Terror in Bangalore

July 26, 2008 – 9:19 am

I wasn’t born in Bangalore. I don’t live there now. But ever since I was a child, it’s been the seat of my family.

I’ve smelled the jasmine and diesel in the air. I’ve seen the elections of civic-minded criminals, and heard the hurly-burly cry of Commercial Street for years. In short, I claim Bangalore as my own.

Eight explosions erupted across my city like weeping lesions yesterday.

According to all the news sources I can tap, the prime suspects in this matter are either the members of a banned student organization, the Students Islamic Movement of India, or the militant organization, Lashkar-e-Toiba. I don’t know enough about the nature or history of either group to even offer an opinion. And honestly, I can’t say that I care who eventually will claim the credit for all of this. Whoever it was, they’re no different than any other breed of savage.

Every time I go to Bangalore, I visit the Church of the Infant Jesus. It’s near the center of the city, a shy palace of stone and stained marble. Shall I tell you why it’s wonderful? Because, despite the name, it’s a shrine for every person of any faith. Read More »

By Joe Hormes | Posted in Columnist, Current Affairs, south asia, terrorism | Comments (0)

Chasing The Flame: A Review

June 18, 2008 – 11:54 am

This is a review of Chasing the Flame: Sergio Vieira de Mello and the Fight to Save the World by Samantha Power. Allen Lane, 2008.

Most United Nations officials do not make for engrossing literary subjects. Samantha Power, however, has found an exception. The Yale-educated Harvard Law Professor was previously awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 2003 for her work “A problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide”. She recently served as a foreign policy adviser to Barack Obama, but resigned after suggesting that Hilary Clinton is a “Monster”.

Power’s latest book is about Sergio Viera de Mello, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General in Iraq, who died tragically in 2003.

One hardly expects a book devoted to a UN official to be an engrossing read. However, Power does a brilliant job, crafting a compelling biography. Not only does she show the witty and romantic side of Vieira de Mello, but she fully illustrates Mello’s experiences when it comes to the reconstruction of war-torn countries, painting a detailed picture of both success and failure.

This book illustrates the clash of pragmatism and principles. Power highlights the complexities of Vieira de Mello’s career and personal growth: he was both an idealist and someone who sat down at a dinner table with the Khmer Rouge if he thought it practical.

Vieira de Mello’s life makes for a mesmerizing narrative. A life-long philosophy student, he got out of the ivory tower and took on the world. He was also a bureaucrat who freely exhibited basic human kindness and charm. And finally, a man who worked toward peace - and died as the result of a suicide bombing.

One can hope that Barack Obama will read Samantha Power’s excellent biography of this excellent, if complicated, figure. There are many lessons to be learned from the life, and death, of Sergio Vieira de Mello.

By Jonathan Mok | Posted in book reviews, middle east, politics, terrorism | Comments (0)

Politics and Tragedy

January 13, 2008 – 11:28 am

Wherein lies the tragedy of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination?

Common wisdom holds that the implications surrounding the demise of one of Pakistan’s major democratic leaders are tragic. Others hold that her killing reveals the sinister confluence of wicked forces at work in Pakistan.

Others hold that that the tragedy lies in the fact that she comes from a family that has lost far too many of its sons and daughters. Others hold that the tragedy lies in the loss that will be felt by her young children.

But what if we simply refused to assign any form of tragedy to Bhutto’s killing? What if we said: it is tragic that another human being has been killed, and that is all I have to say.

Why should I exalt the tragedy of Bhutto’s death, when I rarely exalt the tragedy of anyone else’s death? Why does she get this preferential treatment? Simply because she was involved in politics?

Nietzsche said that most ancient Greeks didn’t care about politics. They believed that they were utterly incapable of affecting the decision-making in which the powerful engaged, opting, therefore, to busy themselves with other things: things upon which they could have direct influence, namely art.

Why do we modern people think that politics have changed? Read More »

By Ali Eteraz | Posted in Columnist, Current Affairs, south asia, terrorism | Comments (3)

The Mindless Menace of Violence in the Muslim World

December 29, 2007 – 2:18 am

One more act of senseless violence greets us in the Muslim world this week. One more suicide bomber or assassin, or whatever we can call them these days, kills others and himself in a moment of premeditated madness.

