tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308748802024-03-13T08:56:49.324-07:00Palestinian PunditA site for analysis of Palestinian politics and the posting of relevant articles.Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03651921134005888649noreply@blogger.comBlogger44945125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30874880.post-11455747240428418942020-07-21T11:46:00.001-07:002020-07-21T11:46:20.282-07:00A DEVASTATING REPORT FROM THE GUARDIAN<h1 class="content__headline " itemprop="headline" style="background-color: white; color: #121212; font-family: "Guardian Egyptian Web", Georgia, serif; font-size: 2.125rem; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; font-weight: 400; line-height: 2.375rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0.1875rem 0px 2.25rem;">
'Flying blind': US failure to report vital coronavirus data is hobbling response</h1>
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<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/21/coronavirus-data-flying-blind-trump-us-failure" style="background-color: transparent;">Link</a></h1>
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The United States is failing to report vital information on Covid-19 that could help track the spread of the disease and prevent the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans, according to the first comprehensive review of the nation’s coronavirus data.</div>
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The report, <a class="u-underline" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://preventepidemics.org/?post_type=resource&p=58304" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #ab0613; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s;">Tracking Covid-19 in the United States</a>, paints a bleak picture of the country’s response to the disease. Five months into the pandemic, the essential intelligence that would allow public health authorities to get to grips with the virus is still not being compiled in usable form.</div>
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<a class="rich-link__link" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" style="background: transparent; color: inherit; cursor: pointer; touch-action: manipulation;">Pandemic brings Trump's war on science to the boil – but who will win?</a></h2>
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<a aria-label="Pandemic brings Trump's war on science to the boil – but who will win?" class="rich-link__link u-faux-block-link__overlay" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/03/science-donald-trump-coronavirus" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); bottom: 0px; cursor: pointer; left: 0px; opacity: 0; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; right: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; text-indent: 200%; top: 0px; touch-action: manipulation; white-space: nowrap; z-index: 0;"></a></div>
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That includes critical data on testing, contact tracing, new cases and deaths.</div>
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What the authors call “life-and-death information” is being pulled together haphazardly by individual states in a way that is “inconsistent, incomplete and inaccessible in most locations”. Without such intelligence the country is effectively walking blind, with very little chance of getting “our children to school in the fall, ourselves back to work, our economy restarted, and preventing tens of thousands of deaths”.</div>
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The review has been carried out by Resolve to Save Lives, a part of the global health group <a class="u-underline" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.vitalstrategies.org/" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #ab0613; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s;">Vital Strategies</a>. It is led by Tom Frieden, the former director of the main US public health agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).</div>
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Frieden lays the blame for the parlous and deadly state of data-keeping squarely on <a class="u-underline" data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="auto-linked-tag" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #ab0613; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s;">Donald Trump</a>. Presenting the report, he said that the chaotic picture was the product of “the failure of national leadership. The US is flying blind in our effort to curb the spread of Covid-19.”</div>
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He added that the “lack of common standards, definitions, and accountability reflects the absence of national strategy, plan, leadership, communication or organization and results in a cacophony of confusing data”.</div>
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Resolve to Save Lives collaborated with leading US health organisations, including the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and the American Public Health Association, to produce a checklist of 15 essential data points in the fight against Covid-19. Among the categories that must be recorded if the disease is to be contained are real-time reporting of people presenting with Covid-like symptoms, new confirmed cases, hospitalisations, deaths and contact tracing.</div>
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What the authors discovered makes shocking reading, even for a country that has repeatedly generated <a class="u-underline" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/28/trump-coronavirus-politics-us-health-disaster" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #ab0613; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s;">grim headlines</a> since the pandemic began. Across all states, only 40% of the essential data points are being monitored and reported to the public.</div>
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More than half of the critical information is still going entirely unreported – depriving political leaders of the weapons they need to fight the virus. In the case of 11 out of the 15 essential data points, not a single state was reporting them correctly; and in a further nine of the categories more than half of the states are failing to report any information on them at all.</div>
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Most alarming is contact tracing, a technique for isolating infected individuals that most experts agree is central to any attempt to control the pandemic. The report found that the information shared on contact tracing was “abysmal”, with not a single state reporting the turnaround time for diagnostic test results and only two states recording how long it took contact tracers to interview people who tested positive to identify others they may have infected.</div>
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The lack of a federal strategy to fight Covid-19 has been evident in the US from early on. The authors point out that many countries such as <a class="u-underline" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://npgeo-corona-npgeo-de.hub.arcgis.com/app/478220a4c454480e823b17327b2bf1d4" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #ab0613; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s;">Germany</a>, <a class="u-underline" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://cartosantesen.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #ab0613; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s;">Senegal</a> and <a class="u-underline" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://coronaboard.kr/en/" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #ab0613; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s;">South Korea</a> have introduced national Covid-19 dashboards that standardize data and make it easy for health experts to track and combat the virus.</div>
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By contrast, Trump has encouraged the proliferation of chaos and confusion at state level by barring aggressive federal action. Since the first case of coronavirus was reported in Washington state on 20 January, the US president has used his considerable powers to undermine a science and data-driven fight against the disease.</div>
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He has frequently predicted the virus would “disappear” of its own accord, most recently in his <a class="u-underline" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jul/19/donald-trump-fox-news-sunday-chris-wallace-interview" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #ab0613; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s;">Fox News Sunday interview</a> with Chris Wallace this weekend.</div>
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<figcaption class="caption caption--img caption caption--img" itemprop="description" style="color: #767676; font-family: "Guardian Text Sans Web", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 0.75rem; line-height: 1rem; max-width: 32.5rem; min-height: 1.5rem; padding-bottom: 0.375rem; padding-top: 0.5rem;"><span class="inline-triangle inline-icon " style="fill: rgb(199, 0, 0);"><svg class="inline-triangle__svg inline-icon__svg" height="10" viewbox="0 0 11 10" width="11"><path d="M5.5 0L11 10H0z" fill-rule="evenodd"></path></svg> </span>Medical technicians perform Covid-19 tests in Austin last week. Critical data on testing is still not being compiled in a usable form. Photograph: Bob Daemmrich/Zuma Wire/Rex/Shutterstock</figcaption></figure><div style="background-color: white; color: #121212; font-family: "Guardian Text Egyptian Web", Georgia, serif; font-size: 17px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; margin-bottom: 1rem; padding: 0px;">
Under his <a class="u-underline" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/apr/04/trump-coronavirus-science-analysis" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #ab0613; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s;">anti-scientific approach</a>, Trump has tried to block <a class="u-underline" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2020/07/18/white-house-testing-budget-cdc-coronavirus/" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #ab0613; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s;">new funding for the CDC</a> and for coronavirus testing which he claims falsely is responsible for the huge increase in cases across many states. He has also presided over a <a class="u-underline" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/13/trump-administration-fauci-coronavirus-crisis" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #ab0613; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s;">smear campaign</a> against Anthony Fauci, the top infectious diseases expert in the US.</div>
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By consistently resisting an aggressive federal attack on the virus, and offloading responsibility – and he hopes, political accountability – for the unfolding calamity on to the states, Trump has created the conditions for the current surge of infection across huge swaths of the country.</div>
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The impact in terms of lives lost or disrupted is plainly cast in the latest <a class="u-underline" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/18/us-coronavirus-fall-second-wave-autumn" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #ab0613; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s;">atrocious figures</a> that show the number of confirmed cases at <a class="u-underline" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #ab0613; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s;">3.8m nationwide</a> and rising in 40 out of 50 states. <a class="u-underline" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #ab0613; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s;">More than 140,000 Americans</a> have died so far – almost twice the number recorded by the next most affected country, Brazil.</div>
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Ultimately, the lack of consistent nationwide intelligence matters for two reasons – it makes the job of isolating and controlling the disease more difficult, and it leaves the public clueless as to the severity of the threat that surrounds them. Two groups of citizens are put especially at risk as a result of the dearth of data – older people in nursing homes and African Americans.</div>
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The report notes that a third of states are still not reporting any data on outbreaks of Covid-19 in facilities with contained populations such as nursing homes, homeless shelters, and prisons and jails. That poses a major risk to life as more than <a class="u-underline" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-nursing-homes.html" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #ab0613; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s;">40% of deaths in the US</a> have been in long-term care facilities including nursing homes.</div>
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States are also failing to report real-time data on the demographic breakdown of the disease, notably for race and ethnicity. Black Americans have <a class="u-underline" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/20/black-americans-death-rate-covid-19-coronavirus" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #ab0613; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s;">borne the brunt</a> of the pandemic, dying at almost three times the rate of white Americans.</div>
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Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03651921134005888649noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30874880.post-10799514676312642292020-07-19T18:22:00.001-07:002020-07-19T19:58:27.075-07:00AN EXCELLENT MESSAGE FROM THE LINCOLN PROJECT<iframe width="789" height="444" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gzHE_SY334o" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03651921134005888649noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30874880.post-63825172558169223272020-07-03T07:12:00.004-07:002020-07-19T19:56:56.174-07:00A GREAT ANTI-TRUMP Ad<iframe src="//cdn.jwplayer.com/players/qdafpvWk-XLzx33eA.html" width="480" height="270" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto"></iframe>Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03651921134005888649noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30874880.post-24385157125677934352020-06-02T08:40:00.001-07:002020-06-02T08:40:42.630-07:00When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross<img height="426" src="https://religionnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Trump-St-Johns-1-1-1200x800.jpg" width="640" /><br />
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"<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "IBM Plex Serif", serif; font-size: 23.6856px; letter-spacing: -0.5px;"><i><b><span style="color: red;">When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross</span></b></i><span style="color: #252525;">" - Sinclair Lewis</span></span>Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03651921134005888649noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30874880.post-1330585936554584132020-04-25T20:58:00.001-07:002020-04-25T20:58:07.098-07:00A VERY FUNNY VIDEO BY RANDY RAINBOW <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DPDPzbLFeP4" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03651921134005888649noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30874880.post-81138716775286764962020-03-15T08:16:00.002-07:002020-03-15T09:21:55.912-07:00Trump offers 'large sums' for exclusive access to coronavirus vaccine<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">WHAT A BASTARD!</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #121212; font-family: "guardian egyptian web" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 17px; font-weight: 700;">German government tries to fight off aggressive takeover bid by US, say reports</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #121212; font-family: "guardian egyptian web" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 17px; font-weight: 700;">The Guardian</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #121212; font-family: "guardian egyptian web" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 17px; font-weight: 700;"><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/15/trump-offers-large-sums-for-exclusive-access-to-coronavirus-vaccine">Link</a></span><br />
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<span style="color: #121212;">The Trump administration has offered a German medical company “large sums of money” </span><i><b><span style="color: red;">for exclusive access</span></b></i><span style="color: #121212;"> to a Covid-19 vaccine, German media have reported.</span></div>
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<i><b><span style="color: red;">The German government is trying to fight off what it sees as an aggressive takeover bid by the US</span></b></i><span style="color: #121212;">, the broadsheet Die Welt reports, citing German government circles.</span></div>
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The US president had offered the Tübingen-based biopharmaceutical company CureVac “large sums of money” to gain exclusive access to their work, wrote Die Welt.</div>
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<figure class="element element-atom" data-atom-id="7a6078f6-5a66-4d3e-9339-5610fe320767" data-atom-type="qanda" style="background-color: white; color: #121212; font-family: "Guardian Text Egyptian Web", Georgia, serif; font-size: 17px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; margin: 1rem 0px 0.75rem; position: relative;"><details class="atom atom--snippet atom--snippet--qanda" data-snippet-id="7a6078f6-5a66-4d3e-9339-5610fe320767" data-snippet-type="qanda" style="background: rgb(241, 241, 241); border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: initial; border-image: repeating-linear-gradient(rgb(220, 220, 220), rgb(220, 220, 220) 1px, transparent 1px, transparent 4px) 13 / 1 / 0 stretch; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: black; border-top-style: solid; border-width: 13px 0px 0px; margin: 16px 0px 36px; padding: 0px 5px 6px; position: relative;"><summary class="atom--snippet__header" style="font-weight: bold; margin: 0px 0px 16px; outline: none;"><span class="atom--snippet__label" style="color: #e00000; display: block; font-family: "guardian egyptian web" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 22px;">Q&A</span><h4 class="atom--snippet__headline" style="font-family: "Guardian Egyptian Web", Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px;">
How can I protect myself from the coronavirus outbreak?</h4>
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<span style="color: #121212;">According to an anonymous source quoted in the newspaper, </span><i><b><span style="color: red;">Trump was doing everything to secure a vaccine against the coronavirus for the US, “</span><span style="color: blue;">but for the US only</span><span style="color: red;">”</span></b></i><span style="color: #121212;">.</span></div>
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The German government was reportedly offering its own financial incentives for the vaccine to stay in the country.</div>
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When approached about the report by the Guardian, the German health ministry would only confirm the accuracy of the quotes attributed to one of its spokespersons in the article.</div>
