This is to voice your opinion and what you think of the current affairs.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Analyzing Obama's Speech to the Muslim World

The Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID) and the Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED) co-hosted a panel discussion on Thursday, June 4, 2009 entitled "Analyzing Obama's Speech to the Muslim World." The panelists were Geneive Abdo of The Century Foundation, Richard Eisendorf of Freedom House and Will Marshall, of the Progressive Policy Institute. Radwan Masmoudi, President of CSID, moderated the panel.Masmoudi expressed his apprehension that President Obama would not prominently feature democracy and human rights in his speech. He was pleasantly surprised, however, that democracy was among the speech's main themes. He noted that after twenty years of deterioration of US-Muslim relations due to mistrust, misunderstandings and a lack of information and knowledge on both sides, President Obama's speech set a new course. And while Obama's speech opened hearts and minds in the Muslim world, Masmoudi warned that people in the region would expect concrete, policy-based follow up to his words.Marshall labeled the speech as "masterful;" noting Obama' unique ability to delicately address complicated issues while simultaneously providing clear solutions in his speeches. As a corollary, he contrasted Bush's use of the imperative voice in communicating with the Muslim world with Obama's deft tone imbued with honesty and respect. He argued that this approach had a disarming effect to those who are inherently distrustful of the United States and burdens its detractors to justify their clichéd beliefs. While his overall assessment was positive, Marshall insisted on including three caveats to his praise. First, he worried that Obama's message of reconciliation conceded too much to the al-Qaeda narrative of victimization. Marshall argued that it was not Obama's role to reinforce Muslim feelings of identity politics; rather, it was his duty to debunk them. Second, he noted that the historical animosity between the US and the Muslim world would not change in one speech. He argued that Obama spoke to a tough-minded audience and that radicalism and extremism would not bend to rhetorical sweet-talking. In this vein insisted that values should guide US policy and that America should reap the consequences of such an endeavor. Third, he argued that for Obama's efforts to be seen as a departure from Bush-era policies ignores the real problem of fifty years of America's short-minded policies of allying with expedient allies against Communism and radical Islamism. This track record only reinforced his belief that the United States must align with ordinary people's aspirations against their governments and not step back from promoting democracy.Geneive Abdo characterized Obama's approach as "evasive" and devoid of any real policy prescriptions. And while he addressed buzzwords such as colonialism and occupation, she argued Obama's approach was not nearly expansive enough. She continued by noting how Obama's rhetorical brilliance raised expectation so high that Iran and al-Qaeda had preemptively issued statements responding to his speech. She continued by critiquing Obama's use of extremism as a foil in his speech. She argued that the debate was already well beyond this dichotomy and that Obama should have used his speech to address the political, economic and social reasons for extremism's regional constituency.She also noted the originality of using the affluence and freedom of America's Muslim community as an argument in the US's favor. She did not think this argument would be particularly persuasive given the divergence of circumstances among Muslims in the United States and the Middle East. On the War in Iraq, Abdo criticized the president for not apologizing for the invasion and not offering concrete plans for the country. She did admit, however, that he at least repudiated the Bush notion that Iraq was a war of necessity and not one of choice. Abdo also believed that Obama criticized the Palestinians far more than the Israelis in his speech, but did note how the president's tough rhetoric revealed a burgeoning rift between the US and Israel. In summation, she graded the presentation of his remarks highly but felt the substance of the speech was mediocre and that the conflict between the two sides was rooted in policy and not a lack of respect.Richard Eisendorf noted the choice of Cairo as the venue for the speech as the center of the Arab world and that the diversity of the crowd represented the full breadth of Egyptian public opinion. He then pointed to the loud applause during sections on democracy and human rights as evidence the crowd was not full of Mubarak loyalists. Acknowledging the concerns of his fellow panelists, he asserted that while policy follow up to the speech will be the most important element of his outreach to the Muslim world, the speech did leave a very strong feeling of respect in the way the United States under Obama intends to reach out to the Muslim world. He also pointed to the three D's the administration has heretofore considered the cornerstones of its foreign policy: diplomacy, development and defense. He argued that in the president's speech he appeared to add the fourth 'D' of democracy to the fold.Eisendorf also highlighted the shift Obama intended to make from Bush policies and how that would affect public opinion in the region. He specifically mentioned the straightforward manner in which Obama addressed the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. He also noted the significance of the president's use of the word 'Palestine' and other key buzzwords. In addition, he believed many in the region would find his rhetoric on this issue insufficient. As a final point, Eisendorf felt Obama finally established his doctrine of 'quiet diplomacy based on mutual respect.'In his summary statement, Masmoudi noted that while the tone of the speech was largely positive, it only represented the beginning of the administration's engagement with the Muslim world and that implementing the ideas of the speech would be a tremendous challenge. Meeting this challenge, he said, would require the concerted effort both by the domestic American reform constituency as well as positive steps by the Muslim world.

