If you'd like some intelligent, thought provoking insight into YOUR future
and the future of the ME take the time to read this. The article debunks
many assumptions carried into Iraq by the American leadership, and many
assumptions still held by many Americans in general.
You wonder if President Monkey, who sees a large Hezbullah defeat in
Lebanon, is insightful and intelligent enough to build new bridges in the
Middle East.
From "Foreign Affairs"
http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20060701faessay85405/vali-nasr/when-the-shiites-rise.htmll
When the Shiites Rise
Vali Nasr
From Foreign Affairs, July/August 2006
Summary: By toppling Saddam Hussein, the Bush administration has liberated
and empowered Iraq's Shiite majority and has helped launch a broad Shiite
revival that will upset the sectarian balance in Iraq and the Middle East
for years to come. This development is rattling some Sunni Arab governments,
but for Washington, it could be a chance to build bridges with the region's
Shiites, especially in Iran.
VALI NASR is a Professor at the Naval Postgraduate School, an Adjunct
Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and the author of The
Shia Revival: How Conflicts Within Islam Will Shape the Future
.
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| User: "Woodswun" |
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| Title: Re: Take a look at this future |
20 Aug 2006 02:05:56 PM |
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On Sun, 20 Aug 2006 12:12:34 -0400, John Lemke wrote:
If you'd like some intelligent, thought provoking insight into YOUR future
and the future of the ME take the time to read this. The article debunks
many assumptions carried into Iraq by the American leadership, and many
assumptions still held by many Americans in general.
None of the problems we are having in Iraq should come as a surprise to
anyone in the Pentagon. Actually, I think they're the ones who were
telling Bush and company that it was a Bad Idea to invade with a limited
force. (It was reported at the time that there was a great deal of
concern on the part of the military about the invasion of Iraq).
You wonder if President Monkey, who sees a large Hezbullah defeat in
Lebanon, is insightful and intelligent enough to build new bridges in
the Middle East.
I don't think he's nearly as unintelligent as he makes himself out to be -
I think his priorities are more along the lines of lucrative
contracts for his supporters' businesses, even if it's detrimental to
the well-being of America or Americans. At least, that's what Bush's
actions would tend to indicate ... nobody could be that dumb and be able
to breathe without a ventilator.
Woods
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| User: "John Lemke" |
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| Title: Re: Take a look at this future |
20 Aug 2006 02:34:45 PM |
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"Woodswun" <woodswun@tepidmail.com> wrote in message
news:pan.2006.08.20.19.05.55.804690@tepidmail.com...
On Sun, 20 Aug 2006 12:12:34 -0400, John Lemke wrote:
If you'd like some intelligent, thought provoking insight into YOUR
future
and the future of the ME take the time to read this. The article debunks
many assumptions carried into Iraq by the American leadership, and many
assumptions still held by many Americans in general.
None of the problems we are having in Iraq should come as a surprise to
anyone in the Pentagon. Actually, I think they're the ones who were
telling Bush and company that it was a Bad Idea to invade with a limited
force. (It was reported at the time that there was a great deal of
concern on the part of the military about the invasion of Iraq).
You wonder if President Monkey, who sees a large Hezbullah defeat in
Lebanon, is insightful and intelligent enough to build new bridges in
the Middle East.
I don't think he's nearly as unintelligent as he makes himself out to be -
I think his priorities are more along the lines of lucrative
contracts for his supporters' businesses, even if it's detrimental to
the well-being of America or Americans. At least, that's what Bush's
actions would tend to indicate ... nobody could be that dumb and be able
to breathe without a ventilator.
Woods
I'd go along with you part way here. We have on fortunate son focusing on
what's best for his fellow fortunate sons. The missteps he's made will, in
the long run, be detrimental to those very special interests. He's lives in
an almost criminally limited ivory tower.
Our boats will lower with their tide.
The Iranians are looking more and more like the chess masters here. I can
testify to the fact that it's not the size of the dog in the fight that
matters, it's the size of the fight in the dog. In this case the smarter
dog, in that long run, is going to come out ahead. We just haven't seen the
last moves, the end game yet.
.
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| User: "=?utf-8?B?RHVtYm8sIHRoZSBGbHlpbmcgVGV4YW4gQ2hpbXBhbnplZS7CtzoqwqjCqCo6wrcuIOKZpcKpwq7ihKI=?=" |
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| Title: Re: Take a look at this future |
20 Aug 2006 10:19:59 PM |
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Yeppers, yes siree yes indeedy do, John -- the Immediate future isn't
too rosy for the world we live in, but we have to look beyond the next
six years of Tribulations -- to a more
hopefully tolerant & more egalitarian world -- beyond the year
2012......
But agreed, the next six years are going to be *very* difficult times
indeed !!!
Some interesting news articles that might interest U !!!!
Have U seen these yet, John ?!?!
Gives U some insight into the soon-to-come Global War of Attrition --
not to pleasant when U think about it !!!
