NYTimes Comment #247.
EthicalDemocracy
Chennai, Tamil Nadu India
September 6th, 2009
12:22 pm
EthicalDemocracy
Chennai, Tamil Nadu India
September 6th, 2009
10:16 am
US Presence is the Core Problem
Quoting from the NYT article:
“Our policy makers do not understand that the very presence of our forces in the Pashtun areas is the problem,”
That's the crux of the problem. The US and US-led NATO are not welcome in Afghanistan. You strike us and you strike out. (see Also AP story below of US and NATO storming a hospital run by a Swedish charity)
I'm sitting 2000 miles away in the deep south of India and guess what -- I and tens of thousands of Indians feel the same way as your quote above. So do my friends in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
South Asian nation-states are perfectly capable of working together to solve their local, national and regional problems.
US and NATO have no right or excuse to be in South Asia. Being here is a neo-imperial lose-lose strategy, a defeat the size of Vietnam for Obama.
The US has long been a state sponsor of Terror in our region. The US runs a highly profitable Weapons & Terror Complex in our South Asia region, reaping billions from armaments and drugs, while sowing death, destruction -- and inviting justified retaliation.
Chithra KarunaKaran
Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
http://EthcialDemocracy.blogspot.com
----------------------
NYTimes copyright
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/opinion/06kristof.html
The Afghanistan Abyss
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Sending more American troops into ethnic Pashtun areas in the Afghan south may only galvanize local people to back the Taliban.
------------------
Associated Press copyright
Charity: US troops stormed through Afghan hospital
09/07/2009 3:24:32 AM
By KAY JOHNSON Associated Press Writer
A Swedish charity accused American troops Monday of storming through a hospital in central Afghanistan, breaking down doors and tying up staff in a search for militants. The U.S. military said it was investigating.
The allegation that soldiers violated the neutrality of a medical facility follows the reported deaths of Afghan civilians in a U.S. airstrike in the country's north last week. An Afghan human rights group said Monday the strike on two hijacked fuel tankers may have killed as many as 70 civilians in Kunduz province.
Civilian deaths and intrusive searches have bred resentment among the Afghan population nearly eight years after the U.S.-led coalition invaded to oust the Taliban's hard-line Islamist regime for sheltering al-Qaida terrorist leaders.
Foreign forces are working to persuade the population to support the Afghan government after last month's presidential election, which has yet to be decided amid allegations of vote-rigging.
On Monday, the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan said the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division entered the charity's hospital without permission to look for insurgents in Wardak province, southwest of Kabul.
"This is simply not acceptable," said Anders Fange, the charity's country director.
The U.S. troops came to the hospital looking for Taliban insurgents late at night last Wednesday. Fange said they kicked in doors, tied up four hospital employees and two family members of patients, and forced patients out of beds during their search.
When they left two hours later, the unit ordered hospital staff to inform coalition forces if any wounded militants were admitted, and the military would decide if they could be treated, Fange said.
The staff refused, he said. "That would put our staff at risk and make the hospital a target."
The charity said on its Web site that the troops' actions were not only a violation of humanitarian principles but also went against an agreement between NATO forces and charities working in the area.
"We demand guarantees ... that such violations will not be repeated and that this is made clear to commanders in the field," a statement said.
U.S. military spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Christine Sidenstricker confirmed that the hospital was searched last week but had no other details. She said the military was looking into the incident.
"We are investigating and we take allegations like this seriously," she said. "Complaints like this are rare."
Violence has surged across much of Afghanistan since President Barack Obama ordered 21,000 more U.S. troops to the country this year. Two foreign troops were killed Sunday when their patrol hit a roadside bomb in the country's south, NATO said without giving their nationalities.
NATO was also investigating last week's U.S. airstrike. The strike came despite new rules for foreign forces limiting use of airpower to avoid civilian casualties.
The provincial government said most of the dead were militants, but on Monday, the Afghan Rights Monitor said interviews with 15 villagers indicate that only a dozen gunmen died and 60-70 villagers were killed. The group called for further investigations.
"Even if all the victims were supporters of the Taliban, the fact that most of them were unarmed and were not engaged in any combat activity does not warrant their mass killing," said Ajmal Samadi, the rights group's director.
A spokesman for the provincial government, Ahmad Sami Yawar, said Monday that only five of the estimated 70 killed were civilians.
The increasingly violent insurgents have killed more civilians in bombings and other attacks. On Monday, the government said three militant rockets landed overnight in the capital, Kabul, hitting a house and killing three people. In central Uruzgan province, a remote-controlled bomb targeting a police vehicle exploded in a busy market, killing two children and wounding 16 other people, according to local police official Gulab Khan.
