Replies to post #128582 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

[fuagf]

F6, the two posts are a very nice, and peaceful, read.

Gene Sharp, has made a huge contribution .. sure hope he has a good life ahead of him ..

"In the twilight of his career, Mr. Sharp, who never married, is slowing down. His voice trembles and his
blue eyes grow watery when he is tired; he gave up driving after a recent accident. He does his own
grocery shopping; his assistant, Ms. Raqib, tries to follow him when it is icy. He does not like it."

.. smile .. lots of links so a revisit one day .. thanks ..

[fuagf]

Calls for protests in China met with brutality
By Damian Grammaticas BBC News, Beijing
28 February 2011 Last updated at 01:45 GMT


The police response was brutal and
totally out of proportion to the situation

The time was about 1330. Lines of Chinese police stood at the
entrance to Wangfujing, Beijing's most famous shopping street.

The authorities' anxiousness was palpable.

Dozens of police vans were parked on the roadside, uniformed men with dogs patrolled up and down, street cleaning vans drove up and down spraying water to keep people away, and a sudden rash of suspiciously unnecessary street repairs meant big hoardings had been put up.

It would have been farcical if it hadn't turned so brutal.

The reason for all this nervousness was the call that had gone out over the internet for Chinese people to stage their own "Jasmine Protests", copying the wave of democratic revolutions in the Middle East and north Africa.

The police were monitoring everyone going into the pedestrian zone. But unable to distinguish the protesters, who'd been called to "stroll" peacefully and silently past McDonald's restaurant at 1400, from genuine shoppers they focussed on picking out foreign reporters and cameramen.

Targeted campaign

A similar call a week ago had brought out just a handful of protesters. Since then stepped-up internet controls have been blocking any mention of the word "jasmine".

So relatively few people in China even know the call for protests has been made.


One cameraman was set upon by five men who
punched him in the face

There has also been a deliberate and targeted campaign to round up lawyers, activists, and bloggers, around a hundred people in total. Some have been detained, some disappeared, others threatened.

A few, who seem to have reposted internet messages calling for peaceful gatherings, face extremely serious subversion charges.

We were immediately singled out. Uniformed officers blocked our way a few hundred yards from McDonald's and demanded our press cards. Nervously they talked into mobile phones and handheld radios.

They stalled us, then barked at us to stop filming. Plainclothes men came and stood right in front of our camera so we couldn't take shots.

Urgent meeting

Ahead of this event there was a clear sign the police were on edge.

On Friday officers had called our news bureau, and many others in Beijing, to summon us for an urgent meeting.

We were warned that we must follow China's reporting rules. Again on Saturday phone calls were made to BBC staff and other journalists with more warnings.

About Damian Grammaticas

I'm the BBC's China correspondent. This is where I will share my thoughts on life in this rapidly changing economic giant

* More about Damian

China's reporting rules allow us to film on the street. For interviews we must seek the consent of interviewees. We stuck well within the rules. Even when the police blocked us without explanation we co-operated.

All around us it was obvious that at least half the people on the street were plainclothes state security officers. Some were snapping photographs of everyone, others were videoing everything, many had obvious earpieces plugged in and were mumbling on their radios.

There must have been hundreds of them. China has been pouring money into its domestic security apparatus in recent years and this is what it is for.

Then suddenly, a few minutes before 2pm, the crucial time for the "Jasmine" protests, the plainclothes thugs waded in.

Security goons

Without warning they shoved and pushed the BBC's cameraman. They grabbed at his camera and tried to rip it from his hands, bundling him a full 50 yards into a police van. They had earpieces in and were also taking orders.

Then the thugs turned on me. My hair was grabbed and pulled by one of the state security goons.
Continue reading the main story

They tried to pick me up and throw me bodily into the van.

I found myself lying on the floor as they repeatedly slammed the door on my leg which was still part of the way out of the truck, one, two, three times, maybe more. A few shoppers looked on in confusion.

The same thugs climbed into the van and threatened us again as we were driven to a nearby government office. Our details were taken and we were told we could not do interviews in the area because of "special circumstances".

