Archive for the ‘Islam’ Category
Mother Of All Heists – $500 Million stolen
The principle motivator for the USA attacking Iraq, I feel, was to put taxpayer dollars into the pockets of rich Americans. Rich Republicans. The Bush regime assumed they’d recover the money — somehow — from Iraqi oil.
But they had no incentive at all to put US taxpayer dollars into the pockets of rich Iraquis. This is just the Mother of all Blunders.
From 60 Minutes:
(CBS) This segment was originally broadcast on Oct. 22, 2006. It was updated on June 14, 2007.
President Bush says the United States can’t leave Iraq until the country can govern and defend itself. Right now a number of inconvenient facts suggest it can do neither. Everyone knows about the chaotic security situation, but less has been reported about the rampant corruption that has infected a succession of Iraqi governments. In a story that first aired in Oct. 2006, Iraqi investigators told 60 Minutes that at least half a billion dollars that was supposed to equip the new Iraqi military was stolen by the very people the U.S. had entrusted to run it.
As correspondent Steve Kroft reports, it has been called one of the biggest thefts in history, the mother of all heists, and it happened right under the noses of U.S. advisors. But neither the United States nor its allies have shown much of an appetite for pursuing it.
related post – BBC – who stole the Baghdad billions?
two more soldiers killed in Iraq – but who’s counting
Not George W.
Lost Voices – Why the deaths of Yance T. Gray and Omar Mora are particularly galling.
By Fred Kaplan in SLATE
On Monday, while Gen. David Petraeus prepared to testify before two House committees about the successes of the surge, seven of his soldiers died when their transport vehicle overturned in a highway accident west of Baghdad.
Two of those soldiers, Staff Sgt. Yance T. Gray, 26, and Sgt. Omar Mora, 28, were part of another group of seven—the seven noncommissioned officers of the 82nd Airborne Division who wrote a brave, well-reasoned op-ed in the Aug. 19 New York Times, calling the prospect of victory “far-fetched” and appraisals of progress “surreal.”
One of the other NCOs, Staff Sgt. Jeremy A. Murphy, was shot in the head during a firefight before the op-ed piece was published. (Rushed to a military hospital, he is alive but recovering slowly.)
It is sad and appalling that nearly half of the authors of that op-ed are now casualties of the war that they publicly criticized but more than willingly continued to fight. (The last paragraph of their piece read: “We need not talk about our morale. As committed soldiers, we will see this mission through.”) …
The Iraq war claims two soldiers who wrote a critical op-ed. – By Fred Kaplan – Slate Magazine
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – let him speak
I believe in FREEDOM and FREEDOM OF SPEACH.
Even for a “raving lunatic”.
I think Ahmadinejad is a lot smarter than he looks. I want to see if he can be pinned down by the tough questions of the American media.
And I admire his guts. Walking into the lion’s den.
Saddam Hussein would never have had the courage.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama said it was wrong to invite Ahmadinejad. At the same time, Obama added: “We should never be afraid to confront the lies and rantings of dictators with the power of truth and the strength of our own values and beliefs.” …
Clinton and Obama are wrong. They are pandering to public opinion rather than doing the right thing. Hearing Ahmadinejad out. Shooting him down. Verbally rather than by force of arms, for a change.
If Ahmadinejad is insane, this media frenzy will confirm it.
most suicide bombers are Muslim
In response to my Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 post Warren referred me to an excellent Psychology Today article:
Suicide missions are not always religiously motivated, but according to Oxford University sociologist Diego Gambetta, editor of Making Sense of Suicide Missions, when religion is involved, the attackers are always Muslim. Why? The surprising answer is that Muslim suicide bombing has nothing to do with Islam or the Quran (except for two lines). It has a lot to do with sex, or, in this case, the absence of sex.
What distinguishes Islam from other major religions is that it tolerates polygyny. By allowing some men to monopolize all women and altogether excluding many men from reproductive opportunities, polygyny creates shortages of available women. If 50 percent of men have two wives each, then the other 50 percent don’t get any wives at all.So polygyny increases competitive pressure on men, especially young men of low status. It therefore increases the likelihood that young men resort to violent means to gain access to mates. By doing so, they have little to lose and much to gain compared with men who already have wives. Across all societies, polygyny makes men violent, increasing crimes such as murder and rape, even after controlling for such obvious factors as economic development, economic inequality, population density, the level of democracy, and political factors in the region.
However, polygyny itself is not a sufficient cause of suicide bombing. Societies in sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean are much more polygynous than the Muslim nations in the Middle East and North Africa. And they do have very high levels of violence. Sub-Saharan Africa suffers from a long history of continuous civil wars—but not suicide bombings.