A United Nations report in July said the number of civilians killed in conflict in Afghanistan has jumped 24 percent this year, with bombings by insurgents and airstrikes by international forces the biggest killers. The report said 1,013 civilians were killed in the first half of 2009, 59 percent in insurgent attacks and 30.5 percent by foreign and Afghan government forces. The rest were undetermined.
___
NYTimes copyright
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/08/world/asia/08kabul.html?ref=global-home
Associated Press Writer Rahim Faiez in Kabul contributed to this report.
Showing posts with label The US Whiteness System. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The US Whiteness System. Show all posts
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
US Bloodletting in MY South Asia
Comment #214.
EthicalDemocracy
Chennai, Tamil Nadu India
September 1st, 2009
9:22 am
US Bloodletting in MY South Asia
Yeah folks its my place, where I was born and raised. South Asia which the US has turned into hills of blood.
The US Govt. since the inception of the US nation-state, has been bloodthirsty and trigger happy. That's the incontrovertible evidence. This does not means the US has not stood, at times, for individual liberty, mostly for its own citizens at home. Freedom to shop, unlimited amounts of time to cruise the aisles to choose among 20 brands of toilet paper. Great. Whatever works for you.
But US state-sponsored violence and terror -- whether against Native American or Blacks or Vietnamese or Iraqis or Palestinians or now, Afghans or Pakistanis -- that's the name of the game for US loose cannon foreign policy.
General McChrystal, despite his name, lacks lucidity, acuity and clarity. More troops? when the US is already foolhardily pursuing a failing AfPak strategy.
Obama like every white male occupant of the Whites' (yes) House will predictably continue the bloodletting, just like his predecessors. To achieve "strategic depth" in South Asia, to further the US's continuing, unfulfilled fantasy of global dominance in an increasingly multipolar, diverse world that has highly differentiated regional and global strategic interests.
Chithra KarunaKaran
Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
http://EthicalDemocracy.blogspot.com
----------------------------------
NYTimes copyright
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/world/asia/01military.html
Groundwork Is Laid for New Troops in Afghanistan
By PETER BAKER and DEXTER FILKINS
Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s revised strategy would invest the U.S. extensively in stabilizing Afghanistan.
EthicalDemocracy
Chennai, Tamil Nadu India
September 1st, 2009
9:22 am
US Bloodletting in MY South Asia
Yeah folks its my place, where I was born and raised. South Asia which the US has turned into hills of blood.
The US Govt. since the inception of the US nation-state, has been bloodthirsty and trigger happy. That's the incontrovertible evidence. This does not means the US has not stood, at times, for individual liberty, mostly for its own citizens at home. Freedom to shop, unlimited amounts of time to cruise the aisles to choose among 20 brands of toilet paper. Great. Whatever works for you.
But US state-sponsored violence and terror -- whether against Native American or Blacks or Vietnamese or Iraqis or Palestinians or now, Afghans or Pakistanis -- that's the name of the game for US loose cannon foreign policy.
General McChrystal, despite his name, lacks lucidity, acuity and clarity. More troops? when the US is already foolhardily pursuing a failing AfPak strategy.
Obama like every white male occupant of the Whites' (yes) House will predictably continue the bloodletting, just like his predecessors. To achieve "strategic depth" in South Asia, to further the US's continuing, unfulfilled fantasy of global dominance in an increasingly multipolar, diverse world that has highly differentiated regional and global strategic interests.
Chithra KarunaKaran
Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
http://EthicalDemocracy.blogspot.com
----------------------------------
NYTimes copyright
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/world/asia/01military.html
Groundwork Is Laid for New Troops in Afghanistan
By PETER BAKER and DEXTER FILKINS
Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s revised strategy would invest the U.S. extensively in stabilizing Afghanistan.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Karzai: US has not met its "moral standard" in Afghanistan
US has not met its "moral standards" in Afghanistan: Karzai
11 May 2009, 1856 hrs IST, PTI
Print Email Discuss Share Save Comment Text:
WASHINGTON: Smarting from frequent US air attacks and resultant "massive" civilian toll in his country, President Hamid Karzai has said America
has not met its "moral standard" in Afghanistan and warned that any society will be "fed up" with such "continued casualties".
"The US has not met that standard in Afghanistan. The United States must stand on a much higher moral platform in order for us together to win this war," Karzai said in an interview to NBC News.
