Two Israeli soldiers have alleged that they were ordered to carry out revenge attacks on Palestinian police after six of their comrades were killed.

At least 15 Palestinians were killed in response to the troops' deaths.

The Israeli army said it had targeted policemen who actively assisted militants in carrying out killings.

But it is not clear whether the Palestinians killed had actually aided militants.

The report notes, "Correspondents say the report is a challenge to Israel's insistence that it abides by a strict code of ethics and has avoided tit-for-tat killings." That's an understatement. While I was in Israel during the late 2004 IDF campaign in Gaza, there was the incident of the Israeli sergeant executing a wounded Palestinian 14-year-old-girl (he claimed it was because he wasn't sure if her backpack contained explosives or not. Why then did the soldiers in his own unit try to stop him, and then went so far as to telephone the Israeli media about what happened?)

The first soldier's story:

The first soldier, who describes himself as a sergeant in a reconnaissance unit, was quoted on the website of Breaking the Silence, a group set up by former soldiers to document evidence of abuses by the Israeli Defence Force.

He said his squad was summoned by their commander after the killings of six Israelis at a checkpoint near Ramallah in the West Bank.

He told them their task was to kill six Palestinians in revenge.

"I really enjoyed it," he said. "It was the first time that we were in an 'advance storm' situation, like in our training exercises. And we acted flawlessly. We performed superbly."

The soldier added that several of his comrades kept shooting at one of the bodies, "punching holes in it".

The second soldier's story:

A second soldier, from paratroop reconnaissance, was quoted by the UK Guardian newspaper as saying that he was told to attack three checkpoints in the Nablus area and simply shoot at police.

It was clearly a revenge attack, he said.

At least two Palestinians were killed in the raid.

No mention of this yet in the Israeli media.

This report reminds me all too much of the countless everyday Israeli young men I encountered who displayed a strong bloodthirst. Take for example the Russian oleh hadesh and the Sepharadi I met in the Beer Sheva train station. Believe me, the bloodthirst is just as virulent on the other side of the Green Line.

When a highly trained and organized military such as the IDF has repeated incidents of this tit-for-tat madness, just how deteriorated is the moral and spiritual character of Israeli society? Are the monsters beginning to strip away their camouflage of human flesh and tears?

Of interest:
א Breaking the Silence: Israeli Soldiers Reflect on Patrolling Hebron
בּ Parting shots Ari Shavit's interview with retiring IDF Chief of Staff Moshe ("Bogey") Ya'alon's retirement, who (in)famously remarked, ""the Palestinian threat harbors cancer-like attributes that have to be severed. There are all kinds of solutions to cancer. Some say it's necessary to amputate organs but at the moment I am applying chemotherapy," that Israelis "could leave the Golan," and numerous statements critical of Israel state and defense policy.

If you are an Israeli or Palestinian university student or youth activist in the age-range 18-28 and would like to correspond for Thinking-East, please contact me: te.schwartz at gmail.com

Click on "continue reading"

Meanwhile, Haaretz has two important reports:
גּ Quoting a New York Times report (how did they get the scoop on Haaretz and the Jerusalem Post?) Syria test-fires three Scud missiles, Israelis say

Syria test-fired three Scud missiles last Friday, including one that broke up over Turkish territory and showered missile parts down onto unsuspecting Turkish farmers, The New York Times quoted Israeli military officials as saying.

These were the first such Syrian missile tests since 2001, the paper's Web site quoted the Israelis as saying, and were part of a Syrian missile development project using North Korean technology and designed, the Israelis contend, to deliver air-burst chemical weapons.

All the missiles were launched from northern Syria, near Minakh, north of Aleppo, the Times quoted the Israeli officials as saying. One was sent about 400 kilometers to southernmost Syria, near the Jordanian border. The one that broke up was fired southwest toward the Mediterranean, over the Turkish province of Hatay, the ancient Antioch, and shed debris over two villages there. The Israelis said they had film of the launching and breakup.

דּ Census: Arabs form largest constituency in Labor Party

For the first time in the history of the Labor [Avoda] Party, its Arab members have become the largest constituency.

It emerged last night that the Arab constituency made up approximately 22 percent of Labor Party members, according to party membership poll data. The rate of kibbutz members, traditionally a prominent Labor constituency, dropped from 16 to 10 percent.

Contrary to the Arab sector, the constituency of the kibbutz sector [the heart and soul of Avoda] diminished significantly. This was probably the result of massive efforts by Ben-Eliezer and Amir Peretz, a chairmanship candidate and the Histadrut chief, to sign up Arab members in the census.