Asked what the special circumstances were they ignored the question. And when told we did not want to do interviews, only take pictures, they again ignored us.

There were more foreign journalists there too. But it seems we got off lightly. One cameraman was set upon by five men who kicked, and punched him in the face, he had to go to hospital for treatment; another had his hand injured.

It was brutal and totally out of proportion to the situation.

It all seems to be evidence that China's Communist Party chiefs have been spooked by the popular protests sweeping the Middle East.

In those democratic revolutions ranks of ordinary people from developing countries have been rising against the autocracies that have monopolised power.

Tapping into fears

Many see parallels in China, also a developing nation with an authoritarian government, where calls for an end to corruption, to nepotism, to one party's monopoly on power all might find resonance.


As well as the police presence there were
plainclothes state security officers

China's Communist rulers often say democracy is a western idea unsuited to China's level of development. It's an argument that is challenged by what's been happening on the streets of Cairo, Tunis and elsewhere.

There are many reasons why a similar uprising seems highly unlikely in China.

The economy is growing, people generally believe life is getting better, the Communist Party keeps refreshing its leadership every decade, and it keeps spending vast amounts on internal security.

But the revolts in the Middle East do seem to have tapped into fears felt in China's leaders and its security apparatus.

Otherwise you have to ask, what explanation is there for sending the thugs to drag away and beat up journalists looking to take a few pictures of people strolling silently past McDonald's on a Sunday afternoon?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12593328

[fuagf]

Robert Fisk: The destiny of this pageant lies in the Kingdom of Oil
Saturday, 26 February 2011


King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia offered his
citizens $36bn to keep their mouths shut
AFP

The Middle East earthquake of the past five weeks has been the most tumultuous, shattering, mind-numbing experience in the history of the region since the fall of the Ottoman empire. For once, "shock and awe" was the right description.

The docile, supine, unregenerative, cringing Arabs of Orientalism have transformed themselves into fighters for the freedom, liberty and dignity which we Westerners have always assumed it was our unique role to play in the world. One after another, our satraps are falling, and the people we paid them to control are making their own history – our right to meddle in their affairs (which we will, of course, continue to exercise) has been diminished for ever.

The tectonic plates continue to shift, with tragic, brave – even blackly humorous – results. Countless are the Arab potentates who always claimed they wanted democracy in the Middle East. King Bashar of Syria is to improve public servants' pay. King Bouteflika of Algeria has suddenly abandoned the country's state of emergency. King Hamad of Bahrain has opened the doors of his prisons. King Bashir of Sudan will not stand for president again. King Abdullah of Jordan is studying the idea of a constitutional monarchy. And al-Qa'ida are, well, rather silent.

Related articles .. many inside

Who would have believed that the old man in the cave would suddenly have to step outside, dazzled, blinded by the sunlight of freedom rather than the Manichean darkness to which his eyes had become accustomed. Martyrs there were aplenty across the Muslim world – but not an Islamist banner to be seen. The young men and women bringing an end to their torment of dictators were mostly Muslims, but the human spirit was greater than the desire for death. They are Believers, yes – but they got there first, toppling Mubarak while Bin Laden's henchmen still called for his overthrow on outdated videotapes.

But now a warning. It's not over. We are experiencing today that warm, slightly clammy feeling before the thunder and lightning break out. Gaddafi's final horror movie has yet to end, albeit with that terrible mix of farce and blood to which we are accustomed in the Middle East. And his impending doom is, needless to say, throwing into ever-sharper perspective the vile fawning of our own potentates. Berlusconi – who in many respects is already a ghastly mockery of Gaddafi himself – and Sarkozy, and Lord Blair of Isfahan are turning out to look even shabbier than we believed. Those faith-based eyes blessed Gaddafi the murderer. I did write at the time that Blair and Straw had forgotten the "whoops" factor, the reality that this weird light bulb was absolutely bonkers and would undoubtedly perform some other terrible act to shame our masters. And sure enough, every journalist is now going to have to add "Mr Blair's office did not return our call" to his laptop keyboard.

