Moderation and Binationalism

This posting is inspired by an article in the NY Times, sent to me by my brother, Izzy. Here's the link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/14/opinion/14goldberg-1.html

Here's my take.

A strong position amongst certain scholars and politicians is one which supports moderate Arab regimes, especially Fatah. However no regime, Iran included, lives in a vacuum. Ultimately, either Ahmadinjad, his successor or perhaps a CIA-supported junta in Iran will cave and see the benefits in engagement. Hopefully it won't require a tactical nuclear strike to get there.

Reagan may have called for Mr. Gorbachev to "tear down this wall," but he was neither realistic about the implications for emerging economies, nor was he forward-thinking vis-a-vis the fallout in the Middle East and Central Asia. There's a matter of regional hegemony at stake, especially after the collapse of the USSR. The cold warriors had a relatively firm grip on their proxy players in Eurasia, even if things got testy at times. Yeah, we all miss the commies. The Saudis are nervous because the U.S. is headed for alternative energy sources, and they need to make nicey-nice with the West in order to be included in whatever 21st century trade dynamics that emerge. That is after the financial debacle gets straightened out, and it will in 10 or 20 years. Egypt will cow to whatever the U.S. and Israel want - it's in their interest, as will Jordan, Libya, Iraq, and the Gulf states. These regimes are all integrally tied into the global, petroleum-based economy however and they will be increasingly subject to the forces of extremism when the sheikhs and cultish leaders grasp for ways to keep people fed and clothed - and that's why it's crucial to support them and engage them, as unsavory as that is at times.

In any rigorous, healthy political dynamic, even the religious fanatics will have a voice and a strong influence; that's politics as usual. It gets ugly when the kooks are running the show. Look at the U.S. - things get bad around here too, what with cross-burnings and lynchings during Jim Crow, and even the shootings of abortion doctors in the last 20 years. From a certain perspective, the U.S. is a newly emerging democracy. We are just awaking from eight years of a regime that was tacitly, if not at times actively sympathetic to some forms of religious crusading. Even examining Bush in the most sympathetic light reveals arcane American Imperialism which resorts to extreme costs and measures: see Guantanamo and Abu Garaib. Through a certain lens, the war in Iraq can arguably be understood as a born-again Christian, military adventure.

It's up to the rational voices in politics and academia to make certain that extremist ideas which promote utopian visions are exposed for what they are; murderous. Both secular and religious utopias are unworkable. Dr. Yehuda Bauer is a scholar of Holocaust history, and an anti-genocide activist; I have tremendous respect for him. He posits, "utopias kill, and radical utopias kill radically." Bauer cites a variety of cases, from Islamic fascism, to Marxism and National Socialism - the desires and outcomes are consistently the same: to rewrite history from a particular, deistic / philosophical perspective, and to destroy or severely marginalize anyone who is opposed to the tyrannical despotic, utopian vision. Bauer is certainly not pollyanna about it, yet he also contends that radical Islam is NOT mainstream Islam; Wahhabi and extremist forms of Shiah Islam are NOT Islam. He sees mainstream Islam as a civilized and peace-loving creed, and believes that the majority of Muslims and Islamic governments are not interested in world dominance through a new Caliphate. He cautions that moderates must be vigilant, because the threat of radical Islam is very real.

Personally, I'm not sure a two-state solution is still viable, particularly because of the territorial division between Gaza and the West Bank / Samaria. I think if Israel is truly going to call itself an ethical democracy, it needs to contain its own extremist, militant fascistic tendencies, be they religious or secular. I think that is already happening but there are miles to go. It also must come to the reality that it needs a constitution because its judicial system is tenuously strained between the interests of British Common Law, the remnants of Ottoman Law, and the political cries of the Rabbanut who have a grip on matters of personal status. It's a parliamentary system, but it's far from a democracy. I also think there should be serious consideration to a binational Israel / Palestine which allows full voting rights, and a justly enforced rule of law for anyone who wants to live there. There's a whole lot of literature and research on that matter. I wouldn't be surprised if we start hearing calls for a binational solution again in the coming months.

It will never be perfect.

Arctic Nation

When we left the confirmation hearings, Senator Lisa Murkowski (R)Alaska was bringing the issues of what she referred to as the U.S’s position as an “Arctic Nation” to the center stage. Heretofore, this obscure term has not been in common parlance, and by extension, nor have the the implications of this dubious, and frankly odd status taken any note. Nonetheless, given the timely issues of energy independence, climate change, and national security — all of which are both popular and relevant to the northern portions of the globe — the moniker of Arctic Nation will undoubtedly take on enhanced meaning, or at least some meaning. The wierdos are coming out of the woodwork.