So far, only 9,972 members signed up in the kibbutz sector, compared with 17,629 in 2002, when they formed approximately 16 percent of the total number of party members.

Now this is surprising!

Unfortunately, this isn't: Arab Israelis are still waiting to be accepted by the big leagues of Israeli civil society.

[Arab-Israeli/Palestinian citizen of Israel athlete Bnei] Sakhnin's drive to be accepted in the league, in society, to survive in the league of acceptance, is the challenge they have thrown into the national arena. It's no easy challenge for Israel. When the challenge is overtly political, demanding, it's so easy for the majority to fob it off: Old-style challenges arouse fear, create resistance to change. The Sakhnin soccer challenge creates a level playing-ground for the majority to grapple with the minority's quest to belong.

And despite high levels of education, the Falashim aren't doing so well in the Israeli job market.

Halyk bank is the third largest bank and has "already announced plans to sell at least a 25 per cent stake to an unnamed European bank by July." The market is highly sought-after:

Buying a Kazakh bank would be more convenient for a Western institution than building an operation from scratch. But pricing is hard, since there is no liquid market for banking shares.

In the other bank-related news from Kazakhstan:
First off, Nazarbaev and Putin announced the setup of a bilateral investment bank - surprisingly based not in Astana, but Almaty. The bank will dispose of $1.5 bn in authorised capital, and is designed to help implement joint Russian-Kazakh projects.

According to Euromoney, Kazakhstan has the "most dynamic development bank in the world".

۩ Dar al-Internet, House of the Links.۩

For your web-browsing pleasure...
۞ Siberian Light's Carnival of the Revolutions index, "a sampling of how democracy is marching forwards (and sometimes backwards) in the world today."
۞ The Registan's May 30th, 2005 Carnival of the Revolutions, " humble collection of democracy news–good and bad–from the past week."
۞ The website for Berkeley, California-based Students for Global Democracy, whose motto is, "Make the world a better place by promoting political liberties worldwide."
۞ The website for Friends of Democracy, "Ground-level election news from the Iraqi people." [Contributors to Thinking-East.]
۞ On a voyage to an untamed land, the LiveJournal personal/professional blog for Christopher Schwartz.

This entry shall be updated from time to time...

Ben's Mongolia coverage: Global Voices Online Friday World Blog Roundup 5/21/2005

Olesya's Andijon coverage: The Golden Road to Samarqand Interesting Places to Visit 5/16/2005

Nathan Hamm's Craig Murray article (Is. 2.5): Coming Anarchy My boy is wicked smart! 4/28/2005

Daler Rahimov's TZ elections article (Is. 2): Americans for Freedom Thinking-East presents Daler Rahimov... 3/30/2005

The Tulip Revolution: Nomad Photo montage from Thinking-East blog

2/21/2005, Kristin at the The Boylan Blog writes,

With President Bush vowing to spread democracy across the globe, it is ever more imperative that students are informed about the world that lies east of Long Island.

A pioneering project from the University of London, created by students for students strives to bring to light the struggle for freedom of choice and thought in countries in North Africa, the Near and Middle East, and Central Asia. Thinking-east.net is a nonprofit e-publishing platform where students who live in these areas – about which most of us know shamefully little – provide a fresh and informative perspective on their lives.

In a special issue on elections, one can hear first-hand accounts of election concerns from students in Tajikstan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Get out your world atlas before you log on.

The editors, Ben Paarman and Christopher Schwartz, both students at U of L, are always looking for contributing writers, so if any of you know of students who live in those areas and speak at least some English, they would be happy to hear from you.

Islam is ill.

As someone who once very seriously considered converting to the religion—I privately practiced the rituals and debated with myself for five years, nearly making the declaration of faith [shahada] on at least three separate occasions—believe me when I say there is a cancer in the heart of the Muslim creed.

"Yeah, so?" you (who may or may not be Muslim yourself) say, "We know this already. The symptoms are everywhere: mysogynism, theocracy, not a little bit of fascism, and terrorism."

But you don’t really know. The tumor is not the pillars of Islamic belief, nor the Qur`an or the Prophet Muhammad. It is the Muslims.

They refuse to accept the essential human reality of tragedy. They deny our species’ all-too-innate shortcomings—and our infinite potential for redemption.

Click on "continue reading" [The opinion expressed herein does not necessarily represent the views of Thinking-East, its editorial staff or contributors.]