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“The federal government is very interested in vaccines and antiviral agents against the novel coronavirus being developed in <a class="u-underline" data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="auto-linked-tag" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/germany" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #ab0613; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s;">Germany</a> and Europe,” the spokesperson quoted in the original article had said. “In this regard the government is in an intensive exchange with the company CureVac.”</div>
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The German health ministry spokesperson declined the opportunity to correct any inaccuracies in Die Welt’s account.</div>
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With its headquarters in the south-western German city of Tübingen, CureVac also has sites in Frankfurt and Boston in the US. Linked with the German health ministry,<i><b> it works closely with the Paul Ehrlich Institute, a research institution and medical regulatory body that is subordinate to the German health ministry.</b></i></div>
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If you have been affected or have any information, we'd like to hear from you. You can get in touch by filling in the form below, anonymously if you wish or contact us <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/info/2015/aug/12/whatsapp-sharing-stories-with-the-guardian" style="background: transparent; color: #c70000; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation;">via WhatsApp</a> by <a href="https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=447867825056" style="background: transparent; color: #c70000; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation;">clicking here </a>or adding the contact +44(0)7867825056. Only the Guardian can see your contributions and one of our journalists may contact you to discuss further. </div>
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On 11 March, CureVac released a <a class="u-underline" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/03/11/1998980/0/en/Company-Founder-Ingmar-Hoerr-Succeeds-Daniel-Menichella-as-CEO-of-CureVac-AG.html" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #ab0613; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s;">statement</a> that its CEO, the US citizen Daniel Menichella, was unexpectedly leaving the firm and would be replaced by the company’s founder, Ingmar Hoerr.</div>
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At the start of the month, Menichella <i><b>was invited to the White House in Washington to discuss strategy for the rapid development and production of a coronavirus vaccine with Trump, the vice-president, Mike Pence, and members of the White House coronavirus task force.</b></i></div>
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The White House has been contacted for comment.</div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">COMMENT</span></b><br />
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<i><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , "stixgeneral" , serif; font-size: 15.9991px;">An interviewer once inquired about the ownership of the polio vaccine patent, to which Salk famously answered, “</span><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "stixgeneral" , serif; font-size: 15.9991px;">Well, the people, I would say. There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "stixgeneral" , serif; font-size: 15.9991px;">”</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , "stixgeneral" , serif; font-size: 15.9991px;"> It was this spirit of humanism in combination with his astounding accomplishments in virology and vaccine development that have permanently etched Salk into the annals of medical history.</span></b></i></div>
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Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03651921134005888649noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30874880.post-84302578124111724922020-03-06T12:23:00.003-08:002020-03-06T12:23:29.117-08:00A GREAT CARTOON BY STEVE BELL (in the GUARDIAN)<img alt="Steve Bell 6.3.20" height="388" src="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/af9d02e0657fc5371436b8f63c203cb7334778ca/0_0_941_570/master/941.jpg?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=2517a84c87723a89ee22025ccf320af1" width="640" />Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03651921134005888649noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30874880.post-64110302201537721332020-03-01T09:12:00.001-08:002020-03-01T09:12:25.392-08:00UNAPOLOGETIC The Far Right Loves to Hate Sanders Surrogate Linda Sarsour, and She “Has the Wounds to Prove It”<a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/03/01/linda-sarsour-book-bernie-sanders/">Link</a><br />
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<span style="box-shadow: white 0px 1px 0px, rgb(17, 17, 17) 0px 4px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: TIActuBeta-ExBold_web, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 0.1em; text-transform: uppercase;">ON FEBRUARY 11</span>, the night Bernie Sanders won the New Hampshire primary, Linda Sarsour was in Queens, New York, vying on his behalf for an endorsement from the <a href="https://www.mdcny.org/join?splash=1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Muslim Democratic Club of New York</a> — a small subset of the American Muslim community, among which Sanders is the <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cair-pre-iowa-caucus-poll-muslim-voters-prefer-bernie-sanders-13-over-joe-biden-300997864.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">most popular</a> presidential candidate.</div>
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Sarsour, a Sanders campaign surrogate and executive director of Muslim social justice group <a href="https://mpowerchange.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">MPower Change</a>, was speaking to club membership on home turf. She co-founded the organization, New York’s first Muslim political club, in 2013, and is a star in New York Muslim circles. But she didn’t take the club’s endorsement for granted.</div>
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“Bernie Sanders is the candidate for the Muslim American community,” Sarsour told the crowd during her five-minute spiel. “Bernie Sanders is the most consistent anti-war candidate in this campaign. He voted against the war in Iraq. He voted against the Patriot Act, which is a policy that allows unwarranted surveillance of our communities and takes our civil liberties away.”</div>
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Sanders, who was only competing against Sen. Elizabeth Warren for the small group’s endorsement, swept the vote. It was a minor victory for Sarsour, but she’s hoping a series of similar endorsements for Sanders across the country will add up to a big wave of Muslim groups backing the senator, giving him a boost to win states with sizable Muslim populations.</div>
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<img alt="Linda Sarsour applauds Iram Ali, a senior content strategist on Democratic Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren's campaign, after she concluded her address seeking an endorsement from the Muslim Democratic Club of New York in Queens Tues. Feb. 11, 2020. Kholood Eid for The Intercept" class="PhotoGrid-photo" data-reactid="226" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-uploads/sites/1/2020/02/DSC_4073_Sarsour_Eid_21-1582838236-1024x683.jpg" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" /></div>
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<span class="PhotoGrid-description-caption" data-reactid="228" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Left/Top: Sarsour hugs Arianna Khan, 7, at a Muslim Democratic Club of New York meeting. Right/Bottom: Sarsour applauds Iram Ali, a senior content strategist on Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren's campaign, after she concluded her address seeking an endorsement from the Muslim Democratic Club of New York.</span><span class="PhotoGrid-description-credit" data-reactid="229" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #aaaaaa; padding-left: 0.75em;">Photos: Kholood Eid for The Intercept</span></div>
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Soon, Sarsour, one of the most prominent Palestinian-American Muslims in the country, was on to the next thing. As a volunteer for the campaign, Sarsour is talking to Muslim community leaders nationally about why he is the best choice for president, rallying the Sanders faithful at campaign events, encouraging people to join phone banks for Sanders, and publishing a steady stream of pro-Sanders commentary on her Facebook (216,000 followers) and Twitter (313,000 followers) pages.</div>
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As a loud advocate for Palestinian rights and an unabashedly Muslim activist at a time when U.S. policy mirrors the Israeli government’s positions and anti-Muslim bigotry is largely tolerated, Sarsour is a lightning rod for bad-faith attacks. Right-wing voices who use Sarsour’s every criticism of Israel as an opportunity to smear her as an anti-Semite are pressuring the Sanders campaign to drop her as a surrogate, in only the latest example of the torrent of abuse she faces.</div>
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She explores her place at the center of so many contradictions of U.S. political life in her new memoir, “<a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/We-Are-Not-Here-to-Be-Bystanders/Linda-Sarsour/9781982105167" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">We Are Not Here to Be Bystanders: A Memoir of Love and Resistance</a>,” due to be released on March 3. In the fast-paced account of her rise from daughter of Palestinian immigrants to confident leader at the top of the social justice activist world, she deploys her personal story in service of her larger political goals. She uses the experience of seeing black students at her Brooklyn high school go through metal detectors, for example, as an entry point into discussing the pervasiveness of racism is in the U.S., the school-to-prison pipeline, and why she’s committed to building multiracial coalitions for change.</div>
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In the memoir and in a recent interview with The Intercept, Sarsour expresses some vulnerability. Still, she remains deeply guarded over some aspects of her personal life and the biggest controversies of the last few years. In her memoir, she skips over the root causes of her exit from the Women’s March, the organization she co-led until just a few months ago. She makes scant references to her husband, and despite sharing some parenting anecdotes in the book, she showed little interest in answering questions about her three children — an understandable impulse from someone whose family has been hounded by the right-wing press.</div>
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“I am one of those Palestinian Americans that has the wounds to prove it. I feel, like, scarred. I’ve taken a lot of hits over the last few years, but I feel more hopeful than ever,” she said in the interview. “It seems bleak when you think about what’s happening in Palestine and Gaza. But I think from a political perspective in the United States of America, there has been great progress.”</div>
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Sarsour, center, attends a meeting at the Muslim Democratic Club of New York in Queens.</div>
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<span style="box-shadow: white 0px 1px 0px, rgb(17, 17, 17) 0px 4px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: TIActuBeta-ExBold_web, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 0.1em; text-transform: uppercase;">THE 39-YEAR-OLD SARSOUR</span> seemed to be everywhere at once over the past few years, fundraising for Muslim and progressive activism around the country, rallying for Sanders, and helping to lead the Women’s March, the group that spearheaded the largest single-day demonstration in American history following President Donald Trump’s inauguration.</div>
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But she got her start on a smaller stage.</div>
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Just a few months after the September 11 attacks, she began her local activism career when she joined the Arab-American Association of New York, working under her father’s cousin, Basemah Atweh, who had started the organization.</div>
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Four years later, as the post-9/11 surveillance state bore down on Muslim New Yorkers with a disturbing zeal, making AAANY’s work all the more important, a tragedy hit. In May 2005, Sarsour was driving Atweh and three others late at night when a tractor-trailer drove toward her, forcing Sarsour to get out of the way and drive off the road, in the process flipping over, going down a steep slope, and spinning the car around. Atweh died from internal bleeding, but Sarsour survived with only a few minor cuts.</div>
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When Sarsour returned to work at the AAANY offices a few days after the accident, she vowed to “continue this work for Basemah because this is all she ever wanted,” she recalls in her memoir.</div>
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By the fall, at the age of 25, AAANY’s board appointed her as the new executive director. In her 11-year tenure, Sarsour oversaw a team that registered Arab voters in New York, helped families navigate the immigration system, and successfully lobbied the New York Department of Education to give public school students off for major Muslim holidays. She also helped forge a multiracial coalition to curb the New York Police Department’s excesses, work that became especially important to New York Muslim activists after the Associated Press <a href="https://www.ap.org/about/awards-and-recognition/highlights-of-aps-pulitzer-prize-winning-probe-into-nypd-intelligence-operations" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">revealed</a> that the NYPD had been spying on Northeast Muslims since the September 11 attacks. (I once spoke on a panel with Sarsour about Islamophobia, Israel, and New York City politics, and my name is listed as an adviser, alongside Sarsour, to a group called <a href="https://jaamr.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Jews Against Anti-Muslim Racism</a>.)</div>
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Sarsour chats with attendees of a Muslim Democratic Club of New York meeting.</div>
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Sarsour’s charisma, relationship-building with local politicians, and show-up-to-everything attitude endeared her to many progressive activists in New York, who would rush to defend her after local politicians targeted her over Sarsour’s criticism of Israel.</div>
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“She’s a hero to a good number of people, especially to young women,” said Shahana Masum, a Sanders delegate in New York and community outreach liaison for the Muslim community group Muslim Sisters of Staten Island. “No other Muslim women talks like she does. She’s fearless. And she’s a person that has reached a level that many Muslims don’t get the chance to get to.”</div>
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The admiration for Sarsour is not universal. Some Muslim <a href="https://www.thefader.com/2017/04/27/linda-sarsour-interview-feminism-sharia-womens-march" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">community activists</a> in New York say she is more focused on her brand and getting <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/09/nyregion/linda-sarsour-is-a-brooklyn-homegirl-in-a-hijab.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">media attention</a> than doing the hard work of organizing or mentoring other activists. Sarsour rejects this line of criticism and says it stems from being a brash woman in a patriarchal society. “I am the person that stands on the street corner to register voters. I am the person that gathers petitions,” she said. “I’m always uplifting the work of others around me.”</div>
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Sarsour has sometimes struggled to balance her activism with her family life, she admits in her memoir. She recalls the time her son posted the news of his college acceptance on Facebook without telling her first. She was in Washington, D.C., planning the Women’s March, and she broke down crying.</div>
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“[I was] distressed that my child did not understand that no matter what I was doing, he and his sisters came first for me,” she writes.</div>
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But even after bringing attention to some aspect of her family life, there’s only so much Sarsour is willing to share. When I started to ask about her kids, she told me that two are in college and one is in high school, and with a smile said, “That’s all the demographic information you’re getting.”</div>
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It’s a natural response for a mother who is constantly on the receiving end of death threats. (In August, Sarsour revealed that the FBI had told her that <a href="https://theintercept.com/2018/10/26/cesar-sayoc-bomb-suspect-trump/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Cesar Sayoc</a>, the Florida man and Trump supporter arrested and convicted for sending pipe bombs to prominent Democratic politicians, had her name on a list of people to target.) She is willing to bear the costs of her activism, but as a mother of three, there’s more than her own life at stake.</div>
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“The impact on my family is more troublesome,” she said. “When my cellphone rings and [my kids] see an unknown number, they say, ‘Who is that? Who do you think that is?’”</div>
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<img alt="DSC_3923_Sarsour_Eid_10-1582837420" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-291740" src="https://theintercept.imgix.net/wp-uploads/sites/1/2020/02/DSC_3923_Sarsour_Eid_10-1582837420.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&q=90" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px auto 10px -292px; max-width: none; min-height: 0px !important; min-width: 100%; width: 1263px;" /><div class="caption overlayed" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; display: inline; font-family: TIActuBetaMono-Regular_web, Consolas, "Andale Mono", monospace; font-size: 0.65em; letter-spacing: 0.01em; line-height: 1; word-spacing: -0.25em;">
Sarsour at the Muslim Democratic Club, New York’s first Muslim political club, which she co-founded.</div>
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Photo: Kholood Eid for The Intercept</div>
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<span style="box-shadow: white 0px 1px 0px, rgb(17, 17, 17) 0px 4px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: TIActuBeta-ExBold_web, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 0.1em; text-transform: uppercase;">THE RIGHT-WING BARRAGE</span> against Sarsour reached its peak in early 2017, after she helped lead the Women’s March rally. Addressing a crowd of thousands of people, she said, to cheers, that she “stands here before you … unapologetically Palestinian American.”</div>
