Kiki Dee

Stars and Stripes in Their Eyes

Most Iranians really like the US. Here

Interesting Article on Muslims in Southeast Asia

Article from the International Herald Tribune. The commentary is written Michael Vatikiotis. Quoted part of the essay here:

Southeast Asia's Muslims once lived in a comfortable world largely free of economic pressure and social prejudice; there were enough resources to share with non-Muslim neighbours and precious few issues to divide their communities. That was before the financial crisis of the late 1990s and before access to global media brought the plight of Palestinians into their living rooms.
.This new reality was driven home to me as I sat in a small Muslim restaurant here in southern Thailand. The people around the table, all Muslims, were grumbling angrily about their debt and shrinking job opportunities; but tempers really started to fray when the TV news showed yet more footage of Israeli tanks blasting away at Arab homes in the Gaza Strip.
.Southern Thailand was until recently a model of tolerance, with a Muslim majority living side by side with a Buddhist minority under the umbrella of the Thai Buddhist state. But after a year in which more than 500 people have died in bombings and random shootings and at the hands of harsh military and police action, the region is a brewing cauldron of religious and ethnic conflict.
.Take a drive through the rice fields and rubber plantations of this narrow isthmus and the evidence is clear. Armed militia guard a Thai Buddhist school, and a Buddhist temple wall is draped with barbed wire. Temples have been turned into army barracks; the entire region is under martial law.
."We never had a problem like this before," lamented Niedir Waba, a 66-year-old who heads a religious school south of Pattani. "That's because the people committing this violence are influenced by events around the world and beyond our control."
.The rise of Islamic militancy in Southeast Asia has its roots in far-off conflicts like Bosnia and Afghanistan. Angry young men have returned from those wars as radicals with dangerous ideas and the skills to implement them. But less well understood is why ordinary Muslims are drawn to sympathize with their cause - or at least turn a blind eye - which in turn arouses suspicion and deepens the state of conflict between Muslim and non-Muslim.
.One common misunderstanding is that the practice of Islam is a ritualized and personal affair, much like Christianity for many Western Christians. Not so. For the millions of Muslims in Southeast Asia, Islam is a way of life and a badge of cultural identity. It follows that perceptions of Islam under threat are deeply felt.
.It also follows that in times of anxiety Muslims turn to their religion for more than a basic spiritual release - Islam becomes a shelter and a shield.
.Polls among Indonesia's Muslims show that the more law and order break down, the more they support the implementation of conservative Shariah law at a national level. When pressed, few would like to see Indonesia become a full-fledged Islamic state. But they yearn for a sense of moral order, and in the absence of a functioning civil society, the only reference they have is Islam.
.A better understanding of the sources of Muslim angst could help attack the roots of the shadowy militant movements behind the bombings and the violence in southern Thailand, in Indonesia and in the Philippines. A vast majority of Muslims are peaceful and tolerant but want their dignity and their faith respected; experience has taught them that they can trust their religious leaders at the community level, but not the civil servants and the military or police.
.It seems obvious, then, that to delegitimize the militants and ultraconservatives who are a threat to stability and security, states need to accord full respect to the Islamic faith and set about providing cleaner, more transparent forms of government so that Muslims won't need to turn to militant mullahs. Southeast Asia's Muslims have not become less moderate or tolerant, but they do feel demeaned and beleaguered. Desperate times often call for desperate measures.

Rummy Stays On and On and On

Funny Harold Meyerson commentary in Washington Post.

Kinsey

I highly recommend the movie. Liam Neeson and Laura Linney deserve Oscars. I also gained a great amount of respect for Kinsey, as a zoologist/scientist utterly devoted to his work.

Evolution v. Creationalism Discussion at Party

I went to a party on Friday night where I got into an argument with a young lady on Creationalism v. Evolution.

Here is a quick synopsis of her beliefs.

1. Everything written in the Bible is true.

2. God put the dinasaurs on the planet to "test" the Earth, so that he could make sure it could sustain life for humans who came on later.

3. The fossil record of "early man" was put on the Earth so that God could "test" believers as to the strenghts of their devotion to him.

4. Jesus Christ existed, and that is why evolution is false. She told me I had no proof that evolution happens or happened or that man is over 4000 years old.