Pressed whether the US has not met their own moral standards and was Washington waging an "immoral war" in Afghanistan, Karzai said: "No. No. It's not immoral war, it's the standard of morality that we are seeking which is also one that is being desired and spoken about in America.
"In other words, are we the same as the terrorists, are we the same as the bad guys, or are we standing on a much higher moral, moral platform? Are we better human beings or not?," Karzai said.
He insisted that "extreme care" should be taken to protect civilians "and their children and their homes" for the civilians "to see us (as) completely distinct and separate from the terrorists."
Referring to the recent US bombing in Farah district where some 100 Afghan civilians died, he noted that the incident resulted in "massive" civilian casualties.
11 May 2009, 1856 hrs IST, PTI
Print Email Discuss Share Save Comment Text:
WASHINGTON: Smarting from frequent US air attacks and resultant "massive" civilian toll in his country, President Hamid Karzai has said America
has not met its "moral standard" in Afghanistan and warned that any society will be "fed up" with such "continued casualties".
"The US has not met that standard in Afghanistan. The United States must stand on a much higher moral platform in order for us together to win this war," Karzai said in an interview to NBC News.
Pressed whether the US has not met their own moral standards and was Washington waging an "immoral war" in Afghanistan, Karzai said: "No. No. It's not immoral war, it's the standard of morality that we are seeking which is also one that is being desired and spoken about in America.
"In other words, are we the same as the terrorists, are we the same as the bad guys, or are we standing on a much higher moral, moral platform? Are we better human beings or not?," Karzai said.
He insisted that "extreme care" should be taken to protect civilians "and their children and their homes" for the civilians "to see us (as) completely distinct and separate from the terrorists."
Referring to the recent US bombing in Farah district where some 100 Afghan civilians died, he noted that the incident resulted in "massive" civilian casualties.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Russia's Role in the New Global Order of Competing Fundamentalisms
The US Whiteness system which has its origins in slavery and genocide for profit, is strongly ideological while posturing as progressive, pragmatic and ethical. This is the core ideological system in which Obama performs Whiteness. I voted for Obama because I clearly understood he is the lesser of two evils within the US Whiteenss System of racialized dominant power based on extreme exloitative profit.
Who armed, trained and paid the Mujahideen who morphed into the Taliban? The US has been a state sponsor of terror throughout the world for over 50 years. Its latest military adventurism, along with US led-NATO, is in my region of South Asia. The US is seeking strategic depth" in South Asia in order to counter Russia and Iran while continuing satellization of Israel. All three adjoin the South Asia region, which the US is cultivating as the main theater of US geopolitical operations.
But fingerpointing at the US does not absolve each nation-state. We each have to do whatever we can to promote social and economic justice in the world for the billions of our fellow citizens of earth. This requires ethical thinking and practice over strategic thinking thinking and practice.
We need idealistic pragmatism that demonstrably promotes prosperity under conditions of peace for the billions of hungry, diseased and homless in our world today.
Russia has to do considerably more by developing a visibly open society (look at India) that takes a more responsive and responsible place in the world.
Chithra KarunaKaran
Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
http://EthicalDemocracy.blogspot.com
-------------
Russia today copyright
http://russiatoday.com/Politics/2009-05-06/Taliban_Rising__Pakistan_swaps_mountain_skiing_for_strict_Sharia_law.html
Who armed, trained and paid the Mujahideen who morphed into the Taliban? The US has been a state sponsor of terror throughout the world for over 50 years. Its latest military adventurism, along with US led-NATO, is in my region of South Asia. The US is seeking strategic depth" in South Asia in order to counter Russia and Iran while continuing satellization of Israel. All three adjoin the South Asia region, which the US is cultivating as the main theater of US geopolitical operations.
But fingerpointing at the US does not absolve each nation-state. We each have to do whatever we can to promote social and economic justice in the world for the billions of our fellow citizens of earth. This requires ethical thinking and practice over strategic thinking thinking and practice.
We need idealistic pragmatism that demonstrably promotes prosperity under conditions of peace for the billions of hungry, diseased and homless in our world today.
Russia has to do considerably more by developing a visibly open society (look at India) that takes a more responsive and responsible place in the world.
Chithra KarunaKaran
Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
http://EthicalDemocracy.blogspot.com
-------------
Russia today copyright
http://russiatoday.com/Politics/2009-05-06/Taliban_Rising__Pakistan_swaps_mountain_skiing_for_strict_Sharia_law.html
Friday, April 24, 2009
The Emerging Sovereign Nation-State of TalibanPakistan
My Lede NYTimes Comment #72. April 24, 2009 5:16 pm Link
April 24th, 2009 8:56 am
The Emerging Sovereign Nation-State of TalibanPakistan
Pakistan has neither Motivation nor Reason to stop the Taliban. Why would they?