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What followed was a string of attacks on Sarsour from commentators on Fox News and articles in Breitbart and the right-wing Jewish press. Many of the articles focused on Sarsour’s penchant for tweeting out harsh attacks on her political opponents. The right <a href="https://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/237149/linda-sarsour-jewish-enablers" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">went</a> <a href="https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2017/02/03/vanness-linda-sarsour-womens-march/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">after</a> Sarsour for two tweets in particular: one, written in 2011, in which Sarsour says she wishes she could “take” two anti-Muslim activists’ vaginas away, and another <a href="https://twitter.com/lsarsour/status/263651398250545152?lang=en" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">written in 2012</a>, where Sarsour said that “nothing is creepier than Zionism,” alongside a YouTube video of Remi Kanazi, a Palestinian American poet. (Sarsour said she regrets how she worded the tweet about vaginas. As for the Zionism tweet, she said she did not write the message herself but copied the prewritten tweet from an email sent around to promote Kanazi’s video.)</div>
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“We all have our faults. Sometimes she’s a little careless, sometimes she’s a little imprecise, and she’s paid the price for that dearly,” said Moustafa Bayoumi, a Brooklyn College professor whose writing focuses on Muslim Americans.</div>
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In liberal spaces, the kinds of attacks that focused on stray tweets didn’t have much impact. But what did blossom into a full-blown crisis for Sarsour and the Women’s March centered on Louis Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam leader who frequently makes anti-Semitic remarks. Tamika Mallory, a co-chair of the Women’s March, had long been close to the Nation of Islam. Critics used her attendance at a February 2018 Nation of Islam event as cover to claim the Women’s March as a whole was tolerant of anti-Semitism within its ranks, also citing Sarsour’s anti-Zionist positions. They wanted to see Mallory and Sarsour gone.</div>
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The Women’s March succumbed to those external pressures. Sarsour and Mallory stepped down from the group’s board in 2019, after their board terms expired, they said.</div>
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“Things could have been done differently. But I hate that that’s become the story of the march. There was an incredibly effective campaign to utilize real issues of anti-Semitism, and inflated and even manufactured issues of anti-Semitism, to attack the progressive movement and leaders of color,” said Sophie Ellman-Golan, a prominent Jewish activist who helped organize the Women’s March.</div>
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In the same week Sarsour’s departure was announced, the Women’s March named its new board members. Among them was Zahra Billoo, executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations chapter in San Francisco. Almost immediately, critics brought to light old tweets of Billoo’s in which, in 2018, she harshly criticized Israel by comparing it to the Islamic State and in 2010 said notions that Israel was “defending itself” were akin to saying that Nazi Germany defended itself from Jewish resistance. (Looking back, <a href="https://twitter.com/ZahraBilloo/status/1174579988676239360" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Billoo said</a> she could have worded the tweets differently.) Pro-Israel groups demanded her ouster. Two days later, she was gone.</div>
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The Women’s March, apparently, had learned the wrong lessons from its experiences with Sarsour, she said.</div>
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“We had been targeted for three years consistently at the Women’s March, with lies, media requests by right-wing media, and still forged forward and did the work,” Sarsour said. “The new board caved to pressure within 24 hours and could have showed the kind of solidarity we were preaching and teaching over the years. Zahra is a brilliant leader and attorney and was treated unfairly.”</div>
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<img alt="Linda Sarsour at the Arab American Association in Brooklyn Thursday, February 13, 2020. Kholood Eid for The Intercept" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-291748" src="https://theintercept.imgix.net/wp-uploads/sites/1/2020/02/DSC_4182_Sarsour_Eid_03-1582837887-e1582838007991.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&q=90" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px auto 10px -240.5px; max-width: none; min-height: 0px !important; min-width: 100%; width: 1160px;" /><div class="caption overlayed" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; display: inline; font-family: TIActuBetaMono-Regular_web, Consolas, "Andale Mono", monospace; font-size: 0.65em; letter-spacing: 0.01em; line-height: 1; word-spacing: -0.25em;">
“I see Bernie as someone who listens,” said Sarsour. “And for the first time in at least my lifetime — and even I would say since my father has come to this country 45 years ago — we have a presidential candidate who is invoking the Palestinian plight on such a high level.”</div>
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Photo: Kholood Eid for The Intercept</div>
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<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: SwiftNeueLTW01, Georgia, serif; letter-spacing: 0.01em; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 1em;">
<span style="box-shadow: white 0px 1px 0px, rgb(17, 17, 17) 0px 4px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: TIActuBeta-ExBold_web, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 0.1em; text-transform: uppercase;">THE KIND OF</span> social movement work Sarsour is engaged in fits right in with the political priorities of the larger Muslim American community. A 2017 poll conducted by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding <a href="https://www.ispu.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/AMP-2017-Key-Findings.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">found</a> that 66 percent of Muslims in the U.S. supported the Black Lives Matter movement — higher than any other religious group.</div>
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“Muslims’ progress is inextricably connected to other communities,” said Dalia Mogahed, director of research at ISPU. “People who endorse anti-Muslim stereotypes are much more likely to hold negative views about black Americans and Jews. And so [coalition-building is] really understandable. Beyond just being morally correct, it’s strategic to be building coalitions across these communities.”</div>
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The activism of Sarsour, and the broader Muslim American community, goes beyond racial justice, though. Sarsour has courted controversy, and risen to the top of her community, in large part because of her outspokenness on Palestinian rights in recent years. She is harshly critical of Israel’s human rights abuses, is a supporter of a one-state solution, where Israeli Jews and Palestinians live equally, doesn’t believe a two-state solution is possible, and supports the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement targeting Israel.</div>
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For those reasons, pro-Israel groups have repeatedly called for the Sanders campaign to drop Sarsour as a surrogate.</div>
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The calls are an attempt to exploit the gap between Sarsour’s positions — which are not mainstream views but are increasingly invoked on the left — and Sanders’s more moderate stances. He does not support BDS and favors a two-state solution, though he has voiced the most criticism of Israeli policy in the 2020 primary.</div>
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“Bernie doesn’t agree with me on everything. And I don’t agree with Bernie on everything on that particular issue,” Sarsour said. “But I see Bernie as someone who listens. And for the first time in at least my lifetime — and even I would say since my father has come to this country 45 years ago — we have a presidential candidate who is invoking the Palestinian plight on such a high level.”</div>
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The Sanders campaign has given no sign that it will drop Sarsour, disappointing groups like <a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/02/01/iowa-bernie-sanders-democratic-majority-for-israel-mark-mellman/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Democratic Majority for Israel</a>, the AIPAC-linked group that has repeatedly complained about Sarsour to the Sanders camp. That kind of loyalty has energized Muslim American activists.</div>
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“As a Palestinian Muslim woman of color, that sends a message that Bernie Sanders and his future administration isn’t going to leave any community behind,” said Rasha Mubarak, a Sanders supporter, friend of Sarsour’s, and Florida community leader. “It sends a message that we can win being inclusive and talking about the very real occupation of the Palestinian people.”</div>
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<img alt="Linda Sarsour outside a Muslim Democratic Club of New York meeting in Queens Tues. Feb. 11, 2020. Kholood Eid for The Intercept" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-291753" src="https://theintercept.imgix.net/wp-uploads/sites/1/2020/02/DSC_4040_Sarsour_Eid_19-1582838075.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&q=90&w=1024&h=683" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px auto 10px; max-width: 100%; min-height: 0px !important; min-width: 0px !important;" /><div class="caption" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; display: inline; font-family: TIActuBetaMono-Regular_web, Consolas, "Andale Mono", monospace; font-size: 0.65em; letter-spacing: 0.01em; line-height: 1; word-spacing: -0.25em;">
Sarsour outside a Muslim Democratic Club of New York meeting on Feb. 11, 2020.</div>
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Photo: Kholood Eid for The Intercept</div>
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Even after Sarsour <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/activist-sarsour-says-israel-built-on-idea-of-jewish-supremacy/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">stirred controversy</a> with her remarks at an American Muslims for Palestine conference that Israel was built on the idea of Jewish supremacy — she later clarified that she meant to refer to Israel’s nation-state law, which enshrines Israel’s status as a Jewish state, while saying nothing about Palestinian rights and downgrading the official status of Arabic — the Sanders campaign didn’t blink. “I’ve never been chastised by the campaign. No one ever told me what to say, when to say, not to say it,” said Sarsour.</div>
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The Sanders campaign must know, after all, that Linda Sarsour cannot be silenced.</div>
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Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03651921134005888649noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30874880.post-81898796266986233782020-02-20T18:08:00.003-08:002020-02-20T18:08:48.860-08:00Please Watch This Video<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="712" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LKf4y0Ki96I" width="1263"></iframe>Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03651921134005888649noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30874880.post-71987199080133089872020-02-17T13:53:00.001-08:002020-02-17T13:53:46.221-08:00Bloomberg Apologized for Stop-and-Frisk. Why Won’t He Say Sorry to Muslims for Spying on Them?<b><span style="color: red;">A VERY GOOD PIECE</span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">By <a class="PostByline-link" data-reactid="183" href="https://theintercept.com/staff/mehdihasan/" rel="author" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; font-family: TIActuBetaMono-Regular_web, Consolas, "Andale Mono", monospace; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Mehdi Hasan</a></span><br />
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<a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/02/17/mike-bloomberg-new-york-muslim-surveillance/">Link</a><br />
<img alt="Muslim community and supporters protest the NYPD surveillance operations of Muslim communities during a rally in Foley Square on Friday, Nov. 18, 2011, in New York. Hundreds of Muslims gathered in prayer Friday to oppose a decade of police spying on Muslim communities. The crowd filled about three-fourths of Foley Square in lower Manhattan, not far from City Hall. Demonstrators were scheduled to march on police headquarters. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)" height="397" src="https://theintercept.imgix.net/wp-uploads/sites/1/2020/02/AP_111118040935-1581904744.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&q=90&w=1024&h=636" width="640" /><br />
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<div style="box-sizing: border-box; letter-spacing: 0.01em; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 1em;">
<span style="box-shadow: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: , "consolas" , "andale mono" , monospace; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 0.1em; line-height: 30px; text-transform: uppercase;">THE 2016</span> Republican presidential primaries were a living nightmare for Muslim Americans. From start to finish, GOP candidates <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/30/opinion/campaign-stops/why-i-miss-george-w-bush.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">fell over one another</a> to fan the flames of anti-Muslim bigotry, anti-Arab racism, and Islamophobic hysteria. We all recall, of course, Donald J. Trump <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/dec/07/donald-trump-ban-all-muslims-entering-us-san-bernardino-shooting" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">calling</a> for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what the hell is going on.” But do you also remember Trump saying that he would “<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2015/11/16/politics/donald-trump-paris-attacks-close-mosques/index.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">strongly consider</a>” closing mosques and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/11/20/donald-trump-says-hed-absolutely-require-muslims-to-register/?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">setting up a database</a> for all Muslims in the United States? How about Sen. Ted Cruz’s <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/03/22/ted-cruz-calls-for-law-enforcement-to-patrol-and-secure-muslim-neighborhoods/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">pledge</a> to “patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods,” or Sen. Marco Rubio’s <a href="https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/marco-rubio-wants-to-shut-down-muslim-caf-s-and-diners-maybe-some-mosques-too-8064185" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">plan</a> to shut down Muslim cafes and diners? “If I have to monitor a mosque, I’ll monitor a mosque,” <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3yjDVcLk8Y" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">proclaimed</a> Sen. Lindsey Graham.</div>
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In 2016, Republican presidential candidates were openly fantasizing about surveilling and spying on Muslims. Yet just a few years earlier, in the nation’s biggest city, a Republican mayor had succeeded in going beyond mere rhetoric: Michael Bloomberg oversaw the <a href="https://www.aclu.org/other/factsheet-nypd-muslim-surveillance-program" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">mass warrantless, suspicionless surveillance</a> of Muslim New Yorkers, as the New York Police Department “<a href="https://www.law.cuny.edu/wp-content/uploads/page-assets/academics/clinics/immigration/clear/Mapping-Muslims.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">mapped</a>” where they prayed, ate, studied, and worked.</div>
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Today, the billionaire media mogul is <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/bloomberg-creeps-3rd-place-national-194357216.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">polling third</a> in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination and has secured endorsements from dozens of high-profile <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/why-dcs-mayor-endorsed-michael-bloomberg" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Democratic</a> <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2020/02/13/houston-mayor-sylvester-turner-endorses-michael-bloomberg-president/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">mayors</a> and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-bloomberg/us-presidential-candidate-bloomberg-endorsed-by-three-black-lawmakers-idUSKBN20623M" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">members of Congress</a>.</div>
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I cannot help but ask: Have these elected Democrats lost their minds? Have Democratic voters in, say, Florida, where Bloomberg is now <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/elections/articles/2020-02-14/poll-finds-michael-bloomberg-leads-among-democrats-in-florida" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">leading in the polls</a>, taken leave of their senses?</div>
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In recent weeks, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/11/us/politics/bloomberg-stop-and-frisk.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">much has</a> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/02/16/should-mike-bloombergs-stop-and-frisk-record-disqualify-him/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">been made</a> of Bloomberg’s <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2020/2/12/michael_bloomberg_aspen_2015_unearthed_audio" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">support</a> for racist and unconstitutional <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/17/nyregion/bloomberg-stop-and-frisk-new-york.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">stop-and-frisk</a> practices, which targeted and terrorized African American New Yorkers. Much less has been made of his <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2012/02/21/us/new-york-muslim-surveillance/index.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">support</a> for racist and unconstitutional <a href="http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/law/2013/03/11/clear-project-issues-report-on-impact-of-nypd-surveillance-on-american-muslims/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">surveillance</a> practices, which targeted and terrorized Muslim New Yorkers. Why is that? How to explain the shameful silence? Could it be because Islamophobia, as I have <a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/08/20/mike-pompeo-new-yorker-muslims/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">pointed out before</a>, still isn’t taken seriously by the mainstream media, as well as many liberals and Democrats? Or is it maybe because billionaire Bloomberg has <a href="https://twitter.com/alexburnsNYT/status/1228712023489466368" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">paid</a> prominent liberal groups to turn a blind eye to his Islamophobic record?</div>
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After all, that record is pretty indisputable. Much of the damning evidence against Bloomberg and the NYPD was amassed and documented by the Associated Press in a <a href="https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/matt-apuzzo-adam-goldman-eileen-sullivan-and-chris-hawley" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">wide-ranging, Pulitzer Prize-winning, and devastating series of articles</a> published in 2011.</div>
