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| Username | Post |
| paramendra | Posted
on 07-Aug-02 06:12 PM
I hope this thread will be used to discuss contemporary issues from around the world. For a starter, what is your take of the Middle East situation? What is the way out? http://story.news.yahoo.com/fc?cid=34&tmpl=fc&in=World&cat=Mideast_Conflict 
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| paramendra | Posted
on 07-Sep-02 10:23 AM
9/11: a year laterMid-East (1) Where were you when you first heard of it? (2) How did you react? (3) What do you think of it today? (4) If you were to get out of the box and think, what would you say? (5) Compare this to other tragedies. Yahoo Full Coverage: Osama Al Qaeda's Recovery Washington Post (Sep 4, 2002) I was in a small town in Kentucky that day. Some locals called the cops on me! Their response to what they were watching on TV, I guess. (The cops were nice about it. As in, sorry, got to respond to the phone call, but we are not personally concerned you are here.) I was glued to a TV screen for hours at a local restaurant. And to the radio - NPR - for hours once I got back to Lexington later in the afternoon. Did not know how to react. This thing had no context. It was like, okay, the cold war is over, a new war has begun. And it will last at least a few years, if not decades. Kind of like, okay, World War II is over, and the cold war has begun. There might be temptations in the poor countries among the masses to look upon the wrong kinds of leaders. That exists also in the West, in America. Racist tendencies have surfaced in the aftermath. The attack was so symbolic. Poor children in the Appalachia were raising money for the rich kids in NYC to "help." The reverse is not as well known to happen in better times. Americans everywhere felt attacked. A stateless outfit after a state. That asymmetry seems to have worked in Osama's favor. The American intelligence agencies have been too hung up on technology - satellites - and too little has been invested in human sources on the ground. And they are not about to infiltrate the Al Qaeda. An intelligence failure? Coupled with the downturn in the American economy? Greenspan in still there. Bill Gates in there. It is Bill Clinton who is not on the scene no more. And the attempts to go solo. As in Cheney's assertions on Iraq. Is Powell having a hard time getting heard? On the environment. On security issues. And the UN can go to hell? The Mid-East conflict. Civil wars in smaller countries. Mass poverty. Unfair trade. These have to be put into perspective. The curious phenomenon of it suddenly have become "unpatriotic" to criticize Bush, even on dometic issues. Or "leaders" suggesting, if you love your country, go spend! The anthrax scare. The suspicions for the longest time were abroad. Pointers say home. Or that riot in the Afghan prison. Tens of Afghans from both sides dies. But all the western media attention was on the sole American. Or the US military "mistakes" like when a wedding party got bombed because fireworks/celebratory gunfires were "misinterpreted." Or when a rival faction "tiptoed" the American troops into bombing a few vanfuls of Karzai supporters on their way to Karzai's inauguration in Kabul. Or Osama still alive. Or some people - politicos/citizens - finding an excuse in 9/11 to express the racism they harbored all along. CBS.com | 9/11 AlterNet: 9/11: One Year Later 9-11peace.org |
| Ebony_firefly | Posted
on 07-Sep-02 11:09 AM
politics is a dirty game .the more u get into it the more dirty u become. _karl marx |
| paramendra | Posted
on 07-Sep-02 04:36 PM
MTV or the Muezzin .... "America wanted vengeance by killing Afghans," she says, her voice quavering at first—as if she is uncertain how forthright to be with an American visitor—then gaining strength and fluency. "That was wrong. Those Afghans were just as innocent as the poor people who died in the World Trade towers," she says. .... "This was hypocrisy. Why is an Afghan's life worth any less than an American's?" ........."That's right," says Naomi, who wants to study medicine. "Americans talk about protecting women's rights. But have you seen that George Michael video where he has these women on leashes like dogs? Give me a burqa any day." .........One student says she knows an M.I.T. graduate who signed up with the Taliban. ........"I felt bad. Fine, let them search. But search everybody, no matter what their skin color is," she says. ......... |
| ArafatKoShuvchintak | Posted
on 07-Sep-02 08:57 PM
I say, drop a nuke in tel aviv, and everything will be fine... |
| DWI | Posted
on 07-Sep-02 09:39 PM
About Sept 11, being named Patriot's day, here is my take: I am not a US citizen but I think I have the right to express my opinion. Sept 11, Patriot's day? Yes, the people involved in the Philly crash were patriotic and how the entire nation united after the attack was equally patriotic. But when you think of Sept 11, the only thing that people will remember after few years is how WTC was attacked. There was nothing patriotic about it. ******************** Patriot day for Afganis? or Patriot day as in for New England Patriots (NFL team)? ******************** If they are calling it Patriot's day because they want to forget how America was attacked, but want to concentrate on how the entire nation became more patriotic in the aftermath, then may be they have a point. Say what? |
| Satya | Posted
on 07-Sep-02 11:01 PM
My first reaction to 9/11 tragedy was "runu ki hasnu". I was sad because so many innocent people died becasuse of few fanatics. Some where in my heart, I felt that this is the result of American dadagiri policy. American leaders think that only American life is worth living, others could be destroyed by napalm bomb, cluster bomb, so called precision bomb, nuclear bomb, chemical and biological weapons what ever is in their pocession. Other countries have no rigth to defend themselves. 'Do as I say, don't do as I do' is their mantra. With a lone superpower this world is more dangerousw than ever before. If you don't listen to Bush then bush fire will destroy you. If you listen to him, you are champion of human right even though you are mass murderer. |