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October 10th, 2007
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Ukraine: Marat Gelman's Notes
To prepare for his visit to the post-election Kyiv last week, Marat Gelman - LJ user galerist, a Russian art dealer and, allegedly, Victor Yanukovych's “spin doctor” in 2004 - looked through Ukrayinska Pravda, a popular online source of political news, co-founded by Georgiy Gongadze in 2000.
Boris Berezovsky's blog was one of the curious things that Gelman found there. He wrote (RUS):
It is him [Berezovsky], indeed. I guarantee that.
He also ran into this political joke (RUS) about George W. Bush, Vladimir Putin and Victor Yushchenko:
God summons the three presidents - of the United States, Russia and Ukraine - to heaven and tells them:
- Dear presidents, I've summoned you because of some really bad news I have to share: the end of the world is in two weeks. I'd like you to report this sad information to my three most favorite peoples.
Bush appears on TV:
- Brothers and sisters, I've got two pieces of news for you. One good, the other bad. The first one: there is God, after all. The second: the end of the world is in two weeks.
Putin speaks on the radio and TV:
- Ladies and gentlemen, I've got two pieces of news for you. Both are bad. The first one: there is God, after all. The second: the end of the world is in two weeks.
Yushchenko makes a radio and TV address:
My people, I've got two pieces of news for you. Both are good. The first one: God himself has recognized me as president. The second: I'll rule the country till the end of the world.
According to some of Gelman's readers who have commented on this joke, it appears to be an old one, recycled many times over the years: substitutes for Bush, Putin and Yushchenko have included Aleksandr Lukashenko; Boris Yeltsin, Helmut Kohl and Leonid Kuchma; Leonid Brezhnev; and, surprisingly, Bill Gates.
But, joking aside, here is Gelman's three-sentence analysis of today's political situation in Ukraine (RUS) :
[…] It's impossible to imagine collisions that are more complicated. Though, all in all, everyone would like to drown [Yulia Tymoshenko]. But since she may become president in the future and is very unforgiving, everyone wants to do it with someone else's hands.
Peru: How the Media Handled the Allegations Against Toledo
News about Peruvian presidents seem to dominate the front pages of the media. The way that they are treated in the press varies. Some say that current Alan Garcia is treated well by the large media. Former president Alberto Fujimori also is said to have certain outlets that support or lean in his favor. Another ex-president has had his share of troubles with the press, Alejandro Toledo. Bloggers are beginning to notice how the press reacts to certain events involving these current and former heads of state, especially in light of recent allegations facing Toledo.
The blog Gran Combo Club [ES] provides the opinion that ex-president Toledo was treated differently by the national press.
Lo he escuchado mucho. La prensa se metía con el ex-presidente Toledo en una forma inusual. No lo hizo así con presidentes anteriores, ni lo está haciendo con su sucesor. ¿Por qué? Una hipótesis es el racismo. Toledo, un mestizo, habría creado muchos anticuerpos por razón de su origen y su raza. Incluso cierto sector de la prensa informaba de los entretelones que ocurrían en palacio, en Punta Sal, en reuniones sociales. Sí, metió la pata en muchas cosas, él al igual que Karp, pero las críticas y la forma cómo se hicieron no se han visto antes ni después con otros presidentes peruanos. El caso de Federico Dantón, por ejemplo, fue abordado de manera muy diferente por la prensa limeña y peruana…
I've heard it a lot. The press gave ex-President Toledo an unusual treatment. It didn't do the same with previous presidents, nor is it doing the same with his successor. Why? One hypothesis is racism. Toledo, a mestizo, created a lot of defense mechanisms because of this origin and his race. A certain sector of the press provided reports of what happened in the palace, in Punta Sal, and in social gatherings. Yes, he has said the wrong things on many occasions, as well as Karp (his wife), but the criticisms and the way that they criticized him had never been seen with other Peruvian presidents.
