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July 4 2014 Rockaway Park NY in the 43rd year of The Society |
Post-War Blues: the Iraqi Uprising
When President Bush overthrew President Saddam in his search for ¨weapons of mass destruction¨, little did America know that she was creating a power vacuum in Iraq. The Americans left behind them a very unstable state indeed that is now on the verge of complete collapse. All that fighting to win ¨the hearts and minds¨ has commuted to nothing and no viable democracy has ever been brought into existence in Iraq. The people are simply enmired in factional strife between Shi´a and Sunni Moslems, caught up in a big Pan-Arab movement sweeping across the border from Syria, which is in a state of absolute civil war, backed financially by Saudi and Qatari pay-masters, who are financing the wars, and simply embroiled in tribal wars because parts of Iraq are simply controlled by tribesmen, who quite happily fight together anyway. The key to understanding the whole situation is probably the War in Syria. A glance at the map will show that straight lines divide up the desert between the different Arab States. This is the tell-tale proof that the whole region was artificially cut up by the British and the French following the demise of the Ottoman Empire and has nothing to do with any ethnic, religious, linguistic or any other imaginable division. An Arab is simply an Arab, whichever country he lives in. the War in Syria seems to be leaving Bashr al-Assad in charge of the West, whereas the East is split up into various fiefdoms and those adjoin, of course, Iraq. Al-Qaida has called for a big Pan-Arab State comprising Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq and this seems the ruination of all Western interests there. Iraq, by the way, has the oil.
Meanwhile, in Iraq, the country has been being run by Nuri Al-Maliki, the Shi´ite Prime Minister that the Americans left behind, when they withdrew. He has been giving jobs, money and power to his own co-religionaries, who have happily been oppressing the Sunni´s, who mainly live in the north. He has also replaced many very competent Arab army officers, who were seen as a potential threat to the regime and thereby gained himself a very shaky military. Otherwise, the Sunni´s have been virtually been excluded from all political life. Corruption is flourishing wide-scale. This is the Democracy that is now redounding on US, who left it behind. It is an absolute abysm of tyranny, that should never have been allowed to take over in the first place, that should never have been put in place, when American troops withdrew, that has not been capable of stopping the terror-bombings and that has now lost half the country to the rebels. It simply represents the collapse of US policy in the Middle East. Iraq´s government is now fighting a rebellion, which has seen it losing the northern and western parts of the country. ISIS has had some considerable success in its reach-out to the people. It has conquered weapons and uniforms from the security forces and acquired funds from the Near East Arab oil magnates. It has also been able to take over very much tribal territory and assure the acquiescence of many tribes, sometimes by dint of murder and massacre. JAI is a rival to ISIS. It shares, however, ISIS´s aspirations for a caliphate. Many proponents of JAI have been murdered by ISIS. The Noqshbandi Order (NO) is another group and may be the second largest after ISIS. They have links to the old Ba´athist Movement. There are other movements also. What they can all agree upon is armed insurrections to the Al-Maliki regime. They cannot, however, agree4 to their aims beyond this and there is already fighting between them in the areas they have taken over and occupied. Even before the war has been won, the main players are engaged in wiping one another out. The aims of the different groups are very different. ISIS aims to establish a state stretching from at least Iraq to Syria. They are very close to Syrian groups such as Jakhat-al-Nasra and the Free Syrian Army. Salefist groups are in favor of a more Iraqi state. Groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood want a more or less free and independent Kurdish State. Mixed factions want the identity of a Sunn´i regime. Ba´athist factions want a new rule in Iraq, which strongly rejects the role of Shi´a Iran. These different goals point to the near-impossibility of ever achieving any political, regional or international settlement. There just is no place for this in the whole mish-mash of everyone wanting different things.
So far, the jihadists of the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) have taken the second largest city of Iraq, Mosul, and swarmed within striking distance of the capital, Baghdad. Shi´a dominated Baghdad is unlikely to fall but a stand-off is expected with everyone controlling its own part. The Kurdish north is meanwhile drifting off to independence and with it the oil fields of Kirkuk. Syria is totally engulfed by war and the eastern half is dominated by different factions more or less close to the groups in Iraq. There is also a tribal component to the insurrection. It may come as a surprise to US in the West but Arab tribes really do exist and play a major role in the government of parts of the country. In particular, it is often ¨tribesmen¨, who join the military and thereby play a mixed role on their State. I became familiar with this in Saudi Arabia, where the Bedouin were much valued as fighters for the different Army regiments and where those regiments were simply the enrollment in uniform of whole tribes. Following the Iraqi seizure of Mosul, the General Military Council set up the Military Council of Trobal Revolutionaries. They are now estimated to have some 75,000 fighters associated with this. The leadership of much of the opposition is composed of a network of military officers with tribal origins. Ideologically, the General Military Council is anti-Malik and anti-Iranian. The GMC is also looking at further affiliation of the southern tribes of Iraq, which are Shi´ite and not Sunni. It may possibly achieve this tribal alliance in the face of religious differences. Some of the groups, such as ISIS, have created may-hem with the tribes, killing in all directions, often under the mom of Sharia law, which can be bent to love beheadings. A new caliphate has also been announced. The old caliph in Baghdad was both a spiritual leader and a temporal lord due to the boundaries between Church and State being smudged and fudged in Islam and a theological State such as that of Iran being quite thinkable in Moslem terms. A kind of Papal State, if you like, with a vigorous Pope leading his troops into battle and admonishing all those kings opposed tohis canons (being both official pronouncements and guns). The newly elected caliph, Abu-Bahr al-Baghdadi, has already delivered a Friday ´sermon´ in Mosul. Basically, this ´caliphate´ is about re-drawing the Map of the Middle East and sweeping away State borders and the ´caliph´ is someone like the Iranian High Priest, who is semi- in charge of running the government and basically keeps an eye on the secular President. Something like this is envisaged for the new caliph, who inherits the mantel of the caliphs, who really were the rulers of the whole Middle East. Abu Bahr apparently is not only al-Quraish, the tribe of the Prophet himself, but also a direct descendent of the Prophet of Allah.
