Greetings from your Moderator [27 Jan 2005|11:07am] hoolifan As much as I hate to discourage posting activity, I've deleted the previous post. I can't stress enough that this is not a soapbox for unsubstantiated bashing of any individual, family, organization, country, region (as in the last post), race, ethnicity, or other. Another thing I wanted to bring up: if anybody wants to serve as a co-moderator here, let me know at my livejournal e-mail address. We need to pick up activity here - I'm open to any ideas you have on how to do this and of course maintain the standards of discourse set out in the userinfo. So, how about Cheney threatening Iran with the Israelis last week? It shouldn't be news to Iran or anyone else that Israel has the will and ability to perform this kind of strike (there is a clear precedent.) The only even vaguely practical purpose I can think of for this is to create some urgency among the EU powers working toward a resolution with Iran by signaling that the US's military overcommitments will not prevent them from dealing with Iran forcefully, even using the worst possible proxy... If he had said this a few months earlier I'd consider it electioneering, but the Bush Admin has their mandate. There's little reason for them to saber-rattle for their own citizens at this point. 14 comments|post comment

Asian Tsunami [27 Dec 2004|10:42pm] about_right Feel free to delete this post if the moderator(s) feel it's irrelevant to the community. At 07:58am local time on Sunday (12/26), an 8.6 ritcher scale earthquake hit The Indian Ocean. The tidal waves from the epicenter swept the coasts of the surrounding countries: Indonesia (Sumatra and nearby islands), Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, and The Maldeves. So far this goblal tragedy has taken the lives of up to 14,000 people, mostly children, and the number is still rising. I can't think of a better way to spend a few minutes of your time this holiday season than to look into charitable organizations, like Red Cross, and see what you can do to ease the sufferings of the people in these areas. They've lost their houses, source of living, not to mention loved ones due to the earthquake. And no matter how small the donation you make will mean a lot to them. Thank you (cross posted everywhere) post comment

vote! [13 Oct 2004|12:52pm] mokey4 This is a neat little site- x-posted in my journal and elsewhere. http://www.sixdegreesofvoting.com/?ref=2338&mac=906490ba2ff0c30aa9fee428f13d4b36 1 comment|post comment

on ethics of war- strategic resistence [16 Aug 2004|02:36pm] kerala_rain ASPEN TREE, your leaves glance white into the dark. My mother's hair was never white. Dandelion, so green is the Ukraine. My yellow-haired mother did not come home. Rain cloud, above the well do you hover? My quiet mother weeps for everyone. Round star, you wind the golden loop. My mother's heart was ripped by lead. Oaken door, who lifted you off your hinges? My gentle mother cannot return. paul celan, aspen tree, holocaust poet ------------------------------------------------------------------------- "terrorism is war against rich people war is terrorism against poor people" me was told that theese dictum is too essential... reductionist.. of course it is, you cant say that all terrorism is war against the rich. now ask me, "were all the people killed in WTO 'sinners', were they rich..." this is a real problematic, faced when you take a stand against multinational capitalism, and an american centric philosophy of economy and life.  my point is... the wto victims they were not the victim of bin laden, they were the victim of multinational, capitalist, colonial america.. means, to put it straight, its george bush who killed them. and they are not martyers of america, they are only victims, and their death, were used by the state as a promotional advertisment... used strategically, as 'emotional' and political violence. which untimately was directed against the iraqies and afgans, dropping bombs and food packets from the same airfighter. -------- it is to this strategic violence, that we use, a 'strategic essentialism' when saying that terrorism is 'war against rich people'... it is the 'survival tatics' of the oppressed,  a tatics, not for oil or money but for existence...  this statement-'terrorism is war against rich people' is not a universal 'truth'- applicable to all times and all people, its contextual, and always under the chance of 'erasure' 'would love someone to, tear up-art my argument' 7 comments|post comment

[15 Aug 2004|12:46pm] kerala_rain today is india's 57th (in)dependence day... WHOSE_________________________________ FREEDOM????? post comment