"Heat Miser" © Rankin Bass Productions

We now join the Senate Confirmation Hearings for Hillary Clinton, appointee by the Obama administration to Secretery of State.

Senator Murkowski: Mrs. Clinton, it’s been a great pleasure 

and an honor to be on this committee over the years, and I wish to extend my warmest endorsement for your appointment to the office of Secretery of State. Mrs. Clinton, as an Arctic Nation, we are faced with great challenges. Our regional leader, the Winter Warlock, has stated that this period of economic upheaval and global thawing is one of the foremost and daunting risks presented by our rival, The Heat Miser. Can you assure us that the State Department under your leadership will place this matter at the forefront of your priorities?

Hillary Clinton: Senator Murkowski, I know of your actions on behalf of the North Pole, the people who fiercely defend our Arctic Nation, and the real and grave threats posed by the likes of Heat Miser. Firstly, the Obama administration will not forsake Frosty The Snowman. The President-elect and myself have spoken at length about these issues, and while we are in sound agreement that there is only one president of the United States at a time, our attitudes with respect to the the sustained freezing of northern latitudes will earn your gratitude. I would like to add that I am a great fan of the cold, of icy beverages, and the continued gentle freezing of ice-cream. The President-elect is also a big fan of a good and stiff, cold drink.

Senator Murkowski: What about the Heat Lobby and its disporportionate leverage and influence vis-à-vis the Ice Lobby?

Hillary Clinton: Senator, on my recent visit to the United Kingdom, also an Arctic Nation, I met with people milling around their lobby. They expressed concerns over the undue influence of the police who patrol these critical waters; the Bobby Lobby is powerful. It may seem strange at this juncture, but small children’s dolls and videos are not immuned from the forces of special interests in both Washington and abroad, so we will do our utmost to fend off the advances of the Holly Hobby Lobby, not to mention those persons who inhabit the political elite, namely the Snobby Lobby.

Senator Murkowski: Thank you Mrs. Clinton. I feel we are in good hands.

Dakim Brain Fitness on The Wall Street Journal

Hi everyone,

Dakim, the company I've been with since mid-summer '08, is receiving lots of buzz since the Consumer Electronics Show this past week in Vegas.  Here's some great press for our product.

That's The Book

I need to find a sense of purpose, for surely all hope is lost if I fail. Why the fuck would anyone still have hope in this day and age? Hope for what? Any person with an adult conscience AND consciousness has to see that there’s no organic justice. The more we think we understand some divine purpose, the more ridiculous we appear. There is no reason to trust that things will improve, neither on the global scale—the scene where all CNN news plays out from broadcast towers and dishes large and tiny, pareve and fleishy, squirting birds we love to preserve with radiation and adoration—nor on the bathroom scale, the most important one. 

We know there is truth about eternity in every particle. It is no secret. There is forever ensconced in a grain of bacterial shit. The charred remains of my grandmother have fertilized twenty five hundred tomatoes, and nourished another three hundred rabbis, and twelve or fifteen Nazis.  That’s not an injustice. Neither messiah nor money, science or séance, can change this, because frankly, nature doesn’t care.  It remembers everything, in a way, but it doesn't care.

The only ones who really care are little kids. They stop caring when they turn 19 or so. Yeah, they might honestly think that they care after that, drawing straight lines to their graves with pens inked in their own sweat, blood, and merlot. But that’s only so long as they’re well-nourished and properly clothed. And even then, they might grow up to be suicide bombers. Guarantees are only good for electronics. 

God has a curious way of taking the best stuff and making mush out of it—must be part of the plan—but there’s hope. Yeah. I’ll cry over a brain splattered on windows, but there’s still reason to keep a firm grip on the future, I say. Better times are just ahead. People with power, intelligence, good intentions, lots of influence and access, are just waiting to do the right thing with my hard-earned retirement funds. Institutions of higher learning are bringing on the brightest and the best to maintain standards of excellence, to promote humanity, to end slavery and raise the potential of human accomplishment. But then there’s that whole fallability of humanity thing. Ah well, regardless of one’s record, image or intent, it’s always smart to have a good, well-fed lawyer on retention.

Remember those children? They care about their mommies and daddies staying alive. Kids need food and clothes and reasonably dry housing. But remember, it’s important to teach them to love their guns, to hate gays, and for heaven-sakes to fry their brains with pissy beer and cheez wiz. 

