COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Wednesday, April 06, 2011

The Massacre in Mazar, How It Started

In Dissent Magazine: The Massacre in Mazar, How It Started & Who Was Behind It

The Koran protests in Afghanistan began with an Iranian propaganda initiative that was set in motion on March 24, a full week before the Massacre in Mazar. Afghan president Hamid Karzai played a central role in the affair. The bloody skirmishing that has left at least two dozen people dead across Afghanistan has gone so far as to cast a shadow over the future of the UN’s operations in the country. In other words, it’s working.

Of all places in Afghanistan for a UN compound to be turned into a human abattoir, we’re supposed to be shocked that it would be in the contented little metropolis of Mazar-i-Sharif, the capital of the peaceful northern province of Balkh. We’re supposed to be astonished that the murderers of those seven UN workers arose from a frenzied mob at the head of a procession that started out at the city’s famous Blue Mosque.

We should not be surprised at all.

On March 24, the Iranian foreign ministry, Iran’s Lebanese proxy Hezbollah, and Karzai’s office issued simultaneous alarms about Jones’ Koran-burning. Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast said the incident was part of American “hegemonic plots.” Karzai called for Jones’ arrest and prosecution.

Karzai’s statement was widely reported in Iran’s government-controlled press but got limited play even in the Afghan news media. Then the Netherlands-based BNO News got involved. After making its mark in 2007 when it sold Reuters a videotaped speech by Osama Bin Laden, BNO went on to become a popular Twitter feed and is now a low budget social-media hybrid, part press-release clearinghouse and part amateur-journalism vector. When BNO began circulating a report headlined “Afghanistan, Iran condemn Koran burning in US,” the story went viral.

The first Afghan protests about the Koran-burning were staged by the Shura-e Olama-e Shiia, the Kabul-based Shiite religious council dominated by Asif Mohseni, the leading Khomeinist ayatollah in Afghanistan. Mohseni is best known for having persuaded Karzai to sign off on the incendiary Afghan “rape law” in 2009 (which effectively legalized marital rape), an event that prompted protests by Afghan women and howls of international indignation.

The Khomeinist-led Koran demonstrations in Kabul were the first that most Afghans had even heard about Jones’ vulgar escapade. (You always know it’s a Khomeinist event by the tell-tale slogan, Marg Bar Yahood—Death to the Jews). This brings us back to Mazar, to the Tomb of the Exalted where most Afghans prefer to believe that the son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed is buried, and to the famous Blue Mosque.

From accounts of last Friday’s massacre that I’ve received from several Afghan human rights activists and journalists, what emerges is a picture of an opportunity that was just waiting for a pretext. What happened did not simply result from a protest march that began at the Blue Mosque and got terribly out of hand. . .

That’s from my piece today in Dissent.

The Washington Post today provides some useful and rare insight into the distance Karzai has moved from his American benefactors, although nothing about the Khomeinist orbit within which Karzai has allowed himself to be drawn. For insight into that, all you need to do is follow the money.

There is a lot of money to follow. The Iranian payments, which officials say total millions of dollars, form what amounts to an off-the-books “presidential slush fund” that Iran fills up regularly so that Karzai can buy Afghan legislators, tribal elders and Taliban commanders. It’s quite the racket, and it has been happening under the Americans’ noses for quite some while.

Briefcases full of it. Bakshish by the barge load. And that just scratches the surface.

For an Afghan view from the front lines of the Koran-burn frenzies, here’s today’s report from our dear friendEhsanullah Ehsan in Kandahar. And I see that Christopher Hitchens, running on instinct alone, gets it dead to rightsanyway, as usual. Karzai went out of his way to intensify mob feeling. “This caps a long period where his behavior has come to seem like a conscious collusion with warlordism, organized crime, and even with elements of the Taliban.”

Why would Karzai behave this way? Start asking that kind of question and nowhere will the discomfort be felt more acutely than in and around the White House. Well, too bad. It’s time to start asking these awkward questions, before it’s too late.

Follow the money.

38 comments:

  1. We better get our troops out of there, quick. Get'em rested up, refurbished, and re-armed for the Saudi Campaign.

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  2. Karzai called for Jones’ arrest and prosecution.

    Better yet, arrest and prosecute the assholes who actually did the killing. Just my two cents.

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  3. Better yet, arrest and prosecute Karzai.

    Just my 1.1 yuan.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Louisiana Sweet is selling for $125.53 on the Spot Market.


    $17.00 More than West Texas Intermediate. They are about the same "grade."

    North Slope Crude is selling for $119.00.