Generally, Iraq is becoming the battle-field for the interests of Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Iran. In Syria, also, at issue is whether the Alawi regime of Basher, which is Shi´a will give way to a Sunni regime. These ´sunny´ regimes may be more amenable to Western interests than Iranian Shi´ite but that has to be seen. They may prove even more intractable and inscrutably Islamic than even the Iranians. It is very difficult to see how John Kerry can possibly have any positive influence on this veritable witch´s brew of potent potentates. He has been to Baghdad to urge the necessity of a ¨sunnier¨ aspect to the Shi´ite regime there but it seems to be a question of too little, too late and with the hounds baying at the doors of Baghdad, the ´Fall of Rome´ seems inevitable. Without the Fairy Wand of Money and troops, Barrack’s diplomacy is going to lack the punch of Realpolitik. Perhaps the bombing, which is now to take place, is going to redress matters. The whole of America´s Middle East policy is in ruins. We left Iraq just a few short years ago with a ´Stable democracy¨ after having gone in ¨after weapons of mass destruction¨. Why ever did we get rid of Saddam? What have we got in his place? What is happening in Libya? There is a power vacuum there since we kicked out Khadafy. Whoever heard of the Arab spring? Sissi on Egypt is basically an unknown quantity after the Moslem Brotherhood. What will happen to Afghanistan, when we withdraw? And will Pakistan be the last domino to fall? It seems at the moment as if America has made all the wrong choices in the Middle East, played all the wrong cards and has no money left for a final game of poker. It is a very bitter conclusion to have come to. I am hoping, however, in the famous words of Mr. Macawber, that something will turn up, but right now, I can´t think what.
~ Jeff Wordsmith
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JUSTICE IS REVENGE
Taught baseless Avarice Animosity Animus
3 R’s: Revenge Retaliation Retribution
Rather than Respectful Reasonable Restraint
Tender mercy compassionate kindness love
Forced abduction burning humiliating torture
Barbaric heinous murder of Mohammed Aba Khdeir
Innocent young Jerusalem victim warped
Mindset degrading extrajudicial avenging vigilantes
Hate crimes against humanity carried
Out by right-wing settler extremists
a.k.a. "price tag" repayments 400+
Conducted in 2013 largely un-prosecuted
Black eye for jaundiced eye
Makes myopic whole world blind
Don’t repay evil for evil
Abscessed tooth for infected truth
Tit-for-tat violence almost everyday occurrence
Wronged Muslim families brutalized villages
Feeling wrath of cruel power-mongers
Who’ll eventually face own karma
The best revenge is proving
Your can do/will do determination accomplishing
What naysayers declare you can’t
Doing it in superior manner
~ No Holds Bard Charles Frederickson
CHARLES FREDRICKSON:
RECONFIGURED MAPOSPHERE
Just as World War I transformed the Middle East by ending Ottoman rule, the Arab Spring recalibrated power-play featuring diminished oily Western influence motives. Realigning borders in the volatile region, shifted tactical alliances vying to establish a less chaotic new order were reshaped to favor vested national interests. Today, the challenges our quickly-changing globe faces include depleted energy sources, water shortages, soaring food costs, climate change, global warming and population growth, all having serious eco-environmental implications which require brilliant innovative solutions. The dismal legacy we’re passing on to future generations ranges from careless greedy pollution to extinction of finite resources as well as tragically ignored endangered species plants and animals concerns.
Global change begins with empowerment through progressive education – celebrating literacy, raising awareness, broadening perspectives and instilling a love of reading habit in motivated learners. Unemployment among 15-to-24-year-olds is above 25%, with nowhere to go for jobless youth but the streets. In the Middle East and North Africa, committed youth played a major role in bringing down authoritarian regimes. Optimally, Generation XL might help speed global economic development growth and institute reforms of obsolete systems and outdated procedures. Technological advances in Telecommunications and their worldwide dissemination has opened previously slammed doors for the highly educated and IT- savvy young adults representing tomorrow’s fast-forward leaders who helped foment a peaceful revolution and digital reformation, summed up by John F. Kennedy: "A videotape is more potent than ten thousand words." Shouldn’t we repay their brave dedication to common good ideals, adopting youthful wondrous optimism when it comes to confronting and overcoming planetary challenges?