Fifteen centuries ago, the Prophet Muhammad was dying, but for a while, only he knew that he was. In a cemetery in Mecca late one night, the old man was taking a stroll with a former servant and confidant.

“Allah has offered me a choice...” he said, pausing to gaze across the gravestones.

Tides of sand and dust had washed over the cemetery for generations, burying epitaphs, silencing the echoes of prayers. Perhaps the old man, as he looked upon the ruined headstones, traversed the caravan route of his memories:

the night of his first revelation, when the angel Gabriel embraced him in a cave...

his terror afterwards, running back home, wrapping himself in a blanket, the whispers pursuing him, and Khadijah, his first wife, most beloved of all his lovers, holding him close...

his first sermons, the hopeful eyes of youth and widows, the wrathful glares of the Meccan merchants and elders...

the persecutions, the deaths—his beloved among the lost—the revelations growing angrier and more apocalyptic...

his incredible dream, in which he soared to Jerusalem and then up into the Kingdom of God...

the flight to the city of Medina, his joyous welcome there...

and the wars—so many wars, so many friends murdered, so many foes slain, so many innocents massacred, so much fire, so much blood...

and finally, the triumphant return to Mecca, the cleansing of the sacred site of the Kaabah, the knitting together of torn Arabia under the banner of the One God.

Perhaps as he looked out across those gravestones, the old man was musing to himself, How far we’ve come.

“I can stay here for many more years,” he explained, “or I can soon leave for Paradise.”

His shocked friend sputtered, “H-have you d-decided?”

“Yes,” he replied softly, then turned and walked away into the evening mists.

A few days later, the elderly Muhammad became sick. The illness was bizarre and mysterious, like the slow withering of a flower. The diagnosis eluded even the best doctors of the day. The old man just smiled.

His friends and family took him away from Mecca, the bourgeois city of his birth and early adulthood, the illustrious holy city around which all the spiritual activity of Arabia revolved. They took him back to dirty and wretched Medina, the shit-hole which, though he publicly denied it, he could never deny in his heart had become the true fixture of his affection, his real home.

His ailment worsened until he was bed stricken. He spent most of his days inside his hut beside the city’s mosque, the simple temple he and his followers had built with their bare hands when they first arrived in Medina.

All of Arabia feigned unconcern, but even the sand-devils stopped spinning as the desert held its breath.

On the day he died, Muhammad pulled himself out of his cot and quietly made his way to the mosque door. He leaned upon the doorpost and watched the congregation pray. He always enjoyed watching his followers pray. When they had finished their rituals, the assembly noticed his presence.

The historical record does not tell us anything more about the assembly. According to his chronicler Ibn Ishaq, these were the old prophet’s words: “Don’t look at me like that. I only ever allowed what our Lord Allah allowed, and I only ever forbade what our Lord Allah forbade. You have the Law now.” And then Muhammad turned on his heels and stormed back into his hut.

A few hours later, with his friends gathered around him, his head resting in the lap of Aisha, a devoted lover and one of the many women he had married during the war with Mecca, the apostle slipped away. His final words were a whispered conversation: “O God! ... pardon my sins ... Yes, ... I come, ... among my fellow citizens on high ...”

…idhinas siratal mustaqim

No Muslim has ever dared explicate the meaning of that moment between Muhammad and the congregants. Like anyone else, they want to be told that their blessed prophet was successful and perfect in every way. Because they want to believe that they, as Muslims, are infallible and wonderful.

But they dare not consider that Muhammad may have died wondering if he was a failure.

In what manner were those Muslims in the Medina mosque looking upon him? Could it have been that their eyes were imploring him, demanding of him: You cannot go. You are the leader. Could it have been that Muhammad realized that, despite all the sacrifice and enormous struggle, in the end his precious “believers” remained, in their secret hearts, pagans?

And did he feel that the guilt for this… rested squarely upon his shoulders? The historical records tell us that Muhammad decided every facet of his followers’ lives: how they were to wage their battles, how they were to pray and give alms, even how they were to marry, sleep together, raise their children—decisions and edicts that were later gathered and codified into the laws of the Shariah.

The early Muslims’ poverty of autonomy and sincerity became explosively obvious after the prophet’s death. Muhammad hadn’t decided who among his cadre would become the next governor of the new Arabian polity. Almost immediately after his demise, the “believers” began to worship his tomb, so frightful was the prospect of having to decide for themselves what to believe, how to live.

