Dienstag, August 29, 2006

22.01.05
The advance of freedom and the dangers of turning such a Friede, Freude, Eierkuchen slogan into a policy.
by Urs Lüscher/CoW
The inaugural speech the US President Bush has given on January 21 was about as unspecific as the situation calls for. To criticise the speech for its lack of specifics would mean to ignore the circumstances (...prescribed by law and marked by ceremony...) it was delivered under. So, that much said what else is there to write about? hmmm, what about those last
four years and what about a good deal of the electorate which brought Bush a second term? The Base :-) as it has been named. Nobody knows the future and so experience is all one can go by. But hey who would disagree with such a nice slogan for past and present US-policy anyway ? Apart from some missfits rangeing from the ones enjoying currently the tropical hospitality of Guantanamo without any protection by the rule of law, to the perverted consenting adults enjoying some anal or oral intercourse (still illegal in some states and not only in the oval office), and everthing in between in the land of the free. Or the people enjoying the many freedoms in Pakistan or the Caspian Sea countries known as “Pipelineistan"? All of them should be quiet. After all they have been set free from the confinement of the Geneva Convention, their privacy and the proceeds of their natural rescources. Will that change? No.
In short: expect more of the same.

(BTW: after that ritual bashing you might want to read on anyway...)

So, should one go back to the sports pages? No. Bush and his administration's pledge to go after freedom – sorry go for freedom carries the flavour of other US campaigns. Starting with the prohibition, the war on drugs and until now the war on terrorism, and from this day on the aheem, push for freedom.

Somehow these campaigns are reminiscent of Mao's campaigns (1950 - 1976). The purpose of those campaigns was "sociopolitical transformation and economical advancement" (1) by focussing the masses. I hope this doesn't sound too familiar....

The campaign of freedom as a politcal ideal turned into action is not going to produce any more tangible results than the prohibition stopped drinking, the war on drugs stopped the drug cartels or the war on terror will abolish terrorism. It is sometimes flabbergasting to see selfstyled anti-comunists follow the failed steps of the former communist countries.

F. A. Hayek named as one of the defining differences between a planned economy and a free market economy the information deficit a central steering comitee always has. A central comitee with its not only limited number of members but also by its disconnection through privilege has never the necessary amount of detailed information to allocate goods effectively but does have with its flawed decisions(2) a huge impact on the everyday life of its citizens. Asymetric information or the faith ideals suffer when they are turned into policies and consequently collide with reality. This carries a lesson for todays policymakers too.

Looking at interventions in recent times (Vietnam, Afganistan, Chechnya, Iraq, Serbia, Georgia, Ukraine) there is a pattern developping which shows that discreet encouragement of local people by the advance of personal exchange on every level from diplomats to business from univesities to schools to tourism is a lot more efficient and effective in winning the heart and minds than "shock and awe". The concept of induction - as Timothy Garton Ash called it in his recent article in the New York Times - taken to the very individual level . But it takes not only the carot but also the stick? What kind of stick? Military? Get real! Taking on Iran would not work without reinstating the draft. And even with the draft there would not be enough manpower to tackle the next declared member of the Axis of Evil. The Iraq war blunted the military option. (see New York Times Editorial Article as of May 16th 2005)

Is the push for freedom a flawed ideal? No, of course not. But it carries the danger of many a good idea. If crafted into dogmatic policies, it will produce mayhem.

The big question arising from the inaugural speech therefore is : Can Bush and his administration think outside the mental barriers which defined his first term? If yes, then there is a good chance for the advancement of the concept of freedom. If not, then expect the US and Europe to drift further apart and we can only wait for the next US policy campaign.

1) see:Kenneth Lieberthal “Governing China" p.66
2) for further reading see: Dimitri Volkogonov “The rise and fall of the Soviet Empire”

Europe and the US : Differences, a Common Goal and the Obstacles 22.03.2005/Urs Luescher

An article I wrote on the predecessor of URSUS which was called CoW. The article is a bit lengthy, meandring some might say, but it does have a fil rouge... I think :-) .
Click here to get the oeuvre in .rtf (word will open) format
and the same in German:
click here ==>

Sonntag, August 27, 2006

Linkliste zu einigen Artikeln betreffend Libanon Krise

Eine nicht abschliessende Zusammenstellung von Links zum Thema Naher Osten.
(natürlich nicht nur in englischer Sprache)
--------------------------

1)
a) Fokus on _Geopolitk_ vor allem Oel:
b) Fokus on _Geopolitk_ vor allem Oel:
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2) Fair ist ein Media-Watchdog (US-Medien); Interessante
Gegenüberstellung von Behauptungen und Facts. Deckt verschiedene Themen
ab, hier zwei Links zum momentanen Israel-Libanon Konflikt:
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2928
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2931
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3) UN-Resolutionen
Sämtliche Resolutionen:
http://www.un.org/documents/scres.htm
gegen Israel gerichtete Resolutionen 1955 -1992
http://www.middleeastnews.com/unresolutionslist.html
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4) IKRK
Israel und besetzte Gebiete:
http://www.ikrk.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/israel-update-310706
Libanon
http://www.ikrk.org/Web/Eng/siteeng0.nsf/htmlall/lebanon?OpenDocument
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5) Menschenrechts-Organisation Human Rights Watch
Bericht vom August 2006
http://hrw.org/reports/2006/lebanon0806/
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6) Ein sehr interessantes Interview mit dem
Chairman Emeritus at the American University of Beirut
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article14411.htm
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7) Bewegungsfreiheit in den von Isreal besetzten Gebieten:
http://www.btselem.org/english/Freedom_of_Movement/Index.asp
B'Tselem ist eine israelische Menschenrechtsorganisation
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8) zwei britische Journalisten , die in Israel bzw. Libanon leben
*Israel* (Nazareth)
Jonathan Cook
http://www.jkcook.net/
aktueller Artikel:
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article14435.htm

