Weekly roundup

Well what is there to say about this week? The week of calamities more like. It seems like everytime I turn to the news there is another story of flooding, death and destruction. And I haven't even started with news from Iraq yet. The flooding in Pakistan was the most prominent in my attention, mainly because Mr 10% is now visiting London whilst his people are suffering. Apparently the problem is being taken care of, so he did not think it worth his time to come back and be a leader to his people. What can you say of a person like this? A man who was in prison for nine years and is now ruler of the same country? Not much that hasn't already been said. Truly fortune is a fickle creature.

In Lebanon the army finally fired back at an Israeli incursion, killing an Israeli Lieutenant Colonel but at the tragic cost of three soldiers and a journalist. Sadly this might not be a new trend on the part of the Lebanese army but more likely that the commander in that area is loyal to Hezbullah and therefore prepared to defend his country. Some suspect he will be quietly transferred away and the issue will be quitened down. Rather than the start of a new war, it seems this little event caught everybody by surprise and both the Israelis and the Lebanese were quick to downplay the incident.

In Iraq a series of bombings over the past two days remain 'unexplained' according to al Jazeera. The hiatus over forming an Iraqi government continues and I heard smatterings about Obama ending combat operations for the United States Army by the 31st of August. I think for all extents and purposes the "occupation" of Iraq is over. At least formally. There are new actors now the dust has settled considerably. What is interesting is to see Iraq becoming the "new Lebanon", that is a country that is totally compromised, fluid and insecure, meaning it is the perfect playground for intelligence services. Maliki is clinging on to the floating debris of his former authority but I don't know what to expect there to be honest. Knowing the Iraqi temperament it is unlikely that some strongman will not try to seize power and send all these politicians to the gallows. When is the question.

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Domestic violence in England and hostage taking in Pakistan

Today I followed yet another case of domestic abuse. It is almost like beneath the sometimes calm veneer of life in England, there is this darker and secret pandemic of women being beaten to a pulp. Today there was a twist in the case when the victim changed her testimony, I think she lied in court but that's just my opinion, and said it was all her fault. This time though I had no sympathy with her. In England they have a term for girls like her, apparently they are labelled "white trash" or council estate barbies. Yet somehow, in a bizarre way, both her and her boyfriend of two years (yes her baby was out of wedlock) are victims in some bizarre and vicious cycle. England is, like many other countries, a land divided between the haves and the have-nots, but here it is institutionalised and shameless in a way that not even the United States of America has managed to pull off. I pity these people, yet it is their war machines which are wreaking havoc in the world.

Meanwhile on the other side of the planet, hostage takers attacked a temple for the Ahmadi cult in Pakistan, a religion which spread in the 18th century. Apparently there are not enough Americans in Afghanistan and Iraq so jihad is now being diverted to unarmed people. In all seriousness, this is no different to the frustrated, unemployed men who I see every week in court, having taken out their weakness and frustration on their wives or children. When you feel weak it seems you need to lash out at the weakest target so that you can feel strong again. This is not right on any level, I've never been squeemish about my moral support for resisting occupation and injustice but I have never heard the Prophet say or do anything like this. Nobody has in fact and that's because he never did or condoned anything like this.

This is not our way. This is what Israelis or Americans do when there are no cameras but we as Muslims have a higher standard that we must adhere to because we know there is a judgement for our actions. Look at Hezbullah, these men and women have, through patience, perseverence and faith managed to defy the Israeli war machine and now nobody on earth can disarm them. They freed South Lebanon in 2000, something thought impossible in 1982 and they didn't need the Soviet Union, or America or China or any of the present day pharaohs or sultans.

Hezbullah don't go into churches and kill Christians, they follow the Qur'an and the Sunnah and it is they who teach the Israelis morality and justice - not the other way around. You simply can't expect to be considered a legitimate resistance movement against occupation if you end up butchering people and then tell them you're there to save them. Again, that's what the Americans do and Muslims are supposed to be the good guys. Even al Qaida in Iraq realised that they couldn't get credibility if they kept blowing up innocent civilians, and publicly 'apologised' for the 'mistakes' that had happened previously.