I analyze 3 reasons why Pakistan current leaders and civil society will accommodate and unite with the Taliban.
1. So long as the Taliban is perceived as a threat to Pakistan, MONEY and WEAPONS keep flowing into Pakistan from interested parties like the US, Saudi Arabia and Iran. This money and arms are used by feudal elites (this includes the ruling political leaders)to create cash liquidity, maintain power and control over land and other resources.
2. It is possible to envisage a scenario in which the Taliban rule Pakistan through a coalition with the feudal landowners who now rule Pakistan. That coalition will keep Pakistan securely within the fold of repressive nation-states like Saudi Arabia, who have the substantial longstanding support of the US. Everybody knows that Democracy is NOT a US export item.
3. Pakistan's very existence as a nation-state is entirely defined by its separation,in 1947, from India. mainly through Brit divide-and-rule imperial strategy. Pakistan can therefore continue to maintain its 60+ years of a nation-state political orientation in which India can continue to be portrayed to its civil society, as The Enemy, the Infidel, the Unbeliever. This view is wholly consistent with the Taliban's view of India.
The US can do virtually nothing to alter the Pakistan-Taliban dynamic. The US appears ready to consolidate and inflame that dynamic through additional troop deployment and ongoing drone strikes.
Let us also not forget that the US created, armed and trained the mujahideen who morphed into the Taliban.
The US policy in South Asia constitutes the gravest threat to the world's largest democracy, India. But India will likely rise to that threat, no thanks to the US.
Chithra KarunaKaran
Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
http://Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
The Emerging Misogynist Sovereign Nation-State of TalibanPakistan
The US policy in South Asia constitutes the gravest threat to the world’s largest democracy, India. The Taliban threat is nothing compared with the threat posed by the presence of US and US-led NATO troops.
To focus on the comment about white US female soldiers, is to give undue importance to the Taliban’s views on women which are already well known (they are proven arch misogynists), and to deflect attention from the Paksitan Govt’s role:
Pakistan has neither Motivation nor Reason to stop the Taliban. Why would they?
I analyze 3 reasons why Pakistan current leaders and civil society will accommodate and unite with the Taliban.
1. So long as the Taliban is perceived as a threat to Pakistan, MONEY and WEAPONS keep flowing into Pakistan from interested parties like the US, Saudi Arabia and Iran. This money and arms are used by feudal elites (this includes the ruling political leaders)to create cash liquidity, maintain power and control over land and other resources.
2. It is possible to envisage a scenario in which the Taliban rule Pakistan through a coalition with the feudal landowners who now rule Pakistan. That coalition will keep Pakistan securely within the fold of repressive nation-states like Saudi Arabia, who have the substantial longstanding support of the US. Everybody knows that Democracy is NOT a US export item.
3. Pakistan’s very existence as a nation-state is entirely defined by its separation,in 1947, from India. mainly through Brit divide-and-rule imperial strategy. Pakistan can therefore continue to maintain its 60+ years of a nation-state political orientation in which India can continue to be portrayed to its civil society, as The Enemy, the Infidel, the Unbeliever. This view is wholly consistent with the Taliban’s view of India.
The US can do virtually nothing to alter the Pakistan-Taliban dynamic. The US appears ready to consolidate and inflame that dynamic through additional troop deployment and ongoing drone strikes.
Let us also not forget that the US created, armed and trained the mujahideen who morphed into the Taliban.
Let me repeat: The US policy in South Asia constitutes the gravest threat to the world’s largest democracy, India. The Taliban threat is nothing compared to the threat posed by the ground and air presence of US and US-led NATO convoys, troops and drones. It will predictably get worse when US tr0ops are redeployed from Iraq to Pakistan-Afghanistan border areas.
However, India will likely assess and overcome the Taliban threat, absolutely no thanks to the US. India overturned Brit colonialism now it will dismantle US neo-imperialism and defuse the Taliban reaction to US militarism, male and female, in their homeland.