*Libanon* (Beirut)
Robert Fisk
http://www.robert-fisk.com/ (nicht immer aktuell)
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/ (aktueller)
aktueller Artikel:
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/article1217826.ece
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9) Interview mit dem amerikanischen Linguisten Noam Chomsky erschienen
auf dem israelischen Internetportal www.ynetnews.com
Das gesamte Interview:
http://www.chomsky.info/interviews/20060804.htm
bzw. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3286204,00.html
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10) jüdische Kritik an Israel:
http://www.netzeitung.de/spezial/judenindeutschland/431107.html
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11) satyrische Sicht auf die Diskrepanz zwischen Top-down-View und
Bottom-up-View:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MH_1LlwLVqs
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12) Artikel , die sich mit dem Einfluss der radikalen Evangelisten auf
die amerikanische Politik befassen:
http://www.theocracywatch.org/christian_zionism.htm
http://www.countercurrents.org/us-sikand171105.htm
http://www.patrobertson.com/PressReleases/ZionistAward.asp
Pat Robertson ist ein amerikanischer Tele-Evangelist. Interessant auch
im Hinblick auf die obigen 2 Artikel die Dan gefunden hat, ist die
Gewichtung die der deutsche Wikipedia-Artikel Pat Robertson gibt:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Robertson
im Vergleich dazu der englischsprachige Eintrag in Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Robertson
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13) 09/11 Hat nur am Rande mit dem Libanon Krieg zu tun, aber ist
trotzdem erhellend: Stichwort 9. September 2001
http://www.ethlife.ethz.ch/articles/9.11.html
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14) Das Dokument bezüglich der UN Abstimmung die im Interview mit Noam
Chomsky erwähnt wird betr. Fissile Material (siehe Item Nummer 9 dieser
Liste):
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2004/gadis3291.doc.htm
Das Verhandlungsangebot des Irans (ebenfalls im Interview mit Chomsky
erwähnt, hier von der Washington Post 3 Jahre später aufgegriffen)
etwas schneller als die Washington Post war der "Ameriacan Prospect":
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15) Artikel der den Werdegang der Hisbollah beschreibt.
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v28/n16/glas01_.html
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16) verschiedene Artikel die den Nahen Osten aus unterschiedlichen
Perspektiven betrachten (Religion, Ressourcen, etc). Die einzelnen
Themen können im Drop-down Menue oben rechts gewählt werden
.
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17) Artikel im "New Yorker" geschrieben von Seymour Hersh über
Wahshingtons Interessen im Libanon Konflikt:
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/060821fa_fact
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18) Radio-Sendung DRS 2, Medien unter Druck, Der Libanon Konflikt in den
Medien; Sonntag 13.08.2006:

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19) UN Human Rights Council in Genf
http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/specialsession/2/index.htm
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20) Interview mit Seymour Hersh "New Yorker" (siehe item 17)
video und transcript:
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article14540.htm
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21) Iraq und was folgen kann, eine Sicht der Asian Times:
http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HH16Ak01.html
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22) Interview mit dem *iranischen* *Präsidenten* . Quelle: der
amerikanische Sender CBS Sendung:60mins.
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article14547.htm
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23) Interview mit dem ehemaligen US-Präsidenten Jimmy Carter im
Spiegel (englisch):
http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,431793,00.html
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24) Artikel in der London Review of Books eines israelischen Autors
über die Rolle der israelischen Armee in der Gesellschaft:
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v28/n16/laor01_.html
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25) 2 Professoren der Harvard bzw. Chicago Universität über den
Einfluss der israelischen Lobby auf die amerikanische Politik:
http://ksgnotes1.harvard.edu/Research/wpaper.nsf/rwp/RWP06-011
Abstract:
In this paper, John J. Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago's
Department of Political Science and Stephen M.Walt of Harvard
University's Kennedy School of Government contend that the centerpiece
of U.S. Middle East policy is its intimate relationship with Israel. The
authors argue that although often justified as reflecting shared
strategic interests or compelling moral imperatives, the U.S. commitment
to Israel is due primarily to the activities of the “Israel Lobby." This
paper goes on to describe the various activities that pro-Israel groups
have undertaken in order to shift U.S. foreign policy in a pro-Israel
direction. (83 Seiten)
Eine editierte (kürzere) Version findet sich unter:
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v28/n06/mear01_.html (23 Seiten im Druckformat:
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v28/n06/print/mear01_.html)
...ist was für ´nen regnerischen Abend.... :-)
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26) Interview mit Robert Pape erschienen im der Zeitschrift "The
American Conservative" im July 2005.
http://www.amconmag.com/2005_07_18/article.html
und ein Heise.de Artikel über Robert Pape:
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27) BBC Dokumentation (2004) 3x eine Stunde über "Angst als
Kontrollelement".
Teil 1

Teil 2

Teil 3

Kommentar des Filmteams bzw. Antworten auf Fragen der Zuschauer:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/4202741.stm
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28) OP-ED Artikel im Guardian vom 18.08. über den Britischen Terrorplot:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1852664,00.html
Craig Murray war GB Botschafter in Usbekistan