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During Bloomberg’s three-term tenure as mayor of New York, the NYPD worked with the CIA to deploy teams of undercover agents, known as “rakers,” into Muslim neighborhoods to gather information. “They’ve monitored daily life in bookstores, bars, cafes and nightclubs,” <a href="https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/with-cia-help-nypd-moves-covertly-in-muslim-areas/1926933/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">reported</a> the AP. “Police have also used informants, known as ‘mosque crawlers,’ to monitor sermons, even when there’s no evidence of wrongdoing. NYPD officials have scrutinized imams and gathered intelligence on cab drivers and food cart vendors, jobs often done by Muslims.” The AP also noted that on <a href="https://www.ap.org/ap-in-the-news/2012/nypd-monitored-muslim-students-all-over-northeast" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">one occasion</a> officials “even sent an undercover agent on a whitewater rafting trip, where he recorded students’ names and noted in police intelligence files how many times they prayed.”</div>
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The NYPD, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/28/nyregion/in-a-post-9-11-city-a-persons-language-can-be-a-cause-for-police-suspicion.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">added</a> the New York Times, “eavesdropped on thousands of conversations between Muslims in restaurants and stores in New York City and New Jersey and on Long Island.” <a href="https://www.ap.org/ap-in-the-news/2012/informant-nypd-paid-me-to-bait-muslims" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Paid informants</a> were “under orders to ‘bait’ Muslims into saying inflammatory things.”</div>
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In 2015, a <a href="https://ccrjustice.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/10/Hassan%203rd%20Cir%20Ruling%2010-13-15.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">federal court ruling</a> compared the ethnic profiling and covert surveillance of Muslim communities living in Bloomberg’s New York to the discrimination faced by “Jewish Americans during the Red Scare, African-Americans during the Civil Rights movement, and Japanese-Americans during World War II.”</div>
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As with stop-and-frisk, Bloomberg defended surveillance as a vital crimefighting measure. “We have to keep this country safe,” he <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2012/02/21/us/new-york-muslim-surveillance/index.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">declared</a> in 2012 — despite the fact that the surveillance of Muslims in New York produced “not one actionable piece of intelligence,” as even NYPD Police Commissioner Bill Bratton <a href="https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/bill-bratton-ted-cruz-shut-terrorism-article-1.2578132" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">later admitted</a>.</div>
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Yet on stop-and-frisk, Bloomberg has since apologized, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/bloomberg-apologizes-stop-frisk-police-practice-n1084756" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">telling</a> a black church last November, “I want you to know that I realize back then I was wrong.” Last week, he apologized again to African American communities, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/13/politics/bloomberg-apologize-stop-and-frisk/index.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">saying</a> that he had failed to “understand then the unintended pain it was causing to young black and brown families and their kids.” Whether we accept or even believe Bloomberg’s half-hearted and belated apology for stop-and-frisk, at least he felt the need to offer one.</div>
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But what about his warrantless surveillance of Muslims? What of the pain caused to young Muslim families and their kids? There has been <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/michael-bloomberg-is-sorry-for-stop-and-frisk-and-locker-room-talk-wheres-his-apology-for-spying-on-muslims" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">no apology, no regret, no contrition whatsoever</a> from the former mayor turned presidential candidate for his role in what has been <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/michael-bloomberg-is-sorry-for-stop-and-frisk-and-locker-room-talk-wheres-his-apology-for-spying-on-muslims" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">described</a> by civil rights activists as “one of the most chilling campaigns against religious liberty in modern American history.”</div>
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Nor does Bloomberg’s wider record on Muslims and Islam inspire much confidence. Yes, he <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/richard-adams-blog/2010/aug/03/michael-bloomberg-ground-zero-mosque" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">defended</a> the construction of a controversial Muslim community center in lower Manhattan; yes, he has <a href="https://twitter.com/MikeBloomberg/status/1221895605615833088" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">criticized</a> Trump’s <a href="https://theintercept.com/2018/06/27/trump-travel-ban-supreme-court-decision-muslim/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Muslim ban</a>. But the former Republican mayor has also <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/michael-bloomberg-in-2015-saw-russias-point-in-invading-ukraine" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">referred</a> to the “crazy Islamic world” while <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/11/13/michael-bloombergs-china-record-shows-why-he-cant-be-president/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">heaping praise</a> on the Chinese dictatorship, perhaps the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/21/world/asia/china-islam-crackdown.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">most Islamophobic government</a> on earth right now. There are <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=china%20from%3A%40mikebloomberg&src=typed_query" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">multiple tweets</a> from Bloomberg praising the Chinese Communists for their record on climate change; <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=uighur%20from%3A%40mikebloomberg&src=typed_query" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">zero tweets</a> condemning their <a href="https://theintercept.com/2018/08/13/china-muslims-uighur-detention/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">mass detention</a> of the Uighur Muslims.</div>
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But back to surveillance: In recent days, with the emergence of <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/11/michael-bloomberg-stop-and-frisk-clip-113902" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">audio recordings</a> of Bloomberg making racist remarks and the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/02/11/804795405/throw-them-against-the-wall-and-frisk-them-bloomberg-s-2015-race-talk-stirs-deba" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">renewed debate</a> over stop-and-frisk, a number of <a href="https://twitter.com/shaunking/status/1229091058472116225" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">public</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/shadihamid/status/1227955854755889152" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">figures</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/rafaelshimunov/status/1229068447696314369" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">activists</a> have declared that they cannot bring themselves to vote for Bloomberg if he is the Democratic candidate against Trump. The Muslim American angle is important to consider here: On Sunday, Asad Dandia, a young Islamic studies graduate from Brooklyn who was a <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/michael-bloomberg-muslim-surveillance-nypd_n_5df40e1de4b03aed50ee4685" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">victim</a> of the NYPD surveillance program, <a href="https://twitter.com/DandiaAsad/status/1229084480935268353" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">tweeted</a> about the “enormous mental and emotional stress” that it caused to him and his family and called Bloomberg a “monster.”</div>
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Bloomberg terrorized me and my people. His surveillance brought enormous mental and emotional stress to my parents, who *still* ask me to vet any new friends.<br />
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Like my brother Raf, I will never shame folks for refusing to vote for that monster. I may even join them in abstaining. <a class="link customisable" data-expanded-url="https://twitter.com/rafaelshimunov/status/1229068447696314369" data-scribe="element:url" data-tweet-id="1229068447696314369" data-tweet-item-type="23" dir="ltr" href="https://t.co/itRXU4vUF8" rel="nofollow noopener" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2b7bb9; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank" title="https://twitter.com/rafaelshimunov/status/1229068447696314369"><span class="u-hiddenVisually" style="border: 0px !important; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px) !important; height: 1px !important; overflow: hidden !important; padding: 0px !important; position: absolute !important; width: 1px !important;">https://</span>twitter.com/rafaelshimunov<span class="u-hiddenVisually" style="border: 0px !important; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px) !important; height: 1px !important; overflow: hidden !important; padding: 0px !important; position: absolute !important; width: 1px !important;">/status/1229068447696314369 </span>…</a></div>
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<a class="QuoteTweet-link" data-tweet-id="1229068447696314369" data-tweet-item-type="23" href="https://twitter.com/rafaelshimunov/status/1229068447696314369" rel="noopener" style="background-color: transparent; color: #1c2022; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Being told by people close to me who were traumatized by Bloomberg’s police state for being Black, Brown, Trans, Homeless or Muslim and by women who are survivors of men like him that they will never vote for Bloomberg. </a><br />
<a class="QuoteTweet-link" data-tweet-id="1229068447696314369" data-tweet-item-type="23" href="https://twitter.com/rafaelshimunov/status/1229068447696314369" rel="noopener" style="background-color: transparent; color: #1c2022; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><br /></a>
<a class="QuoteTweet-link" data-tweet-id="1229068447696314369" data-tweet-item-type="23" href="https://twitter.com/rafaelshimunov/status/1229068447696314369" rel="noopener" style="background-color: transparent; color: #1c2022; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">And out of solidarity I will not either.</a></div>
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But isn’t Trump worse than Bloomberg? The greater evil? Of course he is. It’s worth noting, however, that the former Republican mayor’s surveillance of Muslims in New York earned the praise and admiration of one particular Republican presidential candidate during the 2016 GOP primaries.</div>
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“You’re going to have to watch and study the mosques, because a lot of talk is going on at the mosques,” candidate Trump <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/260241-trump-youre-going-to-have-to-watch-and-study-the-mosques" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">told MSNBC</a>. “And from what I heard, in the old days … we had great surveillance going on in and around mosques in New York City.”</div>
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<i><b><span style="color: red;">To be clear: Bloomberg spied on Muslim Americans. Trump praised him for it. And now, some Democrats want Bloomberg to defeat and replace Trump in November.</span></b></i></div>
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<i><b>So I ask again: Have they lost their minds?</b></i></div>
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<i><b><span style="color: red;">COMMENT</span></b></i></div>
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<b><i><span style="color: blue;">I PERSONALLY REFUSE TO VOTE FOR BLOOMBERG IF HE IS THE DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE. I SIMPLY WILL NOT VOTE, AS I DID IN 2016.</span></i></b></div>
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Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03651921134005888649noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30874880.post-9392725288213602522020-01-12T06:51:00.000-08:002020-01-12T06:51:09.699-08:00A GREAT CARTOON BY EMAD HAJJAJ: IRAN'S MISSILES!<img alt="صواريخ ايران !" src="https://www.alaraby.co.uk/File/GetImageHighQuality/4122894d-6601-4ca2-bee7-ed269d819c57/727/409" />Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03651921134005888649noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30874880.post-72792235190179411192019-12-10T18:02:00.002-08:002019-12-10T18:03:56.556-08:00<img alt="Featured_rashida_shirt_38172" height="456" src="https://dd-res.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/featured_rashida_shirt_38172.jpg" width="640" /><br />
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<b><span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">GO, RASHIDA!</span></b>Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03651921134005888649noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30874880.post-39984993905170345912019-11-24T08:57:00.001-08:002019-11-24T08:57:18.758-08:00How street protests across Middle East threaten Iran’s power<b><span style="color: blue;">A GOOD POST</span></b><br />
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<span itemprop="name" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #c70000; cursor: pointer; font-family: "Guardian Egyptian Web", Georgia, serif; font-size: 17px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; font-weight: 700; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation;"><a class="tone-colour" data-link-name="auto tag link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/profile/martin-chulov" itemprop="sameAs" rel="author" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #c70000; cursor: pointer; font-family: "Guardian Egyptian Web", Georgia, serif; font-size: 17px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; font-weight: 700; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation;">Martin Chulov</a></span><br />
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The Guardian<br />
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<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/24/street-protests-threaten-iran-middle-east-power">Link</a><br />
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<header class="content__head content__head--article tonal__head tonal__head--tone-feature" style="background-color: white; color: #121212; display: grid; font-family: "Guardian Text Egyptian Web", Georgia, serif; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; grid-template-areas: "labels headline" "meta main-media" ". standfirst"; grid-template-columns: 10rem 1fr; margin-left: -10rem;"><figure class="media-primary media-content media-primary--showcase " data-component="image" data-media-id="87cab1ffe236922d6d4afc4db9cbf402eb104ae6" id="img-1" itemprop="associatedMedia image" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" style="grid-area: main-media / main-media / main-media / main-media; margin: 0px; max-width: unset; position: relative; width: 58.75rem; z-index: 2;"><a class="article__img-container js-gallerythumbs" data-is-ajax="" data-link-name="Launch Article Lightbox" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/24/street-protests-threaten-iran-middle-east-power#img-1" style="background: transparent; color: #c70000; cursor: pointer; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation;"><div class="u-responsive-ratio" style="overflow: hidden; padding-bottom: 564px; position: relative; width: 940px;">
<picture><img alt="A funeral ceremony in Tehran last week for two security officers killed during protests against fuel price hikes." class="maxed responsive-img" itemprop="contentUrl" src="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/87cab1ffe236922d6d4afc4db9cbf402eb104ae6/0_275_4928_2957/master/4928.jpg?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=5e7b4872dcb7e02e5d1fc3e3f80e0847" style="border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; width: 940px;" /></picture></div>
<span class="inline-expand-image inline-icon centered-icon rounded-icon article__fullscreen modern-visible" style="background-color: rgba(51, 51, 51, 0.6); border-radius: 62.5rem; display: inline-block; fill: rgb(255, 255, 255); height: 2.75rem; margin: 0.625rem; opacity: 1; position: absolute; right: 0px; top: 0px; transition: opacity 0.15s ease-out 0s; vertical-align: middle; width: 2.75rem;"><svg class="centered-icon__svg rounded-icon__svg article__fullscreen__svg modern-visible__svg inline-expand-image__svg inline-icon__svg" height="22" viewbox="0 0 22 22" width="22"><path d="M3.4 20.2L9 14.5 7.5 13l-5.7 5.6L1 14H0v7.5l.5.5H8v-1l-4.6-.8M18.7 1.9L13 7.6 14.4 9l5.7-5.7.5 4.7h1.2V.6l-.5-.5H14v1.2l4.7.6"></path></svg></span></a><figcaption class="caption caption--main caption--img" itemprop="description" style="color: #767676; font-family: "Guardian Text Sans Web", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 0.75rem; line-height: 1rem; max-width: 38.75rem; min-height: 0px; padding: 0.5rem 0px 0.375rem;"><span class="inline-triangle inline-icon hide-until-tablet" style="fill: rgb(199, 0, 0);"><svg class="hide-until-tablet__svg inline-triangle__svg inline-icon__svg" height="10" viewbox="0 0 11 10" width="11"><path d="M5.5 0L11 10H0z" fill-rule="evenodd"></path></svg> </span>A funeral ceremony in Tehran last week for two security officers killed during protests against fuel price hikes. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Anadolu</figcaption></figure></header><div class="content__article-body from-content-api js-article__body" data-test-id="article-review-body" itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #121212; font-family: "Guardian Text Egyptian Web", Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; line-height: 1.5rem; margin-left: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding-bottom: 4.5rem; position: relative;">
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<span class="drop-cap" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #ab0613; display: inline-block; float: left; font-family: "Guardian Egyptian Web", Georgia, serif; height: 5rem; margin-right: 0.3125rem; padding-top: 0.0625rem; text-transform: uppercase;"><span class="drop-cap__inner" style="display: inline-block; font-size: 6.8125rem; font-weight: 700; line-height: 4.6875rem; vertical-align: text-top;">T</span></span>urmoil in Baghdad, paralysis in Beirut and flames of unrest in Tehran; it has been a bad few months for <a class="u-underline" data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="auto-linked-tag" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/iran" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #ab0613; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s;">Iran</a> at home and elsewhere in the Middle East, where more than a decade of advances are being slowed, not by manoeuvrings on battlefields or legislatures – but the force of protest movements.</div>