Chithra KarunaKaran
-------------------------------------------
NYTimes copyright
U.S. Questions Pakistan’s Will to Stop Taliban
By CARLOTTA GALL and ERIC SCHMITT
Published: April 23, 2009
Taliban militants on Thursday outside a mosque where tribal elders and members of the Taliban met in Daggar, the main town in the Buner district of Pakistan.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/24/world/asia/24pstan.html
http://community.nytimes.com/article/comments/2009/04/24/world/asia/24pstan.html
----------------------
The Lede NYTimes copyright
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/24/video-of-pakistani-taliban-in-buner-and-swat/?apage=3#comments
April 24, 2009, 7:43 am
Taliban Spokesman Blames American Women
By Robert Mackey
April 24th, 2009 8:56 am
The Emerging Sovereign Nation-State of TalibanPakistan
Pakistan has neither Motivation nor Reason to stop the Taliban. Why would they?
I analyze 3 reasons why Pakistan current leaders and civil society will accommodate and unite with the Taliban.
1. So long as the Taliban is perceived as a threat to Pakistan, MONEY and WEAPONS keep flowing into Pakistan from interested parties like the US, Saudi Arabia and Iran. This money and arms are used by feudal elites (this includes the ruling political leaders)to create cash liquidity, maintain power and control over land and other resources.
2. It is possible to envisage a scenario in which the Taliban rule Pakistan through a coalition with the feudal landowners who now rule Pakistan. That coalition will keep Pakistan securely within the fold of repressive nation-states like Saudi Arabia, who have the substantial longstanding support of the US. Everybody knows that Democracy is NOT a US export item.
3. Pakistan's very existence as a nation-state is entirely defined by its separation,in 1947, from India. mainly through Brit divide-and-rule imperial strategy. Pakistan can therefore continue to maintain its 60+ years of a nation-state political orientation in which India can continue to be portrayed to its civil society, as The Enemy, the Infidel, the Unbeliever. This view is wholly consistent with the Taliban's view of India.
The US can do virtually nothing to alter the Pakistan-Taliban dynamic. The US appears ready to consolidate and inflame that dynamic through additional troop deployment and ongoing drone strikes.
Let us also not forget that the US created, armed and trained the mujahideen who morphed into the Taliban.
The US policy in South Asia constitutes the gravest threat to the world's largest democracy, India. But India will likely rise to that threat, no thanks to the US.
Chithra KarunaKaran
Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
http://Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
The Emerging Misogynist Sovereign Nation-State of TalibanPakistan
The US policy in South Asia constitutes the gravest threat to the world’s largest democracy, India. The Taliban threat is nothing compared with the threat posed by the presence of US and US-led NATO troops.
To focus on the comment about white US female soldiers, is to give undue importance to the Taliban’s views on women which are already well known (they are proven arch misogynists), and to deflect attention from the Paksitan Govt’s role:
Pakistan has neither Motivation nor Reason to stop the Taliban. Why would they?
I analyze 3 reasons why Pakistan current leaders and civil society will accommodate and unite with the Taliban.
1. So long as the Taliban is perceived as a threat to Pakistan, MONEY and WEAPONS keep flowing into Pakistan from interested parties like the US, Saudi Arabia and Iran. This money and arms are used by feudal elites (this includes the ruling political leaders)to create cash liquidity, maintain power and control over land and other resources.
2. It is possible to envisage a scenario in which the Taliban rule Pakistan through a coalition with the feudal landowners who now rule Pakistan. That coalition will keep Pakistan securely within the fold of repressive nation-states like Saudi Arabia, who have the substantial longstanding support of the US. Everybody knows that Democracy is NOT a US export item.
3. Pakistan’s very existence as a nation-state is entirely defined by its separation,in 1947, from India. mainly through Brit divide-and-rule imperial strategy. Pakistan can therefore continue to maintain its 60+ years of a nation-state political orientation in which India can continue to be portrayed to its civil society, as The Enemy, the Infidel, the Unbeliever. This view is wholly consistent with the Taliban’s view of India.
The US can do virtually nothing to alter the Pakistan-Taliban dynamic. The US appears ready to consolidate and inflame that dynamic through additional troop deployment and ongoing drone strikes.
Let us also not forget that the US created, armed and trained the mujahideen who morphed into the Taliban.
Let me repeat: The US policy in South Asia constitutes the gravest threat to the world’s largest democracy, India. The Taliban threat is nothing compared to the threat posed by the ground and air presence of US and US-led NATO convoys, troops and drones. It will predictably get worse when US tr0ops are redeployed from Iraq to Pakistan-Afghanistan border areas.
However, India will likely assess and overcome the Taliban threat, absolutely no thanks to the US. India overturned Brit colonialism now it will dismantle US neo-imperialism and defuse the Taliban reaction to US militarism, male and female, in their homeland.
