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Wednesday, November 29, 2006
MY ACCENT
I am from Chicago!
SPAIN'S IMMIGRATION PROBLEM
Spain joins other European countries as it faces the challenge of immigration.
But in another sense, Spain's immigration problem is more severe than any other in Europe. Its population seems to have lost the appetite for procreation altogether. The average woman has 1.32 children, a figure that would have looked like a misprint to any social scientist before the 1980s. As a result, Spain's native-born population will begin contracting with shocking rapidity after 2014, and it is too late to do anything to stop it. Already Spain has gaping holes in its labor supply. The strawberry fields and clementine groves of Andalusia require tens of thousands of pickers every year. The tomato-growing greenhouses near Almería rely on Moroccan labor, and Eastern Europeans staff many tourist hotels. During the recent regional elections in Catalonia, when candidate Artur Mas urged that newcomers be held accountable to measurable assimilation criteria, the left-wing daily El País ran a picture of the Spanish factory that made Mas's campaign posters. It was manned by Pakistanis, of whom Barcelona has about 30,000. (In November, Pakistan announced it was opening a consulate there.) Naturally, sub-Saharan Africans would like their own piece of this economy.
But in another sense, Spain's immigration problem is more severe than any other in Europe. Its population seems to have lost the appetite for procreation altogether. The average woman has 1.32 children, a figure that would have looked like a misprint to any social scientist before the 1980s. As a result, Spain's native-born population will begin contracting with shocking rapidity after 2014, and it is too late to do anything to stop it. Already Spain has gaping holes in its labor supply. The strawberry fields and clementine groves of Andalusia require tens of thousands of pickers every year. The tomato-growing greenhouses near Almería rely on Moroccan labor, and Eastern Europeans staff many tourist hotels. During the recent regional elections in Catalonia, when candidate Artur Mas urged that newcomers be held accountable to measurable assimilation criteria, the left-wing daily El País ran a picture of the Spanish factory that made Mas's campaign posters. It was manned by Pakistanis, of whom Barcelona has about 30,000. (In November, Pakistan announced it was opening a consulate there.) Naturally, sub-Saharan Africans would like their own piece of this economy.
SNIFFER BEES SNARE SUICIDE BOMBERS!
This research just has to get the Nobel Prize for Science. I am encouraging all biology majors to investigate the use of Texas cockroaches in the War on Terror.
Sniffer bees with a nose for explosives are set to make a major breakthrough in the war on terror. An extraordinary invention by a small British company is being praised by American scientists who have been testing it. Researchers at Inscentinel Ltd, which has just three employees at its Harpenden, Herts, HQ, have developed an amazing "sniffer box" to harness the bees' incredible sense of smell.
Bee sniffer squads could be on duty at airports, train stations and other terror targets within a year, say the scientists. Los Alamos sniffer squad trainer Tim Haartman, an entomologist - insect specialist - at the lab, said: "The technology is there. It's just a case of putting it into production."
Sniffer bees with a nose for explosives are set to make a major breakthrough in the war on terror. An extraordinary invention by a small British company is being praised by American scientists who have been testing it. Researchers at Inscentinel Ltd, which has just three employees at its Harpenden, Herts, HQ, have developed an amazing "sniffer box" to harness the bees' incredible sense of smell.
Bee sniffer squads could be on duty at airports, train stations and other terror targets within a year, say the scientists. Los Alamos sniffer squad trainer Tim Haartman, an entomologist - insect specialist - at the lab, said: "The technology is there. It's just a case of putting it into production."
SENATOR SCHUMER QUOTE
You gotta love this quote by Senator Schumer regarding his new Senate colleague fromVirginia, Jim Webb: "He's not a typical politician. He really has deep convictions."
NEW MAP OF MIDDLE EAST
Ralph Peters has proposed a new map for the Middle East. Some of it makes more sense than what we see today. Pajamas Media covers of the debate.
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
GLOBALIZATION
I managed to finish two books on globalization, each with a different emphasis. Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat focuses more on the economy and social issues. Thomas P.M. Barnett's The Pentagon's New Map analyzes the role of the U.S. military in adjusting to the new world most people see created by 9/11 (but it is clear trends were already moving toward 9/11 a decade or so earlier). Since Barnett dealt more with the political/military/diplomatic situation, I think it is a book anyone interested in history and political science would find plenty of food for thought. I am convinced that the world is in the midst of a major epochal change which is probably why I enjoyed each of these books.
Among the points I liked in Barnett's book (although I don't necessarily agree with all of them):
p. 3: “Amazingly, the U.S. military engaged in more crisis-response activity around the world in the 1990s than in an previous decade of the Cold War, yet no national vision arose to explain our expanding role.”
p. 4: “. . .the Pentagon spent the nineties buying a far different military—one best suited for a high-tech war against a large, very sophisticated military opponent. In short, our military strategists dreamed of an opponent that would not arise for a war that no longer existed.”
p. 19: “Until September 11, 2001, we basically had no reproducible strategic concepts to guide our use of military power.”
p. 20: on policymakers: “. . .most of those policymakers are neck-deep in day-to-day management issues and are rarely able to step back from their never-ending schedule of fifteen-minute office calls to actually contemplate the big-picture question of Why?”
p. 23: “The fewer the rules, the more war you have.” “Throughout the 1990s, the Pentagon lurched from Somalia to Haiti to Bosnia to Kosovo, and it did so without the slightest understanding why.”
p. 25: “Doesn’t it seem weird that the same senators who prattle on during Sunday news programs about the world is a chaotic, unpredictable place still always seem to show up on C-SPAN following some security disaster to decry yet another “intelligence failure”?”
