Stupidity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.--Albert Einstein
We are witnessing right now what BBC World is calling the worst attack on Gaza in the history of the conflict in terms of casualties, not even a week after the end of a 6 month truce.
UN Special Rapporteur Richard Falk has this to say:
Against this background, it is especially painful for me, as an American Jew, to feel compelled to portray the ongoing and intensifying abuse of the Palestinian people by Israel through a reliance on such an inflammatory metaphor as 'holocaust'...
...and has even gone so far as to use the word "genocide."
In fact, I can't begin to put this in words as well as he, Sabbahblog and others are doing, but I do want to contribute my two gersh/cents.
I don't dispute Israel's right to defend its citizens. This was part of my dilemma over the 2006 Lebanon War, because there was an immediate threat to innocent Israeli lives, and it was legitimately hard to distinguish purely military targets. The population density in the Gaza Strip makes it even harder to distinguish military targets, which is precisely why, after the publicity beating Israel got after the 2006 Lebanon War, I should think they would want to be more careful about civilian casualties. One Israeli was killed, so the only appropriate response was to kill 350 Gazans and injure over 1000 more? Come on, Ms. Livni!
If "the people of Gaza do not deserve to suffer" for what Hamas does, as PM Olmert said in today's press conference, where is the proof of that? It's not suffering to be under a strangling blockade of even basic food and medical supplies since June 2007? It's not suffering to never know when Israeli planes, tanks or troops will attack?
Ehud Barak said the IDF only "... attacked only targets that are part of the Hamas organizations [and will] make an effort in order to avoid any unnecessary inconveniences to the people of Gaza." Is that why they bombed a university? It's not an "unnecessary inconvenience" to allow no food, water or electricity over the border for weeks at a time?
And what, exactly, is all of this supposed to accomplish? Does Israel really think that cutting off aid and basic necessities and raining down bombs on the Gaza Strip will make Palestinians more sympathetic to Israel? Do they really think that by killing hundreds of Gazans, this will make them stop retaliating on Israeli citizens? This is the very epitomy of what Albert Einstein was talking about when he defined stupidity!
Though I have to give Israel kudos for their timing. What with the Christmas season, the global economic woes, and the US administration in transition, hardly anyone is paying serious attention to what's going on over here. This much, at least, shows definite cunning!
I try, in this blog, to be eloquent, to say things that are well considered and meaningful, but I just feel so frustrated and impotent today. I did take some food donations to Books@Cafe today to be sent to Gaza. Apparently, only Jordanians are being allowed into the Gaza Strip to deliver aid. I guess Israel is worried about what the UN and Red Crescent might have to say about the conditions of people there. Certainly Israel displayed their unhappiness with the comments of Richard Falk which I mentioned above when they denied him entry to the Gaza Strip.
There was some talk on BBC today about the lessons UIsrael has learned from the 2006 Lebanon War, and I can think of a couple they failed to mention. Apparently Israel learned that there's nothing the international community is ready or able to do to actually stop Israel's actions. I feel, too, like they've taken a page from George W. Bush, who legitimized the Pre-Emptive Strike Doctrine that, for lack of a better word, completely fucked up Iraq, and now seems to be allowing Israel to do the same to the Gaza Strip.
I'm no Juan Cole or Richard Falk; I know that the words I put here won't reach many people or make much difference, especially as disjointed and incoherent as this rant is, but I feel compelled to publish something, anything to express my outrage and frustration.
It was the description of the difference between American airports and public transportation, and that of the rest of the world, that first drew me into this article by recent Nobel Prize winner Thomas Friedman. My father likes to compare the Swiss train stations, which apologized profusely when a train was just 2 minutes behind schedule, with the traffic reports we listened to after we got back from Switzerland that habitually indicated 45 minute delays on the commuter trains into the US capital! Just this week I was fuming to someone about how luggage carts are free(or at most require a 25 cent refundable deposit) in every airport I've ever been to EXCEPT in the States, where they cost $3 and, in my experience, are often broken. (I had one in Philadelphia towards the end of my 24 hour trip home from Peace Corps that would only turn left, but there was no way I was paying another $3 for another cart!)