A new example of the press treatment recently emerged, in which allegations towards Toledo and a supposed “smoke screen” became part of the public conversation. The blog Manito de Cuy [ES] summarizes these charges:
En sorpresiva conferencia el Congresista Gustavo Espinoza de UPP denunció, muy alegremente, el dia de hoy a mediodia, a Alejandro Toledo por el delito de violación contra una agraciada señorita de nombre Diana Arévalo Sagastegui de 22 años. El supuesto hecho, habría ocurrido el mes de setiembre pasado y denunciado ante la comisaria de Orrantia. Segun lo señalado por Espinoza el hecho habria ocurrido en casa de Adam Pollack el mismo que habría invitado a la citada señorita a “una reunión de orgía y licor” (sic) donde habría sido sometida a las bajas pasiones del ex-mandatario
Resulta realmente sorprendente y sospechosa esta denuncia a pocas horas de debatirse la moción de censura al ministro Alva Castro. No queremos creer que denuncias como estas deban ser entendidas como parte de un manejo político digno. Parece mas una cortina de humo diseñada a opacar las repercusiones de la censura al Ministro del Interior.
In a suprise press conference, Congressman Gustavo Espinoza of UPP joyfully accused Alejando Toledo of the crime of rape of a 22-year-old young woman named Diana Arévalo Sagastegui. The alleged act was said to have occurred last September and reported to the COMISARIA of Orrantia. According to the statement made by Congressmen Espinoza, the act took place in Adam Pollack's house, who had invited the young woman to a “an orgy and liquor gathering” where she was faced with the advancements by the ex-president. It was very surprising and suspicious that the allegations took place a few hours before the motion to censure the minister Alva Castro was to have taken place. We do not want to believe that the allegations to be part of a political ploy. It appears to be a smokescreen designed to hide the repercussions of the censure of the Interior Minister.
After going back and forth, the blogger Marco Sifuentes of El Útero de Marita [ES] and journalist with the television program La Ventana Indiscreta provides some additional details:
Hoy fui al sitio donde ocurrió la supuesta violación. Resultó ser el local de una empresa de Pollack. También fui al lugar que Diana Arévalo dio como su domicilio. Resultó ser, según los vecinos, el local de un servicio de call-girls (chaza la elegancia). El incidente ocurrió hace dos semanas. La chica en cuestión nunca hizo la denuncia -se chupó apenas pisó la comisaría- y, por tanto, no se sometió al médico legista, así que a estas alturas no hay ninguna forma de probar qué ocurrió. Y esa “ocurrencia” policial sospechosamente mal hecha (¿”una persona llamada Toledo”?) no ayuda mucho. En fin, todo indica que aquella fue una típica noche loca más de nuestro ex presidente favorito, pero gone wrong. Lo cual no quiere decir necesariamente que sea culpable. Ni inocente.
ACTUALIZACIÓN (06/10): Lo dicho: una noche loca más. Anoche habló la chica en La Ventana Indiscreta y ahora cuenta que Toledo no la violó. A lo más se le fue encima, pero eso queda, creo, en el terreno de negociaciones entre dos adultos. Ahora que Toledo le meta el juicio del año a Espinoza y que la próxima vez, digamos, cuide mejor sus pasos.
Today I went to the site where the supposed rape took place. It turned out to be place of one of Pollack's companies. It was also the place that Diana Arévalo provided as her residence. It turned out to be, according to neighbors, a call-girl service. The incident took place two weeks ago. The girl never made the report and did not submit to a medical check-up, so now there is no way of proving what happened. This suspicious police” act” poorly carried out (”a person named Toledo”?) does not help much. In the end, all indications are that it was another typical crazy night for our favorite ex-president which had gone wrong. Which does not necessarily mean that he is neither guilty, nor innocent.
UPDATE: (10/6): I told you: it was another crazy night. Last night the woman spoke on the programa La Ventana Indiscreta and says that Toledo did not rape her. At the most, he took things too far, but it ended there, I think, negotiations between two adults. Now Toledo is bringing the lawsuit of the year against Espinoza and that next time, hopefully, he watches his steps.
