Does the murder of Benazir Bhutto ‘mark the culmination of the war on terror which
began on Sept. 11, 2001?’ According to this analysis by one of France’s leading historians, Alexandre Adler, the Pakistani military is up to its old tricks, appearing not to realize that ‘its chances of survival are directly linked to victory for the democrats and to a closer relationship with India.’

The Chronicle of Alexandre Adler
Translated By James Jacobson
December 29, 2007
France - Le Figaro - Original Article (French)

With the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, we have reached the culmination of the war on terror which began on September 11, 2001. Still harboring on its territory the two main leaders of al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, it isn’t surprising that Pakistan has again taken center stage.

The quick and apparently anxious way General Musharraf joined with the Americans after September 11th indeed allowed Islamabad to avoid offering any clear answer on the involvement of its army and secret services in the attack on New York. Still later, the strategic nature of the country and the facilities granted the FBI and CIA to hunt down the men of al-Qaeda - certainly offered without pleasure - has continued to immunize Pakistan’s military junta vis-à-vis the United States. Still, behind the smiles of command, George W. Bush has continued to strengthen cooperation with India for the purpose of intimidating the Pakistani army. In turn, this decidedly unreliable army high-handedly refused to accept Washington’s offer of lifting the embargo on F-16’s in favor of an alliance with increasingly-friendly China. Read the rest of this entry »

Gary McCoy, Cagle Cartoons

Cam Cardow, The Ottawa Citizen

As the death toll in the Bangladesh cyclone soars to 15,000, an email to us from the informative Bangladesh blog The 3rd World View reminds us that the United States has played a key rescue role over the years.

Its post reminds readers of Operation Sea Angel — when the United States came to the country’s rescue. It points to this April 2007 post on this blog which contains some details:

Let me tell you a story of a disaster that you have probably never heard of and the overwhelming American response that you should know about.

In late spring of 1991 a US Navy Amphibious Task Force (ATF) returning from the Persian Gulf war was diverted, on order of President George H.W. Bush, to the Bay of Bengal.

A Bangladeshi citizen, rumor has it, on seeing the ATF approach from the sea, called them “Angels from the Sea.” Thus began Operation Sea Angel, one of the largest military relief operations ever undertaken.

Read the rest of this entry »

The cyclone that slammed into Bangladesh has proven to be a brutal killer — snuffing out some 2,200 lives so far. And experts believe it could wind up claiming 10,000 when all of the bodies are found and counted.

Meanwhile, it has left millions homeless. And rescue efforts are difficult:

The government deployed military helicopters, naval ships and thousands of troops to join international agencies and local officials in the rescue mission following Tropical Cyclone Sidr. The U.S. and other countries also offered assistance.

At least 2,206 people have died since the storm struck Bangladesh on Thursday, said Selina Shahid of the Ministry of Food and Disaster Management. The toll could rise still higher as more information comes in from battered regions.

Disaster Management Secretary Aiyub Bhuiyan met Sunday with representatives from the United Nations and international aid groups to discuss the massive relief effort.

“The donors wanted to know about our plan and how they can come forward to stand by the victims,” Bhuiyan told reporters. “We have briefed them about what we need immediately.”

Rescuers struggled to clear roads and get their vehicles through, but many found the way impassable. “We will try again … on bicycles, and hire local country boats,” M. Shakil Anwar of CARE said from the city of Khulna.

At least 1.5 million coastal villagers had fled to shelters where they were given emergency rations, said senior government official Ali Imam Majumder in the capital, Dhaka.

Bangladesh has long been cursed by cyclones. The infamous 1970 Bhola cyclone took some 500,000 lives. Part of it is due to the topography of the region: the Bay of Bengal’s northern region is funnel-shaped and, when Mother Nature hits, coast residents are brutally impacted. There’s a long history (and list) of cyclones that have battered the region of Bangladesh, a country that was once part of Pakistan (which was once part of India).

