Morocco's King and Holocaust Awareness

Morocco's King and Holocaust Awareness

While the Islamic Republic of Iran held a Holocaust denial conference, Morocco's monarch King Mohammed VI is raising awareness of the Holocaust tragedy and its centrality for the Jewish people:

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1248277908622&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

The stance of Mohammed VI makes me proud. I am a Jew of Moroccan heritage. I have always insisted that Morocco can and will continue to play a vital role in enhancing tolerance between religions and civilizations, as well as promoting Middle East peace. I wish the King well in this righteous endeavour. And hope that the message spreads throughout the Arab and Muslim worlds. For peace to come, we must acknowledge the deep suffering of the other, yesterday and today.

Tamir Bar-On

Gaza's Creeping Islamicization

A top judge in Gaza has insisted that female lawyers must wear the Islamic headscarf:


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/26/gaza-judge-female-lawyers_n_245015.html

Hamas has not yet imposed Islamic law in Gaza, but is this a sign of creeping Islamicization? And will Gaza's people stand for such blatant expressions of religiosity? Remember Gaza was once the fiefdom of the left-wing, secularist Fatah faction of the PLO. But the times they are a changin', particularly with the new Islamists in power in Gaza.

Tamir Bar-On

Cheney Wanted to Send US Troops to Buffalo

Cheney Wanted to Send US Troops to Buffalo

Former US Vice President Dick Cheney pressed to send US troops to Buffalo as part of the post-9-11 war on terror:

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/07/25/troops-american-cities/

From Guantanamo to the US homeland, following the rule of law was not one of Cheney's strength, to say the least.

Tamir Bar-On

US Right-Winger Says Obama Has Chip on Shoulder

US right-wing columnist Rush Limbaugh cannot get any more partisan and racist than his latest rant against US President Barack Obama:

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/07/24/limbaughs-obama-is-black/

Obama may have won the presidency, but as equality increases so do racist sentiments, ultra-nationalism, and homogeneous conceptions of nationhood from those political movements that fundamentally reject de facto equality.

Tamir Bar-On

A New Fascism Consensus?

A New Fascism Consensus?

In August, I will begin my new post as Professor in the Department of Humanities and International Relations at the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, Querétaro in Mexico (ITESM is the acronym in Spanish for Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey). As a political scientist with a specialisations in fascism, neo-fascism, terrorism, and the history of war and peace, I will teach international relations.

Here is a wonderful new academic article from a mentor, the Oxford Brookes University (England) historian of fascism Roger Griffin:

http://roger-griffin.blogspot.com/2009/07/conference-paper-new-new-consensus-on.html

Defining fascism is a monumental task. Griffin has not been shy in respect of this endeavour. His works have sought to highlight a "minimal" definition of fascism: A palingenetic (rebirth) form of populist ultra-nationalism. Other academics like Payne insist that fascism needs a more "maximalist" definition to encompass its negations (what it was against), ideological goals, and organizational framework.

A further question that preoccupies Griffin: Was fascism epochal (inter-war years)? Did it spread beyond Europe? And is fascim possible after the official defeats of the two main fascist regimes in history, Fascist Italy (1922-43) and Nazi Germany (1933-45)?

Questions to chew on...Griffin's paper will surely inform some of the debates with my students and colleagues in my new home at ITESM, Querétaro.

Tamir Bar-On

Blackwater's Dirty Tactics

Blackwater's Dirty Tactics

Blackwater's name is all that is synonymous with war, greed, the excesses of privatization, and the de-humanization of Iraqi lives. And their tactics are getting dirtier:

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090803/scahill

General Sherman once said that war is hell and there is no way we can refine it. A good start might be banning Blackwater and other private contractors from the domain of war.

Tamir Bar-On

Islamists Find Toronto Home

Islamists Find Toronto Home

It is frightening the degree to which Islamists pull the wool over our eyes in both Toronto and Canada at large. Check out this Taliban-loving, death-rejoicing Islamist that is coming to Canada's largest city to set up an Islamic institute:

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2009/07/21/terry-glavin-canada-s-new-taliban-booster-says-good-muslims-love-death.aspx

Tamir Bar-On

Polish Intellectual Giant Dies

The Polish intellectual giant Leszek Kolakowski has died:

http://www.slate.com/id/2223212/?from=rss

A leftist with real critical skills, as well as humour and irony in abundance. He will be sorely missed.

