Oppenheim Arts & Letters

Zimbabwe - A Month Ago

Ramsey, Stuart.  "Cholera Crisis: Failures to Stop Zimbabwe Epidemic."  Skynews via YouTube, December 19, 2008: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxpK7O8Rp78&feature=channel

Power and madness.

It's not breaking news, I know, but it's telling, and that most about madness and evil, for in Zimbabwe, cholera extends the idea, not new, that starvation makes a good weapon: why not disease?  There's a hint, or more, in the above report of an intentional low-tech biological warfare intended to weaken opposition to the Robert Mugabe's central government.

Sorry I mised the piece last month.

Durand Line - Just About Today - Background Reference

I've gotten busy with matters in business, computing, and photography, and yet every day involves additional background and news from the fronts of the Islamic Small Wars.

I'll have more books for listing, but for any approaching the cultural and political landscapes of Pakistan and Afghanistan, I cannot too highly recommend two comprehensive and highly readable volumes: Stephen Philip Cohen's The Idea of Pakistan, published by the Brookings Institutions Press in 2004 and Ahmed Rashid's Descent Into Chaos: The United States and the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia, publishing by Viking in 2008.

In still recent broadcast media, Marcela Gavira and Martin Smith's "The War Briefing", aired on Frontline, October 28, 2008, will give you the picture from the Korangal Valley and the surrounding physical and cultural geography.  Also, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer featured its piece on Afghanistan, less about militias, more about Dexter Filkins worthwhile insight into how things stand this winter in Kabul and 20 minutes south of it.  (I recommend also Dexter Filkins' book, The Forever War.  I get in a fair amount of reading on war journalism, and Filkins, not unlike photographer James Nachtwey, seems, so far, to know how far he can go into a war zone and just about where to stop, God bless him).

Today's News: in the wake of the widespread burning of schools and their closing under threat of militant violence, The International News banner tells Pakistan's position on the monster it's ISI services helped created and sustain: ""Kayani vows to establish govt writ in Swat 16 more killed as army pledges 'decisive' action."

From the contemporary blog All Things Pakistan comes this courageous declaration:

"We at ATP do not want to be and cannot be a newspaper. But we must stand witness to what is happening. We can neither be silent at not accepting of the mayhem around us. We create this post as a space where we wil periodically update the outrage that is befalling our society. It is not possible for a blog to chronicle all that is happening, but lest we forget - or, even worse, we get used to - the outrage, let us at least speak out against it when we can."

Adil Najam's pen signals that the true interests of Jews and Muslims coincide in the appreciation of life and good ethics and with them witness to barbarity, cruelty, ignorance, persecution, and tyranny.

# # #

Reference

Cohen, Stephen Philip.  The Idea of Pakistan.  Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 2004.

Filkins, Dexter.  The Forever War.  New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2008.

Gavira, Marcela and Martin Smith.  "The War Briefing."  Frontline.  October 28, 2008: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/video/flv/generic.html?s=frol02s15d8q4e2&continuous=1

Khankhel, Musa and Delawar Jan.    The International News, January 29, 2009: http://thenews.jang.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=19944

Lehrer, Jim.  "Afghan Militias Battle Growing Taliban Resistance."  The News Hours with Jim Lehrer, December 25, 2008: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/asia/july-dec08/afghanistan_12-25.html

Najam, Adil.  "News Digest: Pakistan at War."  All Things Pakistan, January 24, 2009: http://pakistaniat.com/2009/01/24/pakistan-war-news/

Rashid, Ahmed.  Descent Into Chaos: The United States and the Failure of Nationl Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia.  Viking, 2008.

Zimbabwe - Cholera Knows No Politics

Dead: 3,000
Infected: 57,000
[1]

Internally Displaced Persons: 880,000
Percentage of population living on less than $2 per day: 83 percent.
[2]

I had only wanted to start the morning with horror in Swat Valley, Pakistan, but here Thomson Reuters plasters Zimbabwe across my screen--question for both: how deeply, how miserably, how extensively must a country fail its people before its leaders or people or outsiders decide that asking for help from healthier entities and starting over might prove both more prudent and human than staying the course farther into blood, fear, hatred, oblivion, and, ultimately, offal?