p. 27: “I believe that history will judge the 1990s much like the Roaring Twenties—just a little too good to be true. Both decades threw the major rule sets out of whack: . . .”
p. 30: “. . .I prefer comparing George W. Bush to Harry Truman rather than Ronald Reagan.”
p. 32: “While the world’s population has doubled since 1960, the percentage living in poverty has been cut in half.”
p. 38: “. . .President Richard Nixon and eventual Secretary of State Henry Kissinger—looking at the Soviets more like a global mafia we could tolerate rather than Nazis we needed to exterminate.” “Cold War really ended in 1973 and not in 1989”
p. 40: “MAD was a stroke of sheer brilliance on McNamara’s part, . . .“
p. 44: “The eight-year period 1987-1994 saw 9,575 global casualties from terrorism, but over the next nine years (1995-2003), the total jumped to 27, 608.”
p. 49: disconnectedness is the problem, not Islam, etc. – disconnected nations need to be connected to globalization
p. 94: “Since we could not easily track down the individual terrorist spread across this global network, we did the one thing we know how to do well: we invaded a nation-state.”
p. 96: “. . .light leadership touch displayed by the Clinton Administration for eight years.” “Bush Administration felt that they had to reestablish civilian control over the military when they came into power in 2001.”
p. 140: “So I added up all the response days, and the results ere rather striking: the Middle East was already accounting for more than half of all the four services’ cumulative response days in the 1980s, with the percentage rising to 75 percent for the Navy and Marine Corps. More important, the cumulative number of response days for all four services was rising over time. There were not that many more individual operations in the 1980s than in the 1970s (an increase of only 20 percent). It was just that the responses in the 1980s were getting a lot longer, so the total number of response days increased by roughly 70 percent.”
p. 141: On defense budget: “If underequipped troops are sent overseas for crisis response, Congress does not catch the blame, the White House does. . .”
p. 178: “we are never leaving the Gap”
p. 200: “Growing economies generally beget happy societies. . .”
p. 217: Arab states would have had to invent an Israel if none existed
p. 218: “In 1980, the Middle East accounted for 13 percent of global exports. Today that share is 3 percent, with the overwhelming bulk being oil and natural gas. A generation ago, the Middle East attracted 5 percent of the global flow of foreign direct investment. Today that number is a mere 1.5 percent.”
p. 219: “When competing against countries that aggressively educate their populations, countries with large natural endowments will lose every time.”
p. 238: added up crisis response days: 1970s – 10,415 total days (not including Vietnam); 1980s – 17,382 days (increase of 66 percent); 1990s – 66,930 days
p. 239: “Of the thirty-seven major conflicts spread around the world in the 1990s, thirty-four occurred in countries with annual per capita GDP totals of less than $2,936.”
p. 244: “The share of total investment in the U.S. economy that is financed by foreign sources now reaches close to 20 percent, while in the 1970s that shre rarely rose above 5 percent.”
p. 298: America’s task – global bodyguard
p. 299: America accounts for about half of entire world’s state spending on defense
p. 309: “When America turned its back on the world following World War I, the globalization it inevitably helped destroy was largely of Europe’s creation. But the globalization of today is largely of America’s creation.”
p. 317: America’s military response to 9/11 “pathetic”; “Pentagon completely unprepared to fight in Afghanistan”
p. 347: “The general magnitude of global warfare has decreased by over fifty percent since peaking in the mid-1980s, falling by the end of 2002 to its lowest level since the early 1960s.” “today’s level is still 16 percent less than it was in the late 1980s”
p. 351: University of Maryland’s Peace and Conflict Ledger 2003 . p. 352: only 32 countries out of 161 with serious conflicts—U.S. is only involved in a “handful”
p. 358: “American nationalism is unique for its focus on past achievements linked to future triumphs. Most nationalism around the world expresses itself in past tragedies linked to current grievances.”
p. 364: “The Bush Administration seems top-heavy in bold decision makers and short on visionaries. . .”
p. 365: “Most Americans are constantly confronted with pointlessly hyperbolic media debates about tactics, but are exposed to almost no calm deliberations regarding strategy.”
p. 373: State Department in desperate need of transformation
p. 378: if world stops buying U.S. debt, America is in trouble
Among the points I liked in Barnett's book (although I don't necessarily agree with all of them):
p. 3: “Amazingly, the U.S. military engaged in more crisis-response activity around the world in the 1990s than in an previous decade of the Cold War, yet no national vision arose to explain our expanding role.”
p. 4: “. . .the Pentagon spent the nineties buying a far different military—one best suited for a high-tech war against a large, very sophisticated military opponent. In short, our military strategists dreamed of an opponent that would not arise for a war that no longer existed.”
p. 19: “Until September 11, 2001, we basically had no reproducible strategic concepts to guide our use of military power.”
p. 20: on policymakers: “. . .most of those policymakers are neck-deep in day-to-day management issues and are rarely able to step back from their never-ending schedule of fifteen-minute office calls to actually contemplate the big-picture question of Why?”
p. 23: “The fewer the rules, the more war you have.” “Throughout the 1990s, the Pentagon lurched from Somalia to Haiti to Bosnia to Kosovo, and it did so without the slightest understanding why.”
p. 25: “Doesn’t it seem weird that the same senators who prattle on during Sunday news programs about the world is a chaotic, unpredictable place still always seem to show up on C-SPAN following some security disaster to decry yet another “intelligence failure”?”
