By William Markiewicz
(As other short items may follow, I've decided to group them together.)
Overstatement (10/25)
My previous comment in Open Bouquet, "Bhutto and Musharaff," states that Pakistan's situation is analogous to Iraq and Afghanistan. Of course this can't be because Pakistan is not occupied. Pakistan could live better without the US and Nato presence in Central Asia but the USA puts pressure on Pakistan to fight its own population. This is next to impossible and is at the core of Pakistan's problem.
Bhutto and Musharaff, Opponents and Allies (10/24)
-- adversaries in the election campaign, allies because they both support
Western intervention in Central Asia. Sincere or not, they want to remain on the US side because it's their only way to survive. No matter how wrong and cruel religious fundamentalism may be,
Al Qaeda and the Taliban have nationalism and religion on their side, both essential motivators of history. The rebels have the tactical advantage of geography. The official politicians have the hated foreign forces on their side, so it is unlikely that they will be the final winners. Al Maliki,
Kharzai, Musharaff, and now Bhutto, embroider the common bag of troubles.
What is Art? (10/18)
If philosophy assaults the brain with ideas, art attacks the brain – meaning us – through our senses. Physical activity is required but not absolutely necessary to make art; art on the computer requires little physical activity and the same can be said of photography. Modern art creates confusion between art and philosophy because it's loaded with philosophical content. The goal of an artist may be shock, surprise -- legitimate human preoccupations –- but, is it art? For instance, lately in New York there is an exhibition of a chocolate sculpture showing Jesus Christ nude and this is defined as art. The craftsmanship may be impeccable but the motive remains provocation. Is it profane to show a divinity nude? In Judaeo-Christian and Muslim cultures, yes. To underline the profane aspect of divinities is not a statement in the field of art but an idea. I don't propose censorship at all; people may express whatever they want, but we don't develop art by introducing non-artistic notions. All the non–artistic notions, no matter how useful, impoverish art as such. The magical beauty of the illuminated works ended with the more useful printed book.
Boredom (10/12)
Pierre Elliot Trudeau once advised Navy members who complained about boredom: "Buy a ticket and go to Japan on your vacation!" With his busy politician's schedule he was unaware of the long lasting monotony endured by those on duty. People who have the most responsible and potentially dangerous tasks may be as bored as some clerks in monotonous office jobs.
It is the task of the psychologists to know the psychological portrait of each sailor, soldier, police person, and to add some interest to their daily routines. Vigilance and punishment are insufficient deterrents if many drafted into their duties feel their situation too confining; after all we're thinking and impatient creatures.
Past wars were mostly competitive. Presently, particularly due to the mostly Western prosperity, new calamities have appeared. As obesity is destructive for the organism, boredom may have a destructive effect on unemployed energies. Canada's engagement in the US wars in Central Asia may be partially the result of the Canadian warlords' boredom.
Quo Vadis (10/11)
Recently Bush declared that America does not torture and that certain methods are required to save American lives. So, in one breath he expressed two contradictory ideas and he does it in such a natural way that people don’t even react.
Last night Bush declared that we shouldn't use the term genocide when talking about Armenians because Turkey doesn't like it and Turkey is a very important ally.
If the President of the U.S.A. is obliged to throw a veil over torture and genocide in the interests of American foreign policy, then this foreign policy must be terribly wrong. The invasion of Iraq was totally unjust and 9/11 is no justification for the permanent occupation of Afghanistan. There were other methods to make Osama Bin Laden pay; either to catch him or force him to stay in perpetual hiding. Now there it's no longer a question of Osama but of 'building democracy.' Why in Afghanistan? Aren’t there other places that require democracy? What's going on now doesn't fight terrorism but feeds it.. America is on the way to a dangerous fall, who knows toward what and for how long.
Whose Strength and Whose Weakness? (10/04)
A TV program yesterday featured political experts discussing why Kharzai now offers peace to the Taliban and the general conclusion was that the Taliban has become weaker because its leadership was decimated by the allies' attacks and, also, among the Taliban there is a growing tendency not to follow Al-Qaeda's links to world jihad.