Chithra KarunaKaran
-------------------------------------------
NYTimes copyright
U.S. Questions Pakistan’s Will to Stop Taliban
By CARLOTTA GALL and ERIC SCHMITT
Published: April 23, 2009
Taliban militants on Thursday outside a mosque where tribal elders and members of the Taliban met in Daggar, the main town in the Buner district of Pakistan.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/24/world/asia/24pstan.html
http://community.nytimes.com/article/comments/2009/04/24/world/asia/24pstan.html
----------------------
The Lede NYTimes copyright
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/24/video-of-pakistani-taliban-in-buner-and-swat/?apage=3#comments
April 24, 2009, 7:43 am
Taliban Spokesman Blames American Women
By Robert Mackey
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Koran Gone Wild or US Foreign Policy Gone Wild?
My comment #96.
April 23, 2009 1:21 pm
Link
April 23rd, 2009 8:16 am
Koran Gone Wild OR US Foreign Policy Gone Wild?
Mainly, a 60-year US policy and on-the-ground intervention, dispossession and dislocation in areas where the majority of Muslims live and pray, has unleashed "fundamentalism" and "extremism".
This POLITICAL dimension simply cannot be ignored, deflected or underplayed. It is the root of the current social chaos in Muslim-majority nation-states.
The fact is Bush-Cheney "fundamentalism" and "extremism", which killed thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians, produced the suicide bombings in Iraq.
Today, the "fundamentalism" and "extremism" of Obama's daily drone strikes and the military adventurism of the US-led NATO forces on the ground in Afghanistan and Pakistan are producing the incursion of Taliban (who were the mujahideen of the Soviet-US Afghan era)into Swat and now Buner.
The entire DIVERSE Muslim world is paying for the POLITICAL missteps of the New Crusades undertaken by the US.
These problems do not lie, nor have their origins in literal or non-literal interpretations of the Koran.
Chithra KarunaKaran
Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
http://EthicalDemocracy.blogspot.com
— EthicalDemocracy, New York & Chennai
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New York Times copyright
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/23/opinion/23kristof.html
Op-Ed Columnist
Islam, Virgins and Grapes
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: April 22, 2009
http://community.nytimes.com/article/comments/2009/04/23/opinion/23kristof.html#postComment
April 23, 2009 1:21 pm
Link
April 23rd, 2009 8:16 am
Koran Gone Wild OR US Foreign Policy Gone Wild?
Mainly, a 60-year US policy and on-the-ground intervention, dispossession and dislocation in areas where the majority of Muslims live and pray, has unleashed "fundamentalism" and "extremism".
This POLITICAL dimension simply cannot be ignored, deflected or underplayed. It is the root of the current social chaos in Muslim-majority nation-states.
The fact is Bush-Cheney "fundamentalism" and "extremism", which killed thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians, produced the suicide bombings in Iraq.
Today, the "fundamentalism" and "extremism" of Obama's daily drone strikes and the military adventurism of the US-led NATO forces on the ground in Afghanistan and Pakistan are producing the incursion of Taliban (who were the mujahideen of the Soviet-US Afghan era)into Swat and now Buner.
The entire DIVERSE Muslim world is paying for the POLITICAL missteps of the New Crusades undertaken by the US.
These problems do not lie, nor have their origins in literal or non-literal interpretations of the Koran.
Chithra KarunaKaran
Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
http://EthicalDemocracy.blogspot.com
— EthicalDemocracy, New York & Chennai
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New York Times copyright
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/23/opinion/23kristof.html
Op-Ed Columnist
Islam, Virgins and Grapes
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: April 22, 2009
http://community.nytimes.com/article/comments/2009/04/23/opinion/23kristof.html#postComment
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
The Long Term Threat To South Asia -- Taliban Or US?
My Comment # 18. April 14, 2009 11:51 pm Link
Who’s the real threat in the South Asia region– The Taliban?
Or the US and US-led NATO?
The fact is the Taliban emerged from the mujahideen that the US nurtured, armed and trained in the 10-year Cold War face off in Afghanistan against the erstwhile Soviet Union. The US were the paymasters and handlers of the Taliban and the ISI.
The US govt. has been a force for destabilization and lately, state-sponsored terror, since the Dulles era of the State Dept in the Eisenhower administration, targeting Pakistan for satellite status after Pakistan was weakened by the Brit-driven Partition. The South Asian nation states went from colonization to neo-imperial threat.
The physical presence of the US and the US-led Nato in my South Asia region distorts intra-regional geopolitics among the sovereign nation-states (some more fragile than others).