The other key ingredient is the promise of 72 virgins waiting in heaven for any martyr in Islam. The prospect of exclusive access to virgins may not be so appealing to anyone who has even one mate on earth, which strict monogamy virtually guarantees. However, the prospect is quite appealing to anyone who faces the bleak reality on earth of being a complete reproductive loser.
It is the combination of polygyny and the promise of a large harem of virgins in heaven that motivates many young Muslim men to commit suicide bombings. Consistent with this explanation, all studies of suicide bombers indicate that they are significantly younger than not only the Muslim population in general but other (nonsuicidal) members of their own extreme political organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah. And nearly all suicide bombers are single.
If you’ve not seen the article, it’s well worth the read:
Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
Psychology Today: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
another innovative Green Skyscraper
The Lighthouse is another innovative green skyscraper to be constructed in Dubai. For energy generation, it will have three enormous 225 kilowatt wind turbines (29 meters in diameter), and 4000 photovoltaic panels on the south facing façade.
See more – TOP 10 Green Skyscraper projects as reported by Treehugger.
Burj Dubai – tallest building
Any day now Burj Dubai will overtake Taipei 101 and become the world’s tallest building.
artists conception
real, right now
Dark Roasted Blend: Burj Dubai: Now the Tallest Building in the World – more great photos
I’ve REALLY got to visit Dubai.
Here’s a few more architectural wonders planned:
Las Vegas – Arab style
When will Cirque du Soleil put in a show?
Palm Islands
Underwater Hotel
To see the “Death Star”, “Trump Dubai”, the Rotating Towers and other freakish concepts, check out another Dark Roasted Blend post: Dubai Architecture Part 2.
(I suspect this awesome blog is published out of Calgary.)
Little Mosque on the Prairie
I’ve gotta see this.
Sounds right up my alley.
This is the story of the Muslim population in the fictional town of Mercy, Saskatchewan.
The show derives much of its humour from the interactions of the Muslims with the non-Muslim townspeople of Mercy and by the contrast of conservative Islamic views (held primarily by the characters of Baber and Fatima) with more liberal interpretations (as represented by Amaar and Rayyan).
The show premiered on Tuesday, January 9, 2007 …
Unusually for a Canadian television series, Little Mosque received extensive advance publicity in international media, with profiles appearing in The New York Times, the Washington Times and the Houston Chronicle, as well as on CNN, NPR and the BBC.
The series premiere drew an audience of 2.1 million — an exceptionally strong rating for domestic programming in the Canadian television market, and on par with Canadian ratings for popular American series. By comparison, Corner Gas, one of the highest-rated Canadian TV shows, attracts just under a million and a half viewers for a typical episode.
Little Mosque on the Prairie – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
I gotta move to Dubai
… rotating towers, floating and “flying” villas.
UAE developer “High Rise RE” is set to build “The Rotating City” – a new concept in urban planning, where every building rotates and faces different environments according to the owner’s wishes. Dubai’s incredible pace of development …
Dark Roasted Blend: Rotating City: yet another ambitious Dubai project
movie – The Fog of War
I only knew “McNamara” from the reference in the Simon and Garfunkle song:
I been Norman Mailered, Maxwell Taylored.
I been John O’Hara’d, McNamara’d.
I been Rolling Stoned and Beatled till I’m blind.
I been Ayn Randed, nearly branded
Communist, ’cause I’m left-handed.
That’s the hand I use, well, never mind!
The first album I ever bought was Simon and Garfunkle.
Though I grew up in the Vietnam era, I was never a vocal protester. My mind was on local things. Sport. School. Friends.
Later I became strongly anti-war. (that’s a separate post)
I’d heard great things about a documentary called The Fog of War and finally got around to downloading it.
It’s fantastic.
Robert Strange McNamara is one of the most interesting and compelling figures in modern history.
He was hand-picked by President Kennedy to become Secretary of Defense in 1961 and was a senior advisor on US policy through until he was fired (or quit) in 1968.
McNamara recommended the Bay of Pigs invasion and was at the table during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Three times the USA came close to using nuclear weapons.
McNamara has said that the Domino Theory was the main reason for entering Vietnam. His resolve to “win” the war waned, especially after protester Norman Morrison set himself on fire Nov. 2, 1965, dousing himself in gasoline, holding his baby girl, in front of McNamara’s office. (The baby was saved.)
Though McNamara was “the chief architect of the Vietnam war”, he eventually came to believe it a mistake. LBJ lost confidence and let him go.