However, it should come as no surprise that the winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics had very cogent things to say about the future of the American economy.
Because of the financial crisis, Barack Obama has the bipartisan support to spend $1 trillion in stimulus. But we must make certain that every bailout dollar, which we’re borrowing from our kids’ future, is spent wisely.
It has to go into training teachers, educating scientists and engineers, paying for research and building the most productivity-enhancing infrastructure — without building white elephants. Generally, I’d like to see fewer government dollars shoveled out and more creative tax incentives to stimulate the private sector to catalyze new industries and new markets. If we allow this money to be spent on pork, it will be the end of us.
America still has the right stuff to thrive. We still have the most creative, diverse, innovative culture and open society — in a world where the ability to imagine and generate new ideas with speed and to implement them through global collaboration is the most important competitive advantage. China may have great airports, but last week it went back to censoring The New York Times and other Western news sites. Censorship restricts your people’s imaginations. That’s really, really dumb. And that’s why for all our missteps, the 21st century is still up for grabs.
John Kennedy led us on a journey to discover the moon. Obama needs to lead us on a journey to rediscover, rebuild and reinvent our own backyard.
Earthrise is the name given to this photograph of the earth taken by astronaut William Anders on Christmas Eve 1968 during the Apollo 8 mission. Wilderness photographer Galen Rowell called it "the most influential environmental photograph ever taken." Now an editor for the journal Nature reenvisions this photograph as an enviornmental call to action for another generation in this article.
But it is solar energy, indirectly or directly, that will dominate the picture, simply because of its abundance. The Sun delivers more energy to the Earth in an hour than humanity uses in a year.
THE LIGHTS are out in Gaza again and few are paying attention. The 1.5 million Palestinians living in the densely populated strip are being collectively punished once more, while Israel attempts to strangle the Hamas government. The UN agency that feeds hundreds of thousands of people is unable to get supplies in because the border is closed, and a plea from UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has been ignored.Ignoring the Plight in Gaza
by Yousef Munayyer in the Boston Globe
This article was posted to Facebook by my friend Jennifer, whom I met when she was teaching me Arabic in the Peace Corps, whose wedding to a fellow Peace Corps Volunteer I attended in Amman, in his village of Rajaf near Petra, and in Kansas City, Missouri (the only one other than his family to attend all three). She worked on the Obama campaign (though she was instructed to tell voters she was Spanish or Italian, not Arab), changed her Facebook name to Jennifer "Hussein" Walsh in protest of the anti-Muslim slurs hurled at Obama, and said of this article, "Somebody is writing about this." Too often, for those of us who are concerned about the situation in Gaza, it seems that no one does write about this.
Like Mr. Munayyer, I wonder why Israel believes that continuing the blockade of Gaza will change anything within Gaza or any of the Palestinian Territories.
After Hamas was democratically elected, sanctions followed and the grip began to tighten on the Gaza Strip. Fuel supplies ran short, malnutrition rose, and Gaza's only power plant could not be relied on to provide electricity. Store shelves were often empty of food, and many who were already impoverished were now struggling even more.Reading this article reminded me of the truly terrible situation I saw on the BBC and meant to write about during the week of Eid. The second week in December was the most important holiday on the Islamic calendar, the Feast of the Sacrifice (Eid al-Adha), commemorating Ibrahim's (Abraham's) willingness to submit to the will of God and sacrifice his first-born son Ishmael (Isaac in Judeo-Christian tradition). It is traditionally a time for family, feasting and sacrificing one's own sheep to God, in imitation of the ram which the angel told Ibrahim at the last minute would be an acceptable substitute for Ishmael.
And what, if anything, has been gained by all this? If the objective was to diminish public support for the Hamas government, it is hardly working.