Tamir Bar-On

Fayyad: Israeli Settlers Can Stay In Future Palestinian State

Palestinian Prime Minister surprised last week when he said Jewish Israeli settlers would be able to stay in the West Bank once it achieves full statehood:

http://azizabusarah.wordpress.com/2009/07/17/fayyad-welcomes-settlers-to-stay-in-a-palestinian-state/

So then why is there such an insistence on a Jewish settlement freeze by the US, EU, and Palestinians? And why have Jews been removed fully from Gaza by Israel under Sharon in 2005? And certainly they have no hope of returning under an Islamist government in Gaza.

Meanwhile in Israel there are over one million Israeli Arab citizens. They are being subject to a terrible loyalty/fifth column discourse by elements of the new right-wing government. At the same time, Israel treats its minority Arab population better than any country in the Middle East.

In the end, Palestinians and Jews are so interconnected in terms of daily life, business, cultural activities, political future, and security that they will both have to ultimately respect minorities in their midst. The sign of any civilized society is ultimately the way it treats its minorities.

Tamir Bar-On

Creepy Republican Right: Obama A Fascist

Creepy Republican Right: Obama a Fascist

A US senator from South Carolina could not go further in distasteful comparisons by linking US President Barack Obama's administration to Nazi Germany's national socialist ethos:


http://thinkprogress.org/2009/07/18/demint-nationalsocialism-nazi/

Amazing that Obama's quest to give medicare to 50 million Americans without insurance is compared to Hitlerian totalitarianism! Perhaps senator DeMint might read a few standard books about fascism.

Tamir Bar-On

Leonard Cohen: No Ramallah Concert

Leonard Cohen: No Ramallah Concert

The Canadian singer, poet, novelist, and icon Leonard Cohen was to play in Ramallah in the West Bank. Palestinian activists wanted him to cancel his concert in Israel. The poet of love, faith, and longing said sorry, but can't do that. What a shame now that he won't inspire in Ramallah with his message of hope. See the story below:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/jul/14/leonard-cohen-ramallah-gig-cancelled

When will the militant anti-colonial and reactionary left learn that two states, love, and the end of demonisation of both Israel and Palestine is the answer?

Tamir Bar-On

Shifting Sands of Honduran Politics

Shifting Sands of Honduran Politics

Since President Zelaya's ouster/coup in Honduras, the Honduran political situation has been shifting quicker than the washed sands of a Pacific seaside resort. For the latest news, see these two wonderful stories:


http://weeksnotice.blogspot.com/2009/07/support-for-zelaya-in-honduras.html

http://weeksnotice.blogspot.com/2009/07/micheletti-and-shifting-sand.html


A political situation is being attempted between Zelaya and current ruler, Micheletti. Of this we should be grateful. Yet, we can be sure that there will be more shifting sands in the Honduran political drama that has gripped an entire continent.

Tamir Bar-On

A Leftist Against the Left

A Leftist Against the Left

UBC professor and blogger Terry Glavin is a rare bird: A leftist that takes on the faux, reactionary left that claims to want to save the world and always sides with the supposedly oppressed forces of the world. Glavin sees through the left's hollow anti-colonial mantra and its dreadful siding with political Islamism:

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2009/07/13/terry-glavin-a-leftwing-intellectual-appalled-at-the-reactionary-left.aspx

Three cheers for Glavin: An authentic, thinking progressive that shames the dinosaur left!

Tamir Bar-On

Islamic Iran's Disintegration?

Islamic Iran's Disintegration?

Moshen Rezai, the leading conservative candidate in the recent rigged Iranian elections, now warns of the Islamic Republic of Iran's possible 'disintegration':

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2009/07/iran-nation-headed-for-disintegration-if-political-crisis-festers.html

As the Islamic Republic of Iran faces growing opposition at home and abroad, it will increase the repressive apparatus of the state. But even the hardest authoritarian or totalitarian states can fall, particularly if they do not have popular legitimacy. In Iran, there is hope that the fall of the regime will come from within. In Iraq, it came from outside. In the Soviet Union, it fell from within. Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy fell due to defeat from without. Either way, the days of the mullahs are numbered. A war to prop up national unity might sadly be their last option.