p. 27: “I believe that history will judge the 1990s much like the Roaring Twenties—just a little too good to be true. Both decades threw the major rule sets out of whack: . . .”
p. 30: “. . .I prefer comparing George W. Bush to Harry Truman rather than Ronald Reagan.”
p. 32: “While the world’s population has doubled since 1960, the percentage living in poverty has been cut in half.”
p. 38: “. . .President Richard Nixon and eventual Secretary of State Henry Kissinger—looking at the Soviets more like a global mafia we could tolerate rather than Nazis we needed to exterminate.” “Cold War really ended in 1973 and not in 1989”
p. 40: “MAD was a stroke of sheer brilliance on McNamara’s part, . . .“
p. 44: “The eight-year period 1987-1994 saw 9,575 global casualties from terrorism, but over the next nine years (1995-2003), the total jumped to 27, 608.”
p. 49: disconnectedness is the problem, not Islam, etc. – disconnected nations need to be connected to globalization
p. 94: “Since we could not easily track down the individual terrorist spread across this global network, we did the one thing we know how to do well: we invaded a nation-state.”
p. 96: “. . .light leadership touch displayed by the Clinton Administration for eight years.” “Bush Administration felt that they had to reestablish civilian control over the military when they came into power in 2001.”
p. 140: “So I added up all the response days, and the results ere rather striking: the Middle East was already accounting for more than half of all the four services’ cumulative response days in the 1980s, with the percentage rising to 75 percent for the Navy and Marine Corps. More important, the cumulative number of response days for all four services was rising over time. There were not that many more individual operations in the 1980s than in the 1970s (an increase of only 20 percent). It was just that the responses in the 1980s were getting a lot longer, so the total number of response days increased by roughly 70 percent.”
p. 141: On defense budget: “If underequipped troops are sent overseas for crisis response, Congress does not catch the blame, the White House does. . .”
p. 178: “we are never leaving the Gap”
p. 200: “Growing economies generally beget happy societies. . .”
p. 217: Arab states would have had to invent an Israel if none existed
p. 218: “In 1980, the Middle East accounted for 13 percent of global exports. Today that share is 3 percent, with the overwhelming bulk being oil and natural gas. A generation ago, the Middle East attracted 5 percent of the global flow of foreign direct investment. Today that number is a mere 1.5 percent.”
p. 219: “When competing against countries that aggressively educate their populations, countries with large natural endowments will lose every time.”
p. 238: added up crisis response days: 1970s – 10,415 total days (not including Vietnam); 1980s – 17,382 days (increase of 66 percent); 1990s – 66,930 days
p. 239: “Of the thirty-seven major conflicts spread around the world in the 1990s, thirty-four occurred in countries with annual per capita GDP totals of less than $2,936.”
p. 244: “The share of total investment in the U.S. economy that is financed by foreign sources now reaches close to 20 percent, while in the 1970s that shre rarely rose above 5 percent.”
p. 298: America’s task – global bodyguard
p. 299: America accounts for about half of entire world’s state spending on defense
p. 309: “When America turned its back on the world following World War I, the globalization it inevitably helped destroy was largely of Europe’s creation. But the globalization of today is largely of America’s creation.”
p. 317: America’s military response to 9/11 “pathetic”; “Pentagon completely unprepared to fight in Afghanistan”
p. 347: “The general magnitude of global warfare has decreased by over fifty percent since peaking in the mid-1980s, falling by the end of 2002 to its lowest level since the early 1960s.” “today’s level is still 16 percent less than it was in the late 1980s”
p. 351: University of Maryland’s Peace and Conflict Ledger 2003 . p. 352: only 32 countries out of 161 with serious conflicts—U.S. is only involved in a “handful”
p. 358: “American nationalism is unique for its focus on past achievements linked to future triumphs. Most nationalism around the world expresses itself in past tragedies linked to current grievances.”
p. 364: “The Bush Administration seems top-heavy in bold decision makers and short on visionaries. . .”
p. 365: “Most Americans are constantly confronted with pointlessly hyperbolic media debates about tactics, but are exposed to almost no calm deliberations regarding strategy.”
p. 373: State Department in desperate need of transformation
p. 378: if world stops buying U.S. debt, America is in trouble
CHARITABLE GIVING
See MSN -- poor people give me than wealthy people as a percentage: One thing that's long been known: The United States leads the world in levels of charitable activity. The pattern runs from the rich, steeped in long tradition of philanthropy, to the poor. Those making $20,000 or less a year give away more, as a share of their income, than do higher income groups.
Monday, November 27, 2006
RESPONSE TO DEMOCRAT VICTORY
Europeans are excited about the Democrat victory in the 2006 midterm elections, but Asians are fearful of what the Democrats will do.
The Democrats are being lauded in Europe and much of the Americas as the heroes of the hour, rescuing the USA from those mad neocons. But in most of Asia the perception is quite different -- of the Democrat majority as a threat, an enemy of trade, and a busybody across a broader range of issues than the Republican human rights campaigners with their predictable religious focus.
The Democrats are being lauded in Europe and much of the Americas as the heroes of the hour, rescuing the USA from those mad neocons. But in most of Asia the perception is quite different -- of the Democrat majority as a threat, an enemy of trade, and a busybody across a broader range of issues than the Republican human rights campaigners with their predictable religious focus.
LDS POLITICAL PRESSURE
The Moderate Voice has an interesting debate on presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his mormonism. Evidently some LDS members are upset with him for posting a picture of LDS underwear. Are the LDS reacting like Muslims did to the Danish cartoons? (He took the picture of the underwear down). Is free speech at issue? Ann Althouse tries to summarize the debate.