Barely a decade passed before Muslims split between those who wanted an elite leadership, and those who desired a monarchy derived from Muhammad’s bloodline—a split which erupted into bloody civil war and assassinations, tearing open the vast chasm between Sunni (the oligarchic school) and Shia (the monarchial school) which has torn apart Islam ever since.

The Muslims’ deep deficiency has persisted in many other ways, especially in religious belief. Islam experienced a few brief centuries of “independent reasoning” [ijtihad], but statism, capitalism, corrupt taxation and foreign invasion led to a series of homegrown military coup-de-tats in the Middle Ages. These regimes rapidly feudalized Islamic domains, purged academia and seminaries of “subversives,” and enforced an ideology of "blind belief" [taqlid]. So started the long slide into spiritual darkness which culminated in the bloody rule of the Taliban in Afghanistan, the exploitative Saudi regime in Arabia, and the atrocities of September 11th.

History shows that the Muslim masses have been all too happy to be brutalized into serfs, paupers, fellaheen. They easily jab the finger for their decrepitude elsewhere: at the Christians, the Jews, “weak Muslims” among them, even God (masha’allah, the expression goes, It is as God wills...) Yet, a millennium of spilt tears does not just evaporate; it becomes an ocean of sorrow flooding the most hidden caverns of everyone’s souls, mingling with the burning magma of shame and self-hatred, until the pressure builds and the mountain erupts into a firestorm of suicide-bombs.

But salvation does not lie in self-annihilation. There is no escaping the face in the mirror.

As the centuries have eked by, the more despicable the Muslims’ condition, the more primary the colors their clergy have painted the image of Muhammad. Today, after generations of careful and cynical effort, they have managed to excise every tiny blemish from the prophetic character. Conceptually, Muhammad has become an automaton rather than a man of passion who strove to reconcile the great symphony of divine revelation that burst in his mind with the dirge of earthbound sin and ignorance that gnawed at his and his loved ones’ flesh and souls day after day after day. Muhammad was no longer allowed to be a man who made some good choices and some bad choices.

And so Muhammad has stopped being an inspiring symbol and has become an idol to be worshipped.

The great historian Edward Gibbon put it so well: “If he retained any vestige of his native innocence, the sins of Muhammad may be allowed as an evidence of his sincerity.” The Muslims’ persistent denial of this most essential truth has ruined Islam.

The Qur`an says of Muhammad, “He is a perfect example unto you,” and, “No other prophet shall come after him.” The time has come for Muslims to truly embrace Muhammad: to confess their wrongs and idiocies, to accept and forgive themselves, to trust themselves and to trust Providence, to open themselves to the whispers of divine Truth. They must be guided, and they must let themselves be guided, and they must be bold in their steps.

Mr. Singh has a curious section about Bukharan Jewish émigrés in the Big Apple:

Curiously [the] majority of [the] 40,000-strong Bukharan Jews in the New York, who immigrated in early 1990s, maintained their support for Islam Karimov. Many said that the United States should stand by Karimov, otherwise Islamists might take over the country and persecute the estimated 30,000 to 50,000 Jews still there. But they added that Karimov must allow more democracy and economic liberalization.

Rafael Nektalov, editor-in-chief of the community’s Bukharian Times, who was in Uzbekistan last week, said the Jews he met were calm and maintained staunch support for Karimov — a position he shared. “I think the U.S. must support Karimov at this moment,” he said. “Do people who call for a new regime in Uzbekistan really think those who carried out the uprising and prison break in Andijan are humanitarians who would govern democratically if they ever take power?”

But some like David and Sarah Tamayev [who moved to the USA 16 years ago from Bukhara and visited their hometown two years ago], disagreed. “We found that things were so bad economically in Bukhara that almost the entire male population of the city was away working in Russia in order to help their families survive,” “Karimov is guilty of creating a situation where people have nothing to eat. Karimov’s rule is good only for his relatives. The vast majority endure terrible poverty.” But they agreed that if Karimov falls, there might be a takeover by Islamic extremists. “Perhaps the U.S. should not try to push Karimov out, but we certainly should be pressing him to reform the system and allow democracy.” [my link inserts]

Thanks to Nathan Hamm over at The Registan for alerting me to this.

But the police in police station number 39 did not treat him very bad, where he was brought by those people in civic uniform. Being taken to Sabayil district court, Ali Ismayilov was released around 22.00pm, where "YOX" activists were waiting for him outside the court building. He was not sentenced to some days of detention for the mere fact that he had also a journalist card with him.

