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Welcome to the musings and notes of a Cadillac, Michigan based writer named Micah Holmquist, who is bothered by his own sarcasm. Please send him email at micahth@chartermi.net. Holmquist's full archives are listed here.
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Sites Holmquist trys, and often fails, to go no more than a couple of days without visiting (some of which Holmquist regularly swipes links from without attribution) Aljazeera.Net English Blogs that for one reason or another Holmquist would like to read on at least something of a regular basis (always in development) Thivai Abhor |
Wednesday, August 11, 2004
Goddamn, goddamn, on to Iran (and other notes for August 11) In yesterday's Guardian, Simon Tisdall writes: The US charge sheet against Iran is lengthening almost by the day, presaging destabilising confrontations this autumn and maybe a pre-election October surprise.This is not comforting news. I wouldn't have any doubt that Iran wants nukes if not for a bit of recent history, but so what? That's not a logical reason to attack a country... Whoops, I'm sorry. That is a perfectly valid reason to attack another country if you are the United States of America and the prez says it has to be done. My apologies. *** One scenario I have in my head is that Israel does strike to destroy Iran's nukes. Iran responds by attacking Israel with conventional, biological and/or chemical weapons, and we have ourselves a little war! Yee-ha and stuff, but I don't think anybody, save for those who believe this has something to do with the "end times," can say with any degree of certainty what the ultimate result of such a conflict would be. *** This section of Tisdall's piece is classic: "Iran is experiencing a gradual process of internal change," the report says. "The urgency of US concerns about Iran and the region mandate that the US deal with the current regime [through] a compartmentalised process of dialogue, confidence building and incremental engagement."If we let the Iranians decide their future, we will be appeasing them! *** Rightly or wrongly, New York Times columnist Nicolas Kristof August 11 column "An American Hiroshima" seems to just scream, it was one thing when it happened to those fuckin' Japs, but it is America that now could be hurt! *** In Monday's Boston Globe, Cathy Young writes about the liberated women of Afghanistan and Iraq: ...more than two years after the fall of the Taliban and more than a year after the fall of Saddam, critics say that the situation of women has not improved much and, in some cases, may have worsened. "For many Iraqi women, the tyranny of Saddam's regime has been replaced by chronic violence and growing religious conservatism that have stifled their hopes for wider freedoms -- and, for many, put their lives in even greater peril," says a recent cover story in Time magazine. The article focuses on "honor killing" -- the murder of women by male relatives after they have "dishonored" the family by committing some sexual infraction (or by being raped). These killings may be on the rise because of the breakdown in law and order and the greater availability of weapons.It is beyond me why Destiny's Child has written a song about this yet. *** Freedom for those Iraqi fucks (AFP, August 9): The United States struggled to reconcile its normal forceful advocacy of international press freedom with a defense of the Iraqi interim government decision to close the offices of the pan-Arab Al-Jazeera television network in Baghdad.In light of these bits of news, I guess it shouldn't be shocking that Uncle Sam is still imprisoning and harming Iraqi children (Lisa Ashkenaz Croke, TheNewStandard, August 11). *** "US troops last night urged Iraqi civilians to leave the combat zones in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, raising speculation of an imminent full-scale offensive against rebel cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and his Medhi Army militia," Nicolas Rothwell of AFP writes in an August 11 story. *** "A US takeover of Polish command in the restive holy city of Najaf hot on the heels of the Philippines' withdrawal of its troops from Iraq has underscored a weak multinational force in which Anglo-US domination only exacerbates insecurity, analysts said Tuesday," Jennie Matthew of Middle East Online writes in an August 10 story. *** Michelle Goldberg of salon.com on the "New York Lockdown." Isn't freedom wonderful? *** It looks like Nader won't be on the Green slate in California. *** *** Herbert Lash writes in an August 9 Reuters story that "cuddle parties" are the rage amongst at least certain New Yorkers. For more, go to www.cuddleparty.com. *** Linda Harvey's August 9 anti-gay WorldNetDaily column "Josh is taking Matt to the prom" is an unintentional comedic masterpiece. *** *** stevearle.net says: It should be cool. |
