Category Archives: Countries

McGuffey Speaks to Abramoff

Ethics, Palestine

In the coming weeks it appears that several members of congress are in danger of losing their political scalps as the influence peddling and money laundering empire of Jack Abramoff comes to a head. According to a UPI story in today’s news, the Coushatta Tribe, which operates a casino in Lousiana, is pleased that the Abramoff who took some 32 million dollars to lobby against opening of a rival casino has been indicted. The article continues.

Tribal leaders’ testimony about their sizeable payments helped attract prosecutorial attention to Abramoff’s lobbying on behalf of Indian tribes. A Senate investigation brought to light e-mails in which Abramoff called some of his Indian clients “troglodytes,” “monkeys” and morons. Continue reading McGuffey Speaks to Abramoff →

Smiting Pat Robertson for Spiting Ariel Sharon

Bible and Holy Land, Israel

The White House has just announced that Pat Robertson’s 700 Clubbing of ailing Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon yesterday is “wholly inappropriate and offensive.” According to an article by Daniela Deane, posted at 2:54 pm on the Washington Post website, “White House press spokesman Trent Duffy made the comment to reporters traveling on Air Force One with President Bush this morning. He added that Robertson’s comments ‘don’t have a place in this or any other debate.’” The White House, even with an evangelical sitting in the oval office, is not willing to whitewash the latest off-the-cuff remarks of Mr. CBN. Continue reading Smiting Pat Robertson for Spiting Ariel Sharon →

Daily Death

Iraq War, Terrorism Issue, United Arab Emirates

People die everyday. It is hard to imagine a greater “life and death” issue than death, not only on the one who dies but for those who mourn. Today’s news, so new it did not make today’s edition of the New York Times, is full of death. The front page of the New York Times titles a headline “12 Miners Are Found Alive, Family Members Say,” but the hazard of deadlines prevented the newer news this morning that in fact 12 were found dead and only one found barely alive. On today’s Al-Jazeera it is announced that the ruler of Dubai died. On NPR this morning there was a report of a suicide bomber blowing himself up during an outdoor funeral in Muqdadiya, north of Baghdad, taking more than 30 mourners with him. And imagine all those people, thousands to be sure, who died in the last 24 hours but did not make the news.

The deaths in Dubai and Muqdadiya, Iraq could hardly be different to those left alive to think about them. Continue reading Daily Death →

When Kidnapping is not International Terrorism

Terrorism Issue, Tribalism, Yemen

The following news item just came across the wires from Arab News, an English language daily based in Saudi Arabia. Think of your gut reaction as you read…

SANAA, 3 January 2006 — Tribesmen holding five Italian tourists hostage in northeastern Yemen yesterday threatened to kill them if troops encircling the area move to rescue them, a local official said.

The five Italians, three women and two men, were snatched from Marib, some 195 km northeast of the capital Sanaa on Sunday and taken to the Serwah district, about 30 km away. Continue reading When Kidnapping is not International Terrorism →

What Would Jesus Ride

Bible and Holy Land, Israel

In The Guardian yesterday reporter Conal Urquhart wrote about “Plans for Holy Land theme park on Galilee shore where Jesus fed the 5,000.” Several evangelical Christian groups under the spirited guidance of Rev. Pat Robertson are negotiating with the government of Israel for land to build a 50 ha (125 acre) theme park tentatively called the “Galilee World Heritage Park.” If this seems like a joke, I note that “Sea of Galilee & its Ancient Sites” is listed on the online wish list of world heritage sites. It is no joke to righteously motivated investors trying to raise 60 million dollars. Nor to Syria, which disputes the take-over of its territory along the Sea of Galilee in the 1967 war. Nor is it likely just a joke to Jews, who Pat Robertson and his followers think are about to suffer the worst persecution ever as soon as a soon-to-be Rapture transports all Bible Believers to meet their Lord in the air. But I can’t help but wonder, in this biblically based theme park what would Jesus ride? Continue reading What Would Jesus Ride →

Yemen Bashing Needs a Reality Check

Anthropology/Sociology, Journalism and Media, Yemen

Most Americans know little about the country of Yemen, located beneath (geographically and metaphorically for many foreign policy makers) America’s oil-friendly ally Saudi Arabia. I have been going to Yemen since 1978, when I lived for over a year as an ethnographer in a highland tribal village northwest of the capital Sanaa. Since that time my academic career has focused largely on the history and culture of Yemen. I edited a bulletin (Yemen Update) devoted to all aspects of Yemeni Studies for a decade, and I have returned frequently as researcher and development consultant. Over the years there have been very few news articles about Yemen by American correspondents. The few that have appeared are generally so full of stereotypes and misinformation that I often turn the paper aside in disgust. The major 3-part article begun last weekend (Dec. 18, 19, 20) by David Finkel on a democracy development project in Yemen for the Washington Post is sadly yet another ignorant and dangerous posting that needs a reality check. Continue reading Yemen Bashing Needs a Reality Check →

Human Waist

Jordan, Terrorism Issue

The picture that flashed around the media world this morning was of a Muslim woman opening her abaya to reveal a midriff fixed with a failed explosive device. It was also one of those rare tabloid days when both the New York Post and Daily News ran the same exploitative headline: “Dressed to Kill.” American audiences are more used to seeing an “Oriental” woman dressed to thrill, a belly dancer or an odalisque. Muslim women are enjoined in the Quran to be modest and cover their adornments. But it is hard to imagine that such advice from above covers an incendiary device rather than the body parts that immodest men look to for vice. Continue reading Human Waist →

The Incomplete Terrorist

Indonesia, Terrorism Issue

How do you profile a Muslim Terrorist? Some leave clues, a few even record video epitaphs. For the last two years a day has probably not gone by without a suicide bomber pulling a string and blowing himself and those around him to bits or driving a car to explode the lives of innocent bystanders. Is there a way to predict who such a bomber might be, or who builds the bombs and plans the operations? Logic fails, at least the logic that says something has to be very special to die for and even more special to make other people die for a cause just because you believe in it. Continue reading The Incomplete Terrorist →