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Early last week, Iran went dark for four days by closing its internet connections down. Even for the country’s autocratic leadership, this was a drastic step. But such are the stakes for a regime that is increasingly facing obstacles across its hubs of Shia influence. And those who laud Iran’s rise, as well as those who fear it, sense it is at a loss over how to respond.</div>
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The reaction to relentless anti-government protests in Iraq, which along with Lebanon is essential to Iran’s foreign projection, has so far been straight from a well-worn playbook. The initial weeks of the popular uprising were met with placatory speeches from Iraqi leaders, and a passive stance from security forces. But that changed in late-October and, since then, more than 300 people <a class="u-underline" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2019/nov/04/iraqi-security-forces-open-fire-on-protesters-in-fatal-clashes-in-baghdad-video" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #ab0613; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s;" title="">have been killed</a> and thousands wounded as Iraq’s leaders – directed by Iran’s generals have changed tack.</div>
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Gone is any notion of compromise. Instead, the din of bullets, grenades and sirens have become a soundtrack to demonstrations in Baghdad demanding the overthrow of the entire political system. While the protests are aimed at domestic issues – the insatiable graft of its leaders and widespread lack of opportunities for the young central to them – the post-Saddam years have seen Iran embed itself in nearly all aspects of Iraqi governance.</div>
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Its role as overlord has also raised the protesters’ ire – just as it has in <a class="u-underline" data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="auto-linked-tag" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/lebanon" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #ab0613; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s;">Lebanon</a>, where Iran’s most important arm of its foreign policy projection, Hezbollah, plays a dominant role in the country’s affairs.</div>
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Since the US-led invasion that ousted the Iraqi leader and especially since the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq in 2011, Iran had methodically consolidated itself in both countries. The war in Syria gave its regional gains even more impetus, as did the war against Isis, which allowed its proxy forces to establish footholds in the plains of western Iraq and eastern <a class="u-underline" data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="auto-linked-tag" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/syria" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #ab0613; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s;">Syria</a> as they helped defeat the terror group.</div>
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As Isis crumbled from late 2015, each area became a platform for a regional project that would finally allow Iran to fulfil long-held ambitions to consolidate a presence on the shores of the Mediterranean and the northern frontier of Israel. Iran took a stake in the Syrian port of Latakia, established a toehold on the Syrian Golan Heights, and an overland supply line from Tehran through the ruins of <a class="u-underline" data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="auto-linked-tag" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/iraq" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #ab0613; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s;">Iraq</a> and Syria and onwards to Lebanon.</div>
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Friend and foe alike saw the developments as a priceless strategic gain for Iran’s projection towards Israel and influence in the Arab world. Proxies in Baghdad and Beirut were not shy in touting what the land corridor meant for Iran’s ambitions. “This has established a historical presence for the Islamic Republic on Arab soil that will change the course of the region,” a senior member of the Iraqi militia, Asa’ib ahl al-Haq, told the <em>Observer </em>in late August. “The Zionists know this, and they fear it.”</div>
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Regional intelligence officials and Iraqi militia leaders say the overland route itself is a mish-mash of roads along the Iraqi/Syrian border, where a firm road is yet to be carved. Israeli airstrikes in the area have proven disruptive as have the chaotic departure – then re-arrival – of US troops, and the still simmering presence of Isis. Beyond the border area though, the paths to Damascus and west to Beirut, or northwest to Latakia are less problematic. “It becomes harder to monitor where things go from there,” said an official in Baghdad.</div>
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Over the past eight years, western diplomats have continually wrestled with what the unravelling of Syria meant for Iran, and for Hezbollah, which has played a prominent role in stabilising Bashar al-Assad since early 2013. Under the direction of Major General Qassem Suleimani, of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, Hezbollah and Shia militia proxies from Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan and Pakistan swung the war in Assad’s favour, strengthening Iran’s arc of influence. By earlier this year, Iran held a whip hand in four capitals outside Tehran, and was building even further momentum.</div>
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But Donald Trump’s decision earlier this year to overturn the nuclear agreement, the signature foreign policy deal of Barack Obama, and reimpose even tougher sanctions on Tehran marked a seminal moment. The sanctions regime amounted to an economic war, which many on the Iranian street railed against as a grave injustice imposed by a capricious foe who only several years earlier had wanted to do business.</div>
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With Iran’s economy now withering, some Iranians having revolted at a fuel price hike. And with its sources of projected influence under pressure elsewhere, Iran’s leaders are facing a reckoning, perhaps like no other in the post-Saddam period. Its gains, for now, remain secure.</div>
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“I’d say that Iran has undoubtedly used the chaos in Syria to strengthen its control over the strategic routes leading to Lebanon,” said one western diplomat. Syria has allowed Iran to make enormous progress in terms of military capacity transfers. For Hezbollah Syria has become a sort of backstage storage for sensitive military equipment.</div>
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Sir John Jenkins, one of Britain’s longest-serving regional ambassadors, who led missions in Baghdad, Riyadh, Damascus, and East Jerusalem, said: “There was a time when Iranian pretensions to defend the oppressed and punish the corrupt resonated more widely in the region. But what is left is only a distant, fading echo of this – as many Shia scholars warned would happen. We see the consequences in the reactions of Iraqi, Lebanese and now Iranian Shia protesters who are tired of being instrumentalised and want a better life now not in some Khomeinist paradise.</div>
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Iran can impose its will now only by massive violence. That might still work for the moment. And the regime has revolution-proofed itself by the construction of an interlocking system of praetorian guards. But the community of true believers is shrinking. Just look at religious observance inside Iran. It’s collapsed. And any real moral authority that the revolution might once have had is gone.</div>
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“Syria was a massive turning point. Iraq is another now. And we’re beginning to see protesters talk to each other across national boundaries. It’s a process of erosion. The last true believers are probably those on the European left who think Iran is a bastion against US neo-liberal orientalist-inflected neo-colonialism. That says it all.</div>
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“Iran has become normalised – just another repressive Middle Eastern state ruled by greedy self-serving elites who can’t even imagine let alone countenance what peaceful political evolution would look like.”</div>
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In Lebanon, where a cross-sectarian movement has taken to the streets as the country’s economy collapses around them, the narrative that the government and its patrons abroad supports their aspirations has broken. Under grave pressure too is a political system that has sustained a weak state, now exposed as untenable. In Beirut and Baghdad, protesters appear to have crossed a point of no return; they have more to lose by leaving the streets than they do by staying there.</div>
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The western diplomat said: “This is something Iran has never faced before. How it responds will determine whether its achievements survive.”</div>
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Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03651921134005888649noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30874880.post-35395226508143078342019-09-30T07:52:00.001-07:002019-09-30T07:52:31.334-07:00Emad Hajjaj's Cartoon: "I prefer a political solution" - MBS <img alt="مقابلة بن سلمان" src="https://www.alaraby.co.uk/File/GetImageHighQuality/f9b0bdcc-57ad-4b6d-9b1e-442c44000bf3/727/409" />Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03651921134005888649noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30874880.post-73365096122244703772019-09-18T09:01:00.001-07:002019-09-18T09:01:31.902-07:00A GREAT CARTOON BY EMAD HAJJAJ: TRUMP AND THE SAUDIS<img alt="تراÙ
ب ÙاÙسعÙدÙØ©" src="https://www.alaraby.co.uk/File/GetImageHighQuality/8ad3576a-84f5-492c-8981-97a13a849013/727/409" />Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03651921134005888649noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30874880.post-88977320334876044402019-08-16T13:00:00.001-07:002019-08-16T13:00:53.945-07:00A GOOD VIDEO: Burnett: This excuse is a blatant lie<iframe width="416" height="234" src="//fave.api.cnn.io/v1/fav/?video=politics/2019/08/15/erin-burnett-monologue-trump-tlaib-omar-israel-ebof-vpx.cnn&customer=cnn&edition=domestic&env=prod" frameborder="0"></iframe>Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03651921134005888649noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30874880.post-11628187737042421492019-07-25T11:38:00.001-07:002019-07-26T07:48:10.557-07:00Ilhan Omar: It Is Not Enough to Condemn Trump’s Racism<b><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">AN EXCELLENT OPINION PIECE</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">FROM THE N Y TIMES</span></b><br />
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/25/opinion/ilhan-omar-trump-racism.html"><br /></a>
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/25/opinion/ilhan-omar-trump-racism.html">Link</a><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">Throughout history, demagogues have used state power to target minority communities and political enemies, often culminating in state violence. Today, we face that threat in our own country, where the president of the United States is using the influence of our highest office to mount racist attacks on communities across the land. In recent weeks, he has lashed out unprompted against four freshman Democrats in the House of Representatives: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, and me, from Minnesota.</span><br />
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Last week, as President Trump watched the crowd at one of his rallies chant “Send her back,” aimed at me and my family, I was reminded of times when such fearmongering was allowed to flourish. I also couldn’t help but remember the horrors of civil war in Somalia that my family and I escaped, the America we expected to find and the one we actually experienced.</div>
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The president’s rally will be a defining moment in American history. It reminds us of the grave stakes of the coming presidential election: that this fight is not merely about policy ideas; it is a fight for the soul of our nation. The ideals at the heart of our founding — equal protection under the law, pluralism, religious liberty — are under attack, and it is up to all of us to defend them.</div>
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Having survived civil war in my home country as a child, I cherish these values. In Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, I saw grade-school children as young as me holding assault rifles in the streets. I spent four years in a refugee camp in Kenya, where there was no formal schooling or even running water. But my family and I persevered, fortified by our deep solidarity with one another, the compassion of others and the hope of a better life in the United States.</div>
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The America we arrived in was different from the one my grandfather had hoped to find. The land of opportunity he imagined was in fact full of challenges. People identified me in ways that were foreign to me: immigrant, black. I learned that these identities carried stigmas, and I experienced prejudice as a visibly Muslim woman.</div>
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But the beauty of this country is not that our democracy is perfect. It’s that embedded in our Constitution and democratic institutions are the tools to make it better. It was in the diverse community of Minneapolis — the very community that welcomed me home with open arms after Mr. Trump’s attacks against me last week — where I learned the true value of democracy. I started attending political caucuses with my grandfather, who cherished democracy as only someone who has experienced its absence could. I soon recognized that the only way to ensure that everyone in my community had a voice was by participating in the democratic process.</div>
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Today, that basic promise is under threat. Our democratic institutions have been weaponized. The Trump administration has sought to restrict people from exercising their voting rights. It has sought to undermine the basic checks and balances of our Constitution by not respecting subpoenas from Congress. And the president has used overtly racist rhetoric to strike fear and division in communities of color and religious minorities across the country.</div>
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The idea — explicitly expressed by this president and enshrined into law by executive order — that people from certain Muslim-majority countries cannot enter this country is not just bad policy; it is a direct threat to liberal democracy. The chants of “Jews will not replace us,” shouted at a rally in Charlottesville in 2017 by white supremacists, whom this president tacitly accepted, are a direct attack on the values of religious freedom central to the founding of our nation.</div>
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The reasons for weaponizing division are not mysterious. Racial fear prevents Americans from building community with one another — and community is the lifeblood of a functioning democratic society. Throughout our history, racist language has been used to turn American against American in order to benefit the wealthy elite. Every time Mr. Trump attacks refugees is a time that could be spent discussing the president’s unwillingness to <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://lacyclay.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/us-house-passes-raise-wage-act-increase-federal-minimum-wage-15-hour" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="border: 0px; color: #326891; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="">raise the federal minimum wage</a> for up to 33 million Americans. Every racist attack on four members of Congress is a moment he doesn’t have to address why his choice for labor secretary has spent his career defending Wall Street banks and Walmart at the expense of workers. When he is launching attacks on the free press, he isn’t talking about why his Environmental Protection Agency just <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/18/climate/epa-chlorpyrifos-pesticide-ban.html?module=inline" style="border: 0px; color: #326891; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;" title="">refused to ban</a> a pesticide linked to <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/24/business/epa-pesticides-studies-epidemiology.html?module=inline" style="border: 0px; color: #326891; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;" title="">brain damage</a> in children.</div>
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His efforts to pit religious minorities against one another stem from the same playbook. If working Americans are too busy fighting with one another, we will never address the very real and deep problems our country faces — from climate change to soaring inequality to lack of quality affordable health care.</div>
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The only way to push back is to be unequivocal about our values. It is not enough to condemn Mr. Trump’s racism. We must affirmatively confront racist policies — whether the caging of immigrant children at the border or the banning of Muslim immigrants or the allowing of segregation in public housing. It is not enough to condemn the corruption and self-dealing of this administration. We must support policies that unmistakably improve working people’s lives, including by strengthening collective bargaining, raising the minimum wage and pursuing a universal jobs guarantee.</div>
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The consequences of this fight will not just be felt here at home but around the world. Right-wing nationalism in Hungary, Russia, France, Britain and elsewhere is on the march in ways not seen in decades. America has been a beacon of democratic ideals for the world. If we succumb to the fever of right-wing nationalism, it will have consequences far beyond our borders.</div>
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The proudest moments in our history — from the Emancipation Proclamation to the civil rights movement to the struggle against fascism — have come when we fight to protect and expand basic democratic rights. Today, democracy is under attack once again. It’s time to respond with the kind of conviction that has made America great before.</div>
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Ilhan Omar is a Democratic congresswoman from Minnesota.</div>
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Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03651921134005888649noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30874880.post-53859599876195091592019-07-19T09:27:00.001-07:002019-07-19T09:27:11.739-07:00Emad Hajjaj's Cartoon: The American ISIS<img alt="اÙÙÙاÙات اÙÙ
تØدة ÙÙ Ù
عرÙØ© اÙÙÙÙØ©" src="https://www.alaraby.co.uk/File/GetImageCustom/578d337e-13e2-4a12-bbd6-8c751f71f4f2/655/368" />Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03651921134005888649noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30874880.post-69781271982372675742019-07-15T08:30:00.004-07:002019-07-15T08:30:40.113-07:00Emad Hajjaj's Cartoon: Trump the Nazi Tweeter<img alt="تراÙ
ب اÙÙاز٠اÙÙ
