http://www.opednews.com/articles/1/opedne_iftekhar_080128_suharto_2c_and_before.htm
(article above)
'What people want, what I want, is a return to Suharto's time. '' - An Indonesian peasant
Suharto passes away, and with him an era. He will long be remembered as the father of Indonesia's growth and development, despite criticism of his rule. Even before his death, many ordinary Indonesians, if not most, mourned the passing of his regime.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Was the AIDS virus made in the USA?
Was the AIDS virus made in the USA?
Check out these two links:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,797850,00.html
http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_2862.shtml
Check out these two links:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,797850,00.html
http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_2862.shtml
On Plato's Gorgias
http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_iftekhar_080125_on_plato_s_gorgias.htm
article at above URL)
Plato’s Gorgias is essential reading for those who wish to understand one of the major pathologies of democracy: demagogy.
In a democracy, persuasion is power. Therefore, in such a type of government, the art of persuasion would be highly cultivated. Indeed, this was the case in Athens, and Socrates distinguished between two kinds of rhetoric, one that leads to power for the speaker, and another that leads to goodness for the hearer. In a democracy, rhetoric is of the first kind.
article at above URL)
Plato’s Gorgias is essential reading for those who wish to understand one of the major pathologies of democracy: demagogy.
In a democracy, persuasion is power. Therefore, in such a type of government, the art of persuasion would be highly cultivated. Indeed, this was the case in Athens, and Socrates distinguished between two kinds of rhetoric, one that leads to power for the speaker, and another that leads to goodness for the hearer. In a democracy, rhetoric is of the first kind.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
no tears for a bhutto
I know a lady who lives in Canada. She is a widow: her husband died during the civil war of 1971 in the then East Pakistan.
She has had to bring up her two children by herself, and the best possible route for her was to emigrate. Now, when she comes to Bangladesh, she hardly wants to leave the country and go back to her adopted nation. She is in her seventies, and does not expect to live much longer.
When Benazir Bhutto was killed, I was overjoyed – but I noticed an outpouring of sympathy for that woman. Thus Robert Fisk observed: “however corrupt she may have been, let us never forget that this brave lady was indeed a martyr”! He calls her “this lone and brave woman who had dared to call for democracy in her country”.
Incredible!
In Bangladesh, we remember her father all to well: he was the man who unleashed mayhem on Bangladesh, mayhem that killed 500,000 people (I owe this figure to David Reynolds’ history, One World Divisible).
The Bhutto family’s respect for democracy is famous: Bhutto pere refused to accept that Sheikh Mujib had won the election throughout Pakistan.
Benazir Bhutto was popular because her father was a demagogue who literally split the country for the sake of power: the people of Pakistan (like the people of South Asia) apparently believe that “virtue” descends from father to child. If virtue can be inherited, then so can vice. And South Asians have a passion for those – and the pathological products of their loins - who have failed their country.
A few days after Benazir Bhutto shuffled off her mortal coil, I spoke with the lady widowed in 1971. She sounded pathetically apologetic for feeling good that Bhutto had been killed – she, of all people!
“You see,” she explained, “I lost my husband in 1971.”
I assured her I was just as happy as she – which could have been nowhere near the truth, because nobody I loved had died in 1971.
She has had to bring up her two children by herself, and the best possible route for her was to emigrate. Now, when she comes to Bangladesh, she hardly wants to leave the country and go back to her adopted nation. She is in her seventies, and does not expect to live much longer.
When Benazir Bhutto was killed, I was overjoyed – but I noticed an outpouring of sympathy for that woman. Thus Robert Fisk observed: “however corrupt she may have been, let us never forget that this brave lady was indeed a martyr”! He calls her “this lone and brave woman who had dared to call for democracy in her country”.
Incredible!
In Bangladesh, we remember her father all to well: he was the man who unleashed mayhem on Bangladesh, mayhem that killed 500,000 people (I owe this figure to David Reynolds’ history, One World Divisible).