The way that the press informed about the allegations caught the attention of bloggers. Pepitas.com [ES] provides the headlines of some of the major newspapers and writes:
“Dime que portada tienes y te diré quién eres”. Es una frase perfecta para describir la actual línea editorial de la prensa peruana y su posición frente al poder de turno.
“Show me your front page, and I'll tell you who you are.” It is the perfect phrase to describe the current editiorial line of the Peruvian press and its position towards the current administration.
Gran Combo Club [ES] makes a few points regarding the curious differentiating details that one can see of the treatment by RPP, a Lima radio chain that reaches nationwide towards the two ex-presidents, Toledjo and Fujimori:
Fijémonos en estos dos titulares de RPP:
Congresista Espinoza denuncia que Toledo violó a una joven en “orgía”
Justicia reprogramará instructiva en proceso contra ex presidente Fujimori
Mientras Alejandro Toledo es “Toledo”, Alberto Fujimori es “ex presidente Fujimori”. Además, el congresista Espinoza sí merece que se resalte que es congresista. (Y a todo esto, Fujimori también tuvo una denuncia de violación en EEUU. Alguien podría escudriñar en el tema.)
Let's take a look at two headlines of RPP:
Congressperson Espinoza accuses Toledo of raping a young woman in an “orgy”
The Justice system reprograms instructive in process against ex-president Fujimori
While Alejandro Toledo is “Toledo”, Alberto Fujimori is “ex-president Fujimori.” In addition, the congressperson Espinoza receives the recognition that he is a member of Congress (and on top it all, Fujimori also was accused of rape in the United States. Someone could scrutinize that subject).
On television, the treatment is still noteworthy. The blog Lo Justo, Varón [ES] writes about the treatment that the accusation against Toledo received:
La depredadora de Agencia.Perú ataca de nuevo, esta vez contra otra de sus presas favoritas: Alejandro Toledo, a quien también atacó y ridiculizó sin misericordia durante su gobierno. Y hoy, con la burda y torpe denuncia de un bípedo bautizado como Gustavo Espinoza, a la sazón congresista de la República, la “Chichi” no desaprovechó la oportunidad y desenvainó la chaira contra Toledo Manrique, dedicándole DOS programas a la ‘denuncia' ésta, a la vez que trataba con guante de seda al tal Espinoza.
The predator Agencia.Peru attacks once again, this time against one of its favorite targets: Alejandro Toledo, who was also attacked and ridiculed without any mercy during this term. And today, with clumsy charges from the savage Gustavo Espinoza, Cecilia Valenzuela (of the television program La Ventana Indiscreta) took advantage of the opportunity and gave it to Toledo Manrique, dedicating TWO programs to the “allegations”, and at the same time handled Espinoza with silk gloves.
Turkey is Typing…Ramadan Edition
Ramadan is in its last week and it seems only fitting to hear from the Turkish part of the Middle East region as to their impressions of this holy month. Join us as we talk about the perils of early morning drumming, censoring food on TV, the running of the cows, and perhaps the best ice cream in the world!
In the case of any holiday time, and specifically with one a rigorous as Ramadan, there are always downsides and upsides to fasting. Expat bloggers, for one, note the frustration of the drummer that walks through the neighborhoods to wake everyone up. From Carpetblogger:
Ramazan started this morning, and when I was told that the “Ramazan Davulcusu” would walk around the neighborhoods at daybreak beating drums to wake people up in time for Sahur, the morning feast before the day of fasting, I suspected that was probably a quaint tradition that lived on villages, but not in cosmopolitan Istanbul.
Since double-sided drums are being sold at the local Carrefour, I shouldn't have been surprised when, at 4 am this morning, about five young guys walked all around the neighborhood beating their drums and singing Ramazan carols. Um, 30 days of 4 am wake up calls with drums? Sorry I'll be missing that!
And from Turkey and My Foreign Perspectives:
In Turkey and around the world, there was a time when we had no alarm clocks. Humans had to find ways to wake up in the morning to go to their fields or to work. Many waited for the sound of the rooster to crow them awake, or the church bells to chime, or the first call to prayer bellow out from the mosque.