ARMS FOR LEBANON
The U.S. is evidently concerned about giving military aid to strengthen the Lebanese army because it might become a tool of Hezbollah. I think this is a legitimate concern. But I can't help but wonder. . . if the U.S. does manage to build a western army for the Iraqi government, how can we be sure it will not be used by some radical Islamist group?
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
POPULATION SUPPORT RATIO
I have started to more seriously focus on the immigration issue in the United States. Building a fence does not seem to be a solution to me, but I do think the borders have to be controlled. We need to know who is in our country. I am not sure some politicians realize how important immigration is to the future of the United States and developed nations in general, especially Western Europe and Japan. We are just not having the births necessary to support our future senior citizens.
The United Nations has a term "population support ratio" (PSR) that I think is helpful. I am reading the Pentagon's New Map by Thomas Barnett. He makes the following point: The big hitch is this: Current U.N. projections say that by 2050, the potential support ratio (psr, or people aged 15-to-64 per one person 65-and-older) in the advanced economies will have dropped from 5-to-1 to 2-to-1, while in the least developed regions the psr still will stand at roughly 10-to-1. That means that worker-to-retiree ratios in the Core will plummet just as the retirement burden there skyrockets - unless the Gap's "youth bulges" flow toward the older Core states. Japan will require more than half a million immigrants per year to maintain its current workforce size, while the European Union will need to increase its current immigrant flow roughly fivefold - but both have great difficulty acceding to that need.
Immigrants (legal or illegal) are helping keep America's PSR higher--it is not what it should be, but the US is much better off than Japan and some European countries if you are looking at 2050. The UN has a chart projecting the percentage of the population 60 or older. By 2050 41% of the population of Italy will be over 60; for Japan 42% of the population will be over 60; for the US 26% will be over 60. The average for developed countries is 32%.
The United Nations has a term "population support ratio" (PSR) that I think is helpful. I am reading the Pentagon's New Map by Thomas Barnett. He makes the following point: The big hitch is this: Current U.N. projections say that by 2050, the potential support ratio (psr, or people aged 15-to-64 per one person 65-and-older) in the advanced economies will have dropped from 5-to-1 to 2-to-1, while in the least developed regions the psr still will stand at roughly 10-to-1. That means that worker-to-retiree ratios in the Core will plummet just as the retirement burden there skyrockets - unless the Gap's "youth bulges" flow toward the older Core states. Japan will require more than half a million immigrants per year to maintain its current workforce size, while the European Union will need to increase its current immigrant flow roughly fivefold - but both have great difficulty acceding to that need.
Immigrants (legal or illegal) are helping keep America's PSR higher--it is not what it should be, but the US is much better off than Japan and some European countries if you are looking at 2050. The UN has a chart projecting the percentage of the population 60 or older. By 2050 41% of the population of Italy will be over 60; for Japan 42% of the population will be over 60; for the US 26% will be over 60. The average for developed countries is 32%.
CONSERVATIVES MORE GENEROUS THAN LIBERALS
There is an interesting posting at Gates of Vienna discussing the generous giving habits of conservatives. It is based on a book written by a professor in the Maxwell School at Syracuse University.
One quote from the book: Conversely, secular liberals who believe fervently in government entitlement programs give far less to charity. They want everyone’s tax dollars to support charitable causes and are reluctant to write checks to those causes, even when governments don’t provide them with enough money.
One quote from the book: Conversely, secular liberals who believe fervently in government entitlement programs give far less to charity. They want everyone’s tax dollars to support charitable causes and are reluctant to write checks to those causes, even when governments don’t provide them with enough money.
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
"SUICIDE KILLERS"
I received one of those emails that had an interview with Pierre Rezhov on MSNBC. I was not sure of its authencity.
On July 15, MSNBC's "Connected" program discussed the July 7th London attacks.
One of the guests was Pierre Rehov, a French filmmaker who has filmed six documentaries on the intifada by going undercover in the Palestinian areas. Pierre 's upcoming film, "Suicide Killers," is based on interviews that he conducted with the families of suicide bombers and would-be bombers in an attempt to find out why they do it. Pierre agreed to a request for a Q&A interview here about his work on the new film.
Q - What inspired you to produce "Suicide Killers," your seventh film?
A - I started working with victims of suicide attacks to make a film on PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) when I became fascinated with the personalities of those who had committed those crimes, as they were described again and again by their victims. Especially the fact that suicide bombers are all smiling one second before they blow themselves up.
Q - Why is this film especially important?
A - People don't understand the devastating culture behind this unbelievable phenomenon. My film is not politically correct because it addresses the real problem, showing the real face of Islam. It points the finger against a culture of hatred in which the uneducated are brainwashed to a level where their only solution in life becomes to kill themselves and kill others in the name of a God whose word, as transmitted by other men, has become their only certitude.
Q - What insights did you gain from making this film? What do you know that other experts do not know?
A - I came to the conclusion that we are facing a neurosis at the level of an entire civilization. Most neuroses have in common a dramatic event, generally linked to an unacceptable sexual behavior. In this case, we are talking of kids living all their lives in pure frustration, with no opportunity to experience sex, love, tenderness or even understanding from the opposite sex. The separation between men and women in Islam is absolute. So is contempt toward women, who are totally dominated by men. This leads to a situation of pure anxiety, in which normal behavior is not possible. It is no coincidence that suicide killers are mostly young men dominated subconsciously by an overwhelming libido that they not only cannot satisfy but are afraid of, as if it is the work of the devil. Since Islam describes heaven as a place where everything on Earth will finally be allowed, and promises 72 virgins to those frustrated kids, killing others and killing themselves to reach this redemption becomes their only solution.