5. DNA tracking and molecular biology tracking of the interrelated aspects of species is false and can never be proven.


THIS WOMAN IS PLANNING ON HAVING KIDS. Do you feel sad for the future of our great land?

Richard Dawkins

Check out this interview with Richard Dawkins. I just bought his book The Ancestors' Tale.

Go Spitzer Go

Eliot Spitzer is running for governor of NY. Check out this interview with him.

Conspiracy Theorists

One of the most frustrating aspects of talking to many in the Middle East, and especially those from Iran, is how enamored they are of conspiracy theories, no matter how far fetched or contradictory those theories may be. Their predilection for believing even the most far-fetched theories partly stems out of a colonial past, and colonial domination, where the powers that be pulled many of the strings and worked underhandedly, but also often overtly, to keep the native populations in line. (Although Iran was never colonized in the true sense of the word, it was still under the influence of Great Britain, and later, the U.S.)

However, that can't explain all of it. I think part of it is that many Iranians in particular, do not want to blame the political mess they are in, at where the blame belongs ... namely, at themselves. It is much easier for them to believe in a bogey-man, rather than look inward, and deal with the issues that brought them to national chaos.

Liberals We Love

This blog would like to list its 15 favorite (semi)-famous liberals (as of this writing, as I am sure I have forgotten some).

15. Chris Hedges -- very interesting author
14. George Clooney -- ah, just look at him, hello
13. Margaret Cho -- a gay man trapped in a female Korean-American body
12. Steve Clemons -- very connected and in the know
11. Nicholas Kristof -- very widely traveled and Ann Coulter hates him
10. Barak Obama -- won by over 40 percentage points.
9. Atrios (Eschaton Blog) -- great blog
8. Juan Cole -- INDISPENSABLE Mid-East Blog
7. Bill Clinton -- 'nuff said
6. Frank Rich -- I just want to be able to have 10% of his brain
5. Noam Chomsky -- brilliant in so many ways
4. Joshua Micah Marshall -- amazingly coherent and honest blog
3. Paul Krugman -- sticks it to the Man whenever he can
2. Howard Dean -- we should have stuck with him
1. David Corn -- brilliant columnist for the Nation

Expand the Permanent Security Council

Right now, the United Nations Security Council is too heavily Western centric. South America and Africa are not represented. The bulk of humanity resides in Asia, and Asia is only represented by China. So, I propose expanding the Security council, and instead of one veto negating a resolution, it should take two vetoes to ban a resolution.

Which countries should be added? Brazil, Japan and India are slam dunks, as is a rotating seat for Africa--among Africa's main countries, such as South Africa, Nigeria, and Egypt. Brazil dominates South America econonically, and politically--although it is not Spanish-speaking. Japan is an economic power, and a rising diplomatic power. Similarly India. India, is well, a rising power in all respects. It should be on the security council already. Africa obviously needs a seat to have a voice, but no country really dominates Africa (other than the U.S., ha ha). There is a case to be made for a Sub-Shahran Africa, but since two of the countries I have mentioned are in that region, they would have the seat 2/3 rds of the time.

There is also talk of doing away with the U.K.'s and France's seat, and just have a European seat. I won't hold my breath.

Finally, there should also be another rotating seat for the permanent council. This one should be voted on by all the UN members. I envision Indonesia, Turkey, or Germany getting in on the first go around.

So I propose a Security Council with the U.S., Russia, China, UK, France, Brazil, India, Japan, an Africa Seat, and an elected rotating seat.

Persian Gulf, Arabian Gulf, or just The Gulf

Iranian Americans, and Iranians of all stripes are up in arms over the Persian Gulf being referred to by another name by the National Geographic. While I prefer the term Persian Gulf, since the Arabs have a sea named after them, I concede that I am probably being ethnocentric on this issue. Here is a BBC story on the topic.

Must Read Article

"Will Iran Be Next" in December's Atlantic Magazine.

Interesting Iranian-American

One of the goals of this blog is to highlight Iranian-Americans' and other Middle Eastern-Americans' contributions to society. Here is one worth examining: Jewish-Iranian feminist Roya Hakakian.