The Taliban conditions for peace require first of all that foreign forces be driven out of Afghanistan. This is of course unacceptable to Kharzai because he survives thanks to those foreign forces. As far as I know, the Taliban did not participate in any global jihad acts and when Al-Qaeda acts outside Iraq it is still not a global jihad because no non participants in the war are attacked. Regarding the Taliban's decimation, I don’t see any notable changes in the war that would justify such optimism from the experts.
Business as Usual (10/04)
Why does the military Junta attack its own population in Burma? For the same reason the U.S. attacked Iraq and perhaps soon Iran, meaning for the resources there. Several neighbouring countries, and beyond, trade with Burma and the military took power to grab and hold the profits in their own hands. They will not let one single Burmese stand in their way and the pacific Burmese population, with no significant allies, may remain prisoner of its military forever. The neighbours, being smarter than Bush, realize that it's cheaper to trade than to fight.
Dark Fortresses of Holy Warriors (9/30)
Probably we could all have predicted that the Taliban would reject Kharzai's offer. I didn't write about it before now because I didn't want to play prophet. Kharzai is in the pathetic situation of Bao-Dai who wrote a letter to his adversary addressing it "To the Patriot Ho Chi Minh" when Ho Chi Min was clearly on the winning side. You don't bet on foreign powers to build up victory in your own country. I see no future for Kharzai except that some day he will flee the country and spend the rest of his days as a refugee trembling for his life. You don't defeat a natural fortress governed by warriors for whom death doesn't exist other than as a higher spiritual form of life.
As for Maliki, trapped between two rival factions, Shiite and Sunni, sooner or later it must end in a power split with no place for him and his government. Kharzai, Maliki and perhaps Musharraf have engaged in the impossible task of winning wars against their own people
Dion and Ignatieff (9/23)
Usually I don't like to comment on interior struggles of political parties but I don't like Ignatieff and I describe the reasons in my article Savanorola- Ignatieff, You are Wrong. I don't know too much about Dion but I intuitively trust him. I think that Dion and Jack Layton should work together more closely, disregarding party differences; both are honest men with no hidden agendas.
Fortresses Afghanistan and Iraq (9/23)
I heard a fragment of a radio debate on the situation in those two countries. The most important declaration was that though the Taliban and Al Qaeda are not internally cohesive, the leadership remains firmly in the hands of religious fundamentalists. This and the geographic-demographic situation makes fortresses Afghanistan and Iraq militarily impregnable. The only plausible solution would be for the West to immediately stop the colonial wars and go away no matter what the consequences. The consequences will be bloody but not eternal and all those extremists can be fought by other than military means as we saw, for instance, in South Africa. I don't think that the U.S. will accept this solution for Iraq as the U.S. is in Iraq mostly for the oil. It seems to be an unending operation but the U.S., like proverbial China, has a lot of time at its disposal and they want to achieve Pax Americana in Iraq. The U.S. has Nato in its grip but the Western 'allies' should, individually and discretely, slip away slowly. Otherwise they will stay forever in the magma.
Oil -- the Magic Word (9/21)
For the countries with oil as the principal source of income as well as for those with insufficient oil reserves, oil is of mostly economic importance while countries which have enough of everything at their disposal shouldn't use oil as a tool for quick profit or political blackmail. To achieve this, oil, like other public wealth, should remain in supra-national hands.
Water (9/21)
Poverty throughout the planet is narrowly linked to the poverty of water resources and with big political implications; the majority of mostly illegal immigration from poor to more prosperous countries comes from the poor in water regions. In the global village economy, this problem would have been largely resolved because we have technological means to distribute water more or less evenly. The lack of initiative in this domain creates various disequilibria which manifest in social unrest in the poor countries as well as among the refugees. The situation risks becoming more explosive than we can see and foresee. Water, like the air, must sooner or later become legally a supra national property, treated as such.
