The Truth About the Afghan Election, Bob Grant, Parrot patriots, Accusation of Organ Theft Stokes Ire in Israel
What foreign reporting of elections in both Afghanistan and Iraq misses is that many ordinary Afghans and Iraqis see their governments as rackets run by political gangsters. The Truth About the Afghan Election By Patrick Cockburn
Bob Grant taught a generation of conservative talkers how to channel white rage, until a listener boycott helped push him off the air. As If Limbaugh and Beck Weren't Bad Enough, the Granddaddy of Hate Radio Is Back on the Air By Alexander Zaitchik
Men like Munawar Hussain, Imran Khan, Zaid Hamid, Shahid Masood, Aamir Liaquat, Mubashar Lucman (and growing) will stir and shake passionately on the mini-screen, like doing a modern-day impersonation of the great Aziz Mian Qawal; they will sweat, they will shout, wring their hands and clench their fists, pleading at the top of their voices the meaning of ‘true patriotism,’ and ‘Islam’ and how both Pakistan and Islam are in danger of being infiltrated, adulterated and eventually obliterated by strange sounding ‘lobbies’, whose existence may make fictional sense in Middle Earth in the Lord of the Rings; they smell of cynical, demagogic paranoia. The biggest irony is perhaps that it is this fringe that is a most obvious lobby. A lobby of men and women whose pleading and shouting is a clear indication of their fear of populist democracy and how this democracy can render them obsolete. Smokers’ Corner: Parrot patriots
An article in a Swedish newspaper last week accused the Israeli Army of harvesting organs from Palestinians killed by soldiers, causing a diplomatic storm. World" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/24/world/middleeast/24mideast.html" target=_blank>Accusation of Organ Theft Stokes Ire in Israel By ISABEL KERSHNER
For decades, Boston University anthropologist Thomas Barfield has been one of America's top experts on the culture and politics of Afghanistan and the region. My last conversation with Barfield, who also serves as president of the American Institute for Afghanistan Studies, dealt with political tensions in Pakistan and the prospect of that young country's dissolution. We spoke again last Friday about the previous day's Afghan election, Karzai's dapper rival Abdullah Abdullah, and why the Obama administration is quietly desperate for a runoff.
Mother Jones: Based on what you know, would you say that the election is legitimate?
Thomas Barfield: Yeah, because I think there's going to be a runoff. So the question of legitimacy will be much more important in the runoff.
MJ: Right, between Abdullah and Karzai. Who would you vote for if you were Afghan?
TB: Abdullah, because Karzai has disappointed everyone. Putting together a Warlord's Reunion Tour is hardly a vote of confidence in the future. Why America Can't Afford a Karzai Win By Michael Mechanic
Bob Grant taught a generation of conservative talkers how to channel white rage, until a listener boycott helped push him off the air. As If Limbaugh and Beck Weren't Bad Enough, the Granddaddy of Hate Radio Is Back on the Air By Alexander Zaitchik
Men like Munawar Hussain, Imran Khan, Zaid Hamid, Shahid Masood, Aamir Liaquat, Mubashar Lucman (and growing) will stir and shake passionately on the mini-screen, like doing a modern-day impersonation of the great Aziz Mian Qawal; they will sweat, they will shout, wring their hands and clench their fists, pleading at the top of their voices the meaning of ‘true patriotism,’ and ‘Islam’ and how both Pakistan and Islam are in danger of being infiltrated, adulterated and eventually obliterated by strange sounding ‘lobbies’, whose existence may make fictional sense in Middle Earth in the Lord of the Rings; they smell of cynical, demagogic paranoia. The biggest irony is perhaps that it is this fringe that is a most obvious lobby. A lobby of men and women whose pleading and shouting is a clear indication of their fear of populist democracy and how this democracy can render them obsolete. Smokers’ Corner: Parrot patriots
An article in a Swedish newspaper last week accused the Israeli Army of harvesting organs from Palestinians killed by soldiers, causing a diplomatic storm. World" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/24/world/middleeast/24mideast.html" target=_blank>Accusation of Organ Theft Stokes Ire in Israel By ISABEL KERSHNER
For decades, Boston University anthropologist Thomas Barfield has been one of America's top experts on the culture and politics of Afghanistan and the region. My last conversation with Barfield, who also serves as president of the American Institute for Afghanistan Studies, dealt with political tensions in Pakistan and the prospect of that young country's dissolution. We spoke again last Friday about the previous day's Afghan election, Karzai's dapper rival Abdullah Abdullah, and why the Obama administration is quietly desperate for a runoff.
Mother Jones: Based on what you know, would you say that the election is legitimate?
Thomas Barfield: Yeah, because I think there's going to be a runoff. So the question of legitimacy will be much more important in the runoff.
MJ: Right, between Abdullah and Karzai. Who would you vote for if you were Afghan?
TB: Abdullah, because Karzai has disappointed everyone. Putting together a Warlord's Reunion Tour is hardly a vote of confidence in the future. Why America Can't Afford a Karzai Win By Michael Mechanic
posted by temporal at 8/25/2009
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