The Flashlight, December 1-7, 2007
THE FLASHLIGHT, December 1-7, 2007
Iran and Nuclear Research
CNN and PBS 12-3. According to the 2007 National Intelligence Estimate, a consensus of the representatives of all 16 US intelligence agencies revealed that Iran stopped trying to produce nuclear weapons in 2003, and hasn’t resumed such research since. The NIE said that Iran could not produce a nuclear bomb, even if it tried, before 2010 – 2015. This new intelligence suggests that the Iranian leadership is not crazy, and responds rationally to political and economic pressure.
Guardian 12-4. The Israelis. Germans, and French challenged the new intelligence, while Iran heartily welcomed it. Most American commentators think there is no significant justification now for an attack on Iran.
Iraq
Corruption
NY Times 12-2. Non-stop theft and bribery are staggering Iraq, even as security improves. Nearly everything the government buys and sells can be found in the black market. An independent source rated Iraq as the third most corrupt country in the world, after Myanmar and Somalia.
Security
NY Times 12-5. It is relatively calm in Baghdad, but extra American troops can take only part of the credit. An increasing number of Sunnis have turned their guns on the jihadists, and away from the Americans. Also three months ago Moqtada as-Sadr ordered his militia to halt military action. These three conditions can be reversed suddenly at any time. The political roots of the conflict have not been addressed.
Venezuela
NY Times 12-3. The Venezuelans handed a narrow defeat, 51 to 49, to Pres. Hugo Chavez, who was trying to become President for Life. Term limits and checks and balance in the Constitution were retained. This was remarkable because Chavez held almost all the levers of power.
United States
Economy
PBS 12-6. Two million homeowners face foreclosure. The Bush Administration is taking some measures to help, such as freezing mortgage rates on some loans , but that is not expected to have much effect. The ripples from this meltdown are expected to flow out into the economy at large.
Presidential Politics
Guardian 12-2. In Iowa, Huckabee pulled ahead of Mitt Romney in the Republican race, and Obama pulled ahead of Hilary, according to one poll. Huckabee is short of money and organization, but people think him more likeable than the other Republican candidates.
CIA’s Destruction of Evidence Revealed
New York Times 12-7. In 2002 the CIA made two videos of its “harsh interrogations” with the use of waterboarding. In 2005, rather than handing the videos over to the 9/11 Commission, the CIA destroyed them, thereby obstructing the Commission’s work.
Book Review: Autobiography of a Palestinian Aristocrat
Sari Nusseibeh, Once Upon a Country; A Palestinian Life. Farrar Strauss, NY 2007. 543 pp.
The subject of this autobiography is almost unknown in the US, and to most American ears the label “Palestinian aristocrat” may sound like an oxymoron. Sari Nusseibeh, 58, is the President of Al-Quds University in Jerusalem, which has about 6000 students. He is an advocate of non-violence, and only non-violence, as a means of resisting the Israeli occupation. He has studied Hebrew, lived on a kibbutz, and is a friend of Israeli intellectuals such as Amoz Oz, the novelist, and Avishai Margalit, the philosopher. His wife, Lucy, is the daughter of an English philosopher. Sari studied at Oxford and earned a Ph.D at Harvard, planning an academic career. But his family background and circumstances pulled him into politics as well. Today he is one of the most important Palestinian political leaders.
The Nusseibeh family traces its ancestry back to the time of Muhammed in the early seventh century. A woman warrior called Nusseibeh was the head of a Medina tribe that joined Muhammed’s movement early. The family arrived with the conquering Muslim army into Palestine in 637 and soon thereafter was named keeper of the keys to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.
The Palestinians hold this family in awe not just because of its pedigree, but because of the character of its leaders. Sari, like his father Anwar, is dignified, honest, loyal, gracious, generous, moderate, shrewd, and brave.
During the first Palestinian rebellion, or Intifadha, of 1988-90, Sari was an important undercover leader of non-violent activities. When the Israeli secret police, by torturing his associates, found out about him, they treated him with surprising lenience: a mere three month detention. More recently he has cooperated with the Arab-Israeli organization Peace Now and the anti-war group, Women in Black. Israeli right wingers have labeled Sari Nusseibeh, “the most dangerous Palestinian alive.”
This book provides an excellent history of the struggle between Israelis and Palestinians since 1947 as seen from a moderate point of view.