No Peace for Middle East (9/19)
Israel imitates Bush’s heavy hand. Israel and the US cannot use the same tactics when their goals are different. Bush wants total victory because his goal is to subjugate the oil rich countries. Israel has no interest in dominating Palestinians who, in the first place, have no oil. Israel just needs a clean peace with the Palestinians and the rest of the Arab world, which would follow automatically. To achieve this, Israel must first give back the territories annexed against all the previous agreements. But it is next to impossible because fundamentalists that hold power in Israel and who admire Bush will never agree . The Arab guerrillas and the Israeli revenge will continue. The fundamentalists always accept peace conditions when it’s late.
"Support Our Troops" -- Slogan from Hell (9/14)
The warmongers have hijacked this slogan, meaning that the only way to support the troops is to support the war. Because what other way of support is available? Write them nice letters? Send them candy? Congratulate them for their sacrifices for the Superior Western World? The serious way to support the troops would be to bring them home. If the Liberal Leader, Stephane Dion, is in no hurry to visit Afghanistan, it's because he has nothing to say there; his opposition to this war is already well known.
Extreme Right Wing Job (9/12)
Harper declared recently that Canada will leave Afghanistan when the job is done.
All in the Name of Security (9/12)
The range of mountains between Pakistan and Afghanistan remains one of the most pristine parts of the planet. Extreme inaccessibility, harsh climate, result in wilderness of nature and its humans, called "the wild men" by Kipling - and it was a compliment. The war against the Taliban may be eternal; the Pashtun never gave up to Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, the British, the Soviets ... there remain the Americans, who may or may not use WMD to sterilize the whole region. The haunting beauty may become a lunar landscape filled with the ashes of its former life.
Embassy that Explains It All (9/12)
The monumental, mysterious US Embassy in Baghdad, one of the largest in the world, shows clearly that America invaded Iraq to remain there. How is it that countless intelligent people overlook the fact that the fight is not for democracy, for freedom, but essentially for oil? Afghanistan just has the bad luck to be Iraq's neighbour. If Osama and 9/11 had been the main focus, Afghanistan would have been punished and it would be over -- Osama caught or not. Another neighbour, Syria will be constantly watched, warned, and on the edge between war and peace. The same goes for Iran, which, in addition, has its own wealth in oil.
The Bees and the Virus (9/10)
Apparently there is great news for the Apian world. Researchers have found a virus that caused the deaths of countless bees. For millions of years bees and viruses coexisted without consequences. Other insects, like ants, that live in communities are not affected by viruses, as we know. So the sudden vulnerability of bees must be the result of humanity's long intervention into their lives.
Nazis in Israel (9/10)
There is an anguished question in Israel and throughout the world: how is it possible? First of all, each of us is different, not everybody shares solidarity with the victims of the Holocaust, especially those who never experienced it. Still, oppressors existed even among the prisoners, from Kapos of all origins to overseers of all colours in the times of slavery. Power conquers, and the aggressors could exhibit power over their victims. Therefore even the most vulnerable groups should be alert for possible traitors.
Osama the Converter (9/09)
Communism and “disaster capitalism” have in common that an omnipotent elite exploits the masses. We see that in radical Muslim countries the economy is not better, not to mention freedom. Osama’s proposal that Americans convert to Islam is fantasist; he can’t be serious. Even the Muslim invader in the Balkans didn’t succeed in converting all the Slavs. The way to end the war in Central Asia would not be achieved by following Osama bin Laden’s advice to Americans to convert to Islam. Only huge, determined, demonstrations in the Western world could achieve this. I don’t mean those soft demonstrations for peace that came and went with no effect. Noisy massive strikes would be more effective. People in the Western democracies have the impression that they are freer than they really are. Bureaucracy ignores emergency; nothing goes fast in democracies as each decision is bounded by committees and sub-committees. The anger of the masses could transcend this.
Nato Chiefs' Meeting in Ottawa (9/06)
A Canadian Nato official interviewed today on CBC Newsworld, defended Canada's membership, praising Nato's contribution to the excellent relations within the Western World. Relations for what? Aren't prosperity, education, freedom, enough without being reinforced by military dominance? The partisans of force justify it in the name of security. Small dictators don't represent a threat and the Western powers have fueled terrorism through their own intransigience and aggressivity. With a real problem like Darfur, the powerful West and its Nato have maintained a long-lasting distance.
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William Markiewicz