The Bhutto family’s respect for democracy is famous: Bhutto pere refused to accept that Sheikh Mujib had won the election throughout Pakistan.
Benazir Bhutto was popular because her father was a demagogue who literally split the country for the sake of power: the people of Pakistan (like the people of South Asia) apparently believe that “virtue” descends from father to child. If virtue can be inherited, then so can vice. And South Asians have a passion for those – and the pathological products of their loins - who have failed their country.
A few days after Benazir Bhutto shuffled off her mortal coil, I spoke with the lady widowed in 1971. She sounded pathetically apologetic for feeling good that Bhutto had been killed – she, of all people!
“You see,” she explained, “I lost my husband in 1971.”
I assured her I was just as happy as she – which could have been nowhere near the truth, because nobody I loved had died in 1971.
school of evil
How can anybody bring up children in Bangladesh?
If you send your son to university, the teachers drag him into politics. And if the teachers are arrested and convicted, the president has to pardon the convicts when their colleagues put pressure on the government. This is no way to educate young people: the universities teach lawlessness, anarchy, intrigue, subversion....How can parents send their children to such institutions?
If you send your son to university, the teachers drag him into politics. And if the teachers are arrested and convicted, the president has to pardon the convicts when their colleagues put pressure on the government. This is no way to educate young people: the universities teach lawlessness, anarchy, intrigue, subversion....How can parents send their children to such institutions?
school of evil
How can anybody bring up children in Bangladesh?
If you send your son to university, the teachers drag him into politics. And if the teachers are arrested and convicted, the president has to pardon the convicts when their colleagues put pressure on the government. This is no way to educate young people: the universities teach lawlessness, anarchy, intrigue, subversion....How can parents send their children to such institutions?
If you send your son to university, the teachers drag him into politics. And if the teachers are arrested and convicted, the president has to pardon the convicts when their colleagues put pressure on the government. This is no way to educate young people: the universities teach lawlessness, anarchy, intrigue, subversion....How can parents send their children to such institutions?
Friday, January 18, 2008
In Quest of Happiness
http://www.opednews.com/articles/life_a_iftekhar_080115_in_quest_of_happines.htm
(click above for article)
“When is enough, enough?” Civilisation is a constant overreach for material possessions. Enough has never been enough, and some people, like the Cynics and the hippies, have reacted against the tyranny of matter.
(click above for article)
“When is enough, enough?” Civilisation is a constant overreach for material possessions. Enough has never been enough, and some people, like the Cynics and the hippies, have reacted against the tyranny of matter.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Eternal Vigilance
http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_2811.shtml
(click above for article)
“Eternal vigilance is the price of chastity” conveys far better than Thomas Jefferson’s line (quoted ad nauseam) the anxiety his female slaves must have felt at the constant prospect of being raped by their freedom-loving, concupiscent master.
(click above for article)
“Eternal vigilance is the price of chastity” conveys far better than Thomas Jefferson’s line (quoted ad nauseam) the anxiety his female slaves must have felt at the constant prospect of being raped by their freedom-loving, concupiscent master.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Who hasn’t heard of Ayaan Hirsi Ali?
She it was who wrote the script for Theo van Gogh’s film “Submission”: the film depicts a beaten, naked woman whose body is covered with verses from the Koran. In case you didn’t get the message: that’s what Islam does to you, especially if you are a woman.
Theo van Gogh was murdered by a Dutch-born Muslim of Moroccan origin, and he threatened to do the same to Ms. Ali. The lady had since then been kept under police protection. However, she was caught having fibbed about her asylum claim, and the Dutch withdrew the welcome mat. Since then she has headed for more accommodating climes, namely, the United States of America (where else?).
In her book “The Caged Virgin”, she argues that it is clear what the west must do: force Islam to go through the civilising effects of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. She fiercely opposes multiculturalism: the west should come out of the closet and proclaim its superiority over the benighted Muslim world.
As history books helpfully point out, the superiority of the Dutch over the barbaric hordes is beyond reasonable doubt: after all, they it was who collaborated to hand over almost all the resident Jews to the Germans to be shipped to concentration camps.