The US now holds the balance of power in the region, which is its core objective in every region of the world.
I wonder how Obama would feel if his daughters Sasha and Malia were killed in a US drone attack. That happened to children last week in a NATO airstrike, and the death of children was confirmed by President Karzai.
When civilians are killed by the US and US-led NATO, recruitment demands into the Taliban ranks are more likely to succeed, especially when families are grieving and therefore more vulnerable to Taliban and warlord pressure.
The US and NATO have no legitimacy in the South Asia region.
Chithra KarunaKaran
Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
http://EthicalDemocracy.blogspot.com
--------------------------------------------
New York Times copyright
http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/14/south-asias-taliban-problem
April 14, 2009, 5:19 pm
South Asia’s Taliban Problem
By The Editors
--------------
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/14/world/asia/14afghan.html?emc=eta1
Civilians Died in Airstrike by NATO, Afghan Says
By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr. and ABDUL WAHEED WAFA
Published: April 13, 2009
----------------
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/15/world/asia/15afghan.html?ref=global-home
In Recruiting an Afghan Militia, U.S. Faces a Test
U.S. Army officers held a meeting, or shura, with Afghan elders in Maidan Shahr who read a threatening Taliban "night letter" sent to a village elder warning people not to associate with American forces.
By DEXTER FILKINS
Published: April 14, 2009
===================================================================================
Who’s the real threat in the South Asia region– The Taliban?
Or the US and US-led NATO?
The fact is the Taliban emerged from the mujahideen that the US nurtured, armed and trained in the 10-year Cold War face off in Afghanistan against the erstwhile Soviet Union. The US were the paymasters and handlers of the Taliban and the ISI.
The US govt. has been a force for destabilization and lately, state-sponsored terror, since the Dulles era of the State Dept in the Eisenhower administration, targeting Pakistan for satellite status after Pakistan was weakened by the Brit-driven Partition. The South Asian nation states went from colonization to neo-imperial threat.
The physical presence of the US and the US-led Nato in my South Asia region distorts intra-regional geopolitics among the sovereign nation-states (some more fragile than others).
The US now holds the balance of power in the region, which is its core objective in every region of the world.
I wonder how Obama would feel if his daughters Sasha and Malia were killed in a US drone attack. That happened to children last week in a NATO airstrike, and the death of children was confirmed by President Karzai.
When civilians are killed by the US and US-led NATO, recruitment demands into the Taliban ranks are more likely to succeed, especially when families are grieving and therefore more vulnerable to Taliban and warlord pressure.
The US and NATO have no legitimacy in the South Asia region.
Chithra KarunaKaran
Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
http://EthicalDemocracy.blogspot.com
--------------------------------------------
New York Times copyright
http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/14/south-asias-taliban-problem
April 14, 2009, 5:19 pm
South Asia’s Taliban Problem
By The Editors
--------------
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/14/world/asia/14afghan.html?emc=eta1
Civilians Died in Airstrike by NATO, Afghan Says
By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr. and ABDUL WAHEED WAFA
Published: April 13, 2009
----------------
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/15/world/asia/15afghan.html?ref=global-home
In Recruiting an Afghan Militia, U.S. Faces a Test
U.S. Army officers held a meeting, or shura, with Afghan elders in Maidan Shahr who read a threatening Taliban "night letter" sent to a village elder warning people not to associate with American forces.
By DEXTER FILKINS
Published: April 14, 2009
===================================================================================
Monday, April 13, 2009
Dismantling Whiteness in US Higher Ed in 'postracial'(?) 2009
* Dismantling Whiteness in US Higher Ed
* Posted by Chithra KarunaKaran , Social Sciences at CUNY on April 13, 2009 at 12:30pm EDT
*
Through its new students' orientation agenda, Holyoke is hopefully demonstrating its sincerity and willingness to further discursive engagement on US racialized identity construction, by facilitating discussion on how the US Whiteness System of unearned white skin privilege is deployed as POWER; everyone performs Whiteness in the System -- from the plantation to the Census, to the President, the Supreme Court and the Congress, to the mainstream media, to the student in the classroom, to the child in the home, to the marketplace -- and all points in between.
Hope the international students also get the 'treament' -- I recall being clueless on White racism, the racialized victimization of Blacks and immigrant persons of color, until I got here and had some firsthand, lived experience.
Remember how Obama had to address Race as a hot-seat, make-or-break campaign issue but Hillary didn't have to? That's the Whiteness system operating in real time. And when Obama describes himself self-deprecatingly as a "mutt" he's performing Whiteness (he's already half there!) in language that makes him less threatening to whites. It's a System, remember.