I'm actually quite annoyed, both because of what I saw in court today and because of the news. It is ironic that our humanity is precisely what enables us to do such horrid things to each other.

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There is a sad irony in hearing of an Iraqi dying from a suicide blast in...Pakistan. Talk about jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire.

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The Empire strikes back

The new emperor spoke today, about the challenges of the empire and which men and women he will appoint to deal with the more troublesome parts on its frontiers. John Mitchell gave a boring and irrelevant talk about how committed he was to finding a solution between the Palestinians and the Israelis. I caught his speech from the point where he was saying something about 800 years and how somebody had come over to him and ask him whether he had said 800 years, twice. After replying twice that same person said, "Pah, such a recent argument." I rolled my eyes at such stupid shows, not from Mitchell, but from the quite clearly Zionist charmer who had spoke to him. The Zionists love to orientalise themselves and make themselves to be part of the land. At any point in a conversation with somebody they are trying to impress they will love making some anecdote about how tough and prickly they are from the outside, but sweet on the inside, on how they deal with the harshness of deserts and so on ad nauseum. Forget the fact that they are originally Eastern Europeans or Ashkenazi Jews who are more at home in Europe and North America than in the Middle East. Anyhow, I digress. Obama's speech had nothing but praise for Mubarak's Egypt, he made the usual Israeli pledge of allegiance and reassurance, and he made a number of allusions to the troublemakers in the region, Iran and Syria. For Syria, it was the promise of a potential peace deal, for Iran, a warning against supporting "terror" groups, that is Hamas and Hezbullah, as well as the many armed groups in Iraq. There will be more of the same support for "moderates" in the region, a strong endorsement of Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority, and a reiteration of his "commitment" to a "two-state solution". No American president's speech would be complete without an 'acknowledgement' of the suffering on "both" sides of this conflict, Palestinian and Israeli. Duly noted Mr. President. [middle finger here]

Oh and of course he promised not to torture people anymore, ordering the closure of Guantanamo and saying something about the people of the United States possessing values of some sort. I haven't a clue what these are, but I'm sure it would be a good idea if they did. There was actually little mention of Iraq, in the part of the broadcast that I managed to catch, and this was a little bit surprising.

It was very interesting that there is now one vizier, Richard Holbrooke assigned for both Pakistan and Afghanistan. This shows how bad the situation is now and how clear it is that Pakistan is now sinking into the battle between America and whoever it is fighting there. I couldn't help but wonder how soon it would be before there was a full scale American ground assault in the North Western provinces of that country. This might not be Obama's style, I think massive aid to strengthen the government of Pakistan will probably be more likely, but who knows. The first one hundred days of a US presidency are usually the key ones which define what comes later so let us see. I noted with some interest how Holbrooke considered John Negroponte as his friend. Also he felt it very important to reassure listeners that he took Pakistan very seriously, respecting its culture and history and so on. There will be interesting developments there soon I expect.

Doesn't everybody think it very interesting that the United States, said to be the world's greatest superpower, is unable to subdue the people of an area from the Mediterranean to central Asia? A new era of American power is indeed emerging, the empire is gathering its strength for a renewed strike, with flowers and guns this time. When this does reach a good momentum, we will see many people who secretly idolise the United States in the Arab world start singing its praises again. There will be a resurgence of "moderation" again, up until now a dirty word thanks to the honest and frank brutality of the Bush administration. I have surprised many people in the past by saying I preferred John McCain or even George Bush as presidents. People saw the ugly face of America for what it was. Well, the mask is now on and the same fools who always wanted to believe will again believe, and those who always rejected the lies will continue to be steadfast. It will be good now that the lines have become clearer.

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"When in doubt, escalate the war, is an old imperial motto. The strikes against Pakistan represent - like the decisions of President Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger, to bomb and then invade Cambodia - a desperate bid to salvage a war that was never good, but has now gone badly wrong."

