Egypt's Freedom: Sweet but Fleeting

No one should be surprised that the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood is taking steps to institute Shari'a law in Egypt.  At least he set up a sham vote to draft a constitution legalizing his iron grip over the country.  The lack of freedom is something which Egyptians are all too familiar with.  

What is unfamiliar is the source of the grip.  Soon, Egypt will be crawling with sectarian militants.  They will be the only ones free to practice whatever it is they choose to practice.  The promise of Tahrir Square is broken and no one seems capable of repairing it.

NRA: National Right-wing Amorers

The NRA's response to the most recent school shooting was even more nauseating, and less rational, than expected.  As leader of the ultra-right agenda, they advocate for more weapons in schools (and ask Congress to appropriate funds for that purpose, knowing no such appropriation will ever be funded) but their followers would simultaneously remove evolution and subsidized healthy lunches.

In suggesting that each school hire its own armed security force, Wayne Lapierre forgets that Columbine had its own armed guard, Virginia Tech had its own armed police force, and Ft. Hood was a military base.  Claiming that more guns make places safer is just as logical as taking a fire hose to a flooded basement and expecting the water to disappear.  

To be sure, our culture as much, as our guns, is to blame for such senselessness.  This website breaks down gun ownership and homicide by country. You can draw your own conclusions about the respective cultures.  Violent video games and movies do not murders make, but perhaps our culture could revert to one where heroes value life, even that of their antagonists. 

What is most likely is that those who have never stared down the barrel of a gun, or had a child who had to do so, will control the debate, the politics, and the money.  Change must come, but it must come to those who can facilitate it first. 

Double Standards Alive and Well in Renewed Violence

The calls for President Assad to step down and stop murdering his own people, for the U.S. to stop its drone-war on the Pakistani tribal lands, and for Iran to open up its nuclear weapons program to the IAEA are whispers compared to the short-sighted, sanctimonious, bigoted calls for Israel to refrain from bombing Hamas missile sites.  

No country on earth would tolerate what Israel tolerates, and what it is criticized for doing.  Certainly, Israel is not perfect.  Nor is any other nation on Earth.  Before Americans tell Israel to stop firing at missile launchers in its backyards and hidden in playgrounds, school-yards, and mosques, as shown here, it should clamor a little louder in support of tribal Pakistanis (despite the fact that Al-Qaida is most certainly regrouping in that very area).  We should also consider giving some land back to the Native Americans (as an aside, one can only imagine the U.S's response to rockets being fired from the Navajo reservation into Denver or Los Angeles).  

Arabs the world over should be as vociferous in their denouncement of al-Assad as they are of Israel.   Everyone but Hamas wants the violence to subside.  The Hamas terrorists do a greater disservice to the Palestinians than any other nation (including every other Middle Eastern nation that refuses to provide them with land or shelter).  Israel is not perfect, but it is certainly entitled to act as every on other nation on Earth would...and has.  

No Rest Even for Weary Presidents

No one expected Iran to give President Obama a break after a long, draining election.  While only Pentagonites know how often this happens, two Iranian fighter planes fired on an unarmed American drone.  This Washington Post article has the details.

Whether this is business as usual in the red-hot Persian Gulf (by the way, I can only imagine the U.S.'s reaction to an Iranian drone flying in international waters over the Gulf of Mexico or near Long Island Sound), or the opening of new tactics by Iran remains to be seen.  Another unanswerable question is whether these planes, which fired bullets and not missiles, missed their target on purpose, or whether they were terrible shots.  It is unlikely that this is the opening salvo in a new battlefront (the U.S. and Iran have been sniping at each other-mostly in the cyberworld-for years).  Suffice it to say, however, this is certainly not the morning wake-up call President Obama was hoping for.  That said, he's got four more years of phone calls starting: "Mr. President, the Iranians have...".

The Dangers of a Little Girl

The Taliban/Al Qaida's (T/AQ) attack on Malala Yousufzai just proves how afraid they are of...everyone.  Their laughable claims that we should not weep for a girl they try to assassinate as if she was an arch-duke, while American drones kill innocent civilians, may have more credibility if it didn't come from the two organizations responsible for more deaths of Shia and Sunni Muslims, Arab Christians, Jews, and secular middle-easterners than any other in modern history.  

