Election 2016

The coming election is the most participatory and as such it is the most democratic election in my memory and I dare to say in anybody's memory who is alive today. Am I divulging my age? It is also probably the noisiest U.S. election in the modern times. Both aspects of this election have their pluses and minuses.

Parallels (I)

The problems and the dangers of the Islamists, Muslims who promote the most egregious form of social behavior – killing of the infidel, killing of the one who has "left" Islam, killing of the blasphemer, forced covering of women, sanctity of women's rape in marriage, blaming and punishing women who are raped outside of the marriage, "honor" killing of women, silencing of anyone who criticizes "Islam" and, and … – too many for one to enumerate. Overwhelming majority of the Muslims of the world believe in one or more of these tenets of their "Islam". In my book, belief or practice of any of those tenets is adequate to put the person beyond the bounds of the civil world. Islam is what the Muslims are and that is the Islam today. We know we have a serious problem and many in the media are on a campaign of diluting or hiding this plain truth. They try to distort this problem by fabrication, showmanship, or drawing false parallels. Telling us constantly, look at the other parallel problem, that one is more important.

NYTimes Story

"ISIS Women and Enforcers in Syria Recount Collaboration, Anguish and Escape" is the story of three Syrian women. It is an interesting read.

Syrian Refugees and the Banners (II)

These days the faces of ever growing refugees from Afghanistan to Syria are all over the media marching across fields and roads. Mostly young and energetic, they are the ones who can endure the long trip, some with small children in tow are seen demanding the right of passage to the more affluent parts of Europe. Many want to travel to Germany. When this wave of refugees began flooding the borders of Europe they were met with few activists carrying signs of "Welcome" along with armchair moralists encouraging them. There is nothing wrong with welcoming someone or being a moralist armchair or otherwise, but mostly they fall in the category of impulsive reaction and does not provide an overall view of the problem at hand.

Syrian Refugees and the Banners (I)

Many look at the Syrian crisis through the picture of the little boy who was laying face down on the beach, dead. They pay attention to the turmoil in Afghanistan when a bomb kills few or many in a wedding ceremony there. The sectarian killings in Iraq, Syria and Libya catch their attention when a gruesome beheading is put on the Web. These events prompt them to action – mostly a FaceBook post. "Open up the border and let the refugees in! How can you stand by and let a little boy die!" "Haven't the Western countries made enough mess in Afghanistan and Iraq. Get out of there!" Or "Where is the civilized world to stop these savageries!" Sometimes it is hard to decipher the rightist and the leftist positions from each other. These protestations are off the cuff outpouring of emotions, not much different than someone's FaceBook picture of his food. Both are off the cuff emotions, the latter demands repetition and the former is begging to go away. I do not have anything against impromptu emotions. I have my own moments but they tell us little to nothing about the reality of the events.

Nuclear Negotiations & the Islamic Republic

The pivot of yesterday's announcement at the conclusion of this round of negotiations in Geneva is that the negotiations will continue into the summer with the expectations of a final agreement in June or July. I am not certain of the deadline but at this stage it matters little.  Was this an important milestone in President Obama's project? I believe so.