In Swat, an army, so I have read, of about 10,000 that work out of sight of government threaten to impose their will on the souls of the 174 million Muslims of Pakistan--where is the army that works out of their sight?  Instead, the government seems to mean to post a handful of troops at possible target sites, which any good ol' boy out of the American south would just as well call "'gaitor bait."

Zimbabwe?

For God's sake, and one may address soldiers as much as officials, let in the health and hygiene people without restriction, provision them with cash--from any source: neighboring countries first, for they're threatened by Zimbabwe's ill, then the NGO and philanthropy industries (but let's be careful about how much any good soul carries at one time, lol), and let them go where and do and say whatever they want, so that they may produce sanitation and a core health and development economy at every stop in their path.

:(

Good morning, Earth!

Reference

1. Banya, Nelson.  "Tsvangirai says he agreed to join government."  Thomson Reuters Foundation - AlertNet, January 28, 2009: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LS100809.htm

2. AlertNet.  "Zimbabwe crisis."  Last reviewed January 27, 2008: http://www.alertnet.org/db/crisisprofiles/ZW_CRI.htm?v=at_a_glance

Pakistan - SWAT - The New Frontier

"The Pakistan army says armed groups have so far blown up or torched 165 schools for girls, 80 video shops, 22 barber shops and destroyed 20 bridges." [1]

Put them together, please: Somalia, from the south on through Mogadishu and Baidoa; Pakistan, this day, Swat Valley, and to the extent that the recognized government scurries to keep itself in cover while the shadow government burns businesses and schools at will.

The usual stuff? 

Seen it all before in Afghanistan?

"In one of his notorious radio broadcasts, Taliban leader Maulana Fazlullah named politicians and government officials "wanted" by the militants.

"These people encouraged military operations in the area and are responsible for the killings of Taliban and civilians," said the cleric. [2]

Alt.howtowinfriendsandinfluencepeople':

"A local tribal leader, Pir Samiullah, who was killed after he and his followers confronted the militants at his home in the village of Mandal Dag, was exhumed and his body strung up in a public square. Those of his followers who refused to indicate where his body had been buried were beheaded."

Western mytholoy is full of "they said it couldn't be done." 

Also "It couldn't happen here".

Well, I have seen something like "ain't gonna happen" happen three times this month: The Islamic Courts and al-Shabaab capturing police stations in Mogadishu after their ignominious defeat two years ago; the Taliban handily installing their special brand of totalitarian misery in Swat Valley; and an Africa-American of Muslim and Christian heritage taking the oath of office as President of the United States.  That's two out of three for the Dark Ages Redux and a mighty "One Out of Many" for Earth's first now maturing (perhaps, frankly, finally growing up) Star Trek generation.

Swat Valley, in my very humble opinion, is Pakistan's Gaza--i.e., a base for a hostile and proven potent enemy and a test for the government and of the people of Swat to defeat that enemy with finality.

Only problem is . . . rolling in troops passes by the murderers lining the parade route.

Here's a little insight from a simple "Live Search" (MSN) using the string, "Mingora January 27, 2009", as the snippets listed read something like this:

January 4, 2009: "6 more killed in Mingora"
January 4, 2009: "Two troops killed in Balochistan."
January 25, 2009: Six people were killed and 15 others injured in separate . . ."
January 18, 2009: Three persons including a FC man were killed and two others wounded . . . "

And so I do here solemnly repeat myself: "Across the Islamic Small Wars in general, the warfare that makes the news is not the warfare that makes the war."

I've cited headlines.  That's news.  Fine.  But that's not Israel vs. Gaza banner-type and splashed all over Big Media kind of news. 