If this act of barbarism and cowardice does not encourage (even a slow and steady) uprising against the terrorists and hijackers of Islam in Pakistan, then it is likely nothing else will.  Hopefully, this response is a harbinger of things to come.  American drone strikes are a constant source of outrage and antagonism, and understandably so.  The drones, however, will go away when the terrorists do.  The terrorists will go away when they become more afraid of the people, than the people are of them.  Terrorists (be they citizens or governments) in Pakistan (and Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Libya, Syria and Yemen-to name a few) have much to learn, and much to fear, from little girls.   

Debates American Style: Hated by Americans but Should be a Model for Other Countries

As I watched a portion of the presidential debate last night, I wondered whether there was any other county on earth (and in history) that allowed the common-folk to speak directly to their leader, within a few feet of each other.  While the British House of Commons is often racuous, the rows come from members of Parliament and not the voters.  Other countries certainly tout out their candidates for office for parades and rallies, even if the vote is all but certain (Russia, for starters), but no country allows this type of access (even as brief and staged as it is).  Most Americans may be fed up with the contentiousness, the focus, and the men themselves. Even the candidates end up saying things they wish they hadn't.  Like this for instance. 

Certainly other countries' elections are contentious, hard-fought, and won by slim margins.  Other countries, however, do not expect their leaders to be answerable to the people in the way Americans do.  When Lincoln was president, it was customary for him to receive ordinary citizens in the White House.  While that may not be the best use of the president's time any more, the opportunity for Americans to sit with the president (or president-to-be) is something other countries should consider.  They may find that a president who has to literally answer to the public feels (and acts) more accountable.  For better or worse, our system of election should be the shining example for the world (especially the Third World).

Cross-Border Strikes Clearly Not Mistakes

Syria's firing artillery into Turkey once can be considered a mistake.  Four times, however, is an attempt at engagement.   Syrian rebels may be amassing near the Turkey border in the hopes that Syria may be too afraid to engage and draw in Turkey, or because they are getting arms shipments via (if not actually from) Turkey.  If Syria is going to continue its barbaric unprofessional massacre against its citizens, it would do well to refrain from dragging in another country, especially Turkey.  This article details the latest round bombardments.  

Syria used to be able to count on Turkey as a co-ally with Iran.  Lately, Turkey has been back to thinking and acting for itself and not acting as a proxy for Iran.  It will not tolerate attacks on its citizens, nor will Israel when (almost inevitably) Syria will attempt to draw it into the fold as its list of options, and the world's patience weans.  Already friends only with a terrorist-state (at least in governance if not in populace), and heavily reliant on irresponsible world-citizens, Syria's options decrease as its barbarism increases.

Finally, World Hears Learns of Downside of Arab Uprising

The reasons for the current unrest in the Arab world are too numerous to list here.  Suffice it to say, we should not delude ourselves into thinking that an obscure movie released by a bigot is the only reason for the death of American diplomats and the attacks on Western embassies around the world. Islamic extremists such as Al Qaeda, Hamas, and Hezbollah, are master opportunists, and masters of deception.  Even the sniff of unrest, and like sharks to blood, they swarm to incite chaos.

With that said, citizens of Arab countries are for the first time being exposed to Western media (such as YouTube), are used to seeing media that comes only from state television, have no understanding of a free press and the First Amendment, and live in areas where no one questions the righteousness of the Prophet Muhammad.  We're going to have to learn as much about them as they about us if there's to be a semblance of peace and understanding between our cultures.  This AP article addresses the near future of U.S.-Arab relations.  Most troubling is that we are reminded yet again, that our interests in the Muslim world far outweigh our influence.

Hubble Provides a Journey Through Space and Time

Views from the Hubble.  I apologize for the commercial at the opening, but stick around for the show.  Remember, when we look into space we're looking back hundreds of millions of years.  In doing so, we observe the earth's inevitable future.  

Breivik Verdict So Wrong Yet So Right

Last week a Norwegian court decided that a man who could harbor such unfounded hatred, and who was capable of manifesting that hatred into the murder of almost eighty people (mostly teen-agers), was perfectly sane.  It is a sad state of affairs when this verdict, in an enlightened and modern society, is (almost) unarguably the right one.  

To decide that Breivik was insane would be to limit our understanding of hatred and xenophobia.  We would not be challenged to try to understand the motivations of the murderous.  Even the victims' families are content with the verdict.  While no one can honestly care about what this coward wanted, his actions (and demented sanity) may keep open the doors of understanding, and allow decent people to counter the rage that people like Anders Breivik and Mohammed Atta harbor for people they never met.  One day we will declare such people insane, but only after we've eliminated all other motivations (however well-grounded or baseless) for their desire to destroy.

