http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19201967/
Madness. Total madness. Mediators tried to shout protests calling for unity and to stop the shooting but to no avail. Hamas gunmen shot at them instead.
Hamas and Fatah are obsessed with wiping each other out. Forget the innocents. Hamas has even gone to the extreme of breeding followers by starting them out young, turning schools into secular institutions.
Showing posts with label sectarian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sectarian. Show all posts
13 June, 2007
01 May, 2007
Sectarian divisions further deepening
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/05/01/iraq.office/index.html
New revelations. But this isnt new. The U.S. is just caught in a big mess it can't handle at this stage. Everyone deserves justice but Iraqis have no definition and cannot get to an agreement on how to achieve it. No matter how many times the U.S. gets blamed for getting involved, the issue that sticks out like a sore thumb is the glaring reality of sectarian divisions.
New revelations. But this isnt new. The U.S. is just caught in a big mess it can't handle at this stage. Everyone deserves justice but Iraqis have no definition and cannot get to an agreement on how to achieve it. No matter how many times the U.S. gets blamed for getting involved, the issue that sticks out like a sore thumb is the glaring reality of sectarian divisions.
12 April, 2007
Iraq's Sectarian Divide
No one wants to see the sectarian divide that erodes Iraq's road for peace. Take a look at the map posted on CNN.http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2005/iraq.transition/
(click on the link on this page called Baghdad's sectarian divide) Doesnt this give you dejavu on similar divisions in Lebanon during last summer's war between Israel?
At this point, I think no matter what the U.S., Britain or any stereotypically branded Western country does (thank you radical Islam), there is no recognizable period of stability for a majority of countries in the Middle East these days that signify that they do want democracy. There will always be this terribly frustrating mix of cultural dichotomies, religious beliefs and archaic traditions that plague countries like Iraq, Lebanon and Iran to name a few. So why should the U.S. stay in Iraq? As an American I feel proud knowing that I live in a democracy and that despite all the prejudices that are still evident in this country, a majority DO have an awareness that things are far better here than they are in the Middle East. I think it is downright unfair to convince Americans to believe that they're fighting for Iraqi people's rights to a fair democracy when these people are still closely tied to nations who continue to undermine their desire to achieve freedom. It's like treating a victim who still cherishes the victim mentality and uses it for their own benefit. One minute they're friends to the U.S. and the next the U.S. becomes this evil force that invaded their country for political gain. Everyone is scum while they remain the victims.
23 February, 2007
Iran aiding Lebanon and Sectarian alliances
Came across this article on Time. Yes it's several months old but it's kick-you-in-the-head great to read how hypocrisies that Azadeh writes about dont get published in mainstream news often enough.
So where do Iranians and Lebanese stand? Who knows. There has to be a direction right? Not in the conflict-riddled Middle East. The clear message these days is that sectarian divisions are clearly fueling the fire for more unrest and confusion.
I highlighted my favorite sections..;-)
Thursday, Aug. 31, 2006
The Backlash Against Iran's Role in Lebanon
By Azadeh Moaveni
This is the first installment of Lipstick Jihad, a regular column by Azadeh Moaveni, TIME's Tehran correspondent and author of Lipstick Jihad: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America and American in Iran.
One very early morning this week, the people in my neighborhood who wanted fresh bread for breakfast congregated outside the local bakery, wondering why the doors were locked and the stone oven cold. Fifteen minutes later, when it became clear there would be no bread that day, people began speculating why a bakery that has been open every weekday for literally decades should mysteriously be shut. The small crowd swiftly concluded the worst: the Iranian government had sent all the country's flour to Lebanon.
By noon, when I was up and contemplating a sandwich, word had spread around the neighborhood. Everyone blamed the dearth of fresh bread on the government's over-generous aid to the Shi`ites of Lebanon, displaced in the recent fighting between Israel and Hizballah. I should point out that my neighborhood is split between religious and secular families, and that the most pious of the bread-deprived were just as quick to shake their heads with resentment. No one said "let them eat cake," but it came pretty close.