Some public-opinion polling of Palestinians has consistently showed that Hamas remains as popular today as it was before it was elected. Some polls also indicate that Hamas garners its highest approval ratings when the collective measures against the Gaza Strip have been most punitive.
But aside from the fact that the Israeli policy of collective punishment, and world complacency to it, is counterproductive, there is a greater problem with this policy: It is morally reprehensible.
In 1949, when Soviets had surrounded Berlin and were ready to choke a war-torn population into submission, the Western world refused to stand silent. In the boldest move in the history of the Cold War, the United States spearheaded an airlift of food and supplies to Berlin, flying in the face of Soviet oppression, confident the Soviets would not fire upon humanitarian aid.
Where, one has to wonder, is that moral courage now?
I am not asking President Bush or President-elect Obama to declare "Ana Ghazawi," the Palestinian equivalent of "Ich bin ein Berliner." Rather, the United States should strongly state to Israel that this failed policy is only hurting innocent civilians and is making Israel and the United States look terrible in the process. While Hamas must moderate its positions if it is to be considered a legitimate political player, this policy has failed to change Hamas.
The collective punishment in Gaza has left a deep and troubling scar on America's image in the world and has hindered our ability to maneuver politically in the region. If we are truly living in a new era, and change has come, let us hope it will come for the innocent civilians in Gaza too.
Yousef Munayyer is a policy analyst for the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.
Merely finding the food to feed one's family in Gaza has been a challenge for many years, as the border is frequently closed, and so deliveries are sporadic and uncertain. From time to time, the UN, Red Cross and other international bodies step in to demand that Israel allow food and basic necessities into Gaza, but it is not consistent. There are also, reportedly, networks of tunnels allowing the smuggling of food and necessities into Gaza. In the days leading up to Eid al-Adha, in fact, live sheep were being smuggled through those tunnels for the holiday festivities.
However, this year there was a new challenge for Gazans. Israel blocked banks from transporting bills and coins into the Gaza Strip in the days leading up to Eid. On the last Thursday before Eid, banks and ATMs were forced to close, because they didn't have the bills to pay the paychecks that were to be issued that day. Banks were then closed for the whole next week for the holiday. This meant that people not only didn't have the money to buy sheep for sacrifice, but that they didn't even have the means to purchase even basic food items for 10 days.
The Gaza Strip is in serious danger of a complete economic collapse into a barter economy, but one in which there isn't even anything to barter for!
Yes, Hamas has supported and probably still supports so-called terrorist ideology and actions, but why is that? When a people under military blockade have no vote, no voice, no hope, no food, no money, and not even anything to barter with, what other choice do they have?
Maybe President-elect Obama will never say it, but I will: "Ana Ghazawiya!"
Emily put me on to the fabulous commentary excerpted here, by Najlaa A. Al-Nashi, with Noah Baker Merrill, of Direct Aid Iraq:
You may have heard the news that an Iraqi journalist threw his shoes at the American president, but as an Iraqi I’d like to share with you a few details about the journalist, and why he did that.
Muntather’s actions have, for these days, united Sunnis, Shiites, and Christians. It united Iraqis as Iraqis. And it only took a few seconds. Sunni and Shiite tribal leaders have publicly asked that Muntather not be referred to using his tribal affiliation (Muntather al-Zaidi), because they believe his tribal affiliation now encompasses all the tribes of Iraq: They’ve asked for him to be referred to as “Muntather Al-Iraqi” (Muntather the Iraqi). At the same time, the tribal leaders have said that they hope it is now clear that they have only one enemy — the occupation of Iraq.
The Iraqi response shows clearly that Muntather’s actions have triggered a deep release in Iraqi society. It gives an indication to the outside world how much so many Iraqis oppose the occupation and the ongoing presence of foreign troops in their country, but have been without a voice that cut through the walls of silence and the filtered mainstream media.