Tamir Bar-On

Russia's Political Future?

Russia's Political Future?

If there is a candidate for a renewed fascism in the new millennium, it is Russia. Loss of national territory and diminishing status in the regional or international communities are fundamental prerequisites for fascism's return. Or the desire for territorial expansionism. When Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany shook the foundations of international politics, they were both seeking to radically reformulate territorial and national borders through colonialist expansionism. Russia might long for the return of territories lost after the fall of the USSR in 1991, but chances of regaining them are slim. Russia's own territory is rife with simmering territorial disputes such as Chechnya and Ossetia.

Yet, for a more optimistic note on Russia's political future, see Deepak Chopra's appraisal of the sleeping Russian "giant":

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deepak-chopra/will-russia-join-the-worl_b_230773.html

When Chopra asks whether Russia will join the world, does he mean follow the American model of liberal capitalist democracy? Given the history of the Russian czars, Bolshevik and Stalinist totalitarianism, and Putin-led authoritarianism, the chances are slim that Russia will embrace the American or Western models. But the deeper question is whether the world inexorably moves towards a homogeneous, liberal political and economic model on a planetary scale?

Tamir Bar-On

China's New PR War

China's New PR War

China will not let recent ethnic riots in Urumqi and Kashgar undermine its image in the West. Check out this great story on China's new PR war:

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0710/p06s05-woap.html

Now I won't buy the savvy PR strategy of the Chinese communist regime. It was also on display during the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008. It cannot hide the fact that this is the same regime that charges families bullet prices for executing its own citizens. The same regime that is literally destroying Kashgar on the pretext of a potential earthquake collapse in order to "modernize" the Uighurs and destroy their cultural heritage in the process. Located on the ancient Silk Road, Kashgar would certainly be a world heritage city, if the Chinese bothered to apply to make it one. This is China that brought us the dogmatic cruelty of Maoism and its perhaps 50 million dead. The country that suffocates Tibet with its colonial control. The country that jails dissidents like a national past time. The country that shoots at its own people in cold blood, as the rest of the communist world shakes off the yoke of oppression in 1989.

The rulers in Beijing are getting PR savvy for sure. The Chinese economic powerhouse status is impressive. And China will increasingly play a major role in international affairs. Perhaps the major role in international affairs. But the people of China are not merely economic beings or obedient followers of a dying communist faith. They are also freedom-seeking beings longing to express themselves, free of the constraints of the Leviathan-like Chinese state.

Tamir Bar-On

Africa's Future Up To Africans

Africa's Future Up to Africans

A full text of President Obama's inspiring speech to Africans in Ghana in which he states that "Africa's future is up to Africans":

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/11/obama-ghana-speech-full-t_n_230009.html

If there is one man that can inspire hope and a new renaissance in Africa, it is prince Obama!

Tamir Bar-On

Obama's Blunt Talk in Ghana

Obama's Blunt Talk in Ghana

US President Obama is in Africa, the land of his ancestors. Being of partially Kenyan African stock, Obama spoke bluntly to the people of Ghana and Africa in general:


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/11/obama-in-ghana-africa-not_n_229984.html

Obama chose Ghana for his African visit since he wants to promote a country that has a multi-party democracy and seeks to undermine endemic corruption. A country that is also developing economically and has great promise as a model for all of Africa. If Obama did it, the message to Africans is that they can too.

