Yes! Move US Embassy to Jerusalem!

It sure looks like it is happening now that Trump has informed Abbas that the US Embassy will be moved to Jerusalem. Abbas, like all other Palestinian leaders, will grovel and accept but make lots of noises about how terrible it would be. Arab leaders will do their typical “I’m mad!” dance and shout that this will mean the end of the world because the gates of Hell will crash open if the US does so. Mindless Muslims across the world will demonstrate how upset they are and they will proceed to burn their neighbors’ properties to show their rage at the US. Europe will state in a most civilized manner, that this step would not be helpful.

The FBI will go on high alert in the US and will start to look for yet more “Muzlems” to target but the world will move on…

Trumps’ Speech on Afghanistan…and Pakistan

Yes, Donald Trump, the President of the United States and Commander-in-Chief of its overwhelming military decided to give a speech on Afghanistan. I would give it zero points for a well thought-out plan and full points for high rhetoric, bluster, fake bravado and other brave-appearing but meaningless, sounds.

Let’s take a closer look…

• “Love for America requires love for all of its people. When we open our hearts to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice, no place for bigotry, and no tolerance for hate.”

Unless of course, we talk about MUSLIMS who do not deserve any protections against prejudice, bigotry or, hate. Note that most naïve Muslims are still sitting out there waiting and hoping that Trump will condemn the bombing of the Mosque in Bloomington, Minnesota; they have a long wait in front of them.

Oh Syria!

When I read details of what is going on in Syria, it breaks my heart. I wonder about the heartlessness of a regime that drops barrel bombs filed with shrapnel, on crowded places. I wonder about the calculated cruelty, the so-called “strategic necessity” of supporting one side against another, that the US practices.

Murders in Nice

When the Nice attack was first announce, I am sure I was joined by almost every Muslim in silent prayers that the killer would not be a Muslim but alas, he was! At today’s count, 84 people…men, women and children, were killed and over 200 injured.

 

Who even thinks of wreaking such havoc on innocent people who are out simply enjoying life? The roots of such actions are easy to track even though the answer to the “why” of such actions is much more difficult; the responsibility is shared between the US, the European countries and the Muslims living in the US and Europe, perhaps in equal measure.

Love Israel, Hate Muslims; The Building of an Institution

Muslims are not losing the battle for opinion on Israel/Palestine, we never had it.

Since the first time Americans learnt about that area, it was more “Israel” than it was “Palestine”. Americans were told there is no such thing as Palestine and Israel is the land that has been “returned” to the Jewish people who are “returning” to what was coined as “A land without people, for a people without a land”. As late as the 1970’s, Israeli leaders continued to insist that were no such thing as “Palestinians”, disregarding the fact that the total period of Hebrew rule in that land was a mere couple of hundred years, while much of the the Palestinians have been there for thousands of years, some harkening back to the Canaanite period.

Why Do They Hate Us? Playing Soccer With Severed Heads

A few days ago, a friend sent me a link to a YouTube video that turned my stomach. It showed some Pathans (Pashtuns, Taliban, take your pick) with several severed heads that they displayed by holding them by the hair, then they dropped the heads and kicked them around like soccer balls, giggling and laughing as they did so.

My first reaction was of utter disgust, I turned it off. Then I replayed it and paused it at different points and thought about it and suddenly I no longer saw animals, fanatical brutes doing inhuman things to their victims, I saw something entirely different; I saw a worldwide problem that gives life to such.

The people holding the severed heads were no older than children, they giggled in a childish way when they kicked the heads around…they WERE  children! These children were doing horrific things, probably shutting their minds to the reality of what they were doing, but doing them in order to be “In”, to belong to their group, rather than to risk being “Out”. The scene was not much different from a school bullying scene where the bullies do the bad things, a few kids join them to be among the ‘in” crowd and others remain silent because they do not wish to stand out or, to be rejected. The fact that they were Muslim, had nothing to do with the matter, they had been manipulated and controlled by the fanatics, they were no different from the child soldiers of Congo, Liberia, Angola and Uganda for whom the entire “Civilized” world shows compassion and care and whom the entire “Civilized” world wants to reform and rehabilitate. But these were kids that the entire “Civilized” world wants to kill in any way they can, utilizing Drones, special Forces and even the armed forces of the host nations (Pakistan, Afghanistan etc.,) to slaughter them with impunity…”in order to keep the world safe” they say.

How did these children come to such a state of affairs and what can be done for them?

The Syrian Game, Winners and Losers

What is going on in Syria is not a “War”, nor a “Civil War”, it is a game being played by the major powers, principally the US and Israel, where the goal is to weaken the Shia and Sunni participants and perhaps, get an opening to deal a death-blow to Hizbollah. The willing players in this game, are the Shia and Sunni Syrians who are being goaded into an unbridgeable sectarian war with each other. Ultimately, the winners will be the Western powers and the losers will be everyone in Syria, plus Hizbollah in Lebanon.

When Hafez Al-Assad died in June 2000 and his son Bashar Al Assad took over, there was a brief period of hope that this British-trained Ophthalmologist would bring some freedom to the country and maybe a degree of democracy. After all, Bashar was a reluctant heir-apparent because it was his older brother Bassel, who was being groomed to take over, not him.

