Paramendra Bhagat's Blog
Sunday, November 14, 2004
Arafat's death brings forth many questions.
If you watch movies that depict the American South of the segregation era, they depict racism against blacks, but there is also anti-semitism. Segregation is over, but racism is still around. The same can said of anti-semitism. Milder but still there. I attended a college where the question "Are you Christian or Catholic?" was mainstream. You can only imagine what those Catholic-bashers might have to say of the Jews.
But when it comes to the Middle East, those same people are on Israel's side. There the Jews become westerners, "one of us."
The Middle East is the most acute fault line between the West and the Global South, more explicitly the Islamic world. Islam is like Christianity, in that it talks of One God, its own. Both extremist views have to be incompatible.
Like I like to say, Christianity is a fine religion within the social framework of religious diversity. Without that frame, it is so much blather.
The Al Qaeda is the Muslim version of KKK, only because it exists today and not 100 years back, it is pretty sophisticated in its use of global travel, the internet, and movements of funds. It can not be beat by the ideology of the American right wing that is quite socially exclusionary itself.
The Israel-Palestine issue is like child abuse. Because person A got abused as a child, person A turns around and abuses children. Granted the Palestinians have not seen the extremes the Jews saw at the behest of the Germans. But the basic psychology is the same.
Jerusalem can not be the undivided, eternal capital of Israel. Sovereignty has to be shared. And there has to be a limited return of the refugees. And you can not deprive a people of a state and expect them to try and curb violence like a state might. It is like tying someone's feet and saying "Run!"
And criticism of "suicide bombers" is one-sided. Violence as a whole has to be criticized. People sometimes criticize the suicide bombers as if to suggest, it would be just fine if instead the Palestinians invaded Israel with a standing army with sophisticated stuff like tanks and fighter jets. But look at them, they instead send suicide bombers, how disgusting.
It is a war situation. The two sides are fighting with whatever they have got. And the Palestinians always end up with more casualties, because they are the weaker party.
It is like the Israelis totally incapacitate Arafat, and then turn around and blame him for not containing all acts of violence. Imagine someone saying to the Mayor of New York, unless you bring the murder rate down to zero, I am not dealing with you!
In the long run, the true solution is a wider spread of democracy in the Middle East. In the short run, the violence has to be brought down. Statehood has to be provided. And you end up with four Muslim democracies in the region: Turkey, Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine. Next stops: Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan. Keep on.
Wednesday, November 03, 2004
Or Hillary versus Rudy. A race that did not happen the last time around could as well happen in 2008.
And an Indian American. I only now got this news. Bobby Jindal. Republican. Louisiana.
"His landslide win with 78% of the vote, makes him the second Indian American to make it to the US House of Representatives, after Dilip Singh Saund way back in 1956."
"Fans of Mr Obama are already number-crunching. By 2012 he could have eight years in the Senate under his belt.
"By 2016, he will be 54 - a good age for a president, some say."
This from a BBC article.
One can only imagine the pressure on Hillary will grow intense for 2008. Could you sustain four years of Bill Clinton? That guy can campaign.
Dean too is in the wings.
If one thing comes across from this election it is that poll taking is an abstract art form. Bush wins. Daschle loses. Republican grip on all three branches of government tightens. Clinton has described W as "the most talented politician in the Bush family." He has showed it quite a few times by now. In Texas. In 2000. In 2002. Now 2004. Has doubled his black support. Two high profile blacks - Colin, Condi - at the top. Splitting the Hispanic vote down the middle with the Dems. A 3.5 million vote margin.
Speculations for 2008 might start soon.
Obama's sweep is promising. The guy deserves to get onto the national ticket.
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
Kerry bags Pennsylvania, that too by a wide margin. And this was supposed to have been a "swing" state. 43% to 57% is not a "swing" margin.
Zogby is predicting a Kerry victory. This is the closest to an authoritative prediction I have come across. 311 electoral votes. Kerry carries Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania. We will just have to wait and see.
The television is no competition to the web when it comes to following the election returns. TV networks are having to fill a lot of space with so much blather of talking heads. Whereas on the web, you can expect to follow real time updates. The networks are apprehensive about calling the close states. The partisan websites, the blogs are rather loose. Makes it exciting. Open up a dozen browser windows. And there is no background noise to boot.
