Segacs's World I Know |
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Blog about politics (mideast and pro-Israel, Canadian and local Montreal), world events, and random thoughts.
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8.3.03
Israel killed a Hamas leader today: Ibrahim al-Maqadma, a founder and top military strategist of the group of terrorist bastards responsible for the murder of hundreds of innocent Israelis (including the sixteen who died in Haifa on Wednesday). Ibrahim al-Maqadma, 51, was a founder of Hamas and the most senior Palestinian militant to be killed by Israel in a 29-month-old Palestinian uprising. Tens of thousands marched in his funeral in Gaza City, demanding vengeance.Yeah, they'll vow "revenge", which they'll then try to extract on more innocent civilians. And the world will, as usual, hold the assassination of a murderous terrorist morally equivalent to the murder of high school kids. | Woke up this morning to a phonecall from my friend in Haifa, with some horrible news: it turns out her brother lost two close friends in Wednesday's bus bombing. Tal Kerman and Elizabeta Katzman were best friends. The girls were high school students who were on their way home from looking at costumes for a play. One was close friends of my friend's brother, the other was best friends with his girlfriend. It makes me horrified and angry. Of course, every innocent victim of terror has friends, family, and people who care about them. Who the hell gave anyone the right to take away their lives? You can't worry constantly, and when a terror attack happens on the other side of the country, or even the other side of the city, most Israelis mourn but then go on with their daily lives. When it happens two minutes from your home, and takes friends from your community, it's different. My friend takes that bus regularly. It could just as easily have been her on the bus on Wednesday. Instead, she's fine but her brother had to attend the funerals of two of his friends. Where's the sanity? How do they live like that? How do they cope? And so, I file this away under T for Tragedy and start my day. How many more friends will they have to lose before the madness stops? | 7.3.03
A Palestinian-American was just acquitted of sending online death threats to Jews. A federal court jury found Fowad Assed, a Palestinian-born U.S. citizen living in Brooklyn, innocent of sending threatening e-mails, referring to three messages to the Jewish Defense League that threatened bombing businesses in Borough Park, a heavily Jewish neighborhood.Times like these test our desire for certain freedoms. In Canada, Assed would almost certainly have been convicted under hate legislation. But in the U.S., he's apparently free to threaten to blow up as many Jews as he wants. Of course, that's the whole point, right? Once you start curbing your enemies' freedoms, you're also giving them leverage to curb yours. Deny freedom of speech to the devil, and he can turn the tables right back on you. And the true test of a democracy's commitment to freedom is whether it grants that freedom to its most flagrant and despicable abusers. Fowad Assed being a case in point. | More terrorism in Israel. At least three people were killed and eight wounded Friday night by armed terrorists who infiltrated the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba.The shock waves still haven't worn off from the bus bombing in Haifa on Wednesday, and now this. Sincere condolences to the victims and their families. | 6.3.03
Iranians arrested for online dating. (via Kathryn at The Corner): Dozens of young Iranians have been detained for "unlawful actions" after using a website to arrange dates, officials say. A militia commander said 68 men and women were arrested in the capital Tehran, according to a report by Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency (Irna). The Basij militia also detained the operators of the dating website, Irna said.Of all the warnings of the dangers of online dating, I must admit this is a new one on me. | Bastards? Think again. Gil Troy wrote an opinion piece in today's Gazette about MP Carolyn Parrish's infamous reference to Americans as "those bastards". Since it didn't make it to the online version, I've transcribed excerpts below: Liberal MP Carolyn Parrish's admission that she "can't even guarantee" she would not repeat her anti-U.S. remarks is refreshing. Considering the thoughtless attacks on a sister democracy that have been festering in too many corners of the Liberal caucus - and throughout Canada - it would be futile to sweep Parrish's bigotry under the rug. Considering that, according to Parrish, "the prime minister has not said one cross word to me," it would be foolish to claim that Jean Chrétien was shocked by the sentiments. Politicians should not apologize for being caught in the act of speaking their minds. Better to air out, confront and defeat the prejudices that lead Parrish and too many other Canadians to sneer "Damn Americans. I hate those bastards."Troy goes on to give a short summary of some of the multitudes of reasons we should have a lot more respect for the United States than we do: But while Parrish enjoys her 15 minutes of fame, as she rehearses her next sound byte, she might consider dipping into her parliamentary expense account to visit the neighbour whose people she damned. [ . . . ] Let her fly over, then visit Ground Zero and see firsthand the scale of the devastation, then try opening her heart to grieve with the tens of thousands of people deprived of mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, sisters, brothers, colleagues, friends. "Sept. 11" might feel like an overplayed news story north of the border, but in so many U.S. homes it remains the day when thousands were executed for the simple crime of being American "bastards," or merely working next to them.Tempering his praise with a reality check, Troy then discusses several of America's mistakes, pointing out that no country is perfect - least of all Canada. And finally concludes with the following warning: Americans, like Canadians, did not seek these new challenges. Americans, like Canadians, spent years ignoring the growing dangers of terrorism and rogue states. Americans have been forced to confront this new reality. The least Canadians can do, even if they disagree with U.S. policy, is respect their neighbours enough to engage in vigorous and constructive debate rather than vicious and destructive calumnies.Gil Troy's a smart man, an excellent writer and speaker, and in this case he's absolutely right. Maybe what he says resonates as much as it does, just because so much of our national identity as Canadians is built on a foundation of, if not outright anti-Americanism, at least disdain and somewhat of an inferiority complex masked in airs of superiority. Why did Molson's "The Rant" commercial strike a chord of national pride that no national anthem could match? If "I AM CANADIAN" is all about what I am not, then the only logical next step is to joke about all the people who we're so eager to claim not to be. After all, who among us hasn't made a joke about "those stupid Americans"? I'm the first to admit that I do it regularly. And while my intent certainly isn't malicious - nor do I believe that all (or even most) Americans are any stupider than most or many Canadians, it's so ingrained in our culture that nobody even bats an eyelash at it. And this is Canada - a country who shares many of the U.S.'s values, politics, economic forces, and thousands of miles of the world's longest undefended border with our neighbours and best friends to the south. If knee-jerk anti-Americanism is ingrained here, imagine how much worse it is everywhere else in the world. Some of the criticism is, I think, valid. Hero worship of the United States gets us nowhere. But Gil Troy is right, just as L. Ian Macdonald was right: too much of the criticism of the United States isn't about its policies, or its problems - it's based on blanket hatred that in many ways has its roots in jealousy. A lot like antisemitism in that respect. | JWR posted an article by Sam Schulman in which he claims that appeasment in the 1930s may have accidentally caused the Holocaust, but today's anti-war activists have no accident about their intentions: Our grandparents' anti-war allies enabled the Holocaust --- by accident. Your present day anti-war allies wish quite deliberately to destroy "Jewish interests" --- and the lives of many, many Jews in the process. And this is not an unintentional byproduct of good intentions --- but for many leaders of the peace movement, a precious goal.Yeah, go read the whole thing. Twice. | Maybe I ought to take back my praise of York University, in light of this: (via Damian Penny) A protest at York University over a possible war in Iraq ended in violence yesterday when opposing groups crossed paths.The anti-war student movement keeps showing its true colours again and again: antisemitic, anti-American, and all too willing to resort to mob violence. After what happened at Concordia when Netanyahu tried to speak, there was an international outpouring of support for the Jewish community here. I have a feeling that after yesterday, the students at York could use some of the same. | As if we needed any more evidence that Saddam is a bad guy: Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has ordered uniforms replicating those worn by U.S. and British troops and will issue them to paramilitary fighters who would attack Iraqi civilians and blame it on Western forces, the U.S. Central Command charged on Thursday.Sound familiar? Sounds an awful lot like how Hitler started World War II, doesn't it? But of course, the anti-war protestors charge that it's the Americans who want to kill innocent Iraqi civilians. Sure, right. | Anthropologist Scott Atran published his study on suicide bombers in the journal Science, in which he claims that it is a dangerous misconception to call these people "desperate" or "crazed": (Hat tip: Josh) Atran, who has lived in Jerusalem and who did his own research as well as reviewed the work of others, noted that many suicide bombers are relatively affluent and well-educated, and so cannot be seen to be acting out of desperation. Instead, they are manipulated by leaders who know how to tap into instincts on par with the need to eat and reproduce.This cuts against the propaganda that pro-Palestinian apologists for terror want people to believe - that suicide bombers are fringe extremists, acting out of poverty and desperation. Atran then goes on to criticize the Western - namely American - response to Palestinian terrorism and suicide bombings: "(President) Bush has been saying the way to fight terrorism is by raising education and fighting illiteracy but he is just whistling in the wind."So far so good. Sideline the extremists. Empower the moderates. Gotcha. In other words, exactly what Israel has been insisting on all along when it refuses to negotiate with Arafat's leadership and wants to wait for a real partner for peace to emerge. Right? But then