HOOROO
UNCLE WALLY
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
http://www.theconservativevoice.com/article/17400.html
by Jenni Vinson Trejo
Winds Of War
August 20, 2006 07:15 AM EST
The world woke up this morning to the reality that the winds of war are
swirling all about us. The aggressions occurring between Israel and
Lebanon and the saber rattling of North Korea have certainly broken the
lull the American mentality had fallen into. Not even the most Liberal
and political among us can continue to ignore the state of war America
is in. The fact of the matter is that we have been engaged in World War
III since Al Queda attacked America on September 11, 2001.
The events of 9-11 polarized nations immediately. Alliances formed
immediately to counter America in our efforts against Iraq. We had
heated rhetoric against America from France, Germany and Russia and
most of the United Nations (U.N.). Eventually we were able to dissipate
their objections by exposing their roles in the bolstering Saddam
Hussein=E2=80=99s regime. France, Germany and Russia and many from the U.N.
all got caught with their hands in Saddam=E2=80=99s pocket.
Although George W. Bush has been accused of having isolated America and
having refused to compile allies in this war on terror, what we see
this morning is a very cohesive alliance that includes nations that we
might have once seen as impossible to negotiate with.
On this day, when the winds of war are heated and heavily laden with
danger, it will be the strength of these alliances we have forged that
will calm the winds.
North Korea is China=E2=80=99s bratty child and it will be China that will
have to parentally punish and discipline North Korea. America appears
to be holding back but negotiations are aggressively being carried out.
Israel is fighting terrorism being carried out against their military
members. After the reaction America engaged in after our own terrorist
attack, it would be hypocritical of us to ask Israel not to react as
strongly. We suffered one major attack while Israel has suffered
through hundreds of attacks all provoked simply because they existence.
The enemies of Israel will not cease their attacks until Israel has
been annihilated.
While the winds of war appear to be fierce and mean this morning, my
analysis of these situations would direct us to a point of hope.
America has successfully carried a message and an ideology of
Capitalism to even the most remote and the most Communist of nations
around this planet.
It will be this need for fledgling market states like China to continue
to work towards financial solvency that will motivate these unlikely
alliances of ours to bring pressure to bear against aggressors like
Lebanon and North Korea. The Chinese will not likely opt to support a
government into further isolation after they have suffered and
sacrificed for decades for a Communist dream that never quite
materialized.
And Russia simply isn=E2=80=99t financially stable nor does it have much of
an alliance of it=E2=80=99s own thanks to Ronald Reagan=E2=80=99s efforts a=
gainst
them. They have little choice but to join the alliance, however
half-heartedly they may participate with us.
America has forged a course, not during this administration, but
decades ago and even centuries ago. Our course is set for individual
freedom in a strong and sovereign republic. I have aid this before, we
are not the first American citizens and we will not be the last. We
have to have to stay the course and be willing to defend our part of
this nation=E2=80=99s future just like many generations that have come befo=
re
us.
I find it interesting and troubling that America has been able to find
a common ground of reason to mutually benefit us and nations we have
held as mortal foes but we seem incapable of arriving at the same with
Liberals among us. We have reasoned with China, but we cannot find a
common ground with Nancy Pelosi, et. al. .
As these precarious winds of war threaten, may God Bless America and
May He keep us all safe as He finds us each willing to defend what He
has blessed us with.
I=E2=80=99m Jenni Vinson Trejo. The Winds Of War is My Opinion. Thank you f=
or
listening.
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/evoking-a-past-conflagration-is-not-h=
elping/2006/08/20/1156012410964.html
Evoking a past conflagration is not helping
Abbas El-Zein
August 21, 2006
WHILE civilians on both sides pay the price for the war in the Middle
East and Lebanon bears the brunt of the Israeli war machine, analogies
are made between events in the Middle East and the two decades leading
to World War II. George Bush spoke recently of Islamo-fascism, in
reference to rising Islamist militancy. Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad would like to have it both ways, casting doubts on the
Holocaust in the face of historical evidence, while likening Israel to
Nazi Germany.
Israeli ex-prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned the insult a few
days later by creatively comparing Iran with Nazi Germany. Equally
unconvincing is Henry Kissinger's analogy between Iran and fascist
Italy when it invaded Abyssinia. The comparison was offered,
ironically, while Israel was pounding southern Lebanon with its vast
majority of Shiites, Iran's co-religionists.
British Tory politician Sir Peter Tapsell likened Israeli tactics in
Lebanon to German atrocities in the Warsaw ghetto. A few years ago,
appeasement was used as a term of abuse against opponents of the
invasion of Iraq, in reference to the reaction by European powers to
Nazi seizure in 1938 of parts of Czechoslovakia, notwithstanding that
Saddam Hussein, at that stage, was in no position to invade the Kurdish
north of his own country, let alone other nations.
It is a sign of intellectual paucity that our single most important
historical reference for today's world affairs yields such absurd
analogies. It is high time we abandon this habit of thinking when
analysing events in the Middle East. Theory must fit into reality, not
vice versa.
Lebanon is a country with a thriving middle class, strong social and
political liberal traditions, a capital city boasting rich cultural and
artistic lives and, until recently, more sympathy for America than
Washington can ever hope for elsewhere in the Arab world. It was the
site of a relatively bloodless democratic change only two years ago.