Now, that’s western civilisation for you: superior!
She it was who wrote the script for Theo van Gogh’s film “Submission”: the film depicts a beaten, naked woman whose body is covered with verses from the Koran. In case you didn’t get the message: that’s what Islam does to you, especially if you are a woman.
Theo van Gogh was murdered by a Dutch-born Muslim of Moroccan origin, and he threatened to do the same to Ms. Ali. The lady had since then been kept under police protection. However, she was caught having fibbed about her asylum claim, and the Dutch withdrew the welcome mat. Since then she has headed for more accommodating climes, namely, the United States of America (where else?).
In her book “The Caged Virgin”, she argues that it is clear what the west must do: force Islam to go through the civilising effects of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. She fiercely opposes multiculturalism: the west should come out of the closet and proclaim its superiority over the benighted Muslim world.
As history books helpfully point out, the superiority of the Dutch over the barbaric hordes is beyond reasonable doubt: after all, they it was who collaborated to hand over almost all the resident Jews to the Germans to be shipped to concentration camps.
Now, that’s western civilisation for you: superior!
A Modest Proposal
Since we in South Asia in general, and Bangladesh in particular, are addicted to dynastic democracy, may I make a modest suggestion?
In Bangladesh (and the model may be worthy of emulation), we should try and bring the 21st century into our politics by cloning our dynastic leaders. They will then look exactly like the real thing, and the people will be no whit wiser.
At the same time, we should apply modern genetic technology to remove aggressive genes from the clones, and make our leaders less assertive and violent.
This way, the two dynasties would be able to coexist in harmony, and we’ll have a virtual national government, with each bowing out gracefully after every election. They can then dispense with their thugs, armed students and violently faithful teachers and bureaucrats.
And if any nasty atavistic, recessive gene turns up, well, we can simply clone the clones and remove that gene.
There will be only one problem, albeit a minor one: what to do with the real McKoys?
In Bangladesh (and the model may be worthy of emulation), we should try and bring the 21st century into our politics by cloning our dynastic leaders. They will then look exactly like the real thing, and the people will be no whit wiser.
At the same time, we should apply modern genetic technology to remove aggressive genes from the clones, and make our leaders less assertive and violent.
This way, the two dynasties would be able to coexist in harmony, and we’ll have a virtual national government, with each bowing out gracefully after every election. They can then dispense with their thugs, armed students and violently faithful teachers and bureaucrats.
And if any nasty atavistic, recessive gene turns up, well, we can simply clone the clones and remove that gene.
There will be only one problem, albeit a minor one: what to do with the real McKoys?
Friday, January 11, 2008
we all go abroad for treatment, don't we?
Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia, like the vast majority of the people they claim to represent, need to go abroad for treatment.
They are like the millions of their compatriots who go to the US or UK every day for first-rate therapy.
Every year, hordes of slum-dwellers, farmers and factory workers go abroad for medical attention.
Our democratically elected leaders are just like them – ordinary citizens going abroad for treatment.
Tomorrow my wife and I will be taking the first flight out of Bangladesh to Singapore, Bangkok, Los Angeles, and sundry other places for our annual check-ups.
See you when we get back.
Adios!
They are like the millions of their compatriots who go to the US or UK every day for first-rate therapy.
Every year, hordes of slum-dwellers, farmers and factory workers go abroad for medical attention.
Our democratically elected leaders are just like them – ordinary citizens going abroad for treatment.
Tomorrow my wife and I will be taking the first flight out of Bangladesh to Singapore, Bangkok, Los Angeles, and sundry other places for our annual check-ups.
See you when we get back.
Adios!
More on Irene Z. Khan and Amnesty International in Bangladesh
Irene Z. Khan has described the interred Dhaka University teachers as “prisoners of conscience”. Conscience? They have no conscience.