Iran and Nuclear Research
CNN and PBS 12-3. According to the 2007 National Intelligence Estimate, a consensus of the representatives of all 16 US intelligence agencies revealed that Iran stopped trying to produce nuclear weapons in 2003, and hasn’t resumed such research since. The NIE said that Iran could not produce a nuclear bomb, even if it tried, before 2010 – 2015. This new intelligence suggests that the Iranian leadership is not crazy, and responds rationally to political and economic pressure.
Guardian 12-4. The Israelis. Germans, and French challenged the new intelligence, while Iran heartily welcomed it. Most American commentators think there is no significant justification now for an attack on Iran.
Iraq
Corruption
NY Times 12-2. Non-stop theft and bribery are staggering Iraq, even as security improves. Nearly everything the government buys and sells can be found in the black market. An independent source rated Iraq as the third most corrupt country in the world, after Myanmar and Somalia.
Security
NY Times 12-5. It is relatively calm in Baghdad, but extra American troops can take only part of the credit. An increasing number of Sunnis have turned their guns on the jihadists, and away from the Americans. Also three months ago Moqtada as-Sadr ordered his militia to halt military action. These three conditions can be reversed suddenly at any time. The political roots of the conflict have not been addressed.
Venezuela
NY Times 12-3. The Venezuelans handed a narrow defeat, 51 to 49, to Pres. Hugo Chavez, who was trying to become President for Life. Term limits and checks and balance in the Constitution were retained. This was remarkable because Chavez held almost all the levers of power.
United States
Economy
PBS 12-6. Two million homeowners face foreclosure. The Bush Administration is taking some measures to help, such as freezing mortgage rates on some loans , but that is not expected to have much effect. The ripples from this meltdown are expected to flow out into the economy at large.
Presidential Politics
Guardian 12-2. In Iowa, Huckabee pulled ahead of Mitt Romney in the Republican race, and Obama pulled ahead of Hilary, according to one poll. Huckabee is short of money and organization, but people think him more likeable than the other Republican candidates.
CIA’s Destruction of Evidence Revealed
New York Times 12-7. In 2002 the CIA made two videos of its “harsh interrogations” with the use of waterboarding. In 2005, rather than handing the videos over to the 9/11 Commission, the CIA destroyed them, thereby obstructing the Commission’s work.
Book Review: Autobiography of a Palestinian Aristocrat
Sari Nusseibeh, Once Upon a Country; A Palestinian Life. Farrar Strauss, NY 2007. 543 pp.
The subject of this autobiography is almost unknown in the US, and to most American ears the label “Palestinian aristocrat” may sound like an oxymoron. Sari Nusseibeh, 58, is the President of Al-Quds University in Jerusalem, which has about 6000 students. He is an advocate of non-violence, and only non-violence, as a means of resisting the Israeli occupation. He has studied Hebrew, lived on a kibbutz, and is a friend of Israeli intellectuals such as Amoz Oz, the novelist, and Avishai Margalit, the philosopher. His wife, Lucy, is the daughter of an English philosopher. Sari studied at Oxford and earned a Ph.D at Harvard, planning an academic career. But his family background and circumstances pulled him into politics as well. Today he is one of the most important Palestinian political leaders.
The Nusseibeh family traces its ancestry back to the time of Muhammed in the early seventh century. A woman warrior called Nusseibeh was the head of a Medina tribe that joined Muhammed’s movement early. The family arrived with the conquering Muslim army into Palestine in 637 and soon thereafter was named keeper of the keys to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.
The Palestinians hold this family in awe not just because of its pedigree, but because of the character of its leaders. Sari, like his father Anwar, is dignified, honest, loyal, gracious, generous, moderate, shrewd, and brave.
During the first Palestinian rebellion, or Intifadha, of 1988-90, Sari was an important undercover leader of non-violent activities. When the Israeli secret police, by torturing his associates, found out about him, they treated him with surprising lenience: a mere three month detention. More recently he has cooperated with the Arab-Israeli organization Peace Now and the anti-war group, Women in Black. Israeli right wingers have labeled Sari Nusseibeh, “the most dangerous Palestinian alive.”
This book provides an excellent history of the struggle between Israelis and Palestinians since 1947 as seen from a moderate point of view.
posted by THE FLASHLIGHT at 7:43 AM
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