And cyclones have played a key part in the nation’s and region’s political history. Outrage over how the central government in Islamabad in what was then East Pakistan responded to the Bhola cyclone — it was accused of among other things dragging its feet in facilitating international relief efforts — led to a political cyclone that eventually split Pakistan into two parts with the Bengalis governing themselves in Bangladesh.

In this case, the international community has already extended relief efforts to Bangladesh. And the disaster scene is grim, the BBC reports:

Local newspapers are showing pictures of rows of bodies lined up on the sand. There are fears the death toll will rise as rescuers reach isolated areas.

… “Village after village has been shattered,” said Harisprasad Pal, a local official in hard-hit Jhalokati district.

“I have never seen such a catastrophe in my 20 years as a government administrator,” he said.

Survivors described whole houses being picked up and blown away as the storm rushed through southern Bangladesh.

“I have never seen such a terrible scene. It was like hell,” said Manik Roy, a businessman in Jhalokati.

“I saw dozens of tin roofs flying into the air. Whole houses too.”

Meanwhile, the cyclone has caused another problem to ensure that relief efforts from this natural disaster will be critical: it decimated the food crop, the BBC reports:

Officials say that in many areas 95% of rice which was awaiting harvest has been destroyed, and shrimp farms and other crops simply washed away.

Cyclone Sidr comes just a few months after floods devastated the north of the country.

News reports indicate frantic emergency efforts involving the use of troops, helicopters — even elephants to clear debris away.

And, in this age of the Internet, some key information is coming out via weblogs. In Bangladesh, a lot of info is coming out via the blog The 3rd World View (on our blogroll here under OTHER VOICES).

Some key posts to read:

–A post that notes that local relief officials believe the toll can go MUCH higher …such as to 10,000…by the time it’s over.

–A list of efforts going on now to help cyclone victims (many of them extremely poor) and what YOU can do to help.

–More details of how it disrupted Bangladeshi life, including how it interrupted the nation’s power grid, telephones, cellphones and emergency efforts to deal with the calamity.

–An eloquent post that puts it into perspective.

A taste:

Considering the force of the cyclone which is bigger than Katrina in USA (2004) and the 1991 cyclone in Bangladesh I would say that the casualties are much much lower. These days Bangladesh has learnt the lessons. Now it has more sophisticated early warning systems and cyclone shelters to save hundreds of thousands of people.

I still remember the TIME article “cyclone of Death” published just after the 1991 cyclone (left more than 140,000 dead) which quoted from Rabindranath Tagore’s Sea of waves:

In the twinkling of an eye it ended! None could see

When life was, and when life finished!

It also has an excellent roundup of Bangladesh blog reactions. If necessary, they have been translated into English. Here are a few of those with the links to the original posts (which may not be in English):

–Toufiq:

Electricity just went. Its raining heavily outside. Gusty winds are also present. I am awake for unknown danger. Does anybody know cyclone when the cyclone will be past Chittagong or is it really in Chittagong?

–The Uncultured Project:

It felt like something out of a movie. I was in a car on the way home - it was fifteen minutes to midnight. There wasn’t a soul on the street and the only sounds you could hear were the rain beating down on the streets, the noise of the wind, and the car’s engine. It was pitch black too - every home, apartment, and building as far as the eye could see had no electricity. Then - all of a sudden - a blinding bright light and a roar erupts right next to the car - just outside of my side of the car. My window then gets showered in glowing sparks.

I wasn’t in any danger - it was just a transformer exploding. But, for the first time in this whole time in Bangladesh - I was scared…

I’m writing this on my battery’s laptop power. The glow of the screen is the only thing that is lighting up this room. Now, this isn’t the first time there’s been a blackout - but this time it’s different. This isn’t the first time its rained - but this it’s different. It’s different because, this time it’s caused by Cyclone Sidr.

Also be sure to read 3rd World View’s post that went up as soon as it hit for an example of how a weblog can provide vital information and links in a time of crisis.

