In Our Own Image
Reuters from Baghdad:
Junk food and expanding waistlines? Check.
I don't know but will venture a guess that Iraqis' use of credit cards---undoubtedly considered "progress" by the usual suspects---has grown as well.
Mission accomplished, indeed.
Since the February 22 bombing of an important shrine in Samarra that unleashed a wave of sectarian killings, Iraqi authorities have extended a curfew from 11:00 pm to 6:00 am.Millions of new materialistic, TV-addicted Oprah watchers? Check.
The curfew, and the fear of being caught in violence that has pushed the country to the brink of civil war, has forced many Iraqis to stay away from the country's once lively cafes, streets and promenades and instead return home early.
Families and friends now lock themselves up inside their homes, where they share a smoke, play games or watch TV.
Sahar Moussa, a 40-year-old teacher, said that watching television has become a daily "passion" in her life, especially during the evenings after she gets back home from school.
"I love watching satellite TV channels," she said. "I can't think of doing anything else rather than to sit and watch TV."
With endless television programs available through satellite channels, the only show that Moussa thinks is worth watching is "The Oprah Winfrey Show".
"I love 'The Oprah Winfrey Show'," she said. "I liked her when she gave away cars to her audience for free!"
Although she said she enjoyed watching TV, she said it also had its drawbacks. "I gained a few pounds in one week," she said. "From now on, I have to stop eating chips."
Junk food and expanding waistlines? Check.
I don't know but will venture a guess that Iraqis' use of credit cards---undoubtedly considered "progress" by the usual suspects---has grown as well.
Mission accomplished, indeed.
posted by The Cunning Realist at Monday, April 17, 2006
5 Comments:
Isolation, caution and alternatives to gathering in large groups (cafes, markets) are entirely rational responses to the security situation.
What's our excuse?
Yeah, guess that´s waht you call "progress" neocon-style...
Meanwhile, nothing seems to stop the dismal litany of bad news coming from the Middle-East: earlier today, as Israel’s new “centrist” (a modern Hebrew euphemism for neo-fascist probably inspired by turn-of-the-century German political parlance) government was sworn in, a Palestinian suicide bomber killed nine people along with himself in Tel Aviv, and the Pentagon was forced to recognize that the month of April will be one of the most deadly for US troops since the start of the war (these guys seem to be uninterested in keeping track of the number of Ayyrabz dying every day- probably for fear of loosing “focus”).
Three years after the conquest of Baghdad, the situation looks rather bleak, as radical Islamic fundamentalism seems stronger than ever with heinous mobs burning churches (not to mention Christians and women) in Cairo, Jakarta and Islamabad, and with potentially explosive Sunni vs. Shiite sectarian tensions now spreading to Syria, Lebanon, Pakistan and the entire Gulf region.
I guess that’s what Neocon Neros such as Mike Ledeen call “creative chaos” whatever that means... “Chaotic cretinism” would be a more fitting appellation for the highly incoherent foreign policy of President Bush and his incompetent Neocon handlers!
Narrow-minded Marxist ideologues be they communists or “neo-conservatives” have always despised the “internal contradictions” of traditional Western rationality (rooted in Europe´s Christian and secular Classical traditions) which they believe to be “old-fashioned” and “formal” (sic). Just like their role model comrade Lenin, these sophisticated thugs prefer the joys “dialectical creativity” even when this means pursuing high policies over the dead bodies of hundreds of thousands of disposable Arab and Muslim peasants… as another Neocon Israeli idol once said: “you simply can’t cook a good omelet without cracking a few eggs”!
But, to use their own vocab of choice, the Neocons themselves are now faced with the “internal contradictions” of their misguided Mideast policy based on a blind belief in accelerated democratization at gunpoint coupled with a systematic scorn of Arab and Islamic public opinion…
Like him or not, Saddam Hussein was a truly modernist, Westernized Arab head of state who protected women’s rights and enforced affirmative action programs in favor of Iraq’s tiny Christian minority. President Reagan and “Old Europe’s” foreign policy establishment both viewed the Iraqi Baath party essentially as a strong secular bulwark against both Persian-Khomeinist fundamentalism and Wahhabi-Afghan terrorism.
The Israelis and Washington’s Neocons thought otherwise: now US marines and Israeli civilians have to deal with the rise of terrorist organizations such as Hamas and the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) which their own governments have deliberately brought to power…
I looked at several sites during this search but yours was the best I found on this subject. Keep up the good work.
Excellent, love it! »
"I love 'The Oprah Winfrey Show'," proves that satellite TV
potential customers are getting warmed up.
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