Q - What was it like to interview would-be suicide bombers, their families and survivors of suicide bombings?
A - It was a fascinating and a terrifying experience. You are dealing with seemingly normal people with very nice manners who have their own logic, which to a certain extent can make sense since they are so convinced that what they say is true. It is like dealing with pure craziness, like interviewing people in an asylum, since what they say, is for them, the absolute truth. I hear a mother saying "Thank God, my son is dead." Her son had became a shaheed, a martyr, which for her was a greater source of pride than if he had became an engineer, a doctor or a winner of the Nobel Prize. This system of values works completely backwards since their interpretation of Islam worships death much more than life. You are facing people whose only dream, only achievement goal is to fulfill what they believe to be their destiny, namely to be a Shaheed or the family of a shaheed. They don't see the innocent being killed, they only see the impure that they have to destroy.
Q - You say suicide bombers experience a moment of absolute power, beyond punishment. Is death the ultimate power?
A - Not death as an end, but death as a door opener to the after life. They are seeking the reward that God has promised them. They work for God, the ultimate authority, above all human laws. They therefore experience this single delusional second of absolute power, where nothing bad can ever happen to them, since they become God's sword.
Q - Is there a suicide bomber personality profile? Describe the psychopathology.
A - Generally kids between 15 and 25 bearing a lot of complexes, generally inferiority complexes. They must have been fed with religion. They usually have a lack of developed personality. Usually they are impressionable idealists. In the western world they would easily have become drug addicts, but not criminals. Interestingly, they are not criminals since they don't see good and evil the same way that we do. If they had been raised in an Occidental culture, they would have hated violence. But they constantly battle against their own death anxiety. The only solution to this deep-seated pathology is to be willing to die and be rewarded in the afterlife in Paradise .
Q - Are suicide bombers principally motivated by religious conviction?
A - Yes, it is their only conviction. They don't act to gain a territory or to find freedom or even dignity. They only follow Allah, the supreme judge, and what He tells them to do.
Q - Do all Muslims interpret jihad and martyrdom in the same way?
A - All Muslim believers believe that, ultimately, Islam will prevail on earth.They believe this is the only true religion and there is no room, in their mind, for interpretation. The main difference between moderate Muslims and extremists is that moderate Muslims don't think they will see the absolute victory of Islam during their lifetime, therefore they respect other beliefs. The extremists believe that the fulfillment of the Prophecy of Islam and ruling the entire world as described in the Koran, is for today. Each victory of Bin Laden convinces 20 million moderate Muslims to become extremists.
Q - Describe the culture that manufactures suicide bombers.
A - Oppression, lack of freedom, brain washing, organized poverty, placing God in charge of daily life, total separation between men and women, forbidding sex, giving women no power whatsoever, and placing men in charge of family honor, which is mainly connected to their women's behavior.
Q - What socio-economic forces support the perpetuation of suicide bombings?
A - Muslim charity is usually a cover for supporting terrorist organizations. But one has also to look at countries like Pakistan , Saudi Arabia and Iran , which are also supporting the same organizations through different networks. The ironic thing in the case of Palestinian suicide bombers is that most of the money comes through financial support from the Occidental world, donated to a culture that utterly hates and rejects the West (mainly symbolized by Israel ).
Q - Is there a financial support network for the families of the suicide bombers? If so, who is paying them and how does that affect the decision?
A - There used to be a financial incentive in the days of Saddam Hussein ($25,000 per family) and Yasser Arafat (smaller amounts), but these days are gone. It is a mistake to believe that these families would sacrifice their children for money. Although, the children themselves who are very attached to their families, might find in this financial support another reason to become suicide bombers. It is like buying a life insurance policy and then committing suicide.
Q - Why are so many suicide bombers young men?
A - As discussed above, libido is paramount. Also ego, because this is a sure way to become a hero. The shaheeds are the cowboys or the firemen of Islam. Shaheed is a positively reinforced value in this culture. And what kid has never dreamed of becoming a cowboy or a fireman?
Q - You say that a suicide bomber is a 'stupid bomb and a smart bomb' simultaneously. Explain what you mean.
A - Unlike an electronic device, a suicide killer has until the last second the capacity to change his mind. In reality, he is nothing but a platform representing interests which are not his, but he doesn't know it.
Q - How can we put an end to the madness of suicide bombings and terrorism in general?
A - Stop being politically correct and stop believing that this culture is a victim of ours. Radical Islamism today is nothing but a new form of Naziism. Nobody was trying to justify or excuse Hitler in the 1930s. We had to defeat him in order to make peace one day with the German people.
Q - Are these men traveling outside their native areas in large numbers? Based on your research, would you predict that we are beginning to see a new wave of suicide bombings outside the Middle East?
A - Every successful terror attack is considered a victory by the radical Islamists. Everywhere Islam expands there is regional conflict. Right now, there are thousands of candidates for martyrdom lining up in training camps in Bosnia, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Inside Europe , hundreds of illegal mosques are preparing the next step of brain washing to lost young men who cannot find a satisfying identity in the Occidental world. Israel is much more prepared for this than the rest of the world will ever be. Yes, there will be more suicide killings in Europe and the U.S. Sadly, this is only the beginning.
I could not find the interview at the MSNBC site. However, I discovered who Pierre Rezhov is and hope to go back and look at some of his documentary trailers when I have time.
