Sudan: Happily Ever After

Too early to celebrate southern Sudan's independence from the north. Yes, elections are always a plus (or are they?) There are now indications that the elections occurred solely for purposes of clearing the table. Civil wars are always messy. It’s far easier to conduct campaign between recognized nations. The flashpoint will be Abyei. Oil will be a factor. AQ will agitate. It will not allow a Christian nation to stand. The West will fail to protect its interests.

Elections will hardly matter. It’s just a show to appease Western sensibilities. The West is obsessed with symbolism, even if symbolism amounts to mere ritual.

Last weekend, the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu celebrated Pongal. It coincides with the festival Makara Sankranthi celebrated throughout India. Pongal in Tamil means "boiling over" or "spill-over”. The boiling over of milk in a clay pot symbolizes material abundance for the household. Pongal, celebrated at harvest time, is traditionally intended to thank the Sun God and farmstead livestock that helped create the material abundance.

You now know more about Pongal than the average Indian does. They see it merely as a three-day celebration sanctioned by the government and to which the Chief Minister contributes amusements and protection at designated sites. It is a secular holiday in which all can participate - just like elections (the world over) these days.

Sudan's north-south civil war has simmered since 1955, claiming an estimated two million lives.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

'Mona Bone Jakon'

Seems like Monday morning quarterbacking; trying to figure out what happened in Sunday's game. Team Obama is wondering how the underdogs were able to get past their defenses and score (big).

On the (flat) gridiron each team has an even chance; on the diamond, the team that goes second gets last dibs; on the track, the better horses are sometimes physically handicapped (by adding weights to their saddles); in golf... We understand all that. But this here is not a game, Mr. President. This is not about being fair. This is about winning the war against Islamic terror (which you claim doesn't exist).

If we can agree, though, that this is a war against al-Qaeda (as you now claim), know that al-Qaeda has no single banner to signify a particular region. Members can be found anywhere and everywhere. Only their target is specific: Israel, America, and anybody who does not wholeheartedly and openly advocate for Israel’s total destruction.

Democrats have put so much stock in thought crime legislation over the years. It is no longer enough to kill somebody to qualify for punishment. No, you must also shout hateful epithets while you are doing it (and you must either admit to it, or someone must have heard you). I’m sure they’re already working on trying to figure out how to punish someone in advance of the crime; i.e., on evidence of hateful thoughts alone. It was on that basis returning war veterans, pro-lifers and others were targeted by Homeland Security last year. Just because they were laughed out of the room does not mean they’ve forgotten what they meant by it.

Barack Hussein Obama finally admitted that we are engaged in a war. It is not a war he feels comfortable in fighting. Quite frankly, he would much rather engage in fighting Republicans, white people, rich people, accomplished people… (We’ve been over this list far too often before. I agree it has all the earmarks of ‘forever’ and would give anyone who is not Obama a thin line to tread. In fact, anyone in Yemen or anywhere in the Middle East, except Israel, may have a better chance of escaping Obama’s contempt than just plain, ordinary, garden variety Americans).

Be that as it may; the question arises, why don’t we apply hate (or thought) crime legislation to the various plotters, bombers, inciters, supporters, battlefield captives, etc.; then we could be certain of quick conviction and an appropriately satisfying, maximum penalty to be carried out with all pomp and circumstance. Let’s at the same time perfect our ability to discern the guilty thought before the actual crime can occur (as the Democrats claim they are on the verge of being able to do) and we would surely be sitting on top of the world. No one could hurt us - except we ourselves. …and that is precisely why it’s not on this president’s agenda.

Getting back to how we could have missed it – let the panty bomber on the Detroit bound plane in the first place despite so many clues - allow me to relate a personal story: I must admit to being a huge fan of Cat Stevens. At some point I found myself wandering around 'Landmark Books' at Citi Centre Mall in Chennai. I noticed a Cat Stevens CD on the shelf; one, ‘Mona Bone Jakon’, that seemed to have escaped my attention. I bought it and brought it home. There I tried to listen to it. I soon gave up, trying to figure out how this CD could be so bone-crushingly bad. It was only then that I noted the picture of a garbage can on the cover.

Best Intentions

>...(a) myriad jihadi movements, all having the same strategic objective of humiliating the US, destroying Israel and forming an Islamic Caliphate.<

BAHUKUTUMBI RAMAN builds a convincing case that our assumptions re Al-Qaeda may not necessarily be right. One of these, however, is dead-on and cannot be disputed: 'destroy Israel'. From there follows, ' humiliating the U.S.', because we are there, conspicuously protecting Israel. Whether the desire to cleanse the region of Israel constitutes the fulfillment of religious prophecy (to establish an Islamic Caliphate) or merely to allow regional players to determine their own political destiny – Tehran vs. Riyadh; Sunni vs. Shiite; etc. – without what is seen as undue outside interference, holds little relevance to the argument (except for the bloviating class).

My guess (as one who has been known to bloviate) it’s the latter rather than the former. Israel has been an irritant in the Middle East since its formation. Irritants, in the eye for example, demand immediate removal of the foreign object. Any delay in treatment invites infection which may spread and ultimately result in the loss of the eye. There can be little doubt that the fact that the U.S. has doggedly worked to protect and sustain the Jewish State in the midst of an overwhelmingly Islamic region has affected U.S.-Arab relations adversely.

No peoples of any region take kindly to interlopers. Peaceful, tolerant, neutral Switzerland recently voted to ban the building of additional mosques. (There are four so far.) We here in the U.S. have aptly demonstrated that we too do not take kindly to having alien influences shoved down our throats and that we are prepared to fight to keep it from happening.

I am not suggesting that we abandon Israel. The moment we (the U.S.) decided to advocate for Israel’s right to exist, we committed ourselves to getting it done. When our parents give us the money to enroll in a college or university program, it is understood that we will do our utmost to graduate. It’s the same with a nation publicly committing itself to anything: going to the moon; tackling terrorism; nation building; eliminating poverty, crime, ignorance; finding cures for diseases; etc. No less than that nation’s credibility is on the line. It must be done wholeheartedly, seriously, and with the expectation of succeeding.

We are failing in many of the goals we have set out for ourselves. No doubt, there have been set-backs. And it’s time to ask why. Perhaps we’re over-extended. Perhaps promises we’ve made in the past are no longer enforceable. Perhaps conditions have changed. Perhaps what had initially come under the header of ‘good intention’ has morphed into something else: extortion, perhaps, of which we now find ourselves to be the victim. Perhaps we need to reset and re-calculate where we stand. Perhaps we need to assess our weaknesses going forward. Perhaps there are battles that need to be put to rest – one way or another. Perhaps we should refrain from adding to our obligations for a while.

Have we become overwhelmed by our own ‘good intentions’? Have we bitten off more than we can chew? Or are we being sabotaged by a clever enemy who knows how to fight us in our own houses by turning our own weapons against us – an enemy who knows precisely how to overload our systems; overwhelm our capacities; create confusion and distrust and leave us at the mercy of silver-tongued tyrants?