Everyone is now telling Egypt to follow the "Turkish model" – this seems to involve a pleasant cocktail of democracy and carefully controlled Islam. But if this is true, Egypt's army will keep an unwanted, undemocratic eye on its people for decades to come. As lawyer Ali Ezzatyar has pointed out, "Egypt's military leaders have spoken of threats to the "Egyptian way of life"... in a not so subtle reference to threats from the Muslim Brotherhood. This can be seen as a page taken from the Turkish playbook." The Turkish army turned up as kingmakers four times in modern Turkish history. And who but the Egyptian army, makers of Nasser, constructors of Sadat, got rid of the ex-army general Mubarak when the game was up?

And democracy – the real, unfettered, flawed but brilliant version which we in the West have so far lovingly (and rightly) cultivated for ourselves – is not going, in the Arab world, to rest happy with Israel's pernicious treatment of Palestinians and its land theft in the West Bank. Now no longer the "only democracy in the Middle East", ..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My insert .. hope Mr Fisk would notmind .. his is a good article, just that one point .. am not sure what his "" means there ..

Why Israel is not a democracy .. BY TIM WISE.. Wednesday, May 29, 2002 - 10:00 .. both sides, etc, also .. please
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Israel argued desperately – in company with Saudi Arabia, for heaven's sake – that it was necessary to maintain Mubarak's tyranny. It pressed the Muslim Brotherhood button in Washington and built up the usual Israeli lobby fear quotient to push Obama and La Clinton off the rails yet again. Faced with pro-democracy protesters in the lands of oppression, they duly went on backing the oppressors until it was too late. I love "orderly transition". The "order" bit says it all. Only Israeli journalist Gideon Levy got it right. "We should be saying 'Mabrouk Misr!'," he said. Congratulations, Egypt!

Yet in Bahrain, I had a depressing experience. King Hamad and Crown Prince Salman have been bowing to their 70 per cent (80 per cent?) Shia population, opening prison doors, promising constitutional reforms. So I asked a government official in Manama if this was really possible. Why not have an elected prime minister instead of a member of the Khalifa royal family? He clucked his tongue. "Impossible," he said. "The GCC would never permit this." For GCC – the Gulf Co-operation Council – read Saudi Arabia. And here, I am afraid, our tale grows darker.

We pay too little attention to this autocratic band of robber princes; we think they are archaic, illiterate in modern politics, wealthy (yes, "beyond the dreams of Croesus", etc), and we laughed when King Abdullah offered to make up any fall in bailouts from Washington to the Mubarak regime, and we laugh now when the old king promises $36bn to his citizens to keep their mouths shut. But this is no laughing matter. The Arab revolt which finally threw the Ottomans out of the Arab world started in the deserts of Arabia, its tribesmen trusting Lawrence and McMahon and the rest of our gang. And from Arabia came Wahabism, the deep and inebriating potion – white foam on the top of the black stuff – whose ghastly simplicity appealed to every would-be Islamist and suicide bomber in the Sunni Muslim world. The Saudis fostered Osama bin Laden and al-Qa'ida and the Taliban. Let us not even mention that they provided most of the 9/11 bombers. And the Saudis will now believe they are the only Muslims still in arms against the brightening world. I have an unhappy suspicion that the destiny of this pageant of Middle East history unfolding before us will be decided in the kingdom of oil, holy places and corruption. Watch out.

But a lighter note. I've been hunting for the most memorable quotations from the Arab revolution. We've had "Come back, Mr President, we were only kidding" from an anti-Mubarak demonstrator. And we've had Saif el-Islam el-Gaddafi's Goebbels-style speech: "Forget oil, forget gas – there will be civil war." My very own favourite, selfish and personal quotation came when my old friend Tom Friedman of The New York Times joined me for breakfast in Cairo with his usual disarming smile. "Fisky," he said, "this Egyptian came up to me in Tahrir Square yesterday, and asked me if I was Robert Fisk!" Now that's what I call a revolution.