Militants Intent on Taking Advantage of Egyptian/Israeli Trust

Militants attempted to attack Israel from the Sinai recently.  With Iran blowing up innocent Israeli civilians on vacation, the border along the Golan Heights boiling, and the IOC snubbing what should have been a thought-provoking and stirring tribute to all athletes who have been murdered throughout the modern Games, militants are attempting to use the trust built up over the years between Egypt and Israel to their murderous advantage.  This article highlights only the latest efffort.  


The two countries have been at ease over several decades, and even the election of a Muslim Brotherhood member has not undone years of progress.  Hopefully a band of Palestinian terrorists and their Egyptian cohorts won't reap the collaboration and cooperation  the two nations have sewn.

West Can Support Sunnis and Remove Assad

After warring for years against Muslim countries, the U.S. is missing a golden opportunity to reaffirm its secular stance.  Syria is beyond ready for military intervention, even from war-wary countries.  The first Iraq war did not stop the U.S. from turning the tide (in favor of Muslims) in Kosovo.  The second should not stop it from doing the same in Syria.  Certainly, the U.S. can support Muslims and fight against the Assad regime without choosing between Sunnis and Alawites.  This article details the most recent Sunni efforts at legitimate resistance.  


The more senseless murder we see, the more numb we grow.  This numbness already prevents the West from intervening in Africa, and, in part, prevents Russia and China from supporting tough resolutions in Syria.  Do we intervene, or turn a blind eye?  Only time and desperation will tell.

World Watches Egypt, Israel Holds its Breath

The Muslim Brotherhood did with ballots in a year what it never could do in the Gaza strip: become a legitimate, recognized political power.  With today's election, Egypt embarks on a new path in its long history.  So far, the rhetoric has been acceptable.  No country is holding its breath while waiting to see whether the Brotherhood means what it says more than Israel.  


Fortunately for Israel, unlike Syria and Turkey (both answer only to Iran) Egypt is beholden to no one but its voters.  Will the Brotherhood act responsibly, or will it use its platform to sew strife and unrest?  Only time will tell if the voters have a voice, and if so, what that voice says.

World of Walls

With more strife on the Sinai horizon, Israel hastens to build yet another wall.  Israel is betting on Egypt  heading towards Sharia law ruled by the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Sinai desert becoming a launching point for for rockets and militants, a la the Gaza Strip.  The violence has already begun.


With this wall, Israel may make its borders and citizens slightly safer.  It also presents another barrier to Africans (especially South Sudanese) looking to escape to Israel.  I defy you to find another middle eastern country to which people are escaping.  No other country has a promise to fulfill to such divergent groups of people.  It exists to protect victims of genocide and provide them with a home.  Genocide now comes to diverse people in the dark corners of the world (mostly at the hands of radical Islamists).  The real question is whether Israel can fulfill the promise of its founders, to shelter the would-be victims, and maintain its identity as a Jewish state.  To most American Jews, being Jewish and sheltering victims (or would-be victims) of genocide are one and the same.  Israel must build walls, but those walls should be semi-permeable.

South America, the U.S.'s New Middle East

Middle East wars are winding down (at least American involvement is scaling back) and the military will need new venues at which to aim their sights.  


Enter South America and its decades-long drug war.  It remains to be seen whether military and political leaders have learned anything from nearly twenty years of Middle East conflict.  Will drones, planes, and boats simply start buzzing various drug-manufacturing and shipping regions?  Or will the U.S. first (instead of later) embark on a coordinated mission to defeat narco-terrorism?  This New York Times article is hopefully a harbinger of things to come minus the possible deaths of innocent men and women.  


South America presents its own unique set of problems too many to list here.  It also presents a unique opportunity for the U.S. to get things right the first time.  Using smaller military units, engaging the local populace, providing alternatives to drug-running, and cooperating and coordinating efforts with local and national governments is sure to net positive results.  Americans (displaying both might and good will) will probably be a welcome sight.  The more mistakes we make however, the faster we wear out our welcome...again.

Brave New World Leader?

In the face of North Carolina's attempt to ban love and affection President Obama announced he's for equality for all (not just the straight).  Are other world leaders ever pressured to announce their views on such a basic issue one way or the other?  Certainly no one is expecting King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia (or King Abdullah of Jordan), Mahmoud Amadinejad, Pakistani President Zardari, or Governor Purdue to take such a bold stance.  Standing up for basic freedom, and against tyranny, is what America is all about and has been since 1775 and certainly early July, 1776.