President Obama's speech

President Obama's speech to the Muslim world today was a stunning step toward achieving what has eluded the world for decades -- Middle East peace. His plan was honest and simple, with steps for all sides to take: end all settlement activity, renounce violence and build on existing Arab peace initiatives. But already obstructionists are doing all they can to derail Obama's historic efforts. We must act fast and publicly to encourage Obama to remain firm on illegal Israeli settlements and encourage the Palestinians and Arab states to outstretch their hands in peace. Only then is a new beginning for the Middle East possible. Sign the petition addressed to President Obama, and amidst the barrage of negative lobbying, advocacy and taped messages from extremists, our global campaign of hope and support will be delivered in print ads in strategically important papers in Washington and the Middle East next week. Read Obama's own words here and click now to add your name to the petition for peace: http://www.avaaz.org/en/obama_new_beginnings President Obama made clear that all parties must break clear from their entrenched positions and recognize that "the only resolution is for the aspirations of both sides to be met through two states, where Israelis and Palestinians each live in peace and security." Achieving this goal will not be easy. Before his speech radical groups released a series of messages demanding that Muslims reject Obama's overtures, while others in the region stuck to the same old, failed approach of letting their opponents move first. Meanwhile some in the US and Israel are pressuring the President to compromise on his rejection of settlement activity. A principled pathway is clear: all sides must accept each others' legitimate aspirations and remove the practical roadblocks to peace. Israelis must stop their settlements policy, accept the need for a viable Palestinian state and take steps to make this possible. Palestinians must adopt a unified, non-violent strategy for peace and state-building, and be prepared to recognize Israel; the Arab States need to build on their Peace Initiative, demonstrating ways to show Israelis that peace can be real. By signing the petition, and encouraging our friends and family to join us, we can all play a role in securing peace: http://www.avaaz.org/en/obama_new_beginnings

Think Ireland Drinks the Most Guinness? Think Again!



Think you know all there is to know about the Emerald Isle?
Your extensive knowledge will surely impress that lovely lass at the other end of the bar. Or at the very least, your friends.