The interesting moment about this detention was the fact that they had been continuously interrogated where had they gotten the flyers and leaflets, where had they copied it and who was behind it. They warned that they knew who was organizing all this and named Razi Nurullayev, sending him a message that they would arrest him and torture. They interrogated them about Razi Nurullayev's trip to Amsterdam early May 2005 and warned that that trip would cost him very much.

Now it has become very hard for "YOX" Movement to continue its struggle, nevertheless we are not discouraged. But we need an international support and defense.

Please, distribute our messages to others as many as possible.

Best wishes,

"YOX" Movement Azerbaijan

http://www.yox-net-no.org

Sheikh Muhammad al-Khaznawi (or "al-Haznawi"), a popular Syrian-Kurdish cleric, went missing three weeks ago in Damascus (May 10th). The Syrian Human Rights Committee (SHRC) condemned the abduction:

[Sheikh al-Khaznawi] enjoys a wide range of relationships within Syria on both formal and public levels, and also possesses excellent relationships on both Arab and international levels.

Sheikh al-Khaznawi is from a knowledgeable religious family and possesses an exceptional role in the enlightenment of Kurdish issues and the defence of their rights. He also played a pivotal role in calming pacifying the turbulent circumstances following the Qamishli incidents of March 2004.*

SHRC calls upon free Syrians to expose his kidnappers and ensure his safe return to his family and to his useful activities.

Sheikh al-Khaznawi has been found dead in eastern Syria three weeks after he went missing in Damascus.

* Regarding Qamishli, a Dr. Kamal Mirawdeli wrote in the March 15th, 2004 edition of Kurdistan Observer's webpage,

In today's Independent there is nothing about Qamishli carnage where Syrian Arab Baathists are indulged in killing Kurds. Reliable Kurdish sources indicate that 94 people have been killed so far in Syrian governments violent measures to quell the Kurdish uprising in Qamishly and other Syrian-occupied western Kurdistan. The great Middle East correspondent Robert Fisk must not have heard of it. And even he has, it seems he doesnt think there is any thing worth reporting or commenting about.

If you are a Syrian university student or youth activist in the age-range 18-28 and would like to correspond for Thinking-East, please contact me: te.schwartz at gmail.com

Meanwhile in Iraq, Raja Nawaf, the kidnapped governor of the Anbar province, has been found dead along with his suspected captors after a clash with US forces. Mr. Nawaf's body was found tied to a gas canister in a house in Rawa, near the Syria border, the government said. Incidentally, Mr. Nawaf was also kidnapped on May 10th.

Reuters Online has released this interesting article, Iraq's wild west a constant thorn for U.S. troops:

When it comes to peace and stability in Iraq, there may be no greater obstacle to success than Anbar province, a vast region of desert and scrubland stretching west from Baghdad.

Of the 1,630 U.S. troops who have died since the war began, more than 500 have lost their lives in Anbar, a higher toll than in any other area of the country, according to icasualties.org, a Web site that tracks military deaths.

The province, which includes the cities of Falluja and Ramadi, a stronghold of the Sunni Arab-led insurgency, is so dangerous that no journalists venture there unless escorted by U.S. forces. Even many Iraqis are too scared to go.

(Check out WindsOfChange.net's similarly entitled May 25th article, Back to the Wild West of Anbar Province.)

Finally, the BBC Online, quoting a CNN report, says that Saddam Hussein shall go on trial "within two months": "Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has said he expects the trial of Saddam Hussein for alleged crimes against humanity to begin within two months."

If you are an Iraqi university student or youth activist in the age-range 18-28 and would like to correspond for Thinking-East, please contact me: te.schwartz at gmail.com

Witnesses in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek says hundreds of people have stormed the country's Supreme Court. They say Kyrgyz security forces are on the scene after the crowd burst into the building early Wednesday to evict protesters who had occupied the Supreme Court since April. The protesters were supporters of disqualified parliamentary candidates.

Radio Free Europe:

Early today a crowd of about 300 people surrounded Kyrgyzstan's Supreme Court building in Bishkek. Inside about 50 people were continuing a protest they started in late April.

As law enforcement officers watched, the crowd outside suddenly rushed the building.

Those inside threw Molotov cocktails and stones at the oncoming crowd, to no avail. The crowd entered the building and proceeded to throw the protesters' possessions -- mattresses, clothing, and other objects -- out of the buildings' windows.

[...] Those inside the building were protesting the results of parliamentary elections held in February and March of this year. Their candidates were defeated in those elections or disqualified from running and their appeals were rejected by the courts.