While other countries either allow gay marriage outright (Canada) or ban it outright (Iran), few leaders have done as much for the LGBTQ community.  Recent gains range from allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the Armed Forces, to banning hospitals from banning gays and lesbians from being with each other.  The good news is that President Obama has done much, the bad news is that much had to be done.  The worst news is that, despite polls showing over and over that a majority of Americans favor either gay marriage or civil unions, more needs doing every day.  Unlike the Third World (America's likely future without reversing course), if change is possible anywhere, it's possible here.

    

Take a Break, Sit Back, and Enjoy...

Once in a while, we should to take the time to remind ourselves how beautiful our home is.  Check out the Northern Lights about three minutes in.

NASA Expedition travels our shrinking...but beautiful globe.

HIstory May Repeat Itself, but Science Simply Presses On

Tennessee decided to repeat history recently by equating evolution with intelligent design and other nonsensical religious theories.  Tennessee also decided to ignore scientific reality by forcing teachers to make a mockery of global warming.  

Encouraging students to think critically about the world around them is public school's main responsibility.  There is a wide gulf between critical thinking, and being fooled into believing that a theory that has been more subject to the rigors of the scientific method than any other is only as plausible as a strict, narrow, and politically motivated interpretation of one particular bible.   

The global implication of this thinking, promulgated by Christian Dominionists, is that the world will no longer look to the United States for scientific leadership, as it started to when JFK challenged us to go the moon.  As we tumble back towards the stone-age, other nations will make the breakthroughs that will cure cancer, Alzheimer's, and diabetes.  Students will leave, instead of come to, America in order to explore the cosmos and the cell.  In short, banning science in America will only result in the export of science, and all its wonder to the rest of the world.  Hopefully our neighbors will treat this responsibility better than we have.  The true crime is that science and religion can coexist.  See this Huffington Post article describing the lengths religious groups went to to preserve evolution's place in the classroom.  For a movement hell-bent (pun intended) on ridding the nation of non-believers, however, coexistence itself is the enemy of the "righteous". 

Santorum Rallying Cry Seeks to Drag U.S. into the Third World

Presidential candidate Rick Santorum finally sounded the rallying cry, and the rallying cry of his Christian Dominionist (a small but vocal sect of Christianity) following last week.  That cry, odd as it may be for someone who is trying to get people to go to the polls instead of to leave their country is: "GET OUT"!  You can see it here.  The list of grievances any enlightened (or tolerant, or thoughtful) person (be they Jew, Gentile, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Atheist, etc.) would or should have with this message is far too long to produce here.  


The main problem with this speech, and with Santorum's overarching goal for the nation, is that it seeks to set the United States back millennia in every respect.  Many countries on earth seek, as Santorum's rallying cry advocates, to ostracize, excommunicate, or slaughter those who do not share the strict views of its rulers.  All of those countries, all of them, are incapable of feeding their people, sustaining growth, providing resources, judiciously adjudicating grievances, or contributing to the common good of their region, nation, continent, or planet.  A short list of countries that tout the same message: Syria, Somalia, and Sudan.  


Hopefully reason will win over barbarism.  With each step this nation takes, however, towards basic equality for all, engendered mutual respect for its inhabitants, and fulfilling the true promise of its founders, it sits poised to take one million steps back.  

North Korea's "Satellite" Launch Would be Laughable, if it Wasn't so Sad

North Korea announced this week that it would be exploring space for peaceful purposes by launching a satellite atop a rocket.  That rocket, of course, could also be used to carry a nuclear warhead, and this is most likely a rocket test/provocation under the guise of advancing the world's (or North Korea's) scientific knowledge.  The claim that North Korea needs a functioning satellite is ludicrous and we should remain dubious that a working satellite is even sitting atop the rocket. 

North Korea's need of a satellite is as asinine as a country in the stone-age needing, or being capable of maintaining a supercomputer.  This is where the humor ends.  North Korea's population (the large majority that doesn't work for the government anyway) is nearly as impoverished as any on earth.  The money and resources necessary to launch a long-range missile, much less a satellite, could feed millions or provide them with the most basic of services for weeks or months.  Not only does this launch impoverish the North Korean people but the six nations willing to provide food and other aid will likely walk away from negotiations and resource provision.  With the death of the most recent "Dear Leader" comes more of the same misery and nonsense with the next.     