Today, we have personal alarms to wake us up—so I thought. This morning at 3:45 a.m., I was abruptly awakened by a very loud, tinny-sounding drum in my neighborhood. I thought there was a parade coming to town. The drum was heard throughout the neighborhood for a full 15 minutes!
Since I rarely sleep through the night, I was not amused, because I don't return to slumber for at least a couple of hours. I am NOT humored by a poor drummer coming to my neighborhood to sound his drum at such an early hour of the morning.
I got another reminder this morning that I live in Turkey
Ramazan (the Turkish word for Ramadan) also brings with it and increase in food prices, traffic accidents and traffic deadlock, and the odd bit of censorship as Me and Others illustrates:
i have just finished reading a column in a newspaper. now, this columnist is asked what he thinks about a specific situation observed in tv shows. i dont really watch tv so im only rephrasing him. as you know we are in the holy month of ramadan. and in tv shows, when people are drinking, the glasses, the bottles, or whatever are blurred so that people dont see what they are drinking. and i mind you that they are not doing this auto-censor because they are sensitive about giving bad ideas to the kids who might be watching the show. they are doing it because we are in the holy month of ramadan and they want to show that they are sensitive about it.
from my point of view this is just stupid. and i think this is a peer pressure. i know how tv channels work and how they are money oriented, which also means they get as populist as it gets. so i have no little doubt that they are in such a foolish act just because they want to look like politically correct….
also, we might be in the month of ramadan in real life, but the virtual people of tv series dont have to follow our agenda. they might be enjoying the sunny beaches while it is snowing outside of our very windows. they can drink because they are not supposed to be in ramadan. or, they can be in ramadan and they can again drink, because those drinking characters might be representing those infidel secular citizens of turkish republic who have no respect for the common values of our moslem yet suppressed population. then should we blur the raki glass? and does this change the fact that they are drinking? does showing or blurring such scenes make any change in the lives of those moslems who watch the show? or perhaps, dont they juts care and they are only those money oriented media barons who come up with such stupidity? why they werent practicing such stupidness in the past but now, for the cost of our very valuable brain cells.
Ramazan is also a wonderful time too (despite the complaints), it is a time to wish others well, to tease your friends for things like including an Efes beer with your Iftar meal (the meal to break the fast at the end of the day), and times for your office to get closer with special celebrations. Bea from Turkey and My Foreign Perspectives gives a great list of things to love at Ramadan:
I love to see the homes and restaurants filled with people who are breaking bread together and for a few moments everyone greets one another in peace. We can do the same by calling a friend or a family member to ask forgiveness…
I love to see the restaurant owners send their waiters to give someone less fortunate in the street a tray of food. We need to make a special point to give something to those less fortunate….
I love it when my neighbors inquire after me because I am alone during Ramadan. Do you know someone who needs your attention?…
I love it that people have a time they commit to doing small kindnesses remembering that Ramadan is a time for doing something for their God and also for mankind. Can we think to do this all year long?
In other matters, Istanbul has been the home for some amazing pieces of art, as Talk Turkey points out:
The city I was born in is hosting the 10th annual International Istanbul Biennial, the contemporary-art festival held every odd year with “more than a hundred artists and artist collectives from three dozen countries” as reported by Peter Schjeldahl of The New Yorker. Lucy Cunningham, a critic for Bloomberg News says, “Istanbul was voted as 2010 European Capital of Culture in part because of the biennial.” No matter what the event, or the eventual excuse, I will always have a special place in my heart for Istanbul, even though as Orhan Pamuk confesses, “the new and opulent Istanbul of today is not the melancholy city I knew as a boy.”
New York Muhtari has scores of photos of Istanbul this season, including many of the cow parade placed around the city for the Biennial.
We end today with some information about Turkish ice cream, an acquired taste to be sure, but ice cream that doesn't melt has its perks. The Thinking Blog explains:
Two features distinguish Turkish ice cream: texture and resistance to melting. It is much tougher and chewier than that of the ice cream used in sundaes, gelato or commercially produced ice cream. The unusual texture is produced by the use of salep (a flour made from dried orchid tubers) and mastic resin as thickening agents, together with other flavorings. It is sometimes sold from carts as street food, where the mixture is churned regularly with long-handled paddles to keep it workable.