غرد" src="https://www.alaraby.co.uk/File/GetImageHighQuality/346434f2-dfcf-4f13-940c-120a1d03cfe4/727/409" />Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03651921134005888649noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30874880.post-3160075880997000252019-06-24T05:38:00.005-07:002019-06-24T05:38:58.200-07:00Arab world turns its back on religion – and its ire on the US<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/jun/24/arab-world-turns-its-back-on-religion-and-its-ire-on-the-us">Link</a><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #121212; font-family: "Guardian Egyptian Web", Georgia, serif; font-size: 17px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; font-weight: 700;">Survey of 25,000 people in Middle East and North Africa also shows 52% of 18- to 29-year-olds are thinking about migrating</span><br />
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<header class="content__head content__head--article tonal__head tonal__head--tone-news" style="background-color: white; color: #121212; display: grid; font-family: "Guardian Text Egyptian Web", Georgia, serif; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; grid-template-areas: "labels headline-standfirst" "meta main-media"; grid-template-columns: 10rem 1fr; margin-left: -10rem;"><figure class="media-primary media-content () " data-component="image" data-media-id="29cb6f1e3d11a8caa23ff8d57d7098ca801ca85f" id="img-1" itemprop="associatedMedia image" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" style="grid-area: main-media / main-media / main-media / main-media; margin: 0px 0px 0.375rem; position: relative;"><a class="article__img-container js-gallerythumbs" data-is-ajax="" data-link-name="Launch Article Lightbox" href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/jun/24/arab-world-turns-its-back-on-religion-and-its-ire-on-the-us#img-1" style="background: transparent; color: #c70000; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation;"><div class="u-responsive-ratio" style="overflow: hidden; padding-bottom: 372px; position: relative; width: 620px;">
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The Arab world is turning its back on religion and on US relations, according to the largest public opinion survey ever carried out in the region.</div>
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A survey of more than 25,000 people across 10 countries and the <a class="u-underline" data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="auto-linked-tag" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/palestinian-territories" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #ab0613; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s;">Palestinian territories</a> found that trust in religious leaders has plummeted in recent years.</div>
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The study, compiled by BBC News Arabic and Arab Barometer, a Princeton University-based research network, also identified a marked rise in the proportion of people describing themselves as “not religious” – from 11% in 2012-2014 to 18% this year.</div>
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Just 12% of the countries surveyed – which included Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, <a class="u-underline" data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="auto-linked-tag" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/morocco" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #ab0613; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s;">Morocco</a>, Palestine, Sudan, Tunisia and Yemen – had a positive view of Donald Trump. More than twice as many (28%) felt positively towards Russia’s Vladimir Putin, while Turkey’s Recep Erdogan fared the best (51%).</div>
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At least 60% of respondents in eight of the 11 places surveyed said violence against the US was a logical consequence of interference in the region. The sentiment was most pronounced in <a class="u-underline" data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="auto-linked-tag" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/lebanon" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #ab0613; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s;">Lebanon</a>, Palestine and Yemen, where 75% or more of those surveyed were of this view.</div>
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Respondents also expressed concern over rising disquiet in their home countries: people in <a class="u-underline" data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="auto-linked-tag" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/algeria" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #ab0613; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s;">Algeria</a>, Iraq, Jordan, Libya, Palestine and Sudan, said they felt they were sliding towards dictatorship. More than six in 10 Algerians, and four in 10 Sudanese, believe the last elections were not free and fair, the survey found.</div>
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Michael Robbins, the director of Arab Barometer, said the survey – which was conducted at random in private and face-to-face, and consisted largely of multiple-choice questions answered on a tablet<strong> </strong>–<strong> </strong>presented a number of significant findings.</div>
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“Most importantly, in the vast majority of countries surveyed, governments are not meeting the expectations of their citizens,” said Robbins.</div>
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“Often, trust in government tracks more closely with performance on providing security than on economic issues.”</div>
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Respondents expressed a change in attitudes over a number of other issues, from migration and mental health to women’s and LGBT rights.</div>
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<strong>RELIGION</strong></div>
<figure class="element element-interactive interactive" data-alt="trust in religious leaders" data-canonical-url="https://interactive.guim.co.uk/charts/embed/jun/2019-06-21T16:37:53/embed.html" data-interactive="https://interactive.guim.co.uk/embed/iframe-wrapper/0.1/boot.js" style="margin: 1rem 0px 0.75rem; position: relative;"><iframe height="364" src="https://interactive.guim.co.uk/charts/embed/jun/2019-06-21T16:37:53/embed.html" style="border-style: none; border-width: initial; width: 620px;"></iframe></figure><div style="margin-bottom: 1rem; padding: 0px;">
The proportion of people who said they were not religious rose from 11% in 2012-14 to 18% in 2019. Trust in religious leaders has also decreased everywhere but <a class="u-underline" data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="auto-linked-tag" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/yemen" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #ab0613; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s;">Yemen</a>. Iraq, Palestine and Sudan showed the steepest drops in confidence.</div>
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Trust in Islamist movements, such as Hamas, Hezbollah and the Muslim Brotherhood, is even lower than for religious leaders Faith in Tunisia’s <a class="u-underline" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/27/tunisia-islamist-ennahda-accept-defeat-elections" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #ab0613; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s;">Ennahda</a> party has declined by 24% in Tunisia since 2011, by 21% in Jordan since 2012, and by 20% since 2013 in Morocco, the survey claims.</div>
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<strong>WOMEN’S RIGHTS</strong></div>
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Across the region, most respondents supported a woman’s right to divorce her husband but felt that husbands rather than wives should have the final say on family decisions.</div>
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In 91% of the places surveyed, majorities said women should be allowed to serve as head of government in a Muslim country, but the same margin claimed that men are better political leaders.</div>
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The notion of a female political president or prime minister was most acceptable in Lebanon, Morocco and <a class="u-underline" data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="auto-linked-tag" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/tunisia" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #ab0613; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s;">Tunisia</a>, and least acceptable in Algeria and Sudan.</div>
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Dima Dabbous, Equality Now’s regional director for the <a class="u-underline" data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="auto-linked-tag" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/middleeast" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #ab0613; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s;">Middle East and North Africa</a>, said the apparent contradiction in responses was “indicative of the dominant mood in the region”.</div>
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“There is a realisation that gender equality is a marker of progress and the ‘right thing’ to say is to support women empowerment. But when the framing of the question focuses on the role of men, then the real patriarchal, male-centric bias comes to the surface,” said Dabbous.</div>
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“Women in the Middle East and North Africa are getting more educated and participating increasingly in the labour force, but their empowerment will remain incomplete as long as they are still excluded from decision-making positions and political participation.”</div>
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<strong>MIGRATION</strong></div>
<figure class="element element-interactive interactive" data-alt="percentage of people considering emigration" data-canonical-url="https://interactive.guim.co.uk/charts/embed/jun/2019-06-21T17:02:45/embed.html" data-interactive="https://interactive.guim.co.uk/embed/iframe-wrapper/0.1/boot.js" style="margin: 1rem 0px 0.75rem; position: relative;"><iframe height="543" src="https://interactive.guim.co.uk/charts/embed/jun/2019-06-21T17:02:45/embed.html" style="border-style: none; border-width: initial; width: 620px;"></iframe></figure><div style="margin-bottom: 1rem; padding: 0px;">
More than half (52%) of 18- to 29-year-olds surveyed in Algeria, Egypt, <a class="u-underline" data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="auto-linked-tag" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/jordan" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #ab0613; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s;">Jordan</a>, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine and Tunisia said they were considering migrating – an increase of 10% from 2016 figures.</div>
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Moroccan adults under 30 exhibited the greatest desire to leave their home country, with 70% thinking about emigrating. But almost half the entire population surveyed in Jordan and <a class="u-underline" data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="auto-linked-tag" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/sudan" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #ab0613; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s;">Sudan</a>, and one-third in Iraq, said they were contemplating leaving. Europe was the first choice for North Africans, while Egyptians, Sudanese and Yemenis favoured the Gulf. North America was the top destination for people in Jordan and Lebanon, according to the survey.</div>
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The figures also revealed that potential migrants would be willing to leave without official papers: more than 40% of Algerians, Sudanese and Tunisians, and 38% of Iraqis, Moroccans and Yemenis said they would leave without formal documentation.</div>
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<strong>LGBT RIGHTS</strong></div>
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In the West Bank, only 5% of respondents said it was acceptable to be gay; in Lebanon, the figure was 6%, while in <a class="u-underline" data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="auto-linked-tag" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/iraq" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #ab0613; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s;">Iraq</a>, Jordan and Tunisia it was 7%. Algeria showed the greatest tolerance, with 26% of respondents expressing no objection to homosexuality.</div>
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For taboo or difficult questions, respondents were asked to select “acceptable practices” from a series of options. People believed “honour” killings were more acceptable than being gay in all but one of the countries where this question was asked (Algeria, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Sudan and Tunisia).</div>
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In Algeria, for example, 26% of respondents said being gay was acceptable, while 27% believed “honour” killings were acceptable; in Jordan, the figures were 7% and 21%. Sudan was the only country where a greater number of respondents found homosexuality more acceptable than “honour” killings (17% v 14%).</div>
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Dabbous said the responses demonstrated a machismo still heavily prevalent across the region.</div>
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“Of course ‘honour’ killings are more acceptable than homosexuality. [They] preserve a social order based on ‘male honour’ and dominant masculinity – which is heterosexual – while homosexuality is a threat to it.”</div>
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<strong>MENTAL HEALTH</strong></div>
<figure class="element element-interactive interactive" data-alt="percentage of people who report feeling depressed" data-canonical-url="https://interactive.guim.co.uk/charts/embed/jun/2019-06-21T17:03:40/embed.html" data-interactive="https://interactive.guim.co.uk/embed/iframe-wrapper/0.1/boot.js" style="margin: 1rem 0px 0.75rem; position: relative;"><iframe height="406" src="https://interactive.guim.co.uk/charts/embed/jun/2019-06-21T17:03:40/embed.html" style="border-style: none; border-width: initial; width: 620px;"></iframe></figure><div style="margin-bottom: 1rem; padding: 0px;">
On average, one in three people surveyed said they felt depressed, with the highest proportion in Iraq (43%), Tunisia (40%) and Palestine (37%). Women and less affluent respondents appeared most affected, the survey found.</div>
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Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03651921134005888649noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30874880.post-46261337906584168972019-06-20T09:28:00.000-07:002019-06-20T09:28:34.802-07:00The Cult of Trump<b><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">AN EXCELLENT ARTICLE!!</span></b><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "pt serif" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">Only when we recognize Trump as a cult leader, and many of those who support him as cult followers, will we understand where we are headed and how we must resist</span><br />
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<span class="pb-byline" itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a href="https://www.commondreams.org/author/chris-hedges" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: inherit; color: #336699; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Chris Hedges</a></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/06/10/cult-trump?fbclid=IwAR0cdDVEMksptT-Loj758i5Z5nYdR1dior1iutgmUYBoEr7ZBp0cY-jTd1U">Link</a></div>
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The cult leader constantly paints a picture of an existential threat, often invented, that puts the cult followers in danger. (Photo: Mr. Fish / Truthdig) </div>
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<em style="box-sizing: inherit;">Editor’s note: The 45th president’s <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/02/politics/trump-impeachment-mueller-testify-cnn-poll/index.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: inherit; color: #336699; text-decoration-line: none;">approval ratings</a> remain steady despite numerous scandals and missteps. Below is a Oct. 29, 2018, column in which Hedges analyzes Donald Trump’s seemingly indefatigable appeal. Hedges is speaking in London on Monday and will return with a new column on Julian Assange on Tuesday.</em></div>
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Cult leaders arise from decayed communities and societies in which people have been shorn of political, social and economic power. The disempowered, infantilized by a world they cannot control, gravitate to cult leaders who appear omnipotent and promise a return to a mythical golden age. The cult leaders vow to crush the forces, embodied in demonized groups and individuals, that are blamed for their misery. The more outrageous the cult leaders become, the more they flout law and social conventions, the more they gain in popularity. Cult leaders are immune to the norms of established society. This is their appeal. Cult leaders demand a God-like power. Those who follow them grant them this power in the hope that the cult leaders will save them.</div>
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Donald Trump has transformed the decayed carcass of the Republican Party into a cult. All cults are personality cults. They are extensions of the cult leaders. The cult reflects the leader’s prejudices, worldview, personal style and ideas. Trump did not create the yearning for a cult leader. Huge segments of the population, betrayed by the established elites, were conditioned for a cult leader. They were desperately looking for someone to rescue them and solve their problems. They found their cult leader in the New York real estate developer and reality television show star. Only when we recognize Trump as a cult leader, and many of those who support him as cult followers, will we understand where we are headed and how we must resist.</div>
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It was 40 years ago next month that a messianic preacher named <a href="https://www.biography.com/people/jim-jones-10367607" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: inherit; color: #336699; text-decoration-line: none;">Jim Jones</a> convinced or forced more than 900 of his followers, including roughly 280 children, to die by ingesting a cyanide-laced drink. Trump’s refusal to acknowledge and address the impending crisis of ecocide and the massive mismanagement of the economy by kleptocrats, his bellicosity, his threats against Iran and China and the withdrawal from nuclear arms treaties, along with his demonization of all who oppose him, ensure our cultural and, if left unchecked, physical extinction. Cult leaders are driven, at their core, by the death instinct, the instinct to annihilate and destroy rather than nurture and create. Trump shares many of the characteristics of Jones as well as other cult leaders including Marshall Herff Applewhite and Bonnie Lu Nettles, the founders of the Heaven’s Gate cult; the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, who led the Unification Church; Credonia Mwerinde, who led the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God in Uganda; Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Gong; and David Koresh, who led the Branch Davidian cult in Waco, Texas. Cult leaders are narcissists. They demand obsequious fawning and total obedience. They prize loyalty above competence. They wield absolute control. They do not tolerate criticism. They are deeply insecure, a trait they attempt to cover up with bombastic grandiosity. They are amoral and emotionally and physically abusive. They see those around them as objects to be manipulated for their own empowerment, enjoyment and often sadistic entertainment. All those outside the cult are branded as forces of evil, prompting an epic battle whose natural expression is violence.</div>