Like Robert Fisk on The Independent on Facebook for updates

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-the-destiny-of-this-pageant-lies-in-the-kingdom-of-oil-2226109.html

[StephanieVanbryce]

The Electoral Wasteland

By TIMOTHY EGAN February 16, 2012, 9:00 pm

In barely a century’s time, the population of the United States has more than tripled, to 313 million. We are a clattering, opinionated cluster of nearly all the world’s races and religions, and many of its languages, under one flag.

You would not know any of this looking at who is voting in one of the strangest presidential primary campaigns in history. There is no other way to put this without resorting to demographic bluntness: the small fraction of Americans who are trying to pick the Republican nominee are old, white, uniformly Christian and unrepresentative of the nation at large.

None of that is a surprise. But when you look at the numbers, it’s stunning how little this Republican primary electorate resembles the rest of the United States. They are much closer to the population of 1890 than of 2012.

Given the level of media attention, we know an election of great significance is happening on the Republican side. But it’s occurring in a different place, guided by talk-radio extremists and religious zealots, with only a vague resemblance to the states where it has taken place. From this small world have emerged a host of nutty, retrograde positions, unpopular with the vast American majority.

But before getting into how this minority has steered the party into a corner, let’s look at the size of the electorate. The nine states that have held caucuses or primaries to date are home to roughly 28 million total registered voters, of all political persuasions.

So far, three million voters have participated in the Republican races, less than the population of Connecticut. This means that 89 percent of all registered voters in those states have not participated in what is, from a horse-race perspective, a very tight contest.

Yes, we know Republicans don’t like their choices; it’s a meh primary. But still, in some states, this election could be happening in a ghost town. Less than 1 percent of registered voters turned out for Maine’s caucus. In Nevada, where Republican turnout was down 25 percent from 2008, only 3 percent of total registered voters participated.

This is not majority rule by any measure; it barely qualifies as participatory democracy.

Results from the two populous states that have held big, media-saturated primaries, and are more likely to attract average voters, are also very revealing. In Florida, the largest and most diverse state among the nine, turnout was down 14 percent from 2008. And 84 percent of the state’s total registered voters did not participate in the Republican contest.

South Carolina is the major outlier this year, the only state to show a big increase in turnout, up 35 percent from 2008. But when you look at who voted, you see a very specific niche.

In the Palmetto State, 98 percent of primary voters were white, 72 percent were age 45 or older and nearly two-thirds were evangelical Christian, according to exit polls. From this picture, you may think South Carolina is an all-white, aging state, full of fervent churchgoers. But the Census says the state is only 66 percent white, with a median age of 36. Exit polls from 2008 put the evangelical vote at 40 percent of total.

Florida was at least closer — only in the Latino vote — to the general election of 2008; in both cases, it was about 14 percent of the total. But voters 45 or older made up 78 percent of the primary, versus 59 percent in the general matchup four years ago.

Outside of Florida, this contest has been nearly an all-white affair. Nevada is 26 percent Latino by population; in the primary, only 5 percent were Latino. Caucus voters in Iowa were 99 percent white.

Again, these numbers represent a small echo chamber. Whites are 63.7 percent of the total population of the United States; in 1900, they were 88 percent — still more diverse than Republican primary voters today.

The takeaway point of this poorly attended, unrepresentative Republican primary contest is not to focus entirely on who is voting but on why the candidates are taking such fringe positions. One explains the other.

Thus, the New York Times poll of this week found that all voters, by a 66 to 26 ratio, support the federal requirement that private health care plans cover the full cost of birth control for female patients. Among women, support is 72-20. And with Catholics, it’s 67-25. Yes, Catholics are slightly more liberal than the population at large.

Other polls show a a huge majority of Americans want to raise taxes on the rich, favor the planned withdrawal from Afghanistan and believe the earth is warming because of human action.

Yet the Republican front-runner of the moment, Rick Santorum, is with the minority on each of these issues, and Mitt Romney is a near match.

So, given how out of sync these two candidate are with the rest of the country, how could they be the front-runners? It’s simple: Look at who is voting, a nation unto itself.

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/16/the-electoral-wasteland/#more-121283

The press is giving the LIONS SHARE to this 3 million people minority.... WHY is that?