No Holds Bard Dr. Charles Frederickson Bangkok, Thailand
The forced abduction, humiliating torture and brutal murder of Mohammad Abu Khdeir, an innocent young Palestinian from East Jerusalem, was a suspected act of frustrated bullyrag revenge for the killings of 3 Israeli teenagers whose disappearances and deaths have heightened tension in the volatile region. Hate crimes carried out by vigilante right-wing settler extremist mobs are known are known as "price tag" attacks. A U.S. State Department report documents at least 400 price tag attacks in 2013, most of which went un-prosecuted according to the United Nations. I was brought up as a compassionate humanitarian to believe that we are all blood brothers and sisters, and that we should follow the example of man’s best friend. Dogs read our moods, not our minds, and don’t hold grudges, act in petty ways or seek revenge, which is like biting a dog because it bit you.
Revenge quotes:
• "In taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy, but in passing it over, he is superior." (Francis Bacon)Don’t repay anyone evil for evil. Those who fight fire with fire will end up with disintegrating ashes and singed fingertips. A black eye for a jaundiced eye; an abscessed tooth for truth. Your knife, my back; my gun, your head. The greatest revenge is to prove your almighty self by accomplishing what others say you cannot do.
• "Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves." (Confucius)
• "Don’t waste your time on getting revenge. Those who hurt you will eventually face their own karma." (Matareva Pearl)
• "The earth we abuse and the living things we kill will, in the end, take their revenge; for in exploiting their presence we are diminishing out future." (Marya Marines)
• "An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind." (Mahatma Gandhi)
No Holds Bard Charles Frederickson
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Rockaway Park Philosophical Society
P.O. Box 280
Ronkonkoma, NY 11779
19 January 2014
Elizabeth Keyes
Assistant Professor of Law
Immigrant Rights Clinic
1401 N. Charles St., Rm 432
Baltimore, MD 21201
Reference: Claim Against Indian Diplomat Has Echoes of Previous Cases
By BENJAMIN WEISER and VIVIAN YEE NY Times JAN. 9, 2014
Dear Professor Elizabeth Keyes:
The Gentlemen of the Rockaway Park Philosophical Society bid you greetings. Recently, the Society was discussing the resurrection of slavery in the United States. As you probably know, just a few years ago, the police here on Long Island on a bitter cold, snowy St Patrick's Day discovered a bare footed foreign domestic rooting through garbage pails for food. The bad luck of the employer also foreign was that St Pat's Day here is a kind of unofficial working class holiday and prosecution of the employers followed. Had the incident occurred any other day, probably no remark would have been made of the incident. Of course there was the recent unusual case of the Indian Consular Official who was caught engaging in peonage after she used political pressure to force the police to hunt for a servant who had run off. Originally, local police turned down the request on the ground that an adult person can decide not to be found. In the course of our discussions, one of our members pointed to a New York Times article in which you are quoted at length:
Elizabeth Keyes, an assistant professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law, who has represented domestic workers, offered another perspective: Even where diplomats agree to pay their workers according to United States labor laws, "the diplomats sometimes aren't paid enough to uphold those contracts." "These are elite folk getting prestigious and public-oriented jobs where they're being expected to entertain and live a certain kind of lifestyle, and the domestic worker is a key part of making that happen," she added.
It did seem unusual for an advocate of the rights of domestics to express empathy for the slave owner. It would be as if Jimmy Hoffa had told the rowdy Teamsters that they had to work harder so that their bosses could winter on Palm Island.
Dr James Davies, the Mentor of the Society, did express views in consonance with your own. Dr Davies blamed "advocacy groups" for the flap with the Indian Consular Official.
Of course, more practical elements of the Society questioned where the money is coming from to support "advocacy groups." Certainly, it is not coming from the domestics who were held in virtual bondage. And certainly other than the case of the barefooted domestic discovered scavenging for food on a working class goof off day, most Americans care not a draught for the foreigner entrapped in domestic servitude. Much like Dr Davies and apparently from your understanding of the plight of the over-lord you yourself, most would believe the domestic to be better off in domestic servitude here than in the wretched ruins of the miserable place from which they hail.
Our answer is that as anything that goes on here is funded by the government, the advocacy groups and the legal center must all receive the blessings and emoluments of Uncle Sam. After all, who else would pursue worthless judgements against the foreign over-lords?
Indeed, the Society saluted such endeavours. Domestics can be a source of great deal of intelligence. And at the same time legal clinics can employ as free labour enthusiastic Young White Liberals who will reach the epitome of liberalism, feeling morally superior and feeling good about themselves in preparation for the day in most sublime public service they plot the civil wars, coups d'etat, and uprisings in the Third World, bringing the blessings of US democracy to the wretched of the earth in total fulfillment of the prevailing US schizophrenia.
It is on that note we bid you A Most Cheery Cherio,
Sincerely,
FOR THE SOCIETY,
JD Collins
JDC/dfs