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“A cult is a mirror of what is inside the cult leader,” Margaret Thaler Singer wrote in “Cults in Our Midst.” “He has no restraints on him. He can make his fantasies and desires come alive in the world he creates around him. He can lead people to do his bidding. He can make the surrounding world really his world. What most cult leaders achieve is akin to the fantasies of a child at play, creating a world with toys and utensils. In that play world, the child feels omnipotent and creates a realm of his own for a few minutes or a few hours. He moves the toy dolls about. They do his bidding. They speak his words back to him. He punishes them any way he wants. He is all-powerful and makes his fantasy come alive. When I see the sand tables and the collections of toys some child therapists have in their offices, I think that a cult leader must look about and place people in his created world much as a child creates on the sand table a world that reflects his or her desires and fantasies. The difference is that the cult leader has actual humans doing his bidding as he makes a world around him that springs from inside his own head.”</div>
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George Orwell understood that cult leaders manipulate followers primarily through language, not force. This linguistic manipulation is a gradual process. It is rooted in continual mental chaos and verbal confusion. Lies, conspiracy theories, outlandish ideas and contradictory statements that defy reality and fact soon paralyze the opposition. The opposition, with every attempt to counter this absurdism with the rational—such as the decision by Barack Obama to make his birth certificate public or by Sen. Elizabeth Warren to release the results of her DNA test to prove she has Native American ancestry—plays to the cult leader. The cult leader does not take his or her statements seriously and often denies ever making them, even when they are documented. Lies and truth do not matter. The language of the cult leader is designed exclusively to appeal to the emotional needs of those in the cult.</div>
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“Hitler kept his enemies in a state of constant confusion and diplomatic upheaval,” Joost A.M. Meerloo wrote in “The Rape of the Mind: The Psychology of Thought Control, Menticide, and Brainwashing.” “They never knew what this unpredictable madman was going to do next. Hitler was never logical, because he knew that that was what he was expected to be. Logic can be met with logic, while illogic cannot—it confuses those who think straight. The Big Lie and monotonously repeated nonsense have more emotional appeal in a cold war than logic and reason. While the enemy is still searching for a reasonable counter-argument to the first lie, the totalitarians can assault him with another.”</div>
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The cult leader grooms followers to speak in the language of hate and violence. The cult leader constantly paints a picture of an existential threat, often invented, that puts the cult followers in danger. Trump is doing this by demonizing the caravan of some 4,000 immigrants, most from Honduras, moving through southern Mexico. Caravans of immigrants, are, in fact, nothing new. The beleaguered and impoverished asylum seekers, including many families with children, are 1,000 miles from the Texas border. But Trump, aided by nearly nonstop coverage by Fox News and Christian broadcasting, is using the caravan to terrify his followers, just as he, along with these media outlets, portrayed the protesters who flooded the U.S. capital to oppose the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh as unruly mobs. Trump claims the Democrats want to open the border to these “criminals” and to “unknown Middle Easterners” who are, he suggests, radical jihadists. Christian broadcasting operations, such as Pat Robertson’s The 700 Club, splice pictures of marching jihadists in black uniforms cradling automatic weapons into the video shots of the caravan.</div>
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The fear mongering and rhetoric of hate and violence, as I saw in the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Bosnian-conflict" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: inherit; color: #336699; text-decoration-line: none;">former Yugoslavia</a>, eventually lead to widespread acts of violence against <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wu4ma11n5HM" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: inherit; color: #336699; text-decoration-line: none;">those the cult leader defines as the enemy</a>. The 13 explosive devices sent last week to Trump critics and leaders of the Democratic Party, including Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, along with George Soros, James Clapper and CNN, allegedly by Cesar Sayoc, an ex-stripper and fanatic Trump supporter who was living out of his van, herald more violence. Trump, tossing gasoline on the flames, used this assault against much of the leadership of the Democratic Party to again attack the press, or, as he calls it, “the enemy of the people.” “A very big part of the Anger we see today in our society is caused by the purposely false and inaccurate reporting of the Mainstream Media that I refer to as Fake News,” he tweeted. “It has gotten so bad and hateful that is beyond description. Mainstream Media must clean up its acts, FAST!”</div>
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It should come as no surprise that on Saturday another enraged American white male, his fury and despair seemingly stoked by the diatribes and conspiracy theories of the far right, entered a Pittsburgh synagogue and massacred eight men and three women as he shouted anti-Semitic abuse. Shot by police and arrested at the scene was Robert Bowers, who believes that Jewish groups are aiding the caravan of immigrants in southern Mexico. He was armed with a military-style AR-15 assault rifle, plus three handguns. The proliferation of easily accessible high-caliber weapons, coupled with the division of the country into the blessed and the damned by Trump and his fellow cultists, threatens to turn the landscape of the United States into one that resembles Mexico, where at least 145 people in politics, including 48 candidates and pre-candidates, along with party leaders and campaign workers, have been<a href="https://www.efe.com/efe/english/portada/at-least-145-politicians-killed-in-run-up-to-mexico-elections/50000260-3672104" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: inherit; color: #336699; text-decoration-line: none;"> assassinated</a>over the last 12 months, according to Etellekt, a risk analysis firm in Mexico. There have been 627 incidents of violence against politicians, 206 threats and acts of intimidation, 57 firearm assaults and 52 attacks on family members that resulted in 50 fatalities. Trump’s response to the mass shooting at the synagogue was to say places of worship should have armed guards, a call for further proliferation of firearms. Look south if you want a vision of our future.</div>
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Domestic terrorism and nihilistic violence are the natural outcomes of the economic, social and political stagnation, the total seizure of power by a corporate cabal and oligarchic elite, and the contamination of civil discourse by cult leaders.</div>
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Domestic terrorism and nihilistic violence are the natural outcomes of the economic, social and political stagnation, the total seizure of power by a corporate cabal and oligarchic elite, and the contamination of civil discourse by cult leaders. The weaponization of language is proliferating, as seen in the vile rhetoric that characterizes many political campaigns for the midterm elections, including the racist robocall sent out against Andrew Gillum, an African-American candidate for the governorship of Florida. “Well, hello there. I is the negro Andrew Gillum and I’ll be askin’ you to make me governor of this here state of Florida,” a man speaking in a caricature of a black dialect accompanied by jungle noises said in the robocall. Cults externalize evil. Evil is embodied in the demonized other, whether desperate immigrants, black political candidates and voters, or the Democratic Party. The only way to purge this “evil” and restore America to “greatness” is to eradicate these human contaminants.</div>
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The cult leader, unlike a traditional politician, makes no effort to reach out to his opponents. The cult leader seeks to widen the divisions. The leader brands those outside the cult as irredeemable. The leader seeks the omnipotence to crush those who do not kneel in adoration. The followers, yearning to be protected and empowered by the cult leader, seek to give the cult leader omnipotence. Democratic norms, an impediment to the leader’s omnipotence, are attacked and abolished. Those in the cult seek to be surrounded by the cult leader’s magical aura. Reality is sacrificed for fantasy. Those who challenge the fantasy are not considered human. They are Satanic.</div>
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Meerloo wrote:</div>
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The dictator is not only a sick man, he is also a cruel opportunist. He sees no value in any other person and feels no gratitude for any help he may have received. He is suspicious and dishonest and believes that his personal ends justify any means he may use to achieve them. Peculiarly enough, every tyrant still searches for some self-justification. Without such a soothing device for his own conscience, he cannot live. His attitude toward other people is manipulative; to him, they are merely tools for the advancement of his own interests. He rejects the conception of doubt, of internal contradictions, or man’s inborn ambivalence. He denies the psychological fact that man grows to maturity through groping, through trial and error, through the interplay of contrasting feelings. Because he will not permit himself to grope, to learn through trial and error, the dictator can never become a mature person. … It is because the dictator is afraid, albeit unconsciously, of his own internal contradictions, that he is afraid of the same internal contradictions of his fellow man. He must purge and purge, terrorize and terrorize in order to still his own raging inner drives. He must kill every doubter, destroy every person who makes a mistake, imprison everyone who cannot be proved to be utterly single-minded.</div>
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Behavior that ensures the destruction of a public figure’s career does not affect a cult leader. It does not matter how many lies uttered by Trump are meticulously documented by The New York Times or The Washington Post. It does not matter that Trump’s personal financial interests, as we see in his relationship with the Saudis, take precedence over the rule of law, diplomatic protocols and national security. It does not matter that he is credibly charged by numerous women with being a sexual predator, a common characteristic of cult leaders. It does not matter that he is inept, lazy and ignorant. The establishment, whose credibility has been destroyed because of its complicity in empowering the ruling oligarchy and the corporate state, might as well be blowing soap bubbles at Trump. Their vitriol, to his followers, only justifies the hatred radiating from the cult.</div>
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The cult leader responds to only one emotion—fear. The cult leader, usually a coward, will react when he thinks he is in danger. The cult leader will bargain and compromise when afraid. The cult leader will give the appearance of being flexible and reasonable. But as soon as the cult leader is no longer afraid, the old patterns of behavior return, with a special venom directed at those who were able to momentarily impinge upon his power.</div>
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The removal of Trump from power would not remove the yearning of tens of millions of people, many conditioned by the Christian right, for a cult leader. Most of the leaders of the Christian right have built cult followings of their own. These Christian fascists embraced magical thinking, attacked their enemies as agents of Satan and denounced reality-based science and journalism long before Trump did. Cults are a product of social decay and despair, and our decay and despair are expanding, soon to explode in another financial crisis.</div>
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The efforts by the Democratic Party and much of the press, including CNN and The New York Times, to discredit Trump, as if our problems are embodied in him, are futile. The smug, self-righteousness of this crusade against Trump only contributes to the national reality television show that has replaced journalism and politics. This crusade attempts to reduce a social, economic and political crisis to the personality of Trump. It is accompanied by a refusal to confront and name the corporate forces responsible for our failed democracy. This collusion with the forces of corporate oppression neuters the press and Trump’s mainstream critics.</div>
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Our only hope is to organize the overthrow of the corporate state that vomited up Trump. Our democratic institutions, including the legislative bodies, the courts and the media, are hostage to corporate power. They are no longer democratic. We must, like liberation movements of the past, engage in acts of sustained mass civil disobedience and non-cooperation. By turning our ire on the corporate state, we name the true sources of power and abuse. We expose the absurdity of blaming our demise on demonized groups such as undocumented workers, Muslims, African-Americans, Latinos, liberals, feminists, gays and others. We give people an alternative to a Democratic Party that refuses to confront the corporate forces of oppression and cannot be rehabilitated. We make possible the restoration of an open society. If we fail to embrace this militancy, which alone has the ability to destroy cult leaders, we will continue the march toward tyranny.</div>
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Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03651921134005888649noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30874880.post-49346895235865342102019-05-31T09:28:00.001-07:002019-05-31T09:28:53.851-07:00أما آن للقيادة الفلسطينية أن تتنحّى؟<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: right; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://www.alaraby.co.uk/author/2014/4/10/%D8%A3%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%A9-%D8%A3%D8%A8%D9%88-%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%B4%D9%8A%D8%AF" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Nassim; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: right; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">أسامة أبو ارشيد</span></a></span><br />
<a href="https://www.alaraby.co.uk/opinion/2019/5/30/%D8%A3%D9%85%D8%A7-%D8%A2%D9%86-%D9%84%D9%84%D9%82%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%B7%D9%8A%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A3%D9%86-%D8%AA%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%AD%D9%89-1"><br /></a>
<a href="https://www.alaraby.co.uk/opinion/2019/5/30/%D8%A3%D9%85%D8%A7-%D8%A2%D9%86-%D9%84%D9%84%D9%82%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%B7%D9%8A%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A3%D9%86-%D8%AA%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%AD%D9%89-1">Link</a><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Nassim; font-size: 22px; text-align: justify;">يميل الرئيس الفلسطيني، محمود عباس (أبو مازن)، في أحيان كثيرة، إلى استخدام مفردات مباشرة ومستفزة للتعبير عن مواقف سياسية يراها مركزية، حتى أنه ليخيل إليك أنك تقف أمام رئيس ثوري بامتياز. المشكلة أنك تجد في حالة عباس بونا شاسعا بين التعبير عن الموقف والسلوك السياسي. ولا يُستبعد أن ثمّة خلطا في ذهن الرجل بين قنبلة صوتية يلقيها عبر ميكروفون وسياسة يمارسها على الأرض. جديد الأمثلة في هذا السياق تصريحات عباس، يوم الثلاثاء الماضي (28 مايو/ أيار)، عن المؤتمر الاقتصادي العالمي الذي تزمع الولايات المتحدة عقده في البحرين تحت لافتة "السلام من أجل الازدهار"، في 25 و26 يونيو/ حزيران المقبل. "ستذهب صفقة القرن أو صفقة العار إلى الجحيم بإذن الله، وسيذهب المشروع الاقتصادي الذي يعملون على عقده الشهر المقبل ليقدموا لنا أوهاما كذلك إلى الجحيم". هذا ما قاله أبو مازن. وهو سبق له أن وصف، في سياق التصريحات العرمرمية، "صفقة القرن" بـأنها "صفعة القرن". كما سبق له أن نعت السفير الأميركي في إسرائيل، ديفيد فريدمان، بـ"ابن الكلب". وخاطب الرئيس الأميركي، دونالد ترامب، بـ"يخرب بيتك" للسبب نفسه. </span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Nassim; font-size: 22px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Nassim; font-size: 22px; text-align: justify;">يتفق الشعب الفلسطيني وقواه الحية مع أبي مازن في الموقف من "صفقة القرن" من ناحية المبدأ، <i><b><span style="color: red;">ولكننا تعلمنا ألا نراهن على "مواقف" القيادة الفلسطينية الرسمية</span></b></i>، ذلك أنها <i><b><span style="color: blue;">دائما ما أعلنت المبدأ ومارست نقيضه على الأرض</span></b></i>. ولمن كانوا يعانون من ضعف ذاكرةٍ، فإننا نحيلهم إلى تصريحاتٍ وتوصياتٍ وقراراتٍ ومواقف كثيرة، صدرت في السنوات القليلة الماضية عن أبي مازن، وقيادات في السلطة الفلسطينية، والمجلسين، الوطني والمركزي، واللجنة التنفيذية لمنظمة التحرير الفلسطينية، تتوعد بإعادة النظر في الاعتراف بإسرائيل، ووقف التنسيق الأمني معها، فضلا عن إيقاف تجذير السلطة مهزلة "الاحتلال من دون كلفة" الذي تنعم به إسرائيل في الضفة الغربية. وكان هذا التعبير قنبلةً صوتيةً أخرى، أطلقها أبو مازن في يناير/ كانون الثاني 2018. أين كل تلك القرارات والتصريحات على أرض الواقع؟ إنك لن تجد لها أثرا، فمرة أخرى ثمّة فارق بين الواقع والمقال. </span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Nassim; font-size: 22px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Nassim; font-size: 22px; text-align: justify;">قال عباس عن مؤتمر البحرين المرتقب: "من يريد حل القضية الفلسطينية عليه أن يبدأ </span><br />