Good effort, Holyoke.
Chithra KarunaKaran
Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
Theory of Systemic Whiteness & related articles
http://EthicalDemocracy.blogspot.com
------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/04/13/holyoke#Comments
Orientation for Whites by Scott Jaschik
April 13, 2009
Inside Higher Ed copyright
=====================================================================================
* Posted by Chithra KarunaKaran , Social Sciences at CUNY on April 13, 2009 at 12:30pm EDT
*
Through its new students' orientation agenda, Holyoke is hopefully demonstrating its sincerity and willingness to further discursive engagement on US racialized identity construction, by facilitating discussion on how the US Whiteness System of unearned white skin privilege is deployed as POWER; everyone performs Whiteness in the System -- from the plantation to the Census, to the President, the Supreme Court and the Congress, to the mainstream media, to the student in the classroom, to the child in the home, to the marketplace -- and all points in between.
Hope the international students also get the 'treament' -- I recall being clueless on White racism, the racialized victimization of Blacks and immigrant persons of color, until I got here and had some firsthand, lived experience.
Remember how Obama had to address Race as a hot-seat, make-or-break campaign issue but Hillary didn't have to? That's the Whiteness system operating in real time. And when Obama describes himself self-deprecatingly as a "mutt" he's performing Whiteness (he's already half there!) in language that makes him less threatening to whites. It's a System, remember.
Good effort, Holyoke.
Chithra KarunaKaran
Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
Theory of Systemic Whiteness & related articles
http://EthicalDemocracy.blogspot.com
------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/04/13/holyoke#Comments
Orientation for Whites by Scott Jaschik
April 13, 2009
Inside Higher Ed copyright
=====================================================================================
Monday, April 6, 2009
The Whiteness of Lawrence Summers
My comment #51
April 06, 2009 9:20 am
Link
Summers' 'versatility' and his 'success' at the hedge fund owes much to an identity available to whites in the US political economy, especially white males. I might add that it took Jews, like the Irish, a while to become "white" -- to exchange ethnicity and culture for US racialized dominant default identity.
Summers embodies how WHITENESS works. Persons of color can recognize it on a visceral level especially if we resist the US Whiteness system. We live it every day.
Summers adeptly performs Whiteness. Whiteness goes beyond white (male) skin privilege. Whiteness is a System of dominant racialized, unshared, inequitable, unearned POWER.
Summers was kicked out of Harvard because he made male chauvinist statements about the abilities of female faculty, both of which groups, at Harvard for sure, are mainly white. In fact an African male anthropologist led the charge against Summers.
What does Summers get for his sexist statements, unsupported by scientific evidence? He resigns from Harvard and gets More money, more prestige, more power!
Did Obama perform Whiteness by appointing Summers? It's a system, remember.
Chithra KarunaKaran
Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
Theory of Systemic Whiteness
http://EthicalDemocracy.blogspot.com
--------------
A Rich Education for Summers (After Harvard)
After leaving Harvard, Lawrence H. Summers earned nearly $5.2 million advising elite math wizards and scientists at a New York hedge fund.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/06/business/06summers.html?_r=1
=======================================================================================
April 06, 2009 9:20 am
Link
Summers' 'versatility' and his 'success' at the hedge fund owes much to an identity available to whites in the US political economy, especially white males. I might add that it took Jews, like the Irish, a while to become "white" -- to exchange ethnicity and culture for US racialized dominant default identity.
Summers embodies how WHITENESS works. Persons of color can recognize it on a visceral level especially if we resist the US Whiteness system. We live it every day.
Summers adeptly performs Whiteness. Whiteness goes beyond white (male) skin privilege. Whiteness is a System of dominant racialized, unshared, inequitable, unearned POWER.
Summers was kicked out of Harvard because he made male chauvinist statements about the abilities of female faculty, both of which groups, at Harvard for sure, are mainly white. In fact an African male anthropologist led the charge against Summers.
What does Summers get for his sexist statements, unsupported by scientific evidence? He resigns from Harvard and gets More money, more prestige, more power!
Did Obama perform Whiteness by appointing Summers? It's a system, remember.
Chithra KarunaKaran
Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
Theory of Systemic Whiteness
http://EthicalDemocracy.blogspot.com
--------------
A Rich Education for Summers (After Harvard)
After leaving Harvard, Lawrence H. Summers earned nearly $5.2 million advising elite math wizards and scientists at a New York hedge fund.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/06/business/06summers.html?_r=1
=======================================================================================
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