men use beating. To this suggestion of the Holy Qur’an there have been two extreme reactions on the part of some Muslims. The first reaction is being apologetic or ashamed of the suggestion. The second is to use it as a justification for indulging in habitual wife battering. Needless to say that both these reactions are wrong. The Quran as we believe is the word of God and is thus every word in it is full of wisdom and love. To be apologetic about any part of the Quran is to lack both knowledge and faith.

For every word to be “full of wisdom and love”, some additional exegesis seems necessary, for Dr. Shafaat continues:

In regard to the suggestion about beating, the following further points should also be noted:

a) According to some traditions the Prophet said in his famous and well-attended speech on the occasion of his farewell pilgrimage that the beating done according to the present verse should be ghayr mubarrih, i.e. in such a way that it should not cause injury, bruise or serious hurt. On this basis some scholars like Tabari and Razi say even that it should be largely symbolic and should be administered “with a folded scarf” or “with a miswak or some such thing”. However, to be effective in its purpose of shaking the wife out of her nasty mood it is important that it should provide an energetic demonstration of the anger, frustration and love of the husband. In other words, it should neither seriously hurt the wife nor reduce it to a set of meaningless motions devoid of emotions.

That power continues to reside in the man (this is a locus-of-control issue) and not in the woman (how should one of the fair sex respond to or treat a “rebellious man”?) seems less an issue than the management of the degree of violence expressed, either physically or symbolically.

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In working with thought as language behavior subject to modification by context in time plus the relative insularity of minds and the language-inventing cultures that create content and self-concept as well as a righteous sense of both license and prohibition, there’s much conversation needed about what I’ve started calling the “humanity of humanity”, i.e., mankind’s better potential in character, and in relation to that, a reconciled psychological outlook.

I have recently promoted Fazeela Siddiqui’s article in the Huffington Post, “10 Muslim Women Every Person Should Know” (March 24, 2012) on this blog and on Facebook.

It’s worth a look, especially to men who may have doubts about how tough may be the “rebellious” woman they have been otherwise so licensed to beat, they themselves having been so pandered to as to have been granted by power on high exclusive control over what many other humans might as fervently and justifiably believe ideal as an equally empowered and inclusive love and partnership.

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One more note on the laying on of hands by either partner in a marriage: when it has come to that, somebody, one or the other, please, leave the home, call a lawyer, and arrange for a separation.

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