    Brent - $124.00

    In Singapore Tapis is selling for $128.00 and change.

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  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  7. Doug said...
    I'm the Dude on the ATV


    Cool Doug. That goes into the Cliffside Steam Station in NC.

    ReplyDelete
  8. .

    WASHINGTON — Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi has appealed directly to President Barack Obama to halt what the Libyan leader called "an unjust war," and wished Obama good luck in his bid for re-election next year.

    One more reason to dislike Gadhafi.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  9. .

    Rep. Paul Ryan put out his 2012 budget proposal yesterday. The GOP at this point say they support it. In fact, the budget is a very good respresentation of how the GOP would govern if given a free hand.

    This should present the public with a clear choice going into the 2012 election.

    Over the past two years, the Dems have shown how they would govern. The GOP has now laid out their vision for the future. The public will decide in 2012. And whichever side wins will automatically assume (its the nature of the beast) that they have a 'mandate'.

    Unfortunately, what the public is being presented with under either scenario is a Hobson's choice that the majority of Americans would not vote for given a viable alternative.

    .

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  10. .

    Deuce, when the details are all laid out there, this would probably be a good subject for a blog post.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  11. Iranian Oil slowly (or, rapidly) making it to market. Reuters

    ReplyDelete
  12. Unusually low temperatures in the Arctic ozone layer have recently initiated massive ozone depletion. The Arctic appears to be heading for a record loss of this trace gas that protects the Earth’s surface against ultraviolet radiation from the sun.

    ...

    “Our measurements show that at the relevant altitudes about half of the ozone that was present above the Arctic has been destroyed over the past weeks,” says AWI researcher Markus Rex, describing the current situation. “Since the conditions leading to this unusually rapid ozone depletion continue to prevail, we expect further depletion to occur.”

    ...

    In the long term the ozone layer will recover thanks to extensive environmental policy measures enacted for its protection. This winter’s likely record-breaking ozone loss does not alter this expectation.


    Depletion In Recent Days

    ReplyDelete
  13. Unusually low temperatures in the Arctic ozone layer have recently initiated massive ozone depletion. The Arctic appears to be heading for a record loss of this trace gas that protects the Earth’s surface against ultraviolet radiation from the sun.

    ...

    “Our measurements show that at the relevant altitudes about half of the ozone that was present above the Arctic has been destroyed over the past weeks,” says AWI researcher Markus Rex, describing the current situation. “Since the conditions leading to this unusually rapid ozone depletion continue to prevail, we expect further depletion to occur.”

    ...

    In the long term the ozone layer will recover thanks to extensive environmental policy measures enacted for its protection. This winter’s likely record-breaking ozone loss does not alter this expectation.


    http://www.awi.de/en/news/press_releases/detail/item/arctic_on_the_verge_of_record_ozone_loss/?tx_list_pi1

    ReplyDelete
  14. The training centres are so far however considered too small and too temporary to act as launch pads for attacks on the West in the manner Osama bin Laden used them for preparing the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

    But al-Qaeda activity in the country's northeast has picked up considerably in the past six to eight months, particularly in the Korengal Valley in Kunar, which US forces abandoned in the summer of 2009.

    According to research by the Long War Journal, a blog from the Foundation for the Defence of Democracies, the terror group has a presence in eight of Kunar's 15 districts.


    Centers In Afghanistan

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  15. The Pastor and his flock, obviously agents of the Iranian mullahs.

    They played their part, as the mullahs wrote it, right into the hands of Karzai and Abracadabra.

    Those believers in the God of Abraham, all of whom, as US citizens were well within their "Rights" to be unpaid agents of Iran.

    ReplyDelete
  16. doh, Doh, Doh!

    Man killed by a tour bus while running from a Waikiki crime scene is identified

    The man killed Monday night when he was struck by a tour bus in Waikiki while running from a crime scene has been identified by the city Medical Examiner's Office as Eric Decatur, 22, of Kaaawa.

    Police said they believe Decatur ran into the street after stealing two 12-packs of beer from the ABC convenience store at the Hyatt Regency Waikiki hotel about 10:37 p.m.

    He tripped and fell, dropping the beer on Koa Avenue.

    He got up and continued to run, and then tripped and fell again, this time falling under the rear tire of a tour bus.

    Decatur was pronounced dead at the scene. Medical examiners said he died from cranial cerebral injuries caused by the crash.

    About 7:30 p.m. Monday, Decatur was released from police custody on $250 bail after being charged with fourth-degree theft stemming from an incident earlier in the day.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Researchers were amazed when stem cells in a test tube spontaneously organised themselves into a complex structure that resembles the developing embryonic eye.