Read Nathan Hamm's blog entry on The Registan (with photographs):

Personally, I can’t say I’m too terribly sympathetic to either side on this one. The protesters in the building certainly have a valid grievance, but there’s something to be said for accepting Kyrgyzstan’s part-way revolution and letting the government try to do its job. And throwing molotov cocktails and rocks is never cool. I guess if anything, this is another sign that Kyrgyzstan’s revolution hasn’t entirely answered the demands of everyone who took part in it.

Read Thinking-East's Issue 2 for more information about the Tulip Revolution.xxxxxxxxxxxx
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ben[at]thinking-east.net

Peter Biar Ajak (20, Sudan/USA) bemoans Darfur's betrayal by the world. Cklara Moradian (18, Iraq/USA) relives the extermination of her hometown, Halabja. Dr. Yair Auron discusses 1915, 1948, and definitions of genocide.
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Muzaffardjon R. Khudoikulov (25, Cyprus/Tajikistan) argues, Make Jerusalem the seat of the United Nations. Chris Wake (23, UK) sees flickers of hope's light in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Tzadik (23, Israel) recounts a harrowing tale of obsession and war.xxxxxxxxxxxx
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Ali Tawfik-Shukor (25, Iraq/Canada) remembers a courageous cousin slain by a suicide bomber. An anti-Iraq War protest in Viet Nam (video by Maria Grazia Moncada) inspires soul-searching e-mails between Christopher Schwartz (23, USA) and Ali: Should America stay in Iraq?xxxxxxxxxxxx
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Coming during the next two weeks

New East in the West: The New World, the New West
۞ "The Face of the West is Changing" by Ludwika Chrzstowska
۞ "US immigration in the Age of Terrorism" by Michael P. Gallen
۞ "When will we be recognized?" by Kurdish students
More Baghdad is Bleeding: interviews from Sipan
More Allah against Elohim: a photo-essay of the Oasis of Peace from Schwartz
Another article from Christopher Wake

This Saturday, May 28th, Andrej Mucic, an amateur cyclist and Home Depot employee, will embark on a journey of 7,000 miles over 100 days through Siberia, Russia. Andrej will bike through the harsh climate and abrasive terrain of the Siberian tundra in order to raise $10,000 to benefit the American Anti-Slavery Group. To donate, visit www.SiberiaRide.com.

His grueling course will begin at Magadan, known as the Portal to Hell, the notorious first stop on the way to the gulag slave camps of the Stalinist era. He will bike 1,000 miles over nearly impassable roads to Yakutsk and on to a remote village called Suntar, where roads vanish and maps are of little assistance. From there Andrej heads south to the Lena River and will follow a path along its northern bank for 1,000 miles. The road picks up again in Ust-Kut, and Andrej will continue along to his final destination in St. Petersburg. What motivates someone to undertake this tremendous challenge? Burning moral indignation against slavery, and a powerful motivation to support the work of AASG.

Check out www.SiberiaRide.com for more information and to support Andrej's Siberian Freedom Ride by making a donation.

Slave Rescue : Through working with Christian Solidarity International, we are able to pay or barter for the release of slaves. $36 will cover the costs of a survival kit for a fomer slave; $50 will free a mother or child and feed them for a month; $100 will feed a family of five Sudanese refugees for two months. How many slaves will you rescue?

Empowering Survivors : We train and support former slaves from around the world to speak out about slavery at anywhere from Congressional hearings to high schools and universities across the U.S. These survivors need your support to get their message out.

Grassroots Activism: By organizing rallies, supporting Sudan divestment in state legislatures, raising awareness on university campuses, and petitioning foreign governments, we are leading the grassroots abolitionist movement in the U.S., but we need your contribution to strengthen this movement.

Please support the American Anti-Slavery group by contributing to Andrej's Siberian Freedom Ride. For information about modern-day slavery, visit 2005-05-30T15:50:50Z 2005-05-30T16:50:50+00:00 tag:www.paarmann.info,2005:/blog//1.204 2005-05-30T15:50:50Z

Thinking-East will host this event in the first September week. Also, we're currently overhauling the site, the blogs, and ... everything! Keep your eyes peeled for us in June 2005, lots to come.

Olesya started posting in the forums - pondering about Solzhenitsin's book "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" and its relevance to contempory Uzbekistan.

A pretty simplistic article in the Turkish Weekly tries to shed light at the Economics of Regime Change in Uzbekistan.