Be sure to visit the post for links to video to see how it is made and treated. The Carpetblogger however isn't as favorable to this unique Turkish desert:
Dondurma is ice cream made with salep (flour made from an orchid tubers) and mastic, which makes it taste like a cold, sugary tire. Personally, I can't stand it, but Turks go nuts over it. Generally, I like hot salep (a warm drink made in winter that cures every ailment) and mastic makes Turkish puddings nice and gummy, but the two together in ice don't work for me.
The vendors on Istiklal do raging business, stretching it and whacking away at it with metal poles and playing tricks on little kids.
That's all for this week, to those in Turkey celebrating…. Iyi Bayramlar!
Morocco: Looking inward, looking outward
This week, a post by Adilski of A Moro in America, considered inflammatory by many, sparked a discussion amongst bloggers inside and outside of the blogoma. The post, written in Arabic and translated for Global Voices, discussed the way Moroccans are maligned in the Gulf, considered prostitutes and gold diggers. From the translation:
Al Arabiya TV is launching a war on the Moroccan society and in particular it's women. Apparently, the channel, which is broadcast from Dubai and is being pumped with Saudi money, depend in its reports from Morocco on ticking the preconceptions found in the imagination of Gulf Arabs. In these reports, Moroccan women are pictured as lenient and immersed in lust, sexual pleasures and magic rituals aimed at stealing both the minds and money of Gulf Arab men. At any rate, no one can deny that unemployment, poverty and materialism has forced a lot of girls into prostitution as a solution, either to make a living or because of their naivety, mixed with some greed, to grab a rich husband and a better future.
Xoussef, also from Morocco, agreed that Morocco is unfairly treated by many from the Gulf, and defended his country, saying:
But it's ok. Part of it is true of course, we are no angels, we have a lot of problems. Maybe we are corrupted by their standards, but not much more than others. We just don't try to hide things, we don't try anymore to look perfect.
Morocco is the only country in the region giving journalists that freedom (Apart from Lebanon Maybe, they got through that years ago i think). If a journalist tried to do the same in Egypt, Tunisia or Syria, he will be soon sued for “tarnishing the image of the country” or some equivalent, put in jail or deported. In the most open countries he will get some trouble to continue work. In Morocco you can reveal all you want, the most sordid stories and no one would “officially” blame you, as long as you keep your distance from certain red lines. We have the freedom to talk about our problems out and loud, this is a good thing. If it makes them think we all are infected with AIDS or are pedophiles, prostitutes or whatever, it's ok, as long as it permits us to deal with these issues. It's healthy to talk about problems because this is how we can fix them, hiding things wont make them disappear. This is new, so we have to bear the side effects of this “freedom”. They will get tired from Morocco sooner or later, and then they will find an another prey, as long as it's not in the Gulf of course. May be Pakistan is next.
In the comments, Bill Day (an American who blogs about Morocco) commended Morocco as well:
As a non-Muslim and non-Arab, my opinion may not count for much in this context, but I find Moroccan openness, tolerance, and cosmopolitanism far more appealing than Saudi Arabia's sterile puritanism. Morocco may not be rich in oil, but it is rich in culture.
Myrtus is also frustrated by the treatment of Moroccans:
Lately it seems like Moroccans as a nation are increasingly experiencing a somewhat deflated sense of self, and quite frankly getting a bit ticked off at the constant personal attacks coming at them from all directions. So I find myself wondering why this is happening and what can be done to boost self-esteem.
The text in the image, from the cover of a May 2007 issue of Morocco's TelQuel magazine, reads:
Parties travailler dans les pays du Golfe comme coiffeuses au hôtesses, des milliers de Marocaines se retrouvent séquestrées battues et forcées a se prostituer. Cherchant a s’évader, certaines sont emprisonnées ou même assassinées ! Et le Maroc se tait, au nom de “considérations diplomatiques .” Il est temps de briser cette scandaleuse omerta.