Iran Benefits from Israel's Past Practices

Israel has eliminated two out of three known nuclear weapons facilities in the Middle East.  Only Pakistan escaped Israel's surgical strikes.  Iran learned well from Pakistan (keep everything undercover, underground, and deny, deny, deny) and from Iraq and Syria.  The latter two were short-sighted enough to leave their plants accessible to Israeli aircraft.  Syria attempted to protect their sites with SAM defenses.  Israel simply jammed and defeated the SAMs.     


Even the top Israeli brass cannot hope to have the same complete and lasting success against Iran.  Israel's threats, real at least to the extent that they are believed by the international community, may have a positive effect.  Negotiations with Iran may start as early as next month.  Should these negotiations fail, the only question will be whether the rest of the world will make amends for its historical inaction, always fresh in the minds of Jews worldwide.

Partisanship on Violence Against Women Act Result of Internal/External Globalization

While partisanship can be expected at almost every turn in Washington (and every other capital in this country) these days, one of the acts sure to pass easily used to be the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).  This year though...not so much.   Republicans, hiding behind vapid concerns that VAWA has grown to encompass so many groups that none are satisfactorily singled out for protection, are once again hiding their heads in the sand and pretending that our shores and borders are not so much closer to those of other nations than they used to be.  Read this Huffington Post Article carefully.  That VAWA was supposed to extend even to Native Americans (people who were here long before any of the ancestors of Congress immigrated to this country) and the LGBT community became a point of contention, erasing any legitimate objections that VAWA's reach too easily protected illegal immigrants.  As a former prosecutor, I can assure you domestic violence knows no geographic, gender, age, socio-economic, race, or cultural bounds. 


The spirit and letter of the Act are designed to protect those who are no longer capable of protecting themselves.  If fewer and fewer people are "worthy" of such protection, we as a nation just continue to erase the words sitting at the feet of Lady Liberty.

Emboldened by the World's Reticence, al-Assad Presses On

If history has taught us anything about Syria, it's that it repeats itself.  Arab League or not, more civilians have died in Hama under an al-Assad regime than anywhere else in Syria.  Russia, a voting member of the Security Council with veto power, is unlikely to intervene especially when the Arab League does nothing but watch and make paltry calls for a transfer of power.  Turkey, observant that it's new ruler (Iran/Hezbollah) has all but abandoned Syria, seems confused and nervous, and thus less than effective in making any real difference. 

 

In his Inauguration Speech, President Obama promised those listening huddled around radios in dark corners of the world that the United States heard them, and that they would not be ignored.  As more and more nations pay lip service to ending al-Assad's reign of terror, will the President make good on his promise?  As with all things Middle East, Iran remains a foreboding unknown.

If Revolutions Come in Seasons, It's Still Winter in Russia

To be fair, Russia did experience its own elongated "Russian Spring" in the late '80's and early '90's.  This time period saw the fall of communism, the dismantling of the world's most notorious wall, and the fracturing of an entire union.  Since then, however, revolution has come to a halt.   

Russians have not had a real choice in their president since Vladimir Putin came to power in December, 1999.  While soon-to-be President Putin is paying (what is likely mere) lip service to Russia's middle-class demands, he at least acknowledged some of its complaints.   While Russia may not face the same challenges it did 20 years ago, its citizens demand the same rights that some Third-World countries have recently bestowed on their inhabitants (and that Americans have enjoyed for two centuries).  Their cries prove (once again) what Eric Hoffer said years ago, essentially that the more freedom a movement gains the more it demands.  Russia needs fresh change, the basic right to choose their leader, and an opportunity to grow.  Without these, this cold Russian winter will remain indefinitely. 

UN Bemoans Israel's Vaporizing of Iranian Nuclear Chief

If Iran is going to do its dirty work in underground bunkers, away from the prying eyes of satellites and the bombs of aircraft, Israel will simply attempt to dismantle Iran's nuclear facilities one scientist at a time.  Either embarrassed by Israel's apparent ease at eliminating a top Iranian scientist (since the UN is completely helpless to stop Iran's scramble towards a nuclear warhead), or legitimately upset with the assassination of a scientist who was working for the country he loved, the UN issued a (albeit half-hearted) condemnation of the attack.  

Either way, Israel likely did itself, and the rest of the countries at risk of a nuclear Iran (essentially every nation on earth save North Korea, China, and Venezuela) a favor.  Unfortunately, however, neither Israel (nor any other country) can hope to eliminate every person who can facilitate Iran's nuclear capabilities; and this set-back will serve as little more than a warning to the chief's successor.  Maybe, however, the message will speak louder than a car bomb.