Recent times have witnessed women coming to the forefront taking on the might of the repressive regimes in their respective countries and not caring for the dangers inherent in taking such bold action. Interestingly, monks have also captured popular attention by stepping out from their monasteries to protest in public the excesses committed by their rulers.

It seems that men in such countries have left the task of opposing brutal actions of their governments to their womenfolk and monks!!!

It is not just in Myanmar that Buddhist monks have been causing trouble for a repressive regime. According to reports from human-rights groups and in the Hong Kong press, monks in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, have clashed with the Chinese police over the past month. Read on…

One of the major demonstration of international support to the “moral and spiritual” fight against repressive regimes came in the form of US Congressional Gold Medal for the Dalai Lama. Click here…

Meanwhile Australia slapped financial sanctions on Burma’s generals and their families as supporters of the opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, marked her 12 years in captivity with protests in 12 cities across the world. More here…

It is an interesting (continuing) standoff between Asian women politicians and Asian military generals/dictators/junta in three countries bordering India — Myanmar (Burma), Pakistan and Bangladesh.

In view of the growing international pressure, the Myanmar military junta invited opposition leader Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi to meet with a special “minister for relations”, Aung Kyi, who is described by diplomats as personable and capable, says The New York Times.

Meanwhile, former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto is making it really hot for President General Musharraf by stating she suspects members of the General’s regime of being indirectly involved in last week’s suicide bombing that targeted her convoy in Karachi last Thursday killing 130 people. Read on…

And yes what is happening to two women leaders in Bangladesh languishing in jail? Click here…

I wrote on TMV about Taslima, a poet and doctor, against whom a fatwa to behead her had been called ….for she dared to write poetry about “honor killings”; she was imprisoned for writing about women taken to the stadium and stoned to death while the mullahs present were laughing.

Read on TMV May 18, 2007: Four Arrested In Honor Killing and a New Call for Beheading Taslima Nasrin
http://themoderatevoice.com/?s=taslima

Yesterday she was attacked at a book signing of her work. To me, it is AS noteworthy, that men tried to protect her as that men tried to attack her. There are few stories about the men of the world who have unbitter and heroic hearts despite all reason to be bitter. I know that for many, this is non-news. For many women, they don’t want a man ‘intervening.’ But, for a person like myself who has had many challenges in the world, these are the kind of men, the kind of people, that I most admire. Ever. Always. Brothers by bloodline of the soul.

I often think that many of us, in these times, find we are rowing down a river of burning garbage with snipers on both shores. Many of us know we’re not crewing a ship, but a tea cup with sails made of memories of the worst and the best of what we’ve lived. And, there under one of the small rowing benches, is the Life Force protected under a worn tarp, still glowing. Our work: to carry that forward unharmed.

But, carrying such precious cargo through this perpetual dual-war zone we all seem to live in at present on many fronts, will not and can never be done without the help of those who, despite varying religions, politics, attitudes, opinions and other, are also strong-minded and soul-minded, both… Both.

Though there are some in the world who find it easier to breathe scathing smoke rather than life-giving oxygen to others, those who attempt to wither most all they touch… that there are others who are brave in ways that teach and shelter and offer life to others without being preemptory– that there are men (and women) who first-person, try to help to shelter despite blowback to themselves…these I bless.

I believe such souls in turn bless goodness in this earth… goodness that would otherwise, though precious, go unblessed and be disheartened under myriad unwarranted attacks. The world is made poorer and poorer then… more and more run by the fire starters who take strange arousal from conflagrations, and who ever try to force-feed that they are ‘right’… all at the expense of building toward others a living bridge that holds….

Taslima Nasrin writes to attempt to protect others. That some brave souls see she merits protection from those who seek to harm her mind, her creativity, her spirit and her body… this is a huge often overlooked news… a news that can be heartening to many, and this is why I brought it here.

Tracy Clark-Flory reports

Feminist author attacked in India
A mob of Muslim extremists assail writer Taslima Nasreen and call for her murder.