Tamir Bar-On

Mexican Left's Collapse and Return of PRI

Mexican Left's Collapse and Return of PRI

In Mexico's mid-term elections, the left took a real battering. And the PRI, the party that held a grip on Mexican power for about 70 years until 2000, has made a comeback. The conservative, ruling PAN under President Calderon was also an election loser. Check out these two excellent stories about Mexico's elections:

http://mexico.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2009/07/07/priscience/

http://mexico.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2009/07/08/whats-left/

Tamir Bar-On

Tehran's Genocidal Incitement Against Israel

The Iranian mullahs are busily killing their own people and would love to dearly wipe out the Jewish people. Now that they thumb their noses at the West with their nuclear course, the anti-Israel genocidal incitement is no joke. An excellent, well-documented piece about Iran's systematic genocidal incitement against Israel:

http://www.spme.net/cgi-bin/articles.cgi?ID=5661

The UN and International Court of Justice should try to prosecute Iranian leaders for incitement to genocide. It is a crime against humanity. And it matters that it is the highest political officials of a nuclear-ambitious regime that are engaged in the incitement. All the genocides of the 20th century (and sorry President Ahmadinejad the Palestinian one is not included if you are a serious scholar of genocide!), including the Armenian, Holocaust, Pol Pot (Cambodia), Kurdish (1987-8 under Saddam Hussein known as the Anfal), Bosnia, Rwanda, and Darfur (Sudan), begin with a systematic pattern of genocidal incitement in the state and civil society.

Tamir Bar-On

Obama Born in Hawaii?

Obama Born In Hawaii?

An odd story about whether US President Barack Obama was born in Hawaii (USA) or Kenya:

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=103294

A strange story with serious political, constitutional, and partisan implications, particularly in the US. But President he remains!

Tamir Bar-On

Xinjiang Burns: Hu Will Miss G-8

Xinjiang Burns: Hu Will Miss G-8

There were more weekend ethnic riots in Xinjiang's capital, Urumqi. As a result of the terrible scenes of bloodshed and vengeance, Xinhua (China's national news agency), reported 156 dead. Han Chinese and Uighur Muslims have long clashed in Xinjiang, which has a secessionist movement that wants to break with China. China will not likely let Xinjiang go because it is oil-rich and would encourage other secessionists within China. As a result of the riots, which saw Uighurs beat Han Chinese to death in the streets, the Chinese President Hu Jintao will skip the G-8 summit in Italy:

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE5650SW20090708

Han Chinese are reportedly roaming the city of Urumqui looking for revenge against the Uighurs. Uighurs complain of arbitrary arrests and harassment by the Chinese police and security forces. They also say that jobs, educational opportunities, and upward mobility within the state all favour Han Chinese, who have flooded the region since the Communists won China in 1949. Let us pray for the end of bloodshed and a legitimate political dialogue between Han Chinese and Uighurs. Let us pray for the end of senseless killings.

Tamir Bar-On

Obama Got Iran Wrong?

Obama Got Iran Wrong?

Yesterday elected and exiled Honduran President Manuel Zelaya circled the skies over Tegucigalpa, but the Honduran military would not give him the green light to land on Honduran soil. So he headed to Managua, Nicaragua.

In line with the rest of the OAS, Obama had powerful words for the need to restore Zelaya to power in Honduras. This is a contrast with his Iran position, which one New Republic commentator argues suffered from the "Iraq effect" and fear that he would be branded an imperialist meddler in Iranian affairs:

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2009/07/06/nader-mousavizadeh-obama-s-iran-mistake.aspx

Now the Iranians can go around the world to Buenos Aires in 1994 to bomb a Jewish centre killing 85, but that is not meddling. Or to help form Hezbollah in Lebanon in the early 1980s to extend their regional grip and find favour with the Shi'ite population. No meddling here either. Or to fund Shi'ites in Iraq (including militias) and the Gulf states, as well as Hamas in Gaza. No trace of meddling here either. Go figure!

Tamir Bar-On

Zelaya to Make Honduran Return

Zelaya to Make Honduran Return

Deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya has threatened to come back to Tegucigalpa, the nation's capital, today. While Zelaya's authoritarian tendencies were starting to worry people in Honduras and beyond its borders, the role of the military in the coup has troubled all of the Americas. The Organization of American States (OAS) has roundly condemned the generals and the new government, and called for Zelaya's immediate re-instatement.