[31 Jul 2004|03:58pm] kerala_rain friends... romans... countrywomen i am doin a weekly column in our newspaper, from this week, the general theme is, to put it very simbly, how foreigners(foreign media, travelogues, advertisments) see indians, our culture, our news etc... even though the we/they distinction is problematic, for general convienience ive decided to put it this way, the first issue would carry, a travel experience of a white woman in india... and the next one would feature a cnn advertisment that appeared in the latest issue of time magazine, asia edition. if you ever come across anysuch news, feature, historical piece, it can be even missionary writings or colonial military records... it can be a little news item, that appears in a foreign newspaper... sometimes hate attacks, or items which have subtle colonial suggessions in the way the news or views are presented. please let me know at.. bluezebra@gmail.com and the name of the column is zebra... 2 comments|post comment

[03 Jun 2004|02:28am] thrownoverbored if a tree falls in balanceofpower, will anyone hear the sound? it's been too quiet in here. need to stir things up a bit. any ideas? hrm... 4 comments|post comment

[22 Apr 2004|01:42am] normandy_shores Hi folks, I'm looking for some good books to read in relevance to the question, "What is a nation?". I would really appreciate it if someone could point me in the right direction towards some good literature. Thanks! 3 comments|post comment

[07 Apr 2004|02:00am] thrownoverbored Not quite on topic to this community, but things have been mighty quiet 'round here lately...so i thought i'd try to spark some discussion. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Japanese PM war shrine visits declared unconstitutional i wonder if this is a legitimate ruling or not. should the separation of church and state be enforced to such a degree? on one hand, i feel like its Koizumi's right to worship as he chooses, independent of his role as prime minister. on the other hand, does the fact that war criminals are also buried at this shrine 'prove' or demonstrate possible loyalties Koizumi may harbor, which would be detrimental to his role as a leader of Japan? can his frequent visits to this shrine be equated to a German politician visiting a Hitler memorial or a Russian leader going to Stalin's grave? ... thoughts? (crossposted to personal lj) 1 comment|post comment

Intelligence 101: know your source. [19 Feb 2004|05:13pm] hoolifan Stratfor makes a pretty obvious case that Ahmed Chalabi and his cronies in Iran played US intel like a flute. It's hard to accept that the responsible agencies didn't discount their info considering that (A) their main source was a mortal enemy of Hussein and Sunni minority rule, and (B) any 'official' corroboration on WMD programs (or "program-related activities", if you prefer) was likely tainted by middle managers' desire to conflate their own accomplishments and stay in Saddam's favor. "U.S. intelligence about Iraq was terrible. It was wrong about WMD; it underestimated the extent to which the Shia in the south had been organized by Iranian intelligence prior to the war; it was wrong about how the war would end -- predicting unrest, but not predicting a systematic guerrilla war. An enormous amount of this intelligence -- and certainly critical parts of it -- came to the United States by way of the INC or by channels the INC or its members were involved in cultivating. All of it was wrong. It was not only wrong, it created an irresistible process. The WMD issue has delegitimized the war in the eyes of a substantial number of Americans. The failure to understand the dynamic of the Shiite community led to miscalculations about the nature of postwar Iraqi politics. The miscalculation about the guerrilla war created a U.S. dependence upon the Shia that is still unfolding. It is al-Sistani, in consultation with U.N. negotiators, who is setting the terms of the transfer of power. The U.S. position in Iraq is securely on Shiite terms, and that means it is on Iranian terms. This is not an argument against the invasion from a strategic point of view, nor an argument that it was a failure. In the real world, things are rarely so clear-cut. But it does raise a vital question: Who exactly is Ahmad Chalabi? He has been caricatured as an American stooge and used as a tool by the Defense Department. As we consider the intelligence failures in Iraq, Chalabi's role in those failures and his relationship with senior Iranian officials of all factions, a question needs to be raised: Who was whose stooge?" ( The full Stratfor Weekly ) 3 comments|post comment

[17 Feb 2004|04:33pm] hoolifan Putin seems to be putting on quite a display this election year. Magically disappearing/reappearing opponents, exploding Chechen leaders, proclaiming the end of the USSR a great tragedy, massive military exercises and missile tests... Election-year showmanship, or an honest-to-God itch for the old empire? 2 comments|post comment

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