The assassination of Benazir Bhutto is tragic. There can be no doubt about that. But what shocks me today, as I am shocked on a daily basis with the stream of murders and suicides in Pakistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Turkey, and so many other countries is this nagging question: Where on earth do they find them?? Where on earth do the plotters and schemers find so many willing men and women of young age to mould into their insane vision of the world? How did those who planned this latest act of violence stumble upon this latest specimen of misguided fervour and convince him (at least it seems to be a him at the time of writing) to go and end his life by assassinating a mother of three children. How did they get through to this guy? And more importantly, why is it so goddamn easy to find self-terminating assassins in our region?

I am outraged as I was outraged on the day I witnessed the mothers, fathers and grandfathers grieving for their loved ones in an Amman hospital after the massacres of the inverted 9/11 (in Jordan, it was 11/9 if one follows the American date method, and proof that the killers and blood suckers infesting our region have a rather bizarre and morbid sense of humour that, I guess, makes some weird sense to the lunatics in our midst).

I am as outraged as I was in the summer of 2005 when a bunch of lunatics in Sharm El Sheikh drove their bomb-laden cars into a crowd of underpaid workers who apparently were not allowed the simple pleasure of a cup of coffee at the end of a long working day.

I am outraged as I was when I heard this last summer that a Jordanian Neurosurgeon thought that the best way to make use of his years of study and research is to go and bomb the world and all that is in it outside the Tiger Tiger club in Piccadilly.

Now, some of the readers will say: “Oh, come on, that’s not totally accurate; you are comparing the murders of innocent civilians with a targeted assassination of a leader who some Pakistanis discredit … etc.” But that is not the point. Read More »

By Nasser Ali Khasawneh | Posted in Columnist, Current Affairs, Religion, islam, south asia, terrorism | Comments (15)

I Don’t Freaking Care

September 21, 2007 – 9:22 pm

Just as I was beginning to sketch out this column, commissioned as it was by Global Comment, I hit a minor snag: I had no clue what I was talking about. Apparently, the whole situation in the Middle-East has become so depressing that I’ve managed to block it out entirely. I had to go to Wikipedia to make sure Olmert was still the Israeli PM. Then again, given the recent reliability issues with Wiki, I could be entirely wrong on that count. Not that I care.

Without having read anything about Israel in the past two years, I can still make the following statements with absolute certainty: within the last couple weeks, some Palestinian person did something violent, probably involving explosives, in which Israeli Jews were killed. The IDF responded by assassinating the person(s) involved and/or bulldozing their houses. There was considerable collateral damage. Read More »

By Feature Writer | Posted in Current Affairs, middle east, terrorism | Comments (0)

Whose Peace will it be in the End?

July 21, 2006 – 9:36 pm

For many thousands of years, roguish rulers and militant societies have repeatedly tried to impose their own brand of peace on other societies even as these appeared to enjoy peace-like tranquility, but, in a manner which did not conform to the warmonger’s own traditions and culture. This could not be more meaningful than it is today, as the mightiest nation on earth has led a full force descent on a small distant country already under strict world surveillance, and for that reason, peaceful on the outside though ominously discordant internally. Read More »

By Feature Writer | Posted in Current Affairs, north america, politics, terrorism | Comments (0)

The Terrorists Have Won

July 6, 2006 – 9:41 pm

I recently saw the film “The Siege,” made in 1998, about terrorist bombs going off in New York City. Of course, Middle Eastern men planted the bombs and soldier Bruce Willis, taking marching orders from the president, imposes martial law, rounds up first all those from the Mideast, then other foreigners and finally U.S. citizens and puts them in camps. Read More »

By Feature Writer | Posted in Current Affairs, human rights, north america, politics, terrorism | Comments (0)

Sacrifice and Honor: Why it Matters

July 6, 2006 – 9:40 pm

Since the Vietnam War, political discussions during wars have become more contentious, more polarizing, and more conspiratorial in nature. Finger pointing appears the exercise of the day, along with poor and simplistic sloganeering.

These last couple of years of political debate on Iraq continued this unfortunately slippery slide. The choice, according to the political classes, says it all: On the one side, Democrats seek to leave Iraq and fast – damn the consequences to America’s fight against terrorism, stability in the oil rich and oil necessary Middle East, and America’s reputation for keeping its word to its friends and allies. On the other side, Republican apologists argue simply to stay the course, failing to require the Administration put into practice more of what it should be learning from insurgent fighting. Read More »

By Feature Writer | Posted in Current Affairs, middle east, north america, politics, terrorism | Comments (0)