On July 15, MSNBC's "Connected" program discussed the July 7th London attacks.
One of the guests was Pierre Rehov, a French filmmaker who has filmed six documentaries on the intifada by going undercover in the Palestinian areas. Pierre 's upcoming film, "Suicide Killers," is based on interviews that he conducted with the families of suicide bombers and would-be bombers in an attempt to find out why they do it. Pierre agreed to a request for a Q&A interview here about his work on the new film.
Q - What inspired you to produce "Suicide Killers," your seventh film?
A - I started working with victims of suicide attacks to make a film on PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) when I became fascinated with the personalities of those who had committed those crimes, as they were described again and again by their victims. Especially the fact that suicide bombers are all smiling one second before they blow themselves up.
Q - Why is this film especially important?
A - People don't understand the devastating culture behind this unbelievable phenomenon. My film is not politically correct because it addresses the real problem, showing the real face of Islam. It points the finger against a culture of hatred in which the uneducated are brainwashed to a level where their only solution in life becomes to kill themselves and kill others in the name of a God whose word, as transmitted by other men, has become their only certitude.
Q - What insights did you gain from making this film? What do you know that other experts do not know?
A - I came to the conclusion that we are facing a neurosis at the level of an entire civilization. Most neuroses have in common a dramatic event, generally linked to an unacceptable sexual behavior. In this case, we are talking of kids living all their lives in pure frustration, with no opportunity to experience sex, love, tenderness or even understanding from the opposite sex. The separation between men and women in Islam is absolute. So is contempt toward women, who are totally dominated by men. This leads to a situation of pure anxiety, in which normal behavior is not possible. It is no coincidence that suicide killers are mostly young men dominated subconsciously by an overwhelming libido that they not only cannot satisfy but are afraid of, as if it is the work of the devil. Since Islam describes heaven as a place where everything on Earth will finally be allowed, and promises 72 virgins to those frustrated kids, killing others and killing themselves to reach this redemption becomes their only solution.
Q - What was it like to interview would-be suicide bombers, their families and survivors of suicide bombings?
A - It was a fascinating and a terrifying experience. You are dealing with seemingly normal people with very nice manners who have their own logic, which to a certain extent can make sense since they are so convinced that what they say is true. It is like dealing with pure craziness, like interviewing people in an asylum, since what they say, is for them, the absolute truth. I hear a mother saying "Thank God, my son is dead." Her son had became a shaheed, a martyr, which for her was a greater source of pride than if he had became an engineer, a doctor or a winner of the Nobel Prize. This system of values works completely backwards since their interpretation of Islam worships death much more than life. You are facing people whose only dream, only achievement goal is to fulfill what they believe to be their destiny, namely to be a Shaheed or the family of a shaheed. They don't see the innocent being killed, they only see the impure that they have to destroy.
Q - You say suicide bombers experience a moment of absolute power, beyond punishment. Is death the ultimate power?
A - Not death as an end, but death as a door opener to the after life. They are seeking the reward that God has promised them. They work for God, the ultimate authority, above all human laws. They therefore experience this single delusional second of absolute power, where nothing bad can ever happen to them, since they become God's sword.
Q - Is there a suicide bomber personality profile? Describe the psychopathology.
A - Generally kids between 15 and 25 bearing a lot of complexes, generally inferiority complexes. They must have been fed with religion. They usually have a lack of developed personality. Usually they are impressionable idealists. In the western world they would easily have become drug addicts, but not criminals. Interestingly, they are not criminals since they don't see good and evil the same way that we do. If they had been raised in an Occidental culture, they would have hated violence. But they constantly battle against their own death anxiety. The only solution to this deep-seated pathology is to be willing to die and be rewarded in the afterlife in Paradise .
Q - Are suicide bombers principally motivated by religious conviction?
A - Yes, it is their only conviction. They don't act to gain a territory or to find freedom or even dignity. They only follow Allah, the supreme judge, and what He tells them to do.
Q - Do all Muslims interpret jihad and martyrdom in the same way?
A - All Muslim believers believe that, ultimately, Islam will prevail on earth.They believe this is the only true religion and there is no room, in their mind, for interpretation. The main difference between moderate Muslims and extremists is that moderate Muslims don't think they will see the absolute victory of Islam during their lifetime, therefore they respect other beliefs. The extremists believe that the fulfillment of the Prophecy of Islam and ruling the entire world as described in the Koran, is for today. Each victory of Bin Laden convinces 20 million moderate Muslims to become extremists.
Q - Describe the culture that manufactures suicide bombers.
A - Oppression, lack of freedom, brain washing, organized poverty, placing God in charge of daily life, total separation between men and women, forbidding sex, giving women no power whatsoever, and placing men in charge of family honor, which is mainly connected to their women's behavior.
Q - What socio-economic forces support the perpetuation of suicide bombings?
A - Muslim charity is usually a cover for supporting terrorist organizations. But one has also to look at countries like Pakistan , Saudi Arabia and Iran , which are also supporting the same organizations through different networks. The ironic thing in the case of Palestinian suicide bombers is that most of the money comes through financial support from the Occidental world, donated to a culture that utterly hates and rejects the West (mainly symbolized by Israel ).
Q - Is there a financial support network for the families of the suicide bombers? If so, who is paying them and how does that affect the decision?
A - There used to be a financial incentive in the days of Saddam Hussein ($25,000 per family) and Yasser Arafat (smaller amounts), but these days are gone. It is a mistake to believe that these families would sacrifice their children for money. Although, the children themselves who are very attached to their families, might find in this financial support another reason to become suicide bombers. It is like buying a life insurance policy and then committing suicide.