Aug. 10, 2007 | Taslima Nasreen, an outspoken feminist author who has railed against the treatment of women under religion, particularly Islam, showed up for her book release party yesterday in Andhra Pradesh, India. A mob of Muslim extremists also showed up to combat her depiction of Islam as oppressive to women … by throwing things at her and shouting for her death.

A crowd of 100 protesters, including a handful of Indian lawmakers, hurled a “leather case, bunches of flowers and other objects at her head and threatened her with a chair,” reports Reuters. By one account she was also slapped. Others tried to protect her from the onslaught and police eventually managed to escort her to safety; she walked away with only a bruised forehead.

As well as yet another reminder that plenty of people would like her head — quite literally. Just in March of this year an extremist Indian Muslim group offered an $11,319 reward for anyone willing to behead this “notorious woman.” This is nothing new; Nasreen has been avoiding execution since 1994 when her sacrilegious prose led to calls for her death in her birthplace of Bangladesh (which forced her to flee to Sweden and later India).

It’s no surprise, then, that Nasreen said the attack would not intimidate her into silence. Or, as she wrote in a poem:

I, come what may, will not be silenced.
Come what may, I will continue my fight for equality and justice without any compromise until my death.

Additional reportage from India here: Read the rest of this entry »

In a horrific Brigadoon, a place that only comes into view once every millennia, a place where everyone seems related by cousin kinship to everyone else, the police chief of Bashiqa in northern Iraq is being replaced. Authorities over him have arrested four men alleged to have participated in the ‘honor killing’ last month of Dua Khalil, a 17-year-old Kurdish girl whose religion is Yazidi. Without any evidence the alleged killers (one of them a cousin) accused her of seeing a boy of another faith, a Sunni Muslim, converting to that faith, and marrying him secretly… all of which appear to date to be false.

Someone in the witness-mob had a camera-phone and filmed Dua being stoned to death, literally bleeding to death before a crowd of dozens of excited men. She was first dragged into the circle in a headlock by a large man, thrown to the ground, stones half the size of her head used to crush her face and skull. She was kicked in the face and belly as she tried to rise. Police watched impassively.

What really is a grave “dishonor murder of one of God’s souls,” these so-called ‘honor killings’ have in modern times gotten the nod from more than a few village males, while others, as well as women, are often afraid to protest… given the rage and loss of rational thought that seems to go hand and hand in those who commit such murders.

One woman who spoke out and continues to speak out against the dishonor of murdering daughters, is a Bangladeshi woman named Taslima Nasrin, a physician and writer. I came to her work twelve years ago through my affiliation with PEN Prison Project as she was facing imprisonment for writing and speaking out against “honor killings.”

Dr. Nasrin had to flee her country after a fatwa was issued by Muslim fundamentalists who offered money to whomever would kill her to silence her. Month before last, in March 2007, a group in India, calling themselves “All India Ibtehad Council” said they would give 500,000 rupees as an award for anyone who would behead Dr. Nasrin.

There is a saying in curanderismo, which is the ancient healing practice of many Latino groups from Spain through to the New World… that if you if wish to understand how a mad person comes to their conclusions, you must ask yourself what you yourself would have to believe and think to come to the same conclusion…

While we are waiting to understand the inunderstandable, here is one of Taslima Nasrin’s poems, called “NoorJahan,” the name of a young woman who was ‘honor murdered.’ Read the rest of this entry »

No, it isn’t just in fiction. There HAS been an ominous knock on the door in the middle of the night, and a citizen — a journalist — taken away in darkness by government forces. In Bangladesh:

Tasneem Khalil, an editor at the Bangladesh’s leading English language daily, The Daily Star, has been taken away from his home by the military in Bangladesh. He was taken away just a few hours ago in the middle of the night. His whereabouts are currently unknown and his life is most certainly in danger.

Apparently Mr. Khalil’s crime is that he did his job. He spoke truthfully about the current situation in Bangladesh. He was interviewed by Nora Boustany of the Washington Post last month - that interview may have cost him his freedom and now possibly his life.

Read the whole thing.