Of course, there are two sides to every story and what made the original post inflammatory was not the defense of Moroccan women or frustration with their treatment, rather, it was the insults hurled at those from the Gulf. Silly Bahraini Girl took offense to Adilski's words:
As a woman, I am hurt by Adilski's generalisations. As an educated Gulf citizen, I am not surprised, for in my career and travels, I have come across those specimens* so many many times, that I know that racism have no boundaries, and nothing is sacred.
*Moroccan prostitutes
Qwaider, commenting in Silly Bahraini Girl's blog says:
Anyway, I get your point that you don't think the problem originated by men buying the merchandise. After all, the supply is there. But fact is. It's like any business based no supply and demand. And that demand (and the buying power) is there in the gulf
A larger issue is with the wonderful women from the gulf who end up marrying to one of those guys after he contracts a million STD and all her decency and virtue will not protect her from contracting what he's got!
A final comment from xoussef, also made in the blog of Silly Bahraini Girl, shows that both sides might very well be responsible:
I fully agree with you, but i also understand his anger. It hurts so much to be treated like that, so it's exactly the kind of superficial and epidermic reaction you can expect from both parts. Look what was your reaction to a single post, and imagine what would it be if it was systematic.
…
That aside, as long as people are adult and consenting, i think they should be free to do whatever they want in private. But If you blame Moroccan women in golf states for being prostitutes or hunting for rich husbands, you should also blame Khaleeji (Gulf) men willing to pay for sex and to take second and third wives. There is no supply without demand.
Image Credit: TelQuel Magazine
Iraq: Biden Backfires
Or so says Al-Ghad. In an analysis by the Iraqi Communist Party (Central Leadeship) published in the blog Al-Ghad, they said, “Senator Biden’s motion [in congress calling for the partitioning of Iraq] has already backfired. It was condemned by the great majority of the Iraqi people and the political personalities, including high-ranking officials of the US installed government.”
And given the universal criticism in Iraqi blogs, they may have a point.
Before the senate voted on this bill, Iraq the Model was suggesting that, given the political conditions in Iraq, the American administration should move to promote unity. They wrote:
This would be a good opportunity for the administration to convince the Sunni, Shia and Kurds that it’s time to accept one another and that there’s no other choice but to learn to coexist and work together. And, most importantly, to tell them that America doesn’t want to meet Sunni, Shia or Kurdish leaders defined as such; that it’s more interested in speaking to leaders who identify themselves as Iraqis first and foremost.
And then along came Senator Joseph Biden's resolution which instead suggested that Iraqi should be split into three sectarian regions. Here is a selection from blogs that cover a spectrum of Iraqi political opinion.
Criticism
We, Iraqis, have invented the wheel, the alphabet and the law, we began lavish construction of hospitals and libraries, and have made endless scientific discoveries and inventions through the millenniums… Collectively, we refuse intimidation and occupation and so we are willing, able and ready to prevent IRAQ from being divided.Let us read this as a reminder and act upon it. We, Arabs, Kurds, Turkmans and other ethnic groups must work together and not allow the division of IRAQ to take place, ever.
And so was Hammorabi:
It is not up to the others like the American Congress to decide about the fate of Iraq or to vote to divide it into states. The division is nothing but one of the ugly outcomes of the war and the imperialist occupiers of the 21 century.Only the Iraqis will decide for themselves and they got history going back to more than 6,000 years as one state. Death to those who got ill intention to divide Iraq.
Fayrouz reminded us of past racist comments of Senator Biden and wrote:
I wasn't really surprised when the Senator from Delaware proposed a bill to divide Iraq into three regions. Again, I wasn't surprised when the bill passed the Senate. Always remember, Washington is run by politicians who voted for the war in Iraq, want to get re-elected and/or are running for President. Senator Biden matches the whole criteria. …What amazes me most about this plan is the ignorance of Senate. Theoretically, Iraq is a sovereign country — at least on paper. But when it comes to what's wrong and right for Iraqis, the American politicians suddenly become the most knowledgeable folks in town.