    ...

    This could eventually lead to treatments aimed at repairing the eyes of people with conditions that limit or destroy their sight.

    Potential applications include regenerative medicine approaches to the treatment of progressive genetic disorders such as retinitis pigmentosa.


    Embryonic Eye

    ReplyDelete
  18. Obama golf pal arrested in Honolulu prostitution sting

    A regular Hawaii golfing buddy and Punahou School friend of President Barack Obama was among four people arrested during a prostitution sting operation in Kakaako by Honolulu police Monday night.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Silver up 119% from a year ago.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Last time I send one of my "wife's" relatives out for beer.

    ReplyDelete
  21. "Weird Warfare" on the History Channel.

    Gotta be the funniest damned show I've ever watched. Catch it if you get the chance.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Fox announced on Wednesday that Beck "intends to transition off" his one-man show, which has recently suffered a sharp drop in viewer numbers but remains the third-most popular on cable news.

    ...

    "I truly believe that America owes a lot to Roger Ailes and Fox News," Beck said. "I cannot repay Roger for the lessons I've learned and will continue to learn from him."

    It has been speculated that Beck, who also presents a syndicated radio show, may now seek to set up his own television channel, as Oprah Winfrey has done. He is thought to earn more than £18 million a year.


    Fox News

    ReplyDelete
  23. I'm crying; this is the hardest I've laughed in 40 years. Hell, maybe forever. I have tears running down both cheeks.

    "The Kitty Bomb." Oh my Lord.

    ReplyDelete
  24. The top commander of rebel forces, Abdelfatah Yunis, accused NATO-led aircraft of doing nothing while loyalist forces kept up their 40-day long artillery bombardment of civilians in Misrata, 215 kilometres east of Tripoli.

    ...

    'If NATO wanted to break the blockade of the city, they would have done it several days ago... Every day, civilians, elderly people and children, are dying in Misrata.

    NATO has done nothing, they have just bombed here and there.'


    Air Strikes

    ReplyDelete
  25. A young Chinese couple get married.

    She's a virgin & they are both waiters.

    Truth be told, he is a virgin too, but she doesn't know that.

    On their wedding night, she cowers naked under the sheets, as her
    husband
    undresses in the darkness.

    He climbs into bed next to her and tries to be reassuring.

    "My darring," he whispers, "I know dis you firss time and you berry

    flighten. I pomise you, I give you anyting you want, I do anyting juss

    anyting you want. You juss ask.

    Whatchu want?" he says, trying to sound experienced and
    worldly,
    which he hopes will impress her.

    A thoughtful silence follows, and he waits patiently and eagerly for
    her
    request.

    She eventually shyly whispers back, "I want to try someting I have
    heard
    about from other girls ... Nummaa 69".

    More thoughtful silence, but this time from him Eventually, in a
    puzzled
    tone he asks her...

    "You want ... Garlic Chicken with corrifrowa?"

    ReplyDelete
  26. Military employees would not be told to stop working, and would continue to earn their salaries during a shutdown, officials said. But they would not actually receive their paychecks until a new budget is in place.

    Civilian employees at the Defense Department would be subject to the same determination of need as other federal employees.

    “A significant number of D.O.D. civilian employees, unfortunately, would be furloughed,” the official said.


    Federal Budget

    ReplyDelete
  27. The Elders group of eminent world leaders, including Nobel laureates Desmond Tutu and Kofi Annan, said both warring parties must be accountable for killings.

    ...

    Pope Benedict XVI made a 'new, heartfelt appeal to all sides to launch peace and dialogue effort in order to stop further bloodshed.'

    The European Union meanwhile imposed new sanctions on Gbagbo, banning the purchase of bonds from his 'illegitimate government'


    Closing In On Gbagbo

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  28. Gbagbo Baggins. He should slip that ring on.

    ReplyDelete
  29. More than 40 bodies have been found in a mass grave in the northern state of Tamaulipas, near the site where suspected drug gang members massacred 72 migrants last summer, authorities said Wednesday.

    ReplyDelete
  30. "Nobody is (currently) looking at the central Pacific (for radioactivity) and this type of expedition is very cumbersome logistically to plan," Prof Duarte said.

    "The fact that we are at sea just now provides an opportunity to do this and share the results with our colleagues."

    The Hesperides, a vessel of the Spanish Navy, will leave Sydney on Friday and sail first to Auckland.


    Nuclear Water

    ReplyDelete