Its sacrifice by Western powers and the collective punishment of its
civilian population will go down in history as one of the most shameful
moments of the first decades of the 21st century. This event has no
equivalent in the 1920s or 1930s. Analogies with fascism and Nazism in
the Middle East yield little more than hollow self-righteousness.
What is happening in Lebanon is a tragic symptom of what has gone wrong
with the world since September 11. Bush has insisted on a catch-all
word =E2=80=94 terrorism =E2=80=94 as a rallying cry for the US fight again=
st the
perpetrators of the atrocities
in New York and Washington. A bazaar has since come into existence in
which governments of all denominations have rushed to frame local
problems and grievances in terms of this global fight between good and
evil. Such a simplistic perspective was always going to be flawed. It
is leading, as we have already seen over the past five years, to human
rights abuses on a large scale, in Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon.
The conflict between Lebanon and Israel is intimately connected to the
violence and injustice in Palestine, as well as old geopolitical
rivalries in the region. It has nothing to do with the criminal
ideology of Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda. Had Washington stuck to its
own preaching about human rights, freedom and democracy, this latest
war would not have happened and Israel would have been made to follow a
different course of action in response to Hezbollah's cross-border
attack.
Easy analogies and catch-all expressions offer no solutions to the
conflicts of the Middle East.
Now that hope for a lasting ceasefire has risen, let's acknowledge the
enormity of what has happened in Lebanon, where close to a thousand
lives have been lost, tens of thousands bereaved, hundreds of thousands
displaced, environmental devastation wrought and a decade of earnest
reconstruction pushed back by the switch of a button in Tel Aviv.
Why did we allow this to happen? The new world order was supposedly
premised on refusing to allow one nation =E2=80=94 Iraq =E2=80=94 to abuse =
another
=E2=80=94 Kuwait. If the first half of the 20th century is no longer suitab=
le
as a reference for today's Middle East, it can still teach us a few
lessons.
The carnage caused by World War II led to a new global regime based (in
rhetoric if not always in practice) on human rights, respect for
international law and rejection of anti-Semitism and racism. We don't
need World War III to ask hard questions and start building a world in
which calamities such as the deliberate burning of Lebanon are not
allowed to take place.
There would be no better tribute to those who have died since 2001 =E2=80=
=94
from New York, Washington and London, to Kabul, Baghdad, Lebanon,
Palestine and Israel. Nothing else could give meaning to this strange
fraternity of death.
Abbas El-Zein is a novelist and an academic.
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D
http://www.abc.net.au/news/items/200608/1719606.htm?sydney
Jewish, Muslim students 'attacked on campus'
Monday, 21 August 2006. 10:00 (AEDT)Monday, 21 August 2006. 09:00
(ACST)Monday, 21 August 2006. 09:00 (AEST)Monday, 21 August 2006. 10:00
(ACDT)Monday, 21 August 2006. 07:00 (AWST)
There are reports of growing racist violence against both Jewish and
Muslim students on university campuses across the country.
The national president of the Australasian Union of Jewish Students,
Greg Weinstein says it is a worrying trend that has been noticed since
the Lebanon-Israeli conflict began.
Mr Weinstein says the worst cases have happened at Sydney University,
with one student shoved to the ground and others spat on.
He says many are wearing their skull caps under baseball caps, as they
do not feel safe walking around.
But Mr Weinstein says it is not a case of Jewish students versus Muslim
students, as Muslim students are having trouble too.
"A minority of them are getting attacked, spat on, verbally abused for
being openly Jewish and that's simply not acceptable," he said.
"It's happening, by the way, to Muslim students as well and we have to
do what we can do as a society to wipe it out."
The chairman of the New South Wales Community Relations Commission,
Stepan Kerkyasharian, says people need to complain if they have been
racially vilified.
He says that way, Australia's laws will be used more and the behaviour
will be discouraged.
"This is where every single Australian has to show leadership," he
said.
"From the person at the local pub right up to the highest echelons of
leadership in our society, we must always speak out."
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D
John Lemke wrote:
If you'd like some intelligent, thought provoking insight into YOUR future
and the future of the ME take the time to read this. The article debunks
many assumptions carried into Iraq by the American leadership, and many
assumptions still held by many Americans in general.
You wonder if President Monkey, who sees a large Hezbullah defeat in
Lebanon, is insightful and intelligent enough to build new bridges in the
Middle East.
From "Foreign Affairs"
http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20060701faessay85405/vali-nasr/when-the-shi=
ites-rise.htmll
When the Shiites Rise
Vali Nasr
From Foreign Affairs, July/August 2006
Summary: By toppling Saddam Hussein, the Bush administration has liberat=
ed
and empowered Iraq's Shiite majority and has helped launch a broad Shiite
revival that will upset the sectarian balance in Iraq and the Middle East
for years to come. This development is rattling some Sunni Arab governmen=
ts,
but for Washington, it could be a chance to build bridges with the region=
's
Shiites, especially in Iran.
VALI NASR is a Professor at the Naval Postgraduate School, an Adjunct
Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and the author of The
Shia Revival: How Conflicts Within Islam Will Shape the Future
.
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