A&E Iraq wonders what right congress has to legislate on dividing Iraq and suggested the resolution will focus Iraqi anger against America. He writes:
who gave the Congress members the right to discuss our future and the future of our country like we’re their slaves. Who gave them the right to suggest dividing a land they claimed that they’re doing a mission in it and will be leaving soon. I wonder if the American government will apologize for such stupid attitude of its Congress.Those people believe that they’re masters and they’re teaching us something, and whenever we disagree with that we’re just in denial.
… This kind of thinking helps Iraqis cope with the madness, I think. It helps them focus their rage on an enemy they have hated all their lives: the US and UK.
Fatmia agrees: “Who gave them that right? As my sister in law said, ‘didn't know that the U.S. had added a 51st state.'”
And Raed suggests that congress has some strange bedfellows in its wish to partition Iraq:
Bush administration, with the support of Congress, has taken the same side as Iran's hardliners and the same side as the Sunni fundamentalist group called al-Qaida in Iraq.
And Analysis
But criticism alone is not enough without some counter argument. One must also look to the causes of the internal strife in Iraq. And here also there is much in the blogs.
Ali does not believe the sectarian war is from the Iraq people but from a combination of lack of security and “a government that is full of thieves, racists, extremists, and murderers.” He writes:
They are not loyal to Iraq, but to neighboring countries - Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. None of them is passionate about Iraq but they are still in power.Four years went by and people with education, passion, plans for Iraq have not been listened to and have not been protected. Many of them have been killed and the rest have fled the country and what is the result? The result is the Iraq that we see today.
While 24 Steps to Liberty thinks that the parties in power are at fault and should have never been allowed to stand for election. He explains why:
The political leaders in Iraq now are Shiites by name only, but they don’t care about Iraq or Iraqis, obviously. They are all traumatized; they were forced to leave the country decades ago, many of their family members were killed by the baathist regime in Iraq. Hakim alone lost more than 60 relatives to the baathist government….How can someone with a history of sorrows and agonies like Hakim be trusted to govern Iraq? He has all this hatred in his heart, understandably, and the only thought he has in mind is to take revenge. Not only by ordering his Badr “organization” to kill Sunnis everywhere and for no guilt of theirs, but also by turning a deaf ear and blind eye on the corruption of the government. Why should he care? This is the country that killed his relatives and sent him to exile for years and years.
Raed on the other hand says the violence is all political. He writes: “those defining the civil war within Iraq as a religious conflict alone miss the point. Iraq's war is over control of the country and its energy supplies, not over Allah.”
Free Iraq sees an insidous link to the partiton plan in a leaked document on corruption from the American Embassy in Baghdad. He writes:
Note, in pages 14 and 15 [of the above U.S. Embassy report] how Corruption cases are divided into Shia/Sunni/Kurd. Since when do belief and ethnic background make a difference when it comes to stealing? Perhaps this demonstrates how the State Dept is preparing for partitioning Iraq?
And Al-Ghad considers this a sign that war has reached a dead-end. It wrote:
the motives behind the Senate’s motion is the realisation that the war on Iraq has reached a dead end. US forces in Iraq are exhausted and are facing un-glorious defeat, and the US might end up [quoting Senator Biden] “having to go to a draft”.
All this just reminds me of my favourite quote from a Financial Times editorial which said: ‘given a series of bad options in Iraq, the American administration usually chooses something even worse'.
Waiting in the PMR
Photo by LJ user nicolas_82, titled ожидание: троллейбуса нет и нет… (”Waiting - but the trolleybus just won't come…”)
I have blogged a fair amount at Scraps of Moscow about the PMR, the secessionist entity (or de facto state, depending on your preferred terminology) located along Moldova's eastern border on a patch of land called Transnistria, Transdniestria, Transdniester, Transdnestr, or Pridnestrovie (again, depending on your preference and politics). A Fistful of Euros has recently blogged about this troubled territory - not once, but twice - and a couple of Austrian journalists have just published a book on the region that looks like it will be interesting; but it can be difficult to find voices from the region unfiltered by spinmasters working for or against the PMR's secession.