Atran goes out into left field: Atran, who addresses these issues in a recent book entitled "In Gods We Trust: The Evolutionary Landscape of Religion", said attacking Iraq will only worsen ill-feelings against the United States.In other words, the U.S. shouldn't go to war in Iraq because it might piss off the terrorists? Do I even need to explain what's wrong with that statement? | As if everyone didn't already know, Paul Martin made it official by announcing his coronation date - er - leadership candidacy for the federal Liberals today. Understatement of the year: Martin [ . . . ] said he was optimistic about his chances.Optimistic is one thing. But Martin's probably already picked out the curtains for his office already. I'm getting disheartened with federal politics in general lately. As messed up as Quebec politics are, at least I can go to the ballot box and vote for someone. But there's nobody left to vote for on the federal stage. The Liberals - even with Martin at the helm - have totally lost my respect, and I don't think I could vote for them again in good conscience. The Tory party is in shambles. The Alliance is the only party to stick up for what's right on the foreign policy stage, but I disagree with them on virtually every domestic and social issue. I won't even bother mentioning the NDP or the Bloc. And it won't matter what I do, come election time, because the Liberal dynasty is assured victory no matter what. I could vote for Mickey Mouse and it wouldn't make the slighest bit of difference. In fact, maybe I will. | 5.3.03
And on a lighter note . . . Is 7/11 less than or more than two thirds? Don't ask the CSU council. Councillors debated the issue for an hour and a half, even though some tried to stop debate twice. Delays continued as councillors and the chair attempted to determine if seven out of 11 votes constituted a two-thirds majority. The use of calculators did not help matters, as arguments ensued over the proper rounding technique to use.Remember, folks, these are university students. | Daniel Pipes will be speaking at McGill next Wednesday, March 12th (at 7pm in Stewart Biology for those interested in attending. There's a charge of $2 and all proceeds go towards helping victims of terror.) According to Stewart, Pipes doesn't anticipate another riot - he thinks that the thugs have learned their lesson after the Concordia riot and the York demonstration. His lecture is part of the larger 24 Hours for Israel initiative beginning at sundown March 12th and lasting all day on the 13th. Hillel, FederationNext, and several other organizations are teaming up to create an all-Israel day on university campuses around the city. At a time when morale is low - especially at universities - this is definately sounding like a needed boost. | A bomb exploded in a mall in Colombia, leaving at least seven people dead and over 68 injured. Of course, this attack is horrible and sickening. Terrorism as a tactic will only keep gaining momentum all over the world as long as it keeps racking up successes. Whether the goals of the terrorists are motivated by hate (as with the case of Palestinian terrorism) or by greed (the Colombian rebel groups in conflict over drugs), the outcome is always the same for the innocent lives caught in the crossfire. | Further update on the Haifa bombing: The Jerusalem Post is now reporting that the terrorist responsible for the bombing had written a note that, among other things, praised the September 11th attack on the World Trade Centre: The suicide bomber was identified as 26-year-old Mahmoud Amadan Salim Kawassmeh, a resident of the West Bank town of Hebron.But, sure, this is only Israel's fight. Riiiiiight. | Gil Shterzer has a sobering display of images from today's bus bombing in Haifa. He says he's so sick of this shit. Well, so am I. | Reports from Israeli intelligence sources seem to indicate that war in Iraq could be only days away: The US attack on Iraq could be launched "any day" after the beginning of next week if the Turkish parliament gives the go-ahead for American troops to operate via its territory, the head of IDF intelligence told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.This is pretty much the same as most people are speculating. But Israeli intelligence is usually fairly accurate. A lot will come down to this week's events. | Andre S. posted a great collection of anti-idiotarian soundbytes to use as snappy answers to the most common objections to going to war in Iraq. They may not be the most diplomatic answers in the world, but if you're feeling impatient, they're worth a read. | In today's Gazette, L. Ian Macdonald gives his view on why Bush is losing the PR game on Iraq: The problem with U.S. foreign policy under the Bush administration is that it is unilateralist much of the time and multilateralist only some of the time. And the problem with U.S. war policy on Iraq is that the U.S. government hasn't made a conclusive case linking Saddam Hussein to terrorism.Macdonald is not saying he necessarily agrees with this opinion, but merely observing that it exists. His article is a pretty fair and accurate description on where the U.S. foreign policy went wrong. | Josh pointed me towards this great article by Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times on the issue of school prayer in the U.S. In it, Ebert argues that while he has no problem with personal prayer, the problem comes with public prayer aimed at either recruiting others or else making them feel excluded. He defines the distinction as "vertical" and "horizontal" prayer: This is really an argument between two kinds of prayer--vertical and horizontal. I don't have the slightest problem with vertical prayer. It is horizontal prayer that frightens me. Vertical prayer is private, directed upward toward heaven. It need not be spoken aloud, because God is a spirit and has no ears. Horizontal prayer must always be audible, because its purpose is not to be heard by God, but to be heard by fellow men standing within earshot.I agree with all of that so far. Individual prayer is fine. After all, I went to a religious school most of my life, where daily prayer was just part of the routine. But of course it wasn't compulsory for me to have gone there - I could have gone to a public school where religion wasn't forced down anyone's throats. Prayer aimed at excluding those different from oneself is another story. And here's the kicker: Because our enemies are for the most part more enthusiastic about horizontal prayer than we are, and see absolutely no difference between church and state--indeed, want to make them the same--it is alarming to reflect that they may be having more success bringing us around to their point of view than we are at sticking to our own traditional American beliefs about freedom of religion. When Ashcroft and his enemies both begin their days with displays of their godliness, do we feel safer after they rise from their devotions?Good question. | There's been another terrorist attack in Israel. A bus bombing in Haifa has left 8 people dead and the death toll could rise even further. The explosion tore the roof off the bus and turned the vehicle into a charred wreck. The blast hurled bodies out onto a main street at the entrance to the Carmeliya neighborhood in Israel's third largest city.My heart goes out to the victims and their families. You'd think by now that we would have figured out a way to react to this kind of news. But, I can't speak for others, but I haven't. My initial thought is always this sinking feeling of dread, followed by fear for the friends and family in the area, and total and utter loathing for the terrorist murderers responsible. ![]() "The center of the bus lifted up into the air; the roof was torn off." Goddamn bastards. Update: Ha'aretz reports at least 12 dead and 30 wounded. And I fear these numbers will increase further. Second update: I'm feeling a bit better now, having gotten through on the phone to Haifa and assured myself that my friends are all okay. This one just hit way too close to home. | 4.3.03
With Concordia's CSU elections now less than a month off, there's a new feeling of life among students, apparent from reading the latest version of The Link. For example, this letter is by a disgruntled student: As if pretending to be left-wing and concerned with social causes isn't enough, this executive has done nothing but damage the Union, and make us more divided than ever. How are we to unite against the Administration when we are squabbling amongst ourselves? How are we to jointly pursue progressive, student-minded causes when the executive divides Union membership at every chance that it gets?No longer a student, I can't do much but watch from the sidelines. But around this time each year, I'm filled with a sort of optimism that maybe - just maybe - this will finally be the year when students wake up and make a positive change at the ballot box. Maybe students are finally waking up to how damaging the past few CSU executives have been for everyone. If letters like the one above are any indication, it seems students are increasingly aware - or if they're not, they should be - that their only opportunity to turn things around is by voting. I hope I'm right. | The Israelis captured and arrested a Hamas founder yesterday. Sheikh Muhammad Taha was nabbed yesterday as part of an IDF incursion in Gaza. Interestingly enough, the army says that he wasn't even the original target - the army was after his son, Ayman, who seems to have links to Hamas's chief bomb maker. The army captured three of his other sons in the raid. The part I find the most telling is that today's Gazette contained a large photo of Taha - probably one of the worst terrorists and murderers of Israeli civilians anywhere - being tended to on a stretcher and taken to an Israeli hospital for treatment. | 2.3.03
New blog alert: Pieter Dorsman has launched his blog, Peaktalk, and it promises to be an interesting one. Subject matter appears to be mideast politics, Canadian politics, and world politics. Here's a preview: Even though I was very young I must have sensed what it meant to bring your own security wherever you went: you are nowhere safe and, more importantly, you can rely on absolutely no one to provide that security for you. It was so different from the way we lived. At the time I was impressed with and proud of those great Israelis who took care of their own affairs and it must have instilled the importance of being self-reliant and independent in me. This feeling was reinforced a little while later when Israeli commandos liberated a group of Jewish hostages on the airport of Entebbe in Uganda were they were held captive by a group of Palestinian and German left-wing terrorists. And a few years later the Israelis again took matters into their own hand by bombing a nuclear facility under construction in Iraq, knowing very well that the country's security would be fatally impaired if that facility would ever become operational.I recommend you check it out. | |
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