Q - Why are so many suicide bombers young men?
A - As discussed above, libido is paramount. Also ego, because this is a sure way to become a hero. The shaheeds are the cowboys or the firemen of Islam. Shaheed is a positively reinforced value in this culture. And what kid has never dreamed of becoming a cowboy or a fireman?
Q - You say that a suicide bomber is a 'stupid bomb and a smart bomb' simultaneously. Explain what you mean.
A - Unlike an electronic device, a suicide killer has until the last second the capacity to change his mind. In reality, he is nothing but a platform representing interests which are not his, but he doesn't know it.
Q - How can we put an end to the madness of suicide bombings and terrorism in general?
A - Stop being politically correct and stop believing that this culture is a victim of ours. Radical Islamism today is nothing but a new form of Naziism. Nobody was trying to justify or excuse Hitler in the 1930s. We had to defeat him in order to make peace one day with the German people.
Q - Are these men traveling outside their native areas in large numbers? Based on your research, would you predict that we are beginning to see a new wave of suicide bombings outside the Middle East?
A - Every successful terror attack is considered a victory by the radical Islamists. Everywhere Islam expands there is regional conflict. Right now, there are thousands of candidates for martyrdom lining up in training camps in Bosnia, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Inside Europe , hundreds of illegal mosques are preparing the next step of brain washing to lost young men who cannot find a satisfying identity in the Occidental world. Israel is much more prepared for this than the rest of the world will ever be. Yes, there will be more suicide killings in Europe and the U.S. Sadly, this is only the beginning.
I could not find the interview at the MSNBC site. However, I discovered who Pierre Rezhov is and hope to go back and look at some of his documentary trailers when I have time.
Monday, November 13, 2006
Friday, November 10, 2006
DEMOCRAT CORRUPTION
The Dem leadership is not squeaky clean. It strikes me the list could be longer. Where is Harry Reid and William Jefferson?
DEMOCRATIC VICTORY APPROVED BY KHAMENEI?
"Khamenei Calls Election a Victory for Iran." "Since Washington's hostile and hawkish policies have always been against the Iranian nation, this defeat is actually an obvious victory for the Iranian nation."
Nancy Pelosi, Howard Dean and the Democrats -- supporters of the Iranian nation?
Nancy Pelosi, Howard Dean and the Democrats -- supporters of the Iranian nation?
Thursday, November 09, 2006
2006 ELECTION ANALYSIS
A few preliminary thoughts on the results of the 2006 election.
- Iraq played a role in the Republican defeat, but I am not sure it was as dominant as some Democrats and analysts say. It would appear to me that Bush should have eased Rumsfield out sometime this summer--the day after the election makes less sense to me. I have read that Rumsfield was willing to resign a year or so ago, but Bush did not accept his resignation. If Rumsfield had been eased out, it might have helped save some Republican seats--for some voters Rumsfield's departure would be seen as a sign that Bush might be looking at something else besides "more of the same." I don't think the Democrats have much of an Iraq policy, but Bush didn't appear to have anything to offer except "stay the course."
- The administration and Republicans failed to communicate the good things that were happening in the economy. The stock market is at a record high which means everyone with an IRA or a 401 or 403 plan is making money. Also unemployment is at 4.4%.
- Republicans, especially in the House, seem to be poorly led and inept at campaigning. Democrat campaign ads were superior to those run by Republicans--I think a good TV ad is worth more than going to nursing homes and shaking hands for TV news clips.
- The Republican defeat did rid the party of some of its less capable members (Allen in Virginia and Hayworth in Arizona are two examples). Maybe new blood will arise. I know Newt Gingrich is a polarizing figure, but the Republican party needs thinkers or visionaries like him. It can't just be a party of Hastert Hacks.
- More evangelicals seem to have voted for Democrats in 2006. I haven't read the data, but I believe in many cases Republican corruption created some disillusionment. I anticipate that the evangelical vote will become less Republican, especially if the Democrats run a more moderate or conservative candidate.
- The Pro-Life movement has taken a hit and I think it will be greatly weakened. Given the South Dakota results, it would appear that Americans want abortion as an option. In addition it will be harder to press its agenda in Washington with the Democrat majority. I know Senator elect Casey in Pennsylvania is pro-life, but pro-life Democrats are still a very small minority. Also will he be able to stand up to the pro-abortion pressure in his party? Finally, Bush will have great difficulty appointing any Supreme Court nominee that is even somewhat pro-life and have the Democrat Senate approve the nominee. He barely got nominees through when Republicans controlled 56 seats in the Senate.
- Democrats appear to be against free trade in many cases (especially if they had strong union support). Many of them have not come to grips with globalization and outsourcing. It raises the possibility that America will slip into some kind of protective, isolationist posture. What America needs is a drastic retooling and new way of thinking that will help it face the realities of the 21st century--Democrats want to go back to a world economy that no longer exists.
PELOSI'S PENDING INTELLIGENCE FAILURE
The Democrats have campaigned on bringing honesty to government and yet Pelosi is about to appoint Alcee Hastings (D, FL) to head the Intelligence Committee. Read about his judicial impeachment, etc. at TCS Daily. This guy is a disaster.
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
2006 COUNTY VOTING MAP
A great map at USA Today comparing county votes in 2004 and 2006. You can also click a map which shows counties who switched from Republican to Democrat or Democrat to Republican.