Today I read one of the more balanced views of the Honduran crisis, which has amazingly seen the US, Canada, Cuba, Venezuela, and Bolivia, all in the same pro-Zelaya camp:

http://www.slate.com/id/2222241/?from=rss

Let's hope bloodshed will be avoided. Perhaps a deal can be brokered between Zelaya and Roberto Micheletti, the new interim President of Honduras. Fearing OAS reprisals for refusing to re-install Zelaya, Honduras has already withdrawn from the OAS. The Honduran political, business, military, and religious ruling classes are against Zelaya, but it is harder to gauge his level of popular support. Whatever happens, Hondurans fear the dreaded return of the military dictatorship. But, as we have seen when the generals sent Zelaya on a plane to San Jose, the military always lurks in the wings waiting for its opportunity to influence the political future of Honduras.

Tamir Bar-On

Key Clerics Reject Iran Election Results

Key Clerics Reject Iran Election Results

Key Iranian clerics from the holy city of Qom now challenge the recent electoral results in Iran. Check out this story:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/world/middleeast/05iran.html?exprod=myyahoo

Good news for the Iranian opposition. More cracks in the Islamic Republic of Iran. It won't end with a real struggle, a very mighty struggle, but for now more praise to the brave people of Iran.

Tamir Bar-On

Canadian Arab Federation: Radicalism Uncovered

Canadian Arab Federation: Radicalism Uncovered

The Canadian Arab Federation was once a voice for tolerance. Not so today. Check out this excellent story about the sad descent into heightened radicalism of the Canadian Arab Federation:


http://blazingcatfur.blogspot.com/2009/07/ali-mallah-tete-one-more-islamist-thug.html

Tamir Bar-On

What is Canada?

What Is Canada?

A day after Canada's 142nd birthday, 23 quick thoughts on what is Canada?:

1) The collectivist land of "Peace, Order, and Good Government," which often prevails above individual liberty.

2) The land of official, government multiculturalism since 1988.

3) The land of Anglo-French bilingualism and accommodation, but also the land where claims for full Native self-governance (as opposed to autonomy) are crushed.

4) The land of perpetual "death certificates" for Quebecois nationalism, but Quebecois nationalism frequently returns to plague Canada with profound existential crises.

5) The land that loves to say that it is a more caring society than the US in terms of universal medicare, university grants, employment insurance, crime statistics, race relations, quality of life, and international image.

6) The land that if you ask people what Canada is, there will be millions of answers for our 35 million inhabitants.

7) The land that is one of the most de-politicized countries in the world both domestically and in terms of foreign relations.

8) A G-8 and G-20 economic powerhouse.

9) A signatory to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), but a land that knows little about the third signatory nation, Mexico.

10) A signatory and leading player in the International Criminal Court (ICC).

11) The creator of the UN Blue Helmets, the peacekeeping force created by former Prime Minister and Nobel prize-winner Lester Pearson.

12) The land that generally oscillates between English and French-speaking prime ministers, but sometimes I wonder if we are ready for a black, Jewish, or Muslim prime minister in Canada.

13) The land that still has a monarch for the head of state, although we speak the language of democratic governance.

14) The land that saw thousands of Canadian die in two world wars, with over 40,000 killed in WW II.

15) The land that is the second biggest country in the world in terms of area.

16) The land where urban/rural divisions are profound in terms of political allegiances, worldviews, and lifestyles.

17) The land that has produced a very colourful Prime Minister P.E. Trudeau, as well as cultural and intellectual heavyweights such as Leonard Cohen, Alice Munro, Marshall McLuhan, and George Grant.

18) The land where Protestantism, Catholicism, and Native spiritualism are the major religions, but hockey is the national religion.

19) The land where nature, the weather, and winter dominate conversations. I wish we would be more original!

20) The land where you can be a hyphenated Canadian and it is chic, but secretly detested by those non-hyphenated Canadians that see multiculturalism as a sham and waste of money.

21) The land that will still be trying to chart its identity 100 years from today.

22) The land that has a stunning range of natural beauty, unique cultural enclaves, numerous languages, and peoples living peacefully.

23) The land that is the immigrant-receiving society of the world par excellence. Immigrants have built Canada and it is time that merit more fully determine Canadian social, cultural, and political life.

Tamir Bar-On