Pushing for progress

I will be heading to Berkeley tomorrow for a UNA-USA (United Nations Association) meeting. One of the big issues that will be up for discussion will be the issue of human rights around the world. Several guest speakers, including an ACLU attorney, we be there as well. I plan on suggesting an idea for a resolution to the board of directors. Basically, I'd like to come up with a resolution pressing for unity among the international community regarding the situation in Iraq.

Seems like it would be a lot of work right? Well, that's what I figured when I took a trip to Europe last Summer. One night, when I was in Dublin, Ireland, I got the opportunity to have several drawn out political debates while I was having a drink at one of the pubs. Obviously, its no secret that Europeans are very unhappy with the Bush Administration and America's current standing in the world. However, we seemed to agree on one thing: that it would be best for everyone if their is success in Iraq. Now, they don't believe that will happen, at least not so long as Bush is in the White House, but everyone seemed to agree that a stable Iraq would be a good thing. During my three week stay over there, I never felt like anyone I exchanged views with actually wanted to see failure in Iraq just to make George W. Bush look bad. In the end after all, that's not what this is about. This war, to me, is about taking a stand against genocide, terrorism, and tyranny. I continue to believe that Iraq, and Afghanistan as well, will be much better off if the international community around them sends a message to the extremists that we will all work together and will not be divided.

So maybe it is possible. Maybe one person can make a difference. Among other things, I'd like to bring up the situation in Russia, as well as Myanmar and Sudan, where the long list of human rights violations is growing everyday.

Congo tragedy takes its toll...

A new report has been released suggesting that over 5.4 million people have died in Eastern Congo since the conflict began in 1998 (previous estimates suggested 4 millio had died). The report also says that over 45,000 are dying every month...45,000! That comes out to around 1,200 a day. Assuming this is correct, the jungles of sub-saharan Africa are the setting of the bloodiest conflict since WWII, when the Nazis killed over 9 million Jews and other Europeans in the Holocaust.

...and all we can do is sit back and do nothing, just as we've done with Darfur and just as we did with Rwanda. This tragedy, however, outstrips both of those conflicts combined. Even if you include the most extreme estimates in the Iraq War as well, the numbers don't even come close, although it should be noted that Congo's slide into despair is partly due to the ongoing ripples of the Rwandan Genocide almost 14 years ago, when the militias that had left nearly a million bodies in their wake were driven into the Congo to continue their killing spree.

In addition to genocide and war, many groups roaming the lawless region are also seeking to exploit Congo's vast minerals and natural resources. Children continue to die from easily preventable diseases, and untold thousands are perishing every month because of hunger.

But what does it matter to us? It's only Africa after all...

A glimpse of the deteriorating situation in Sri Lanka

This is a video from Al-Jazeera English about the tactics used by the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka.

In recent days, the fighting in Sri Lanka has sharply escalated as government soldiers and Tamil rebels battle each other for control of the northern Jaffna Peninsula. Dozens of civilians have also died in addition to the many combatants.

Last week, some 27 Sinhalese civilians were killed when suspected Tamil rebels ambushed their bus in the central part of the country.

A shameful obsession

Over the last few months, the world has witnessed a dramatic turn of events in Iraq. From the increasing stability in the Al-Anbar province to the continuing prosperity of Iraqi Kurdistan, things have indeed become a lot better than they were a year ago. Violence has dropped some sixty percent across the country, with an even bigger drop in Baghdad.

Yet you wouldn't know it if you turn on the news. The nightly news has remained silent throughout the turn of events, occasionally conceding that things have indeed gotten better. Over the last few days however, the old days of gloom and doom have found their way back onto the television screen. Yesterday, Iraqi police clashed with members of a messianic Shiite cult yesterday in the southern cities of Basra and Nasiriyeh. The fighting was widely reported over the news wires, and the news anchors are yet again rambling on about the violence in Iraq they have been so obsessed with over the last few years. While the fighting in southern Iraq has been portrayed as a sign of hopelessness and instability, it should be noted that the vast majority of the seventy people who were killed were cult members. In the end, this could reinforce the notion that the Iraqis can maintain security by themselves.

Even FOX news, a channel many accuse of having a conservative agenda, has developed this deranged obsession over all things negative in Iraq. It's possible that the media just finds it to be more of a ratings boost if they report bad news instead of good news, and that could be why FOX has done such a horrible job with its Iraq coverage in recent days. It is much harder to suggest that with NBC though, an organization that has a tendency to favor stories that reflect badly on the Bush Administration.

Today, while the headlines were all about how "violence marrs Shiite Holiday", there was plenty of other news happening around the world. The chances are, though, that those stories won't be making it onto our television screens tonight. For example, scores of civilians died today when Tutsis rebels under the command of renegade general Laurent Nkunda battled it out with Hutu extremists in Eastern Congo. It could however, be much worse than reported, but no one really knows because that region is nothing more than some dark, forgotten jungle that fails to make it onto the radar of the media or anyone else really. While ripples of the Rwandan genocide continue to reciprocate across Eastern Congo and violence continues in Darfur and Somalia, the headlines seem to focus on the negatives happening in Iraq. Why? Well, the only conclusion I've been able to reach is that its because George Bush can't be blamed for any of those humanitarian tragedies. Donald Rumsfeld isn't planning the UN operations that have failed to help the people of Congo and Sudan, so by sending Richard Engal into North Kivu or Darfur, they would just be taking time away from telling the world about how "Bush lied and people died".