In too many cities of the world, murders are page three stuff, if they even rate that.  Of course, in the U.S. and other of the "open societies", the killing of cops or troops would get a major bump toward the front of the newspaper, but coming out of Pakistan and searched out on the Internet . . . well, you have to search it out, there has been so much everyday violence of similar sort: elders, chiefs, police, government officials, reporters or their brothers . . .  one may as well ask: where are the state investigative services in this underhanded, off-the-radar, imposed shadow government business?

As with the news out of Somalia for two years . . . murder happens: don't bother looking for the follow-up stories--in the newspaper business Taliban-style, everybody gets a "slug": the victim, the detective, and the journalist.  And that's just for starters.

End of rant.

Reference Cited

1. Rehmat, Kamran.  "Swat: Pakistan's lost paradise."  January 27, 2009: http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/01/200912512351598892.html

2. Buncombe, Andrew and Omar Waraich.  "Pakistan's Swat Valley: Taliban Broadcast "Wanted" Lists."  The Independent via The Huffington Post, January 27, 2009: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/27/pakistans-swat-valley-tal_n_161355.html

Reference, Other

Wikipedia. "Haji Muhammad Adeel": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haji_Muhammad_Adeel

Islam - Control Language First

I know you have not missed the saga of Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders, whose film I referred to in a recent post.  I recommend today Manfred Gerstenfeld's related piece in the Jerusalem Post: "Can the Koran be compared to 'Mein Kampf'?"

Another case thou shalt know: Susanne Winter, recently found guilty by an Austrian court of "humiliating a religion." [2]

Never mind who has called who "monkeys and apes"--the newly prostrate face one direction only while those who insist on standing face the other, and may one hope them full of beans.

Big bloody actions may be more riveting, but it's these small insults to sensibility that tear at the fabric of western thought, policy, and, not ultimately but right this day, freedom.

Just to kick this in, here's Australia's Janet Albrechtsen, a columnist for The Australian, on free speech in 2009:

"The year 2008 deserves to be seen as a year of anticipatory surrender, a year when the West decided to roll over on free speech of its own accord. Just in case. No threats. No demands. Just suppress controversial speech in advance, just in case it causes offence. You understand, we don't want to hurt anybody's feelings. In fact, such a trashing of core Western values is difficult to understand." [3]

Albrechtsen covers the BBC, which acknowledged taking a different approach in its coverage of Islam, the intimidation of Random House and subsequent refusal to print Sherry Jones' book, The Jewel of Medina, which is about Mohammed's child bride Aisha, Ayaan Hirsi Ali's heavily guarded visit to Australia intended to "protect her from those who regard violence as a legitimate response to words and ideas", and so on.

Reference

1. Gerstenfeld, Manfred.   Jerusalem Post - Online Edition, January 26, 2009: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1232643755752&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter

2. Geller, Pamela.  "Freedom of Speech vs. Jihad: Islam's Next Victim, Susanne Winter, Austrian Politician Convicted!" Atlas Shrugs, January 22, 2009: http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2009/01/freedom-of-speech-vs-jihad-islams-next-victim-susanne-winterm-austria.html

3. Albrechtsen, Janet.  "Will 2009 Be Another Bad Year for Free Speech?"  Real Clear Politics, December 31, 2008: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/12/will_2009_be_another_bad_year.html

Somalia - al-Shabaab's in Baidoa - the Government's in Djibouti

"They quickly took the airport, parliament building and president's home, and called locals to a meeting at a football stadium on Tuesday to explain how they would govern." [1]

Sunday's over and Monday-morning quarterbacking don't count.

Plainly, with a minimum of off-shore central command-control and widespread energizing of youthful militia in-country, the Islamic Courts and al-Shabaab have fought their way back from a route.

The Ethiopian troops that led the dramatic charge south about two years ago have turned north and quit the country.[2]

I suspect the African Union peacekeeping force at the airport in Mogadishu may keep them off the tarmac for a while, but the surrounding defenses are loose or fragmented while half the citizens of Mogadishu have themselves been cowed into refugee camps.

From the Reuters report:

"We must welcome them, because we have no other choice," said shopkeeper Ismael Aden. "Now the town is calm and there is no looting. But we are afraid what happened in Kismayu might happen in Baidoa in the near future."