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On the bomb attack in Pakistan, from The Times:

Pakistan's top leaders were to have attended a state dinner at the luxury Islamabad hotel devastated in a suicide bomb attack on Saturday but changed venue at the last minute, it emerged today.

On Pakistan and the United States from the BBC:

Pakistani troops have fired at two US helicopters forcing them back into Afghanistan, local Pakistani intelligence officials say

The helicopters flew into the tribal North Waziristan region from Afghanistan's Khost province at around midnight, the reports say.

Last week Pakistani troops fired into the air to prevent US ground troops crossing the border further south.

Tensions have risen after an increase in US attacks targeting militants.
Pakistan's army has said it will defend the country's sovereignty and reserves the right to retaliate to any border violations.

The latest on Lev Leviev from the Independent:

The British Government's plan to rent new premises in a Tel Aviv skyscraper hasrun into trouble after a wave of protests that their prospective landlord is a major participant in Jewish settlement-building in the occupied West Bank.

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This is what you get when you put a naive schoolboy in politics: "My mother always said democracy is the best revenge."

Like in Iraq? Moo?

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When Fisk doesn't write about Lebanon, he's actually quite good:

"Of course, given the childish coverage of this appalling tragedy – and however corrupt Ms Bhutto may have been, let us be under no illusions that this brave lady is indeed a true martyr – it's not surprising that the "good-versus-evil" donkey can be trotted out to explain the carnage in Rawalpindi."

Not only has there been childish coverage, but also childish commentary.

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"The Bush administration confronted one of its worst nightmares yesterday: riots on the streets of a nuclear-armed Muslim country, and no clear strategy to chart its way out of the chaos."

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"White House struggles to cope with loss of ally"

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Benazir Bhutto is dead and so are the dreams of those who supported her. Not sure what this means yet, though I can't say I'm surprised. In terms of categorising Bhutto, and I don't know enough about Pakistan's politics, but I place her in the same khanate as Hariri and of the same spectrum. I'm not convinced that she was working for the interests of Pakistan and it seems most Western governments are a lot more disappointed with her loss than if it had been Nawaz Sharif.

One way of reading this is as a message from Musharraf - and this is wild speculation - that he can turn off the tap and he can turn it on. Pakistan is going one direction and on direction only. Any naive attempts at democratisation have no place in this and if foreign interests think they can build and remove leaders for that country, they are mistaken. Who knows..

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The game is up for Musharraf. Earlier this evening I was subjected to the spectacle of the ruler of a supposedly sovereign country trying to blame everyone and everything apart from himself for the mess the country was in. Excuse me but were you not in complete control for the past seven years? This is the first sign that he is not in control anymore. His arguments and excuses were weak, his beseeching of the Americans for "more time" so that his people could "learn" democracy and "human rights" was pathetic. It is also sad when the president of a country cannot give arguably the most important speech of his life in his own language without using English words in between the sentences because he cannot express himself otherwise. Even King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia had the dignity of speaking only his own language throughout his stay in the United Kingdom (I understand he speaks English very well).

If I was Musharraf, I would be packing my family and self onto the quickest plane out of there. His time is up. He was finished since the seige on the Red Mosque reached its bloody conclusion.

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No comment

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"The Pakistani president, General Pervez Musharraf, said he was "deeply shocked" by the attack and condemned it "in the strongest possible words"." (My own emphasis)

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After Nawaz Sharif's ill thought out and hasty return to Pakistan, Bhutto appears to have learned the lesson and seems to have no intention of sharing his fate. (Al Jazeera headline - thousands of supporters get ready to greet Bhutto on arrival) I think Bhutto is much more politically sophisticated than either Sharif or Musharraf, which might make her brand of corruption and sleaze even more potent, one could argue...

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Has Nawaz Sharif had a hair transplant? I also noted with interest how when he was asked about Benazir Bhutto he looked down and to the left...isn't that the usual sign when someone is lying? Time to do some googling!

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