It is important to be clear that this action by a single man does not arise from his role as a journalist, or from some specific incident or time in his life. It comes from an Iraqi man who, like all of his people, has suffered greatly from occupation, from the actions of mercenaries like those employed by Blackwater Worldwide, from the torture of Iraqis by American soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison and elsewhere, and from the sectarian violence that the occupation has cultivated, fueled, and allowed to thrive. Muntather himself was kidnapped a few months ago, though thankfully he was released alive.
Unfortunately, Direct Aid Iraq is reporting that he was tortured in the care of Iraqi police, a practice common under the Saddam Regime, and unfortunately not much discouraged by the Americans, Jordanians, Saudis and others who trained those police. It reminds me of what my roommate said when he heard about the incident: "I wonder if they'll kill his whole family for this." I'm happy to see that the shoe-throwing has not fueled the sectarian violence, and that the Americans didn't cart poor Muntather off to Guantanamo for the insult. Nonetheless, it is a vivid example of how ludicrous it is to think that the United States would be able to bring democracy and freedom of speech and expression to Iraq by the means which the Bush Administration has chosen.
I wanted him to be President. I hoped someone would see his potential as a Vice President, criss-crossing the world solving problems as he did for the Clinton Administration, but with more weight. When that didn't happen, I held out hope for Secretary of State, even though I figured the position was probably promised to Senator Clinton in the still-secret meeting with Senator Obama that marked the end of her campaign.
He's been US Ambassador to the UN. The man negotiated hostage releases from North Korea, Cuba, Sudan and Saddam Hussein himself. He brokered a ceasefire in Sudan that, while short-lived, was the most successful such deal to date. Three times, he's been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. On the other hand,
In 2006, Forbes credited Richardson's reforms in naming Albuquerque, New Mexico the best city in the U.S. for business and careers. The Cato Institute, meanwhile, has consistently rated Richardson as one of the most fiscally responsible Democratic governors in the nation.
--Wikipedia
Perhaps Secretary of Commerce is not a position unsuited to his talents. I only wish he'd been able to returned to the world stage, because I see in Governor Bill Richardson the statesmanship and global vision that I admired in President Bill Clinton. I thought that a Vice President or Secretary of State Richardson could help restore what is left of the American image after 8 years of the neo-cons.
Still, who knows what the future holds for Secretary of Commerce Richardson?
Here are a couple interesting blog entries by friends about blogging in the Arab world: from kinziblogs with some interesting comments by the very Jordanians effected, and about a Saudi blogger whose neighbors can't see what he writes.
I feel somewhat protected by being an American in Jordan, which depends heavily on American funds to run its government and its economy, and is therefore loathe to offend the American public. However, rest assured, it has crossed my mind more than once that blogging in this part of the world is not without risk.
I filter my writing carefully anyway. I know that friends, family and potential employers all have access to my blogs, as well as the friends, family and current or potential employers of those whom I mention in my blog. I definitely don't want to offend those people, who are important to me, nor jeapordize their personal or business relationships. I also have a definite agenda to help Westerners see this region in a more sympathetic, positive light.
All of this, however, is about my own personal concerns. As a US American, as a humanist, and as a writer, I find government control of information appalling.
The following anonymous comment (that sounds an awful lot like it came from my sister!) was left on my blog entry "New Teachers Needed":
As a student (victim, survivor?) of the American school system and a current cubicle jockey, I must ask, what world are the children not prepared for? I am numbered and accounted for at every turn. Recently I was sent to the principal’s office (DMV) for not having my hall pass (work order for my car) signed. Never mind that I fixed the problem promptly. I have a job where I write- and I am expected to be empathetic and caring, within the proscribed limits. I must hold the position for a year before I am allowed to move up, no matter how fast my learning curve is. I am also struggling- as I did in elementary, middle, and high school, to simplify my responses to customer queries in order to cater to the least common denominator. I have been placed on a “Career Path” by my supervisor, who is currently working to get me more exposure to the same department on another site so that my year-end evaluation (grades) will be higher and stack up better against my peers. There are two main cliques that lunch together, and a few of us floaters that wander between groups. How is this different than school?