If Western support has made Karimov into who he is, the rules of logic support the idea that the West can also finish him off.

The US warns Americans in Uzbekistan.

An interesting article on Chinese-Uzbek relations in the Pravda:

China's stance on the events in Uzbekistan is based primarily on the "Kyrgyz experience." Beijing is interested in maintaining its positions in Central Asia. "China used Kyrgyzstan as a "model country" of sorts for strengthening its economic influence in Central Asia," said Mr. Grozin. According to him, the groups that seized power in Kyrgyzstan mostly share the anti-Chinese sentiments and Beijing could not but worry about the situation. China does not want any new "velvet revolutions" in Central Asia.

The Kazakh ambassador is interested in the conditions in the refugee camps near Jalalabad, where a friend of mine is coordinating relief measures.

Kyrgyzstan:

There is a great interview with acting president Kurmanbek Bakiyev on Kommersant.com. Bakiyev talks about his alliance with Kulov (which is both tactical and strategic), the upcoming elections (which I will be observing, fingers crossed), the events in Uzbekistan and a potential Russian military base near Osh. Much to chew on, a must-read for Kyrygzstan fans. Also on Kommersant.com, an interesting analysis about Kyrgyzstan with a Bakiyev/Kulov duo:

Kurmanbek Bakiyev, a highly experienced economic manager, will be in charge of the security and foreign policy of the country, whereas Felix Kulov, a special service veteran, will determine its economic policy. In the opinion of leading politologists, this may be fraught with serious complications. It would be better if Bakiyev was the prime minister and Kulov the president.

The wider Caspian region:

The Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline was inaugurated some days ago. Pravda has the geopolitical conspiracy piece, Blogrel has posts on the pipeline from an Armenian perspective (and also looking at Azerbaijan here), and Nathan has some bits, too.

And:

There is a new blog on Mongolia: "New Mongols" will be on my reading list. Very promising!

Nathan has great posts on the Almaty Fashion Week, Tashkent Plov, plus much other stuff.

The Egyptian people have approved constitutional changes that open the way for multi-candidate presidential elections. According to official results 83% voted in favor for the changes. 54% of total registered voters went to the polls--not a heart-stopping turn-out, it's true, and in fact too reminiscent of past American turn-outs (we're lucky to get over 45% of the electorate), but decent nonetheless. [You might enjoy this BBC Online interactive graphic, How Democratic is the Middle East?]

Six opposition parties, including the Muslim Brotherhood, had called for a boycott of the referendum. They say that the amendments contain too many constraints for anyone to effectively challenge President Hosni Mubarak and his ruling National Democratic Party.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch has called on Egypt to investigate what it labels state-sponsored "plainclothes" (mukhbarat) police brutality against opposition demonstrators. The Human Rights Watch reports,

In Egypt, police and supporters of the ruling party attacked scores of pro-reform demonstrators and journalists yesterday, Human Rights Watch said today. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak must appoint an independent judicial panel to conduct a thorough investigation into these attacks.

Yesterday in Cairo, plainclothes security agents beat demonstrators, and riot police allowed—and sometimes encouraged—mobs of Mubarak supporters to beat and sexually assault protestors and journalists.

The BBC Online quotes George Ishak, spokesman for the Kifaya opposition movement: "We were shocked when our members were beaten and dragged on the streets. Some female colleagues were subjected to humiliation of a sexual nature."

If you are an Egyptian university student or youth activist in the age-range 18-28 and would like to correspond for Thinking-East, please contact me: te.schwartz at gmail.com

Meanwhile, in Iraq, a huge deployment of Iraqi soldiers is expected as early as next week. Iraqi Minister of Defense Saadoun ad-Dulaimi announced plans for more than 40,000 Iraqi soldiers to be deployed in Baghdad in a massive operation to hunt down insurgents. Mr. ad-Dulaimi said the capital would be split into seven areas of operation, and warned that security measures would be far more strict than had been seen before.

"We will also impose a concrete blockade around Baghdad, like a bracelet around an arm, God willing. No-one will be able to penetrate this blockade," Mr. ad-Dulaimi said. Mobile checkpoints shall also be used, the hope being that this will stop suicide bombers getting to the markets and the busy streets, where many people have been killed.

The operation may also be expanded to include other major cities.

I'm concerned. He's going to cut off Baghdad with a concrete barrier? And is he considering Mosul, Kirkuk, Sulaymeniah?