Bashar did bring in a little liberalization here and there, but people who held high hopes for the introduction of democracy and freedom in Syria were doomed to be disappointed. Things got tighter and tighter until March of 2011, when the people of Syria started a popular movement for the end of Assad rule and for a popular government rule in Syria. The movement was generally peaceful in the beginning, with people from all sects and religions participating against the Assad regime, but the regime successfully divided the people using fear of the “other” to gain greater support. At first, Bashar’s government sought support from their own sect, the Alawites of Syria. The government took advantage of the fact that about 70% of Syrians were Sunni while the country was ruled by the tiny Alawite Sect which is closer to Shia. The government portrayed the opposition as being close-minded Sunnis who would exact revenge on the Alawites for the tyrannical rule of the Alawite Assad family; it was a persuasive argument and the tiny Alawite minority felt they had no choice but to support Assad. The government’s next step was to approach  the Christians and other minority sects who were struggling to remain neutral and tell them that an intolerant, pro-Saudi government can only bring brutal oppression on them.

Killing Afghans, ‘Pakis’, Iraqis, Somalis…WHY???!!!

Updated March 13, 2012…

When the news of a US soldier going out to kill Afghans, first broke, American media were focusing on TWO deaths even as they also reported that the Afghanis were saying about 17 had been killed. Almost immediately other diffusers and excuses began to pour forth, giving “News Coverage” a new meaning.

The New York Times can STILL not bring itself to report the 16 murders without offering some softening words; in the headline, the US soldier is said to kill civilians even as NYT goes on to describe what the soldier (from our Puget Sound area) did:

New York Times: “U.S. Sergeant Is Said to Kill 16 Civilians in Afghanistan”

• “…the soldier, who had walked more than a mile from his base, tried door after door, eventually breaking in to kill within three separate houses. The man gathered 11 bodies, including those of 4 girls younger than 6, and set fire to them, villagers said.”

As if to justify the murders or at least, to minimize the tragedy, Super-Patriot, Angry-Bird John McCain shamelessly shifted the focus to 9-11 instead of offering even a few grudging words of regret or sympathy.

“We should not forget that the attacks on the United States of America originated in Afghanistan,” Senator John McCain told CNN. Inferring of course, that a few deaths of the unwashed, here or there, should not be a cause for concern.

I wish I were fighting for Pakistan rather than the US…

“I wish I were fighting for Pakistan rather than for the US and I would like my son to be fighting and killing for Pakistan in the Pakistan Army“.

 

I can already see at least one hysterically paranoid person getting ready to string me up from the nearest lamp-post and a Hell of a lot of other REAL Americans getting mad at me. I can also see a lot of very sincere Americans…reasonable people all, wondering if I have taken leave of my senses and then, wondering what I am doing in the US.

 

Let’s add the the mix….

 

What if I then contributed $1000 to Jay Inslee or his opponent-to-be, Rob McKenna. Any bets that my money would be thrown back at me faster than a red-hot brick? they would also condemn my stand and tell me unequivocally, that I should leave this country if my heart and loyalties are so passionately with the country of my birth, Pakistan.

At the same time, I would be pilloried for being an untrustworthy “Muzlem” and I would be used to point out how Muslims are here to undermine this, so free, land of “Judeo-Christian values”.

When to attack Iran

I have been listening and reading the news about the increased sanctions against Iran, like everyone else. It was not until I read this latest news that something clicked into place.

• Business Week  Jan. 6 (Bloomberg) — A European Union embargo on Iranian oil will probably be phased in to protect countries with the greatest reliance on imports from the country, according to an EU official familiar with the talks.
• Telegraph (UK): Japan agrees to cut dependency on Iranian oil as US scores significant coup against regime…
  However, any embargos are only likely to come into effect gradually. Refiners generally buy two thirds of their crude on long term contracts, and these will probably be honoured. The proposed EU embargo – which all member states are understood to endorse in principle – is likely to be phased in over a period of up to 12 months.

As I said earlier, there is little risk of a US-Israeli attack on Iran because of the disastrous effect it will surely have on oil prices.

How to avoid this? Get the “allies” (Europe) to reduce dependence on Iranian oil until a halt in Iran’s oil is barely felt in Europe and North America.

 

An attack after such a reduction of dependence on Iranian oil, will barely affect oil prices except that the non-European countries will feel a pinch and really, who cares about them when we are fighting a “War!” on terrorism/Iran/Islam?

 

China might disagree, but it could be placated somehow, with US dollars (not Israeli shekels). The rest of Asia, Africa and South America don’t carry sufficient power to merit America’s attention.

 

I am convinced that once the West’s oil dependence on Iranian oil is taken care of, a US-Israel attack on Iran will follow within days.

Israel wants it and America is desperate to oblige.

 

There will be no invasion, just an attack that, over a period of a week or two, will destroy all of Iran’s fighting capacity and most if not all, of Iran’s infrastructure a la Iraq. It will be done by the US under a fig-leaf covering of the “Coalition of the Willing” (Europe) and the Coalition of the Servile (Middle-East); Israel’s role, if any, will remain protected.

 

Who gives a damn about long-term consequences?

 

Post script:  This is an excellent analysis by Mehmet Kalyoncu, on the planning and events that are today, leading us to the brink of a “War!” on Iran.