Film maker Errol Morris had a fantastic story. And did a fantastic job of editing. I recommend it to one and all.
Though many of the “lessons learned” could be applied to Iraq, McNamara has consistently refused to comment. And he has never apologized.
The Fog of War – Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara
The Fog of War – Wikipedia
You can watch the movie free in a tiny window with streamed video.
Chris in Dubai
Chris Baraniuk is coaching Cirque du Soleil’s first venture into the Middle East.
Infamous for brief, nay terse, (though prompt and reliable) email messages, his New Year’s letter home is insightful and most interesting:
Happy New Year. I hope you have a year of happiness.
Greetings from Dubai. As I sit at my laptop in my apartment, the noise of the construction on the building beside me is very loud. Construction stops only from 2 – 6 am.
Dubai has 15% of the world’s construction cranes. Judging from the brief travels I have taken, I do believe it. I have not seen an area that is not under construction.
Despite this, there are many fascinating things here in Dubai. Our apartments are almost on the beach. It is a tourist area with many hotels and apartments, and the beach is quite nice, blue clear water. Most of the tourists here are from Europe, and a large number of the new wealthy Russian class. Our apartments are considered 4 star, and are definitely luxury. I am not really sure how people can afford to come here as a tourist. But tourism and trade are the big money makers here.
Oil only accounts for about 10% of the economy. The leaders foresaw that the oil will run out, so they rapidly set the economy on a different path.
The buildings in Dubai are quite amazing, tall, slender, each seems unique. All seem at least 40 stories high. The world’s tallest building is under construction here, apparently it will be twice as high as the Empire State Building.
At Cirque we were told many things about how to dress, act, etc. while in Dubai. Most have proven to be false, as many people dress as they would in North America. Some women dress in traditional clothing. Very few women are covered except for their eyes. Of the people living here, only 10 % are from the Emirates. Everyone else is a foreign worker: either a labourer from India, Pakistan, Philippines, a hired professional expat, or a tourist.
There is shopping, shopping, and more shopping here. There are a large number of huge shopping malls. Our show site is on the parking lot of a big shopping mall. It has 5 different sections, each with a different geographical theme: Egypt, Persia, India, Tunisia and Andalusia. The Mall of the Emirates has an indoor downhill ski slope. It is probably worth trying….We are now in the middle of the Dubai Shopping Festival: 45 days of special sales….. Perhaps I can afford something if it is on sale…..
Yesterday I went to Dubai Creek, where the center of the city is and the older areas. There is an historic quarter with older houses that have wind towers to trap the air as a form of air conditioning. The weather now is quite pleasant: usually about 20-23. In the summer apparently it can get to about 40 – 45. In order to get to the older area, we took a boat across: about 33 cents. The boats are mostly for the workers to get back and forth. These are much more civilized that the boats that go across the river in Bangkok.
We visited the spice and gold souks yesterday: outdoor markets where you can buy spices: saffron, liquorice root, dried oranges, cinnamon sticks in big bags. Of course, all the vendors want you to buy from them: “for you, best price”. The gold market was row upon row of shops, an unbelievable assortment of usually over-the-top designs. Apparently gold is a good buy here. A friend looked at some diamond earrings. The vendor started at 2900 dirham, best price was 1900, and oh yes, best price again was 1700.
There are a huge assortment of cashmere scarves, shoes, and knock-off watches, handbags. The vendors on the street constantly in a low voice: fake watches, Rolex, handbags…. Two artists got pulled into a shop, the door locked and she left with a designer handbag for about $60.
It is interesting to see all the maps in books about Dubai. Most have all of these areas on the map, but it says u/c beside it, meaning under construction.
There are 3 big Palm Islands being constructed out in the ocean off the beaches. They dump sand in the ocean, let it settle and go from there. One of these is near out apartments. Unless you are very high up, you can’t really see that that is what is it is. You can however, from Google Earth. If you are interested…
Burj Al Arab: The world’s only “7 star” hotel. It gave itself the 7 stars. It apparently is a 5 star luxury. It is the shape of a sailboat. Taller than the Eiffel Tower, it is the world’s tallest hotel. It must be outrageously expensive. It is connected to the shore by a causeway. You have to pay about $ 100 just to walk across to see it. I doubt I will go.
There are numerous safari trips you can take out from the city: go riding camels, four wheeling, sand surfing, have an overnight trip.
So, so far Dubai has been a unique experience. I spent Christmas and New Year’s at Cirque parties by the beach, not at 20 below zero.
As unique as it is, I still miss home and all my friends. I hope you are doing well.
Take care
Chris