Western society is so very good at promoting illusions

American Girls

High School Musicals 

Bradys 

Batmen

rock and roll 

gasoline tankers 

Las Vegas lights 

chewy steaks 

ewy gewy ice-cream pops 

and health maintenance groups to carve out the calcified fun 

if you ain’t felled by a gun  

And that would be fun too. When times are bad I’ll give cash to Katrina victims. When times are good I’ll buy a BMW. And when the storm is across the street though my awning is water-tight, I'll just raise a glass. Goodwill trickles to hapless urchins in Peshawar, and tips the scales from Kalachnikov to Nabikoff.

If there’s beauty, it’s in the chaos of chaos where true order is only that which is quietly tapped into a browser for some sugar-fat, single-malt, or made-in-China amplifier.  Hey guys, there might be beauty everywhere.  

Hope? For what? That profits from senate seats sold on ebay won’t go to whores and coke dealers? Remember, we can raise the capital to cart sewage and TB from southside projects in Inglewood, Hollywood, and the 1600 neighborhood. 

A note to my comfortable, well-fed friends: Let’s pray for all this to continue. It couldn’t possibly be useless. I know this because I was able to actually witness useful things on my way to the office this morning. With neurons properly pickled, and synapses legally greased, there was happiness within and without. Christmas lights in windows awash in candy canes, and at Centinela and Pico—an unshaven guy with cigarette, hacking, prostrated.  Nobody asked him if he was okay, if he needed a place to stay, if he wants to play.  At least I didn't.  Sorry everyone, I’m really sorry.   Ah, that's better. 

Okay, suppose it’s not my job to finish the job.  Even if that axiom doesn’t absolve me from cutting a new key. I cannot believe that God doesn’t want me to be a critical fucker. I really don’t think God cares. God doesn’t care, because to assign caring to God is like pretending that Himmler was sorry for branding arms with numbers. Philosopher Alan Watts suggested that one single wave in the ocean is what the ocean is doing.

In the bible, there is a story about the raping of Jacob’s daughter. The whole community from which the rapists come, repent and then dutifully cut their weenies just so, and bled an oath upon the earth to live more like the children of Abraham. Jacob’s sons said thank you, and promptly skewered them to death when they convalesced, their children, their women, their elderly.  The whole lot.  And it is with these, God-blessed progeny of Israel, the world is supposed to make peace?  If it's true, that the seeds of Abraham are still offering a light unto the nations, then I conclude that there must be some other definition of peace that I'm not aware of.    The peace I’ve understood heretofore has something to do with lions laying down with lambs, and flowers in gun barrels and swords beaten into ploughshares. But there’s some other peace apparently, and that’s one where God is praised and uplifted through smoke and blood.  

In his opus tome, A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson suggests "if someone tells you they are related to William Shakespeare, it is not at all inaccurate to respond, yes, me too.” Why? Because we’re all made of the same stuff, and there’s lots of it recycled all over the place. I have DNA from dinosaurs, Moses, and Jack The Ripper. 

Dissonance generated by witnessed facts is often more jarring than I'm able to bear.  But truth isn't necessarily fact. The dismembered child is a text message, while I  contemplate the weather for Sunday.  I'm confident a therapist will tell me that I'm heading for overload if I attempt to live these two thoughts at once.  Somewhere a child is born and another dies in the womb. And both are forgotten, unless they coincide with something memorable.  One event of gargantuan significance across the globe from me, can become a tag that I'll employ as a memory aid.  The tsunami which wiped out a quarter of a million people? Oh yeah, that was when my parents were visiting. 

The value in all this?  At any given moment, something important is happening, at least to one person, somewhere. The moment is mundane for you.  Tears for a parent or a lover can send troops into Iraq. I too am what the universe is doing, when I scream at my wife or caress my black cat. People will sing hymns and drink fine wine in Mira Mesa while bombs fall in `Aza. No need to punish the wine drinkers, because the children and the children and the children . . . People will jubilantly praise the sunset before Shabbat or copulate as the Oscars play on a TV, and that night we’ll see a star whose light is new to me, but as old as a sacred moment in Jefferson’s nursery.  A bullet stands frozen one millimeter from Kennedy’s head.  This whole enterprise is a river of tears, some that evaporated from a tissue in my bathroom two years ago, and others that obeyed a command to lift unremarkably from a tepid pore, in an unmarked hold in Sarajevo or Kigali.

As numb as we want to be, as loud as the music can blare, and for each cheese puff crunched and forgotten, something reverberates, and some noise is retained.  Has to be.  That’s the book.