...I know it's supposed to sound like a "mop-up operation," but this is really sounding a little like the beginnings of a civil war. Think for a moment: a military occupation of Baghdad.

I don't want to be an alarmist. The perhaps Iraqis may have more success than the Americans did in Fallujah. After all, just as you would send an American to catch an American, send an Arab to catch an Arab. This time the soldiers can speak the language and understand cultural sensitivities, should know the likely hide-outs, etc.

But even if it doesn't erupt into civil war, this move could nevertheless become a bloodbath, and for several reasons. Arabs are not known for their military restraint (but then again, who is?), and the insurgents must see Baghdad as their prize. And what would happen if Mr. as-Sadr's boys get involved (again)? Finally, will this really solve the problem, or just rev up the wheel of vendetta which has spun so much, so bloodily, so pointlessly in the Middle East?

Finally, I find it funny how Mr. ad-Dulaimi's idea seems to mirror so closely the thinking of the Israel Defense Force's re-occupation of Palestinian Authority territories. Checkpoints? Concrete walls? Hmmm... Honestly, it is a vastly different situation in Iraq than in the Holy Land, but the devil in me can't help but chuckle.

Bush has pledged aid to the Palestinians--$50 million, in fact, paid directly to the Palestinian Authority. Mr. Abbas is the first Palestinian leader to be hosted by Mr. Bush.

The new aid is part of a $350m package earmarked for the Palestinians. The money is supposed to go to fund housing and infrastructure projects in the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, the BBC Online covers HAMAS's bid for power in Palestinian society.

Meanwhile, in Iran, guess who's back? The BBC Online also has a fascinating article on Iranian-Canadians, entitled, "From Tehran to Toronto".

If you are an Iranian university student or youth activist in the age-range 18-28 and would like to correspond for Thinking-East, please contact me: te.schwartz at gmail.com

This weekend I'll be going down to Philadelphia to be with my lovely, so I won't be making any updates until at least Tuesday, May 31st.

If President Karimov continues to block such transparency, governments will need to ask themselves whether the only way to avoid being tainted themselves by association with the Uzbek government, and to shock the Uzbek authorities into reform before it is too late, is to pull back their assistance and begin to distance themselves from the regime.

After more than 10 years of construction, the first drop of oil from the Caspian Sea reached the Mediterranean.

Wednesday's inauguration at the Sangachal oil terminal near Baku was attended by presidents from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Turkey.

US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman also was present at a ceremony where the taps were turned on.

It is not just BP that built the pipeline:

The shareholders of the BTC (Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan) consortium are British Petroleum (30.1%), the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (25%), Unocal (8.9%), Statoil (8.71%), TPAO (Turkish Petroleum, 6.53%), Eni (5%), Itochu (3.4%), INPEX (2.5%), ConocoPhillips (2.5%), Total (5%), and Amerada Hess (2.36%).

The throughput capacity of the pipe will be at around 1 million barrels per day, or 50 million tons of crude per year. The CPC pipeline from Tengiz to Novorossiysk is currently operating at 600.000 bbl/d, but will transport around 1.34m bbl/d by 2015.

The BTC-pipeline has been subjected to a large degree of controversy. Many people doubted that it was a corporate decision at play - more likely, they thought, it was a political effort that led to today's inauguration. In order to circumvent strategic adverseries North (Russia) and South (Iran) (also East: China), the US allegedly lobbied until BP would agree to build it.

Critics hold that Azerbaijan's oil resources would not have made feasible such a daring investment. Now that the Kazakhs plug in (via tankers across the Caspian) this is looking well different. Also, BP made clear from the beginning that it would not only transport oil via the pipeline but also gas. With no public guarantees or subsidies, the financing is exclusively undertaken by the shareholders. This undertaking was deemed profitable, and no political pressure would have been needed for the consortium to proceed.

I read in the Armenian Weekly that, contrary to my words above, there have been massive subsidies:

He [Ambassador Morningstar] also revealed that in order to make the project more feasible, the US government did, in fact, make financing available from governmental agencies such as the US Export-Import Bank and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. He noted that after the Turkish government guaranteed that the cost for the Turkish section would remain close to its estimate of $2.4 billion, BP Amoco and the other countries of the Azerbaijan International Oil Consortium broke ground on the pipeline in September 2002.

Anyone who knows more on that issue is welcome to post in the comment.

Related posts on this blog:

Background #3.1: Das Kaspische Meer (German)

Background #3.2: Key Factors Determining the Success of Kazakhstan’s Hydrocarbon Sector