I'm not bringing this up to try and defend the Bush Administration, far from it in fact. George W. Bush hasn't done any more to raise awareness about the horrendous violations of human rights happening the world over than anyone in the media has. He certainly spent a lot more time talking about WMD's and terrorism than he did about the hundreds of thousands of people buried in mass graves when Saddam's regime fell back in 2003.

With that said, the most despicable aspect of this is that we have leaders in congress who are trying to sabotage the efforts to bring stability to Iraq solely for the purpose of undermining Bush. People like Jack Murtha and John Kerry portray our soldiers as nothing more than a bunch of rapists, and Harry Reid declares the war "lost" even while violence was falling at an unprecedented rate. It's hard to dispute that if Bill Clinton had gone to war in Iraq, the democrats would be defending the operation until the very end.

I don't know how to define it. Sad, pathetic, Shameful, and despicable all come to mind. While tyranny, genocide, and terrorism continue to threaten stability around the world, all our leaders can do is argue about getting out of Iraq to create a cute little "sequel" to Darfur or Somalia while the rest of us turn on the news every night to hear about how bad things are in country that has not lost hope like so many Americans have.

Shias celebrate Ashoura Holiday

Crowds of Shiite worshippers have converged on the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala in Southern Iraq. Many Iraqi Shiites are sure to be emboldened by recent security gains across the country, although the threat of terrorism does remain. Shiite worshippers were attacked yesterday in the Pakistani city of Peshawar and in Iraq's Diyala province, but the holiday has remained relatively peaceful over the last few days. Last year, violent attacks by Sunni extremists in both countries marred the celebrations.

Global Warming news!

Usually during this time of year, global warming news tends to get a little scarce and hard to come by. When 60% of the country is under the cover of snow and ice, as it was back in December, its pretty difficult for Al and his followers to tell us that its heating up outside. However, I was reading MSNBC's website the other day and they were the first to break the ice with a hit-piece about rising temperatures in the Northeastern United States and in Antarctic. There you have it, two back to back works of propaganda.

Last year, above-average temperatures had a lot of people on edge in the northeast. It was in the news a lot too, seeing as it seemed to be the perfect evidence those who adhere to the almost religious aspects of climate change need to formally end the debate. The same was happening here in California, where Lake Tahoe received unusually low amounts of snow fall. It was however, conveniently ignored by many that California experienced some of the coldest temperatures on record, even down south, and record snowfall buried many parts of Colorado and the Rockies to the east.

Today however, things are a little different...Lake Tahoe is currently blanketed in some 10+ feet of snow, and the northeast has been blasted by a series of nor'easters that helped to make last December one of the coldest, snowiest on record. The same goes for other parts of the world as well. For the first time in 100 years, snow fell in Baghdad last week. Central Asia is currently experiencing some of its worst snowstorms in history, while snow is burying parts of eastern Europe. When I was in Europe back in July-August, everyone was talking about the heat wave that was baking that region and blaming it on global warming, interestingly enough. So what am I trying to say here? Well, the point is that nature is unpredictable, just as it has been for millions of years. Some years, winters can be abnormally warm, while others can be extreme. The same goes for Summers, where some can be brutally hot and others mild and cool.

As you can see, there is an alternative to embracing Al Gore's church of environmentalism, and that would be to embrace fact and reality.

The real threat...

There's been a lot of debate going on ever since the news was disclosed that the Government has at times listened in on phone conversations to try and identify suspected terrorists. Many questions are still being asked: is it legal? Is it constitutional? Should those involved be prosecuted? Unfortunately, those who continue to prolong this controversy seem to have forgotten just who the real villains are here. No, its not George Bush. It's not the "evil" Dick Cheney, and its not Alberto Gonzalez or anyone else in the Bush Administration. The real threat is wrecking havoc on the other side of the world in a region that has been unable to remain free of terrorism over the last six years like the US has...

On Monday, Taliban terrorists launched a coordinated assault on a five-star luxury hotel frequented by foreigners in Kabul, sending four attackers strapped with explosives and armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles into the building.

This is the AP story:

KABUL, Afghanistan — Militants with suicide vests, grenades and AK-47 rifles attacked a luxury hotel on Monday, killing at least six people in a brazen attack on Western civilians in Kabul, witnesses and a Taliban spokesman said.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the Norwegian foreign minister, who was not hurt, was the target of the assault, which came as the Norwegian embassy was holding a meeting at the Serena Hotel. Two State Department officials said at least one American was among the dead. A Norwegian journalist also died.

It was the deadliest assault on a hotel in Kabul since the fall of the Taliban in 2001. The assailants appeared to concentrate on the hotel's gym and spa, where foreigners relax and work out.