Might happen?

Ismael Aden may be among the world's most diplomatic and polite shopkeepers.

Back in 2006, The Washington Post ran an article titled "PostGlobal: Somalia's Islamic Courts," and the debate question addressed--" . . . the influence of the Islamic Courts in Somalia.  Are they a positive force for peace or the new Taliban?"  In the debate transcript, Bashir Goth, a Somali journalist had this to say straight up:

"To a great degree most of the top clerics of the Islamic Courts adhere to strict Islamist schools like Wahabism and Salafism. Although Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, the moderate face, of the Islamists has denied any knowledge of Wahabism during an interview I conducted with him in early June, it is clear from their actions and statements that the ICU is following the same school of thought as that of Taliban." [3]

That's old news, and for now it looks like the latest news for the people of the Shabelle River and all their neighbors.

Reference

1. Reuters AlertNet.  "Somali Islamists to rule by sharia law in Baidoa."

2. Powell, Anita.  "Ethiopia withdraws last troops from Somalia."  Nazret.com, January 26, 2009: http://nazret.com/blog/index.php?cat=52

3. Goth, Bashir and Ioan Lewis.  "PostGlobal: Somalia's Islamic Courts."  The Washington Post, August 30, 2006: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2006/08/29/DI2006082900795.html

# # #

Vintage Gabriel - 2006 - What Lies Ahead

I just saw this link elsewhere and felt duty bound to pass it on here:

http://multimedia.heritage.org/content/wm/Lehrman-092706a.wvx

Featured: Brigette Gabriel addressing the Heritage Foundation on the Islamist war with Christians in Lebanon and tactics worldwide.

Here's the same on YouTube.

Follow the URL to pick up the series: Gabriel, Brigette. "Because They Hate:  A Survivor of Islamic Terror Warns America."  Talk and Q&A before an audience at The Heritage Foundation, September 27, 2006:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8fa9yKQeTY

# # #

Fitna and Rejoinder

Just a quick stop this early afternoon . . . .

The movie, Fitna seems to be on the web at this location: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2949546475561399959&hl=en

A Muslim rejoinder, first up in my Google search: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NV2uITx6QCs

Feel welcome to take out your very own personal integrity meter and rate each.

# # #

Gaza - Gunmen Seize Aid Intended for Others

Header from January 20, 2009: "Armed men seize Jordanian aid in Gaza Strip."

So here is another one of those little news clips off the Big News Radar.

In this piece, reported by Petra - Jordan News Agency:

"The UNRWA was expected to receive the convoy and unload it into its warehouses in Gaza to be distributed later on civilians in the strip.

"The armed men opened fire at drivers after crossing Karem Abu Salem crossing point and forced them to head to their own warehouses."

Who in Gaza is not getting that waylaid aid?

Source: http://www.petranews.gov.jo/nepras/2009/Jan/20/19000.htm

# # #

Netherlands - Islam Feels Hurt - What would Malcom X think?

If you're going to give it to The Man with clenched fists and a fiery glower before someone's camera, and it shows up in a collage suggesting your performance--and those of others like you--may have been just a little bit intemperate, would you take umbrage? Or would you thank the filmmaker for spreading the message and helping with consciousness raising?

Goldstein, Brooke M. and Aaron Meyer. "Death to Free Speech in the Netherlands." American Spectator via Middle East Forum, January 22, 2008: http://www.meforum.org/article/2053

Here's Malcom X in his own right.

Source: Antihostile. "Malcom X: By Any Means Necessary." YouTube, August 17, 2006: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkTnUxLjO2E

I haven't seen the movie that led to the suit in the Netherlands, but have recently caught Melvin Van Peeble's natty classic and, well, perhaps we should just let those days go.

My father walked in the 1964 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, and I know he would have been in tears, happily, proudly, this past Tuesday to witness America's first black president inaugurated before a peaceful assembly of two million Americans. 

I sure was. 

# # #