Yes, you're right, public schools definitely prepare us for the scenario you describe. But the "Shift Happens" video I posted before, or the TED speeches by Sir Ken Robinson and Ray Kurzweil all suggest that, while this model still works at T. Rowe Price, Merril Lynch and Ford, they won't sustain us too far into the future.
But wait a minute! It's not working for Merril Lynch and Ford, is it? And I don't think it's the way things are working in the most successful segments of Google, Zappos and other new companies that are taking the Twenty-First century by storm. Some of the newest success stories are a matter of wikinomics or built on the open-source model of Linux and OpenOffice.org.
I think, in fact, that you've gotten the point exactly. Public education, as it emerged out of the Industrial Revolution in the Eighteenth Century, has been designed to train and prepare students for the kind of corporate culture that has produced the cubicle jockey. In fact, however, this model is becoming obsolete, and while it may work for our generation, I believe Sir Ken Robinson when he says that it will not be relevant for today's first graders.
So how about a Thanksgiving toast: Let’s give thanks for the courage of these magnificent women, and to those readers who had the faith to send checks to an illiterate rape victim in a remote Pakistani village.
People are always telling me how brave I am to do what I do, traipsing about the world, volunteering here, there and everywhere....
But THIS is courage!
It was a cold, dark, wet and miserable Sunday afternoon. I was in my car, driving my 12-year-old daughter and her friend back from a birthday party. I was tired and fed up from being in the car.
"Mummy, mummy," trilled a voice from the back. "I want to phone the pirates."
My daughter had heard me repeatedly trying to get through to the Somali pirates on board the Sirius Star.
They usually picked up the phone but put it down again when I said I was from the BBC. My obsession with getting through to them had reached the point that I had even saved their number on my mobile phone.
"Mummy, mummy, please can I phone the pirates for you?"
"No."
"Pleeeeez."
By this time, with rain battering my windscreen and cars jamming the road, I was at the end of my tether.
"OK", I said, tossing the phone into the back of the car.
"They are under P for pirates."
"Hello. Please can I talk to the pirates," said my daughter in her obviously childish voice.
I could hear someone replying and a bizarre conversation ensued which eventually ended when my daughter collapsed in giggles.
This was a breakthrough. Dialogue had been established.
I guess it's hard to establish contact when you represent the Power Couple of the US and Britain that intervenes half-heartedly in Africa only when intervention sends the right message.
Don't get me wrong. I applaud this reporter for her tenacity, for her determination to get the point of view of the pirates themselves. This is reporting at its most responsible, the kind of reporting I was calling for recently. But it's exactly what she was able to report in doing so that makes my point:
A pirate, who called himself Daybad, spoke in Somali, calmly and confidently. He said Somalis were left with no choice but to take to the high seas.
"We've had no government for 18 years. We have no life. Our last resource is the sea, and foreign trawlers are plundering our fish."
Once upon a time, the United States of America and Great Britain declared that they were not going to stand idly by and watch Somalia fall into ruin. And they continue to warn that the situation in Somalia is fostering anger and radical Islamism and that it is a serious threat in the "War On Terror." Yadda yadda yadda. It sounds great on the airwaves and on the campaign trail. When it comes down to it, though, the US and the UK are completely unwilling to put their resources where their mouths are.
I understand that resources are limited, and now more limited than ever with their Iraqi follies and the repurcussions of Americans' and Britains' unwillingness to live within their means. I also know all too well that, even when we are willing to put our resources where our mouths are, we are not always effective. (Just ask me about a bus station in the southern Madaba governorate of Jordan.) It's just frustrating, when you're on this side of the pond or the Channel, to listen to the talk and know that, not only is nothing going to be done, but that the world's most powerful forces are going to continue doing the selfish, damaging, infuriating things that they have always done, the things that have contributed to the problems that they claim to want to fix.
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