Chief Justice (retired) Shahabuddin Ahmed, during his stint as president, said that students were getting guns instead of books. “He reiterated his stand against the ‘political use of students and urged the students to sever connections with the political parties’” (The Daily Star, July 11, 2000). Another ex-president, Badruddoza Chowdhury, has said: “Students are armed to punish the opposition and we strongly condemn such acts” (The Bangladesh Observer, March 30 2005). Did the teachers deplore the use of students in politics? Not at all. Where was conscience then?
Now, they are again using students for political purposes.
Irene Khan was conspicuous by her silence on the subject of students (of whom many are minors) being used in politics during our democratic nightmare. I once emailed AI to learn how they got their information regarding Bangladesh when they had no office here. Their local chapter had been shut down years ago because of internal shenanigans: I asked what these mysterious goings-on had been. I received no reply.
How, then, has she, in the space of a few days, summed up the political situation in Bangladesh, and given us a progress report?
She has insisted that AI always encourages the trial of war criminals. Fine. But right now, the two biggest war criminals are in the White House and the other was lately at Downing Street, as the Nobel laureate Harold Pinter observed. Has the AI called for them to hauled before the courts? Both are guilty of waging an illegal war that has claimed a million lives.
Unlike the conscientious Harold Pinter, the secretary general of AI, Irene Khan, knows what she must or must not do to safeguard her career.
Chief Justice (retired) Shahabuddin Ahmed, during his stint as president, said that students were getting guns instead of books. “He reiterated his stand against the ‘political use of students and urged the students to sever connections with the political parties’” (The Daily Star, July 11, 2000). Another ex-president, Badruddoza Chowdhury, has said: “Students are armed to punish the opposition and we strongly condemn such acts” (The Bangladesh Observer, March 30 2005). Did the teachers deplore the use of students in politics? Not at all. Where was conscience then?
Now, they are again using students for political purposes.
Irene Khan was conspicuous by her silence on the subject of students (of whom many are minors) being used in politics during our democratic nightmare. I once emailed AI to learn how they got their information regarding Bangladesh when they had no office here. Their local chapter had been shut down years ago because of internal shenanigans: I asked what these mysterious goings-on had been. I received no reply.
How, then, has she, in the space of a few days, summed up the political situation in Bangladesh, and given us a progress report?
She has insisted that AI always encourages the trial of war criminals. Fine. But right now, the two biggest war criminals are in the White House and the other was lately at Downing Street, as the Nobel laureate Harold Pinter observed. Has the AI called for them to hauled before the courts? Both are guilty of waging an illegal war that has claimed a million lives.
Unlike the conscientious Harold Pinter, the secretary general of AI, Irene Khan, knows what she must or must not do to safeguard her career.
Irene Z. Khan has described the interred Dhaka University teachers as “prisoners of conscience”. Conscience? They have no conscience.
Chief Justice (retired) Shahabuddin Ahmed, during his stint as president, said that students were getting guns instead of books. “He reiterated his stand against the ‘political use of students and urged the students to sever connections with the political parties’” (The Daily Star, July 11, 2000). Another ex-president, Badruddoza Chowdhury, has said: “Students are armed to punish the opposition and we strongly condemn such acts” (The Bangladesh Observer, March 30 2005). Did the teachers deplore the use of students in politics? Not at all. Where was conscience then?
Now, they are again using students for political purposes.
Irene Khan was conspicuous by her silence on the subject of students (of whom many are minors) being used in politics during our democratic nightmare. I once emailed AI to learn how they got their information regarding Bangladesh when they had no office here. Their local chapter had been shut down years ago because of internal shenanigans: I asked what these mysterious goings-on had been. I received no reply.
How, then, has she, in the space of a few days, summed up the political situation in Bangladesh, and given us a progress report?
She has insisted that AI always encourages the trial of war criminals. Fine. But right now, the two biggest war criminals are in the White House and the other was lately at Downing Street, as the Nobel laureate Harold Pinter observed. Has the AI called for them to hauled before the courts? Both are guilty of waging an illegal war that has claimed a million lives.
Unlike the conscientious Harold Pinter, the secretary general of AI, Irene Khan, knows what she must or must not do to safeguard her career.