My Opinion:

If the government has intelligence suggesting that people like this are plotting attacks in the United States or western targets abroad, I don't care if they open up an email or tap into a phone conversation to try and get more information. People have a right to privacy, but when homicidal maniacs strapped up in belts of explosives and armed with machine guns get involved, that stuff just goes out the window. Some people, primarily those on the far-left, believe that Bush is having the FBI listen in on conversations solely for the purpose of just being a jackass. That appears to be the perception among the fringe elements on the antiwar, anti-Bush movement, as ignorant and stupid as it sounds. Remember, these are people who deny that terrorism is a legitimate threat and are trying to ensure failure in Iraq for the sake of making Bush look bad.

Disturbing new tactic?

Last month, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in a shooting/bomb attack in Pakistan. The killer, a gunman strapped with explosives, attacked in a manner similar to today's assault in Kabul. In 2004, terrorists in Russia used the same tactic when they stormed a school in the city of Beslan, killing nearly 400 people in one of the most horrific terror attacks since 9/11.

While the west splits itself apart over issues of less importance, like wiretapping, the real bad guys are becoming even deadlier and even more eager to bring about death, destruction, and chaos.

More on the Pakistan crisis

In a recent editorial (and post on this blog) I suggested that the violence we are seeing in Pakistan today as well as the escalating tension between rival political parties is directly attributed to a broad coalition of terrorists aligned with the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. What evidence is there to back up these claims? Well, just look at the attacks on Benazir Bhutto, the attacks on Musharraf, the attacks on Sherpao, and the scores of other terrorists acts that have gone without a claim of responsibility. It's more than likely that the extremists are trying to get the rival parties in Pakistan to fight one another, just as they did in Iraq.

Then there's this, another disturbing example of how brutal these terrorists can be. It also offers further proof of what there intentions can be. Trust me though, I really hope I am wrong when I suggest these things.

This is off the AP:

A suicide bomber blew himself up among police deployed outside a court in eastern Pakistan ahead of a planned anti-government protest Thursday, killing at least 22 people and wounding dozens more, officials and witnesses said.

The blast in front of Lahore High Court was the latest in a wave of attacks targeting politicians and security forces ahead of the February 18 parliamentary elections. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but suspicion will likely fall on militants linked to Taliban and al-Qaida.

Why cable news is no longer a viable source of information

It's been said that honesty is the best policy so here it goes: cable news sucks. At least that's the conclusion I have reached, and it applies to ALL of the channels, including MSNBC, FOX, and CNN. All of them have some very unappealing qualities, whether its a political agenda that manages to poke its head out during the news conference or countless hours of air time being wasted on the antics of some washed-up pop singer that no one cares about. Don't get me wrong, I use to enjoy watching Fox News, the one that I had held hope out for the longest, but lately, its becoming more and more excruciating to sit back and listen to stories about celebrities that I pay absolutely no attention to whatsoever. I still watch their evening lineup (O'Reilly and Hannity & Colmes), but that's about it. United World's primary sources come from the international media outlets like BBC news, the Jerusalem Post, and the Pakistan Dawn. The great thing about them is that they largely overlook the dumb and unnecessary stories the public is forced to listen to and have a tendency to tell the news as it is without preaching an agenda.

Take MSNBC for example, a hotbed of far-left extremism. I was reading their "world" section today and it has hit-piece after hit-piece about the Iraq War, droning on about how all hope is lost, how the surge has failed, and how the alliance of awakening councils will crumble. After that, its all about economic recession and the grim outlook for the dollar and the US economy. Then there's stories about how global warming is going to destroy us and how all hope is lost because we failed to listen to Al Gore. The only good news stories they have are the one's about the democrats. Talk about depressing, huh? When gloom, doom, hopelessness and anti-bush propaganda dominate the headlines, I have an overwhelming urge to turn the TV or computer off and watch an episode of Seinfeld instead.

CNN is not that much better. I enjoy watching Glenn Beck sometimes, but ever since I saw him interviewing Ron Paul and failing to nail him over the crazed positions he has taken, he doesn't seem like the man who stood up for right and wrong like he used to be. To be fair, CNN does do a pretty good job sifting out the celebrity news and pointless stories that no one has any interest in.

Then there is FOX. Now, I love how FOX gives both sides of the story and represents everyone instead of just the far-left, but they seem to have a deranged obsession with dumb stories that aren't news...like Britney Spears and Anna Nicole Smith (I'm already regretting putting the names on this blog). Shepherd Smith, host of Fox Report , actually has a segment of his show known as the "daily Britney". How despicable and shameful is that? Mortar shells are raining down on Mogadishu and Iran is harassing American ships at sea, and this guy is reporting on something as stupid as Britney Spears losing custody of her children. People lose custody of their children everyday, what makes her so special? The sad, sad reality is that people watch such drivel. Every time they put celebrities up on screen, the ratings go through the roof.

Somewhere between the propaganda and the celebrity news, cable news lost its way. I'm not telling anyone what to do, but I think its safe to say I'm done with it. I think I'll be turning elsewhere to get the news from now on.

Going off to Boston...

What a great city Boston is. Can't wait to go their in March for a week-long visit.