Two days later, a gleaming new counter arrived outside the bakery. The baker was remodeling, and as far as he knew, there had been no massive delivery of grain to Lebanese Shi`ites. But as is so often the case in such matters, the truth is almost less relevant than what becomes the prevailing belief. That people so readily accepted that their government would forsake their daily loaf for a distant Islamic cause just speaks to the overwhelming bitterness these days in Tehran. Most people are convinced the government is spending outrageous sums on the Lebanese, and ever since the Iranian government declared a "victory" for the militant group Hizballah, rumors of what the Lebanese are 'getting' have been flying. Free SUVs? Plasma televisions? Nothing seems out of the question. Nightly news broadcasts that Iranians watch on their illegal satellite dishes have shown Hizballah doling out thick stacks of cash, courtesy of Iran. "Did you see the cash? They're giving each family ten thousand dollars!" one of my relatives phoned to tell me.
For the majority of Iranians who are barely scraping by, such news is infuriating. In fact, unpopular government spending on a faraway Arab community brings out a rather ugly Persian chauvinism. One story has Mrs. Nasrallah, the wife of Hizballah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, receiving a gift of Iranian caviar, and thinking it some sort of jam. There is no jam that looks like tiny eggs, I told the friend who repeated the story to me. Her look told me I was being obtuse. The fact is, the more President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his government pander to public sentiment in the Arab world, which is ecstatic over Hizballah's defiant stand against Israel, the more Iranians feel neglected.
The government of former President Mohammad Khatami was much more sensitive to Iranians' feelings, in particular their ripe tendency to fume when state money is spent outside Iran's borders. It underplayed the amount of cash and aid Iran pumped into Afghanistan after the removal of the Taliban. As a result, Iranians had no idea that for once, their government played a noble role in rebuilding a war-ruined neighbor. But it also saved them from resentment. Earlier this week, a front page headline in an Iranian newspaper read: "In Arab countries, they call the president Mahmoud." Iknow the president is popular in the Arab world. My Arab friends grin like Cheshire cats when he appears on Al-Jazeera, fire breathing his revulsion for the U.S. But would they like him to appoint him as honorary head of the Arab League? I hardly think so.
The main reason Iranians dislike the government's Islamic generosity is because in general, they believe their leaders use Islam as a cloak for their own economic greed. When police started confiscating illegal satellite dishes earlier this month — ostensibly satellite is banned for its impure Western content — in about two days the whole city knew exactly why. The story went like this: the son of a prominent regime-connected ayatullah had recently begun importing small, laptop-size satellite dishes. If the government rounded up the ungainly, rooftop dishes, and flooded the market with the discreet little one, everyone would be forced to buy the ayatullah's son's dishes. This connection between regime piety and corrupt wealth dominates how Iranians see the world — the little events that transpire in their daily lives, from bread shortages to satellite raids.
Find this article at:
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1515755,00.html
So where do Iranians and Lebanese stand? Who knows. There has to be a direction right? Not in the conflict-riddled Middle East. The clear message these days is that sectarian divisions are clearly fueling the fire for more unrest and confusion.
I highlighted my favorite sections..;-)
Thursday, Aug. 31, 2006
The Backlash Against Iran's Role in Lebanon
By Azadeh Moaveni
This is the first installment of Lipstick Jihad, a regular column by Azadeh Moaveni, TIME's Tehran correspondent and author of Lipstick Jihad: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America and American in Iran.
One very early morning this week, the people in my neighborhood who wanted fresh bread for breakfast congregated outside the local bakery, wondering why the doors were locked and the stone oven cold. Fifteen minutes later, when it became clear there would be no bread that day, people began speculating why a bakery that has been open every weekday for literally decades should mysteriously be shut. The small crowd swiftly concluded the worst: the Iranian government had sent all the country's flour to Lebanon.
By noon, when I was up and contemplating a sandwich, word had spread around the neighborhood. Everyone blamed the dearth of fresh bread on the government's over-generous aid to the Shi`ites of Lebanon, displaced in the recent fighting between Israel and Hizballah. I should point out that my neighborhood is split between religious and secular families, and that the most pious of the bread-deprived were just as quick to shake their heads with resentment. No one said "let them eat cake," but it came pretty close.