Chief Justice (retired) Shahabuddin Ahmed, during his stint as president, said that students were getting guns instead of books. “He reiterated his stand against the ‘political use of students and urged the students to sever connections with the political parties’” (The Daily Star, July 11, 2000). Another ex-president, Badruddoza Chowdhury, has said: “Students are armed to punish the opposition and we strongly condemn such acts” (The Bangladesh Observer, March 30 2005). Did the teachers deplore the use of students in politics? Not at all. Where was conscience then?
Now, they are again using students for political purposes.
Irene Khan was conspicuous by her silence on the subject of students (of whom many are minors) being used in politics during our democratic nightmare. I once emailed AI to learn how they got their information regarding Bangladesh when they had no office here. Their local chapter had been shut down years ago because of internal shenanigans: I asked what these mysterious goings-on had been. I received no reply.
How, then, has she, in the space of a few days, summed up the political situation in Bangladesh, and given us a progress report?
She has insisted that AI always encourages the trial of war criminals. Fine. But right now, the two biggest war criminals are in the White House and the other was lately at Downing Street, as the Nobel laureate Harold Pinter observed. Has the AI called for them to hauled before the courts? Both are guilty of waging an illegal war that has claimed a million lives.
Unlike the conscientious Harold Pinter, the secretary general of AI, Irene Khan, knows what she must or must not do to safeguard her career.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Amnesty International in Bangladesh
Irene Z. Khan, secretary general of Amnesty International, has been here lecturing the caretaker government on human rights.
Over the last sixteen years, when student politicians were dying at the rate of 50 per month and these boys were raping and killing with abandon, where was – the hopelessly misnamed – Irene?
Between 1985 and 2000, 15 student politicians were murdered on the campus of Tejgaon Polytechnic College. These boys were minors.
In 1989, world leaders decided that children needed a special convention just for them because people under 18 years old often need special care and protection that adults do not. The leaders also wanted to make sure that the world recognized that children have human rights too.
The Convention sets out these rights in 54 articles and two Optional Protocols. It spells out the basic human rights that children everywhere have: the right to survival; to develop to the fullest; to protection from harmful influences, abuse and exploitation; and to participate fully in family, cultural and social life .
The reader will notice that all the highlighted rights have been violated in the case of the student politicians of Bangladesh. For student activists begin their violent careers well before they are eighteen.
To read an interview of a student politician, visit http://ritro.com/sections/worldaffairs/story.bv?storyid=3664
Irene Khan is Bangladeshi, and she knows very well what democracy has meant for high school students – she comes to Bangladesh regularly to visit her mother. Yet she has never raised the point with the previous, democratically elected leaders of Bangladesh. Instead, she is pushing for the restoration of democracy here.
See the article: http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_23393.shtml
Over the last sixteen years, when student politicians were dying at the rate of 50 per month and these boys were raping and killing with abandon, where was – the hopelessly misnamed – Irene?
Between 1985 and 2000, 15 student politicians were murdered on the campus of Tejgaon Polytechnic College. These boys were minors.
In 1989, world leaders decided that children needed a special convention just for them because people under 18 years old often need special care and protection that adults do not. The leaders also wanted to make sure that the world recognized that children have human rights too.
The Convention sets out these rights in 54 articles and two Optional Protocols. It spells out the basic human rights that children everywhere have: the right to survival; to develop to the fullest; to protection from harmful influences, abuse and exploitation; and to participate fully in family, cultural and social life .
The reader will notice that all the highlighted rights have been violated in the case of the student politicians of Bangladesh. For student activists begin their violent careers well before they are eighteen.
To read an interview of a student politician, visit http://ritro.com/sections/worldaffairs/story.bv?storyid=3664
Irene Khan is Bangladeshi, and she knows very well what democracy has meant for high school students – she comes to Bangladesh regularly to visit her mother. Yet she has never raised the point with the previous, democratically elected leaders of Bangladesh. Instead, she is pushing for the restoration of democracy here.
See the article: http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_23393.shtml
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