With that in mind, I decided to poke around in the universe of Russian-language LiveJournals and found a couple of interesting communities. Foto_pmr - the source of the photo above - is an interesting if not very often updated site with a diverse array of photos from the region. The Tiraspol city community ocity also has a wide array of postings - everything from the city's new anthem (picked up from Russian news agency Novyi Region 2) to photos of “the PMR's Paris Hiltons” and a post about “Electronic music in Pridnestrovie.” I decided to translate a couple of posts from the ocity community (RUS):
A rhetorical question when the barrel is pointed at your nose
When you go into the recently built IDK [InterDnestrKom] service center, you feel like you're in a European country - everything is so awesome and captivating, and also unusual for this area (mirrored ceilings… I've been waiting to see them for a while, and the wall in the Quake room is cool). Then you go to the passport department at the MVD [Ministry of Internal Affairs] and understand that you're in far-off 1993, and it's the same old sovok, and nothing has changed in all this time - you show up with your own forms/sheets of paper from a notebook and fill them out. Watching this contrast for an hour, you involuntarily start to think, “What sort of a state do we have? A wealthy one or a poor one? And that right there, bro', is a dilemma. Practically a rhetorical question.
And a second post, in response to the first one:
To the post about the poverty and wealth of our republic
Whenever I turn on the TV (although that's only rarely), on the TV PMR “news” I often see clips about the expenditure of budgetary funds on such things, that you can't help but think, “How much money must we have, if we can afford that?”
Today I saw a story about the restoration of the “Druzhba” hotel. Was this the government's idea?! The report talked about how they're going to make this so-called hotel into something beautiful. But literally the day before yesterday I was in the hospital. Probably 70% of the equipment there is older than I am [the poster's profile says he was born in 1987 - trans.]. And this equipment is going to check my health, make me well and keep me alive if something happens! Many operations could be done much more safely and with less pain, if the doctors had decent equipment. They showed my friend that if he got operated on here, they would have to make a hole in him the size of a fist, and if he got it done in Chisinau, then they would make a small incision a centimeter long. Because there they have more modern equipment. There must be thousands of such examples in EVERY ONE of our hospitals.
That's why I want to know, is the hotel's reconstruction really worth the danger posed to the health of the citizens of this republic if they should happen to come down with anything more serious than the flu[?]
I want to see a business plan showing the projected profitability of this hotel and in general all of the expenditures from the government's budget. For example, on the website of the Supreme Soviet.
Comments to the post are interesting and state that the hotel is actually being renovated by its owner, a private investor (but question the demand for a luxury hotel in the city), and that the PMR's budgets are published periodically and available by subscription.
The Hotel Druzhba received a mention in one of Edward Lucas's reports from the PMR earlier this year:
The misnamed Hotel Druzhba (Friendship) used to be the only place to spend the night in Tiraspol. For connoisseurs of truly dismal Soviet-style rudeness, apathy, squalor and clashing shades of muddy pastel, it is still unmissable. As a place to stay, its noisy, draughty rooms, with their nylon sheets, uneven tiles, flimsy locks and eccentric plumbing, leave a lot to be desired.
For other discussions by Tiraspolians and other Transnistrians, you can also check out this online forum.
Links for Wed, 2007-10
Bosnia Blog writes about a song about Bosnia by the Cranberries' - and another one, by an Italian rock band.
“The U.S. courts charge Srebrenica genocide suspects for immigration fraud, but fail to prosecute them for war crimes,” writes Srebrenica Genocide Blog - and posts “an incomplete list of Srebrenica genocide suspects who were (so far) arrested in the United States and charged only with immigration fraud.”
Srebrenica Genocide Blog posts an interview with the former official spokesperson for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia at the Hague - who claims that “France, Great Britain and the United States have in effect protected Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, and are refusing to make available documents showing Milosevic’s involvement in the genocide at Srebrenica.”
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