Two days later, a gleaming new counter arrived outside the bakery. The baker was remodeling, and as far as he knew, there had been no massive delivery of grain to Lebanese Shi`ites. But as is so often the case in such matters, the truth is almost less relevant than what becomes the prevailing belief. That people so readily accepted that their government would forsake their daily loaf for a distant Islamic cause just speaks to the overwhelming bitterness these days in Tehran. Most people are convinced the government is spending outrageous sums on the Lebanese, and ever since the Iranian government declared a "victory" for the militant group Hizballah, rumors of what the Lebanese are 'getting' have been flying. Free SUVs? Plasma televisions? Nothing seems out of the question. Nightly news broadcasts that Iranians watch on their illegal satellite dishes have shown Hizballah doling out thick stacks of cash, courtesy of Iran. "Did you see the cash? They're giving each family ten thousand dollars!" one of my relatives phoned to tell me.
For the majority of Iranians who are barely scraping by, such news is infuriating. In fact, unpopular government spending on a faraway Arab community brings out a rather ugly Persian chauvinism. One story has Mrs. Nasrallah, the wife of Hizballah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, receiving a gift of Iranian caviar, and thinking it some sort of jam. There is no jam that looks like tiny eggs, I told the friend who repeated the story to me. Her look told me I was being obtuse. The fact is, the more President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his government pander to public sentiment in the Arab world, which is ecstatic over Hizballah's defiant stand against Israel, the more Iranians feel neglected.
The government of former President Mohammad Khatami was much more sensitive to Iranians' feelings, in particular their ripe tendency to fume when state money is spent outside Iran's borders. It underplayed the amount of cash and aid Iran pumped into Afghanistan after the removal of the Taliban. As a result, Iranians had no idea that for once, their government played a noble role in rebuilding a war-ruined neighbor. But it also saved them from resentment. Earlier this week, a front page headline in an Iranian newspaper read: "In Arab countries, they call the president Mahmoud." Iknow the president is popular in the Arab world. My Arab friends grin like Cheshire cats when he appears on Al-Jazeera, fire breathing his revulsion for the U.S. But would they like him to appoint him as honorary head of the Arab League? I hardly think so.
The main reason Iranians dislike the government's Islamic generosity is because in general, they believe their leaders use Islam as a cloak for their own economic greed. When police started confiscating illegal satellite dishes earlier this month — ostensibly satellite is banned for its impure Western content — in about two days the whole city knew exactly why. The story went like this: the son of a prominent regime-connected ayatullah had recently begun importing small, laptop-size satellite dishes. If the government rounded up the ungainly, rooftop dishes, and flooded the market with the discreet little one, everyone would be forced to buy the ayatullah's son's dishes. This connection between regime piety and corrupt wealth dominates how Iranians see the world — the little events that transpire in their daily lives, from bread shortages to satellite raids.
Find this article at:
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1515755,00.html
05 December, 2006
New Testimony on Hezbollah tactics
Amidst all the bad press Israel had been taking for actions during the recent conflicts in Lebanon, here's something on Hezbollah. I'm not taking sides here but a group that refuses to legitimize itself by working alongside the Lebanese government through more peaceful means, while receiving aid from a pseudo noble country like Iran who uses religious propaganda for political gain is just deceitful.
JERUSALEM - An Israeli think tank with strong links to the military released videos and testimony Tuesday it said proved Hezbollah guerrillas used civilians as human shields during last summer's war in Lebanon.
Click here for more on article(Yahoo link)
Video 1
Video 2
Video 3
http://www.ajcongress.org/site/PageServer
JERUSALEM - An Israeli think tank with strong links to the military released videos and testimony Tuesday it said proved Hezbollah guerrillas used civilians as human shields during last summer's war in Lebanon.
Click here for more on article(Yahoo link)
Video 1
Video 2
Video 3
http://www.ajcongress.org/site/PageServer
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