SIMPSONS TAKE AN ELECTION STAND?
"I, for one, welcome our new Democratic overlords." You gotta love Nancy Pelosi's eyes -- "like a deer in the headlights."
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
EXIT POLLS
An excellent summary on how Exit Polls are conducted. I can't say I am fond of them, but it is more because of how they are leaked to try to influence later voters. I think voters on the West Coast should be allowed to vote with no knowledge of the potential outcome (network projections), especially in presidential races.
Monday, November 06, 2006
10 BEST CAMPAIGN ADS FOR 2006
Blogger Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post has posted the best campaign ads for 2006. I haven't had time to look at all of them, but I think Tester's is a super ad for Montana.
Friday, November 03, 2006
SADDAM AND THE BOMB
The New York Times article seems to imply that Saddam had nuclear technology that would lead to the creation of nuclear weapons.
Last March, the federal government set up a Web site to make public a vast archive of Iraqi documents captured during the war. The Bush administration did so under pressure from Congressional Republicans who had said they hoped to “leverage the Internet” to find new evidence of the prewar dangers posed by Saddam Hussein.
But in recent weeks, the site has posted some documents that weapons experts say are a danger themselves: detailed accounts of Iraq’s secret nuclear research before the 1991 Persian Gulf war. The documents, the experts say, constitute a basic guide to building an atom bomb.
Last night, the government shut down the Web site after The New York Times asked about complaints from weapons experts and arms-control officials. A spokesman for the director of national intelligence said access to the site had been suspended “pending a review to ensure its content is appropriate for public viewing.”
Note my italics in the second paragraph. Saddam would appear to have the technology to build a bomb. If so can you make the argument that Bush was right on--if he didn't go into Iraq, it would have had nuclear weapons along with Iran and North Korea.
Last March, the federal government set up a Web site to make public a vast archive of Iraqi documents captured during the war. The Bush administration did so under pressure from Congressional Republicans who had said they hoped to “leverage the Internet” to find new evidence of the prewar dangers posed by Saddam Hussein.
But in recent weeks, the site has posted some documents that weapons experts say are a danger themselves: detailed accounts of Iraq’s secret nuclear research before the 1991 Persian Gulf war. The documents, the experts say, constitute a basic guide to building an atom bomb.
Last night, the government shut down the Web site after The New York Times asked about complaints from weapons experts and arms-control officials. A spokesman for the director of national intelligence said access to the site had been suspended “pending a review to ensure its content is appropriate for public viewing.”
Note my italics in the second paragraph. Saddam would appear to have the technology to build a bomb. If so can you make the argument that Bush was right on--if he didn't go into Iraq, it would have had nuclear weapons along with Iran and North Korea.
ANOTHER FALLEN PASTOR
A noted Christian pastor and leader of the National Association of Evangelicals has evidently been caught in a homosexual affair. It is very disappointing, but I like the post at La Shawn Barber's Corner, "Christians Can Be Perverts, Too."
Hypocrisy is mightier than the sword. When you preach/teach/nag against something and people find out you’re doing the thing you preach/teach/nag against, you are a hypocrite who deserves ridicule, especially if you’re high profile.
Christians constantly are being watched, and rightly so. Any little thing we do that appears hypocritical, unbelievers jump on it. To justify their own sin and rebellion, they “expose” ours and say, “See? The self-righteous hypocrite!” They rejoice when they “discover” we’re human, too!
But I’m glad they’re watching me. I defy the stereotype of what a Christian should be. Remember the car commercial catchphrase, “This ain’t you daddy’s Oldsmobile”? Well, I ain’t your momma’s Christian.
Hypocrisy is mightier than the sword. When you preach/teach/nag against something and people find out you’re doing the thing you preach/teach/nag against, you are a hypocrite who deserves ridicule, especially if you’re high profile.
Christians constantly are being watched, and rightly so. Any little thing we do that appears hypocritical, unbelievers jump on it. To justify their own sin and rebellion, they “expose” ours and say, “See? The self-righteous hypocrite!” They rejoice when they “discover” we’re human, too!
But I’m glad they’re watching me. I defy the stereotype of what a Christian should be. Remember the car commercial catchphrase, “This ain’t you daddy’s Oldsmobile”? Well, I ain’t your momma’s Christian.
Thursday, November 02, 2006
2006 ELECTION, II
I have been perusing a number of polls today, mostly on conservative blogs. It looks like Republican control of the Senate may be at stake. The only race showing a Republican lead was in Tennessee. Obviously several races are still within the range of error. Rush is on the radio now heralding a Republican trend, but it looks to me like things have gone the other way. Obviously this is not Tuesday, but I am no longer sure the Republicans will hold on to the Senate. It appears that Rush and some Republicans are dismissing many of these polls, but I don't think we can. Some of the percentages separating candidates are well beyond a margin of error or simply a mistake.
Also Franky Schaeffer (son of the famous theologian-cultural warrior Francis Schaeffer) had an op-ed piece the other day in the Dallas Morning News announcing he was fed up with Senator Allen's (R) campaign in Virginia and was changing his registration to Independent. I have not kept up with Franky's career, but he was on the far-right of most evangelical circles. Either something is happening in his life or the Republican Party.
Also Franky Schaeffer (son of the famous theologian-cultural warrior Francis Schaeffer) had an op-ed piece the other day in the Dallas Morning News announcing he was fed up with Senator Allen's (R) campaign in Virginia and was changing his registration to Independent. I have not kept up with Franky's career, but he was on the far-right of most evangelical circles. Either something is happening in his life or the Republican Party.
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