Technically, It Is an Offense to Be Drunk in Public in Ireland
This has to be one of the least enforced laws in the history of any legal system. If the letter of the law were to be enforced in this area, half the county would have to be incarcerated every weekend -- but it is indeed true. Regulations introduced last year allow the police to issue on-the-spot fines for anyone caught being drunk in a public place in Ireland .
In reality, however, the police are generally pretty happy for you to
get as hammered as you want, as long as you aren't bothering anyone else, and aren't in any immediate danger of hurting yourself. So drink up! (But do it safely.)
An Irishman Founded the Argentinean Navy
William Brown, who was born in County Mayo , is acknowledged as the founder of the Argentine navy, and was also an important leader in the Argentine struggle for independence from Spain .
His family left for Philadelphia around 1786, when he was 9. He started off seafaring as a cabin boy, and ended up fighting in the Napoleonic wars, where he was captured as a prisoner of war. Then he escaped the Germans, before eventually ending up Montevideo , Uruguay , where he became a sea trader, and later ended up founding the Argentine navy, which was involved in a war against Spain .
Today there is a statue of Brown in his hometown of Foxford, Co. Mayo, which was unveiled in 2007, the 150th anniversary of his death; in Argentina, where he is regarded as a hero, there are two towns, around 1,000 streets and 500 statues, a city and a few football clubs, named after him.
Only 2 Members of U2 Were Born in Ireland
David Howell Evans, more commonly known as The Edge, was born in London , to Welsh parents, Garvin and Gwenda Evans, who moved to Malahide in Dublin when The Edge was one year old. Adam Clayton, U2's bassist, was born in Oxfordshire , England . His family moved to Malahide in Dublin when he was five, and he became childhood friends with The Edge. Only
Bono and Larry Mullen Jr. were actually born in Dublin .
The Street on Which You Will Find the British Embassy in Tehran Is Named After an Irishman
The street on which you will find the British Embassy in Tehran is named after an Irishman.
In 1981, the death of Bobby Sands, the leader of the IRA hunger strikers, brought the world's attention on the seemingly intractable conflict in Northern Ireland . Two years before, the Iranian revolution brought the Ayatollah Khomeini into power in Iran . Presumably to annoy the British government , or perhaps as a token of solidarity with the hunger strikers (depending on your perspective), the Iranian government changed the street on which the British Embassy is located, from "Churchill Boulevard" (after the British prime minister) to "Bobby Sands Street." Pedram Moallemian, an Iranian student who was involved in renaming the street, wrote, "The larger victory, however, was when we discovered the embassy had been forced to change their mailing address and all their printed material to reflect a side door address in order to avoid using Bobby's name anywhere."
Up Until Around the Early 1990s, Ireland Had a Low Per Capita Consumption of Alcohol
Obviously whenever the word "Irish" comes up, "drinking" is never far behind. And it is true that today,
Ireland's alcohol consumption, which has fallen in recent years, is still very high by international standards.
A survey in 2006, for example, found that the Irish spend a higher proportion of their income than any other country in Europe, and also found that the Irish were the worst binge drinkers in Europe . So the recent evidence certainly supports the old Irish drunkard stereotype. But prior to Ireland becoming a wealthy country, its alcohol consumption per population was actually quite moderate: throughout the 20th century in Ireland , there was a high level of alcohol abstinence, as this is a trait more commonly associated with Protestant countries.
But as the Catholic Church saw its moral authority decline toward the end of the 20th century, and as the country became wealthier, the Irish came to drink a lot more -- finally earning themselves the stereotype that has been fixed to them for so long. One likely reason the Irish had earned themselves this stereotype of being heavy drinkers was because of their immigrants: no doubt to drown out the pain of being dislocated from their home country, Irish immigrants in the U.K. and the U.S. tended to be big drinkers.
A Hospital in Belfast Is a World Leader in Kneecap Reconstruction
God knows, there have been many a kneecap that has had to have been reconstructed in Northern Ireland over the last few decades. (Shooting people in the kneecaps was a favored way for Republican and loyalist paramilitaries to control their own neighborhoods.) During the Troubles, the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast had one of the top trauma units in Europe . At one point as many as 100 victims of "limb executions" were being treated by the hospital every year, whose advances included external "limb scaffolding" that enables partial healing for bone damage too severe for reconstruction.
Ireland Has the Fourth Largest Stadium in Europe
Dublin's Croke Park, the headquarters of the Gaelic Athletic Association, is the fourth largest stadium in Europe: since its redevelopment in 2005, and with a capacity of 82,300, only four venues in Europe are bigger: Barcelona's Camp Nou, Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu, Milan's Stadio San Siro and London's Wembley. Up until 2007, rugby and soccer were not allowed to be played in Croke park by the GAA, a rule that was relaxed when the main soccer and rugby stadium, Landsdown Road , was closed for renovation.
In the Summer of 2007, It Rained in Ireland for 40 Days Straight
Even by Irish standards, this was a very, very wet summer. By August 24, it had rained in Ireland for 40 days -- fulfilling an Irish proverb that says if it should rain on St. Swithin's day (July 15), it will continue to rain every day for the next 40. Usually, an Irish summer will give at least a few weeks of sunshine and a break from the rain -- at which time the feel good factor in the country goes sky high, for the sheer novelty value of sunshine. But not so, the summer of '07.
Playboy Was Banned in Ireland Until 1995
That's right -- in 1995 although you could get Playboy TV, you couldn't get the magazine, which was banned under the country's censorship laws.
More Guinness Is Sold in Nigeria Than in Ireland
That's right: Ireland is the third largest market for Guinness. Nigeria is at second, and the U.K. is the first.