<table align="left" bgcolor="#BBBBD3" border="0" id="captionTable" style="color: black; font-family: Nassim; font-size: 22px; margin-right: 10px; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px; text-align: justify; width: 120px;"><tbody>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Nassim; font-size: 22px; text-align: justify;">بالقضية السياسية، وليس ببيع أوهام المليارات التي لا نعلق عليها آمالا، ولا نقبل بها، لأن قضيتنا سياسية بامتياز.. قضيتنا تتقدّم خطوة خطوة، وسنصل بإذن الله إلى الدولة الفلسطينية المستقلة وعاصمتها القدس الشريف". تُرى أيملك أبو مازن إجابةً لو سأله أحدهم: ما هي أمارات ودلائل تقدّم قضيتنا "خطوة خطوة" باتجاه "الدولة الفلسطينية المستقلة وعاصمتها القدس الشريف"؟ إنه قطعا لا يملك إجابة، دع عنك جانبا القنابل الصوتية التي تعبر عنها التصريحات والعبارات الرنانة. لقد اعترفت الولايات المتحدة بالقدس عاصمة لإسرائيل، ونقلت سفارتها إليها، وراهنت إدارة ترامب أن <i><b><span style="color: red;">غضب الفلسطينيين سيكون زوبعةً في فنجان لا تلبث أن تخمد، وقد كان، بفضل جهود السلطة في ضبط الإيقاع الشعبي الفلسطيني، والتواطؤ الأمني المستمر مع إسرائيل.</span></b></i> وفي مقاربة إدارة ترامب، لا يوجد ما يمنع أن يكون مصير كل معارضة من القيادة الرسمية الفلسطينية أي "صفعة" جديدة زوبعة أخرى في فنجان. </span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Nassim; font-size: 22px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Nassim; font-size: 22px; text-align: justify;">يتابع أبو مازن: "قلنا كلمتنا ونقولها في كل وقت، وأصدرنا البيانات اللازمة بأننا لن نقبل بهذا الاجتماع ونتائجه، لأنهم يبيعون لنا الأوهام التي لن يصل شيء منها إطلاقا، ونحن لسنا بحاجة لدعمهم، لأننا، بفضل جهود أبناء شعبنا الفلسطيني، قادرون على أن نبني دولةً عصريةً حديثة بكل امتياز". تُرى أتغني البيانات عن المواقف؟ <i><b><span style="color: blue;">وكيف لنا أن "نبني دولةً عصريةً حديثة"، وأجهزة أمن السلطة الفلسطينية تعتقل الناس على الرأي والانتماء السياسي، كما تقوم بالمهمات القذرة نيابة عن سلطات الاحتلال نفسها التي تهين الشعب الفلسطيني وقادته، بل وحتى رئيس السلطة الفلسطينية ذاته؟ </span></b></i></span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Nassim; font-size: 22px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Nassim; font-size: 22px; text-align: justify;">ليست القضية الفلسطينية بحاجة إلى "البيانات اللازمة" اليوم، بل هي بحاجةٍ إلى المواقف اللازمة. هي بحاجةٍ إلى إحياء المشروع الوطني الفلسطيني، وإعادة إطلاقه على أرضيةٍ توافقية، من دون المس بثوابته العليا والكبرى، وإضعافها مستقبلا. أيضا، <i><b><span style="color: red;">لا يمكن الحديث عن إنهاء الاحتلال، وأجهزة أمن السلطة تحوّلت إلى ذراع له، وقوة بطش تعمل نيابة عنه</span></b></i>. كما أنه لا يمكننا إسقاط "صفقة العار"، فيما نحن عاجزون عن إنهاء "انقسام العار" بين الضفة الغربية وقطاع غزة، الثغرة المخزية التي ينفذ منها مهندسو "صفقة العار". ليس الواقع العربي مخزيا فحسب، بل إن كثيرين من أطرافه متواطئون متآمرون على فلسطين، وكيف لهم ألا يتآمروا عليها، وهم لا يتورعون في إجهاض دولهم نفسها، وشعوبهم؟ </span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Nassim; font-size: 22px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Nassim; font-size: 22px; text-align: justify;">أهم المواقف اللازمة في هذه السياق أن تتنحّى القيادة الرسمية الفلسطينية عن الواجهة. منذ </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Nassim; font-size: 22px; text-align: justify;">عقود<i><b><span style="color: blue;"> وهم يقودوننا من فشل إلى آخر، ومن كارثة إلى أخرى</span></b></i>. ما تمر به قضيتنا هو، في جزء كبير منه، حصاد أخطاء تلك القيادة، إن لم يكن انعدام كفاءاتها الوطنية والمهنية. يكفينا أن نعود إلى ما فعله هؤلاء منذ انطلاق مؤتمر مدريد للسلام في أكتوبر/تشرين الأول 1991. إنهم الأشخاص أنفسهم الذين سلموا، حينها، لـ"رسالة التطمينات" الأميركية الماكرة، والتي نصت على مرحلتين تفاوضيتين، الأولى بشأن "ترتيبات الحكم الذاتي الانتقالي"، والثانية "المفاوضات حول الوضع الدائم". وجاء اتفاق أوسلو الكارثي، في سبتمبر/أيلول 1993، ليرسّخهما، وبالتالي رُحِّلَت القضايا المركزية التي تُمثل جوهر الصراع، كالقدس واللاجئين والسيادة والحدود.. إلخ، إلى "مفاوضات الوضع النهائي". ومنذ ذلك اليوم، لا زلنا نعيش مرحلة "ترتيبات الحكم الذاتي"، ولمَّا تحل بعد مرحلة "مفاوضات الوضع الدائم". يحدث ذلك، وإسرائيل لا تتوقف عن المضي في طريق إجهاض أي إمكانيةٍ لقيام دولتين، ولا تتوقف جهودها في تهويد الأرض والقدس، بعد أن نجحت في إلحاق السلطة الفلسطينية بها جهازا أمنيا ومدنيا وبلديا، لإراحتها من عناء تدبير شؤون الملايين من الفلسطينيين في الضفة الغربية وقطاع غزة. أما الولايات المتحدة، فكل إدارة تأتي بتنازلاتٍ جديدةٍ لإسرائيل على حساب الفلسطينيين، حتى وصلنا إلى ترامب الذي اعترف بالقدس عاصمة لإسرائيل، واعتبر اللاجئين الفلسطينيين حالةً مفتعلة غير قائمة، وهو لا يخفي نبذه فكرة "الدولتين"، الفلسطينية والإسرائيلية، ويظن أن الفلسطينيين سيقبلون بالقوادة على حقوقهم الوطنية، إذا عُرِضَ عليهم المال الوفير، كما يُفْتَرَضُ أن يفعل مؤتمر البحرين. </span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Nassim; font-size: 22px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Nassim; font-size: 22px; text-align: justify;">أرحام الشعب الفلسطيني لم تعقم إنجاب كفاءاتٍ سياسية وفكرية ووطنية ومقاومة، كما أن تاريخ هذا الشعب أثبت، مرة بعد أخرى، أنه لا يساوم على حقوقه، <i><b><span style="color: red;">وآن الأوان لمن أوصلونا إلى هذا القاع الآسن أن يخجلوا، ولو لمرة في حياتهم، ويتنحّوا جانبا،</span></b></i> فالشعب أقدر على أن يفرز قيادات جديدة قد تنجح في رقع الفتق الذي أحدثوه، واتسع في سيرورة مشروعنا وآمالنا الوطنية. بغير ذلك، نحن من سيمضي إلى "الجحيم"، لا "صفقة العار".</span>Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03651921134005888649noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30874880.post-91801633572282571502019-05-31T09:19:00.001-07:002019-05-31T09:19:26.856-07:00A VERY GOOD SHORT VIDEO by Mehdi Hasan<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="710" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Zf3LDYNH7Wg" width="1263"></iframe>Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03651921134005888649noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30874880.post-54641753584586762092019-05-16T09:06:00.000-07:002019-05-16T10:40:51.148-07:00WILL JOHN BOLTON FINALLY GET HIS WAR WITH IRAN?<b><span style="color: red;">A VERY GOOD POST</span></b><br />
<img height="320" src="https://theintercept.imgix.net/wp-uploads/sites/1/2019/05/deconstructed-feature-art-ep03-final-3-1557951091.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&q=90&fit=crop&w=1440&h=720" width="640" /><br />
<a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/05/16/will-john-bolton-finally-get-his-war-with-iran/">Link</a><br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Click on the Link and listen to the podcast.</span></b><br />
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<span style="box-shadow: rgb(255 , 255 , 255) 0px 1px 0px , rgb(17 , 17 , 17) 0px 4px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: , "tahoma" , sans-serif; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 0.1em; text-transform: uppercase;">U.S. OFFICIALS THIS WEEK</span><span style="color: #444444;"> accused Iran of orchestrating “sabotage” attacks on Saudi tankers near the Persian Gulf, escalating an already tense situation between the two countries. President Trump ramped up his own rhetoric, telling reporters that “it’s going to be a bad problem for Iran if something happens … they’re not going to be happy.” With the notoriously hawkish National Security Advisor John Bolton whispering in Trump’s ear, are these signs that the administration is putting the U.S. on a path to war? On this week’s Deconstructed, </span><b><span style="color: red;">Mehdi Hasan</span></b><span style="color: #444444;"> discusses the prospects for another illegal and bloody regime change war in the Middle East with National Iranian American Council president </span><b><span style="color: blue;">Trita Parsi</span></b><span style="color: #444444;">, and with </span><b><span style="color: blue;">Rob Malley</span></b><span style="color: #444444;">, President and CEO of the International Crisis Group.</span></div>
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<em style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: SwiftNeueLTW01-Italic, Georgia, serif;">Transcript coming soon.</em></div>
Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03651921134005888649noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30874880.post-15357510466014932772019-05-13T07:47:00.003-07:002019-05-13T07:47:38.914-07:00طبول الحرب تقرع.. لماذا يخشى العالم صواريخ إيران؟<b><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">A GOOD REPORT</span></b><br />
<a href="https://midan.aljazeera.net/reality/politics/2018/8/27/%D9%84%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B0%D8%A7-%D9%8A%D8%AE%D8%B4%D9%89-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85-%D8%B5%D9%88%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%8A%D8%AE-%D8%A5%D9%8A%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%B1%D8%BA%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%83%D9%87-%D9%85%D8%A7-%D9%8A%D9%81%D9%88%D9%82%D9%87%D8%A7"><br /></a>
<a href="https://midan.aljazeera.net/reality/politics/2018/8/27/%D9%84%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B0%D8%A7-%D9%8A%D8%AE%D8%B4%D9%89-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85-%D8%B5%D9%88%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%8A%D8%AE-%D8%A5%D9%8A%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%B1%D8%BA%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%83%D9%87-%D9%85%D8%A7-%D9%8A%D9%81%D9%88%D9%82%D9%87%D8%A7">Link</a><br />
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طبول الحرب تقرع على شطئان الخليج شرقيها وغربيها، والأساطيل البحرية الأميركية والإيرانية تجوب مياه الخليج مستعرضة، وحاملات الطائرات تساق نحو معركة وشيكة، وتظل مشاريع الصواريخ الباليستية الإيرانية في القلب من هذا التوتر الآخذ بالازدياد، فلماذا يخشى العالم صواريخ إيران؟ رغم أن الولايات المتحدة تمتلك ترسانة تكفي لتقويضها وتدميرها؟ سؤال يحاول التقرير الإجابة عنه، وسط استعدادات حثيثة لحرب قد تكون على مرمى البصر!</div>
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في ذلك اليوم قبل سبعة أعوام، كان الإيرانيون في شرق طهران على موعد مع لحظات غير معتادة من الفزع، حين تهشمت نوافذهم واهتزت أبنيتهم وشق لسان ضخم من اللهب سماءهم بشكل مفاجئ على وقع انفجار ضخم، وبدا للوهلة الأولى أن أميركا أو إسرائيل تجاوزتا عتبة التهديدات الكلامية لتسقطا إحدى القنابل المتطورة فوق العاصمة الفارسية، قبل أن يُدرك الإيرانيون في وقت لاحق أن مصدر هلعهم كان انفجارا غير معهود<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 0; position: relative; top: -0.5em; vertical-align: baseline;">(1)</span> في قاعدة الغدير للصواريخ في "بيد غانه"، على بعد 30 ميلا من العاصمة الإيرانية.</div>
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لا يعرف الإيرانيون أو غيرهم إلى اليوم كثيرا حول حادثة "الغدير" التي تحمل اسم تلك القاعدة الصاروخية المثيرة للجدل، قاعدة ارتبط اسمها بحملات البروباغاندا الضخمة لقطع من الأسلحة تحمل الاسم ذاته، مثل غواصات "غدير" وصواريخ "غدير"، أما خارج إيران حيث تكشف الأقمار الصناعية تفاصيل كل شيء فوق الأرض تقريبا، كانت القاعدة معروفة بوضوح ومشتهرة بنشاطها الكثيف ومبانيها المميزة زبرجدية اللون، التي صارت علامة على تفضيلات الرجل الأهم في تلك المنشأة، وهو العميد "حسن طهراني مقدم"<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 0; position: relative; top: -0.5em; vertical-align: baseline;">(2)</span>، الذي يُعرف اليوم بأنه أبو البرنامج الصاروخي الإيراني.</div>
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<tr style="box-sizing: border-box;"><td align="center" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #337ab7;" target="_blank"></a><a class="lightImage magnify_image" href="https://midan.aljazeera.net/file/getcustom/bd466db4-509c-469b-bc00-c87b6fa8883f/00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #337ab7; cursor: -webkit-zoom-in; display: inline-block; max-width: 100%; overflow: hidden; position: relative; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: bottom;"><img border="0" src="https://midan.aljazeera.net/file/getcustom/bd466db4-509c-469b-bc00-c87b6fa8883f/00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle; width: 727px;" /></a></td></tr>
<tr style="box-sizing: border-box;"><td align="center" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "arabic transparent"; font-size: 10pt; height: 25px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">العميد حسن طهراني مقدم <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Greta, "arabic typesetting", serif; font-size: xx-small; line-height: 28.8px; vertical-align: middle;">(مواقع التواصل الاجتماعي)</span></td></tr>
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كان "طهراني" إحدى الشخصيات القلائل الذين يفوق صيتهم في الغرب شهرتهم في إيران نفسها، مع كونه الضابط الأبرز في قوة الفضاء الإيرانية التابعة للحرس الثوري، ومهندس مشروع الصواريخ البالستية الإيرانية، والمسؤول الأول عن تصميمات الصواريخ، ومسؤول الاتصال والمشتريات الخارجية للبرنامج الصاروخي، ومؤسس مركز الصواريخ في الحرس الثوري، والمشرف لاحقا على تأسيس البرنامج الصاروخي لـ "حزب الله" اللبناني نفسه، ومسؤول منظمة الاكتفاء الذاتي والبحوث الصناعية، وقبل ذلك قائد الجناح الشمالي للحرس، وصاحب السجل العسكري الحافل الذي جعله على رأس قائمة المطلوبة رؤوسهم لأجهزة الاستخبارات وإن لم يُكشف عن ذلك بشكل رسمي.</div>
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لم تقدم إيران أبدا ما يكفي من المعلومات حول الانفجار الذي هز قلوب الإيرانيين، وخلّف 17 قتيلا من أفضل جنرالات وجنود الحرس الثوري وفي مقدمتهم طهراني نفسه، مكتفية بجنازة مهيبة تقدمها المرشد الإيراني "خامنئي"، لكن القادة في طهران كانوا يدركون أن ما خسروه في ذلك يتجاوز مجرد مقتل قادة عسكريين بارزين، وأن برنامجهم العسكري الأكثر تطورا تعرض للتو لضربة قاصمة لن يكون قادرا على التعافي منها في وقت قريب.</div>
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ومنذ ذلك الحين، ظل مقتل طهراني لغزا بلا حل، فرغم تثبث الرواية الإيرانية الرسمية بأن الانفجار الذي أودى بمقدم ورفاقه كان راجعا إلى خطأ تقني وليس إلى عملية استهداف موجهة، فإن حدوث الواقعة أعقاب سلسلة من عمليات الاغتيال ضد علماء إيران النوويين خلال العامين الماضيين، أسهم في رفع سقف التكهنات حول تورط أجهزة استخبارات خارجية، ويبدو أن طهران لم تكن تريد الاعتراف أن أذرع الموساد الطولى على الأرجح قد تجاوزت العبث بشوارع طهران إلى المواقع العسكرية الحصينة التي يرعاها جنود الحرس الثوري.</div>
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على مدار السنوات التالية، خفت ذكر "طهراني" وصواريخه طويلا لصالح برنامج طهران النووي الناشئ الذي جذب أنظار العالم، ولكن ذكر أبي الصواريخ الإيراني قفز لدائرة الضوء من جديد، حين نشرت صورة له في منتدى إيراني على الإنترنت عام 2017، وخلفه صندوق غامض يحمل اسم "مرفق شهرود"، صورة قادت لاحقا إلى استنتاج مذهل: فقبل وفاته بقليل يبدو أن طهراني أشرف على تطوير منشأة سرية ثانية في الصحراء الإيرانية النائية في "شهرود" على بعد 300 ميل من منشأته الأولى، وبفحص صور الأقمار الصناعية سرعان ما ظهرت المباني زبرجدية اللون المميزة من جديد، ولكن هذه المرة في قلب صحراء إيران.</div>
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أثارت التحقيقات<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 0; position: relative; top: -0.5em; vertical-align: baseline;">(3)</span> حول منشأة "شهرود" الغامضة موجة جديدة من الجدل حول نشاط إيران الصاروخي، خاصة عند تحليل الندبات الأرضية التي خلّفتها اختبارات الصواريخ على الأرض، والتي ترجح أن إيران لا تطور فقط ترسانتها التقليدية من الصواريخ قصيرة ومتوسطة المدى، ولكنها ربما دخلت إلى عصر تطوير صواريخ طويلة المدى أو برنامج فضائي متطور، في تطور نوعي لترسانة الصواريخ الإيرانية التي تم تدشينها في صورة بدائية في منتصف الثمانينيات، لتتطور تدريجيا عاما بعد عام مثيرة المزيد من الذعر، ليس لدى جيران إيران فحسب ولكن في واشنطن نفسها.</div>
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تعود<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 0; position: relative; top: -0.5em; vertical-align: baseline;">(4)</span> طموحات إيران الصاروخية إلى عصور حكم الشاه خلال حقبة ما قبل الثورة الإسلامية، فخلال تلك الفترة -في بداية السبعينيات على وجه الخصوص- كان الجيش الإيراني واحدا من أفضل الجيوش تجهيزا في الشرق الأوسط، وربما في العالم بأكمله، ممتلكا في القلب منه برنامجا ناشئا وطموحا للصواريخ قصيرة المدى، ولكن بعد الثورة الإسلامية عام 1979، تم تفكيك الجيش من الداخل من خلال عمليات تطهير أيديولوجية، وتم تقليص برامج المشتريات والتدريب، ناهيك بفرار العديد من العسكريين المدربين خاصة في سلاح الجو، تاركين الجيش الإيراني بوحداته المختلفة في حال يُرثى له من الضعف والتفكك.</div>
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دخلت إيران أتون حرب ثماني السنوات مع العراق، بعد عام واحد على قيام ثورتها، على ذلك الحال من التردي العسكري وعلى الأخص في سلاح الجو، وعلى الرغم من أن إيران كانت لا تزال متفوقة من الناحيتين العسكرية والتكنولوجية على الجيش العراقي، فإنها وجدت نفسها عاجزة عن تحقيق التفوق الجوي، وفي الوقت الذي أمطرت فيه الصواريخ العراقية المدن الإيرانية بكثافة، كانت طهران عاجزة بوضوح عن توجيه ضربات دقيقة إلى الأهداف في الداخل العراقي.</div>
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ومن أجل تحقيق توازن الردع في مواجهة بغداد، قررت<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 0; position: relative; top: -0.5em; vertical-align: baseline;">(5)</span> طهران في وقت مبكر أنها بحاجة إلى امتلاك ترسانتها الخاصة من الصواريخ، وفي سبيل تحقيق ذلك لم يكن التصنيع هدفا إيرانيا وقتها، مركزة جهودها الأولى على استيراد وتجميع صواريخ سكود قصيرة المدى، وفي عام 1985 ترأس رئيس البرلمان الإيراني آنذاك "أكبر هاشمي رفسنجاني" وفدا رفيع المستوى خاض رحلات مكوكية إلى ليبيا وسوريا وكوريا الشمالية والصين، في جولة تسوق خاصة من أجل الحلم الصاروخي.</div>
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<tr style="box-sizing: border-box;"><td align="center" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "arabic transparent"; font-size: 10pt; height: 25px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;"> رئيس البرلمان الإيراني السابق أكبر هاشمي رفسنجاني <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Greta, "arabic typesetting", serif; font-size: xx-small; line-height: 28.8px; vertical-align: middle;">(رويترز)</span></td></tr>
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آتت جهود "رفسنجاني" أُكلها سريعا، فلم ينته العام ذاته قبل أن تحصل إيران بالفعل على دفعتها الأولى من الصواريخ قصيرة المدى من طراز "آر – 17"، أحد نماذج "سكود بي" من ليبيا، وهي صواريخ يمكنها الطيران لمسافة تقترب من 300 كم حاملة رأسا متفجرا يصل وزنه إلى ألف كيلوغرام، وعلى الرغم من كون تلك الصواريخ ضعيفة التوجيه إلى حد كبير، فإنها كانت كافية لتحقيق هدف طهران بإشعال النيران في المدن العراقية ضمن ما عُرف لاحقا باسم "حرب المدن" بين طهران وبغداد.</div>
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ولكن طهران سرعان ما استنفدت مخزوناتها من الصواريخ الليبية لتتوجه بعدها إلى مورد جديد هو كوريا الشمالية، وهذه المرة بصفقة أكثر طموحا، حيث عرضت طهران المشاركة في تمويل برنامج "بيونج يانج" الصاروخي مقابل نقل التكنولوجيا إليها والحصول على امتياز الأولوية في الحصول على الصواريخ بمجرد خروجها من خطوط الإنتاج. وبالفعل تم تسليم الدفعة الأولى من صواريخ سكود الكورية الشمالية عام 1987، وأُشيع آنذاك أن إيران حصلت على حصتها من الصواريخ حتى قبل نشر الصواريخ نفسها في الجيش الكوري الشمالي، وخلال الأشهر التالية حصلت إيران على ما يقرب من مئة صاروخ استُخدمت جميعا تباعا في الحرب مع العراق، مضيفة المزيد من النيران إلى لهيب السماوات المشتعلة بالفعل نتيجة أكبر حرب للصواريخ عرفها الشرق الأوسط حتى ذلك التوقيت.</div>
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في نهاية المطاف، انتهت الحرب العراقية الإيرانية دون فائز واضح بعد أن خلّفت زهاء مليون قتيل، بيد أن انتهاءها لم ينه طموحات طهران في امتلاك الصواريخ ولكن جعلها أكثر تعطشا، وقبل أن ينتهي عقد الحرب نفسه دخلت إيران في مفاوضات مع كوريا الشمالية لشراء أحدث صواريخها من طراز سكود سي.</div>
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يعمل "سكود سي" بالوقود السائل، وهو أطول وأوسع مدى من صواريخ "سكود بي" مع توسيع خزانات الوقود لتحمل كميات أكبر منه، ويُقدّر مدى الصاروخ بـ 500 كم متر عند حمله رأسا متفجرا يزن 700 كجم. ورغم حصول إيران على حصتها من سكود سي بالفعل عام 1991، فإن طموحاتها آنذاك تجاوزت نهم اقتناء الصواريخ، ليتحول اهتمام طهران الأساسي إلى امتلاك التكنولوجيا اللازمة لإنتاج الصواريخ محليا، وهو هدف قديم يبدو أن طهران شرعت في التخطيط لتحقيقه بدقة ونشاط في وقت أبكر مما يظن الجميع.</div>
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<tr style="box-sizing: border-box;"><td align="center" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "arabic transparent"; font-size: 10pt; height: 25px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">صواريخ سكود سي <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Greta, "arabic typesetting", serif; font-size: xx-small; line-height: 28.8px; vertical-align: middle;">(مواقع التواصل الاجتماعي)</span></td></tr>
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أدت الحاجة إلى الصواريخ البالستية في زمن الحرب العراقية، وكذلك عداوة إيران التي تجذرت سريعا مع إسرائيل، إلى تطور سريع في صناعة الصواريخ الإيرانية، دافعة إيران لتقديم باكورة إنتاجها الصاروخي مبكرا، وهو صاروخ مدفعي أرض أرض عُرف باسم "نازعات" ويتم إطلاقه عبر راجمة صواريخ متحركة، ويُعدّ "نازعات" أول الإنجازات الواضحة لفريق تطوير الصواريخ الذي أسسه "طهراني مقدم" إبان الحرب العراقية الإيرانية.</div>
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وبحلول نهاية الحرب، وجد "مقدم" نفسه في وضع أفضل نسبيا لإجراء المزيد من الأبحاث والتجارب على الصواريخ الأكثر تقدما، والسعي لإبرام اتفاقات نقل التكنولوجيا، ليتحقق له ذلك الهدف بالفعل عام 1993 حين قررت كوريا الشمالية تزويد إيران بتقنيات إنتاج صواريخ سكود، فضلا عن إيفاد بعض المتخصصين من الكوريين للمساعدة في تدريب الإيرانيين على إنتاج صواريخهم الخاصة.</div>
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وبداهة، كانت<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 0; position: relative; top: -0.5em; vertical-align: baseline;">(6)</span> نسخ الصواريخ الأولى عبارة عن نماذج محاكاة لصواريخ سكود الموجودة بالأساس، وبدأ الأمر مع صاروخ شهاب(1) وهو نسخة مقلدة من صاروخ سكود بي نجحت إيران لاحقا في تصنيع ما بين 2000-3000 وحدة منه، وهو يعمل بالوقود السائل وبإمكانه حمل رأس حربي يصل وزنه إلى 1000 كجم لمسافة تصل إلى 186 ميلا، ولكن يفتقر إلى الدقة شأنه شأن صواريخ سكود بي الأصلية، وفي وقت لاحق طورت إيران نسخة أطول مدى من الصاروخ نفسه تحت اسم "شهاب 2"، وهو قادر على قطع مسافة تبلغ نحو 300 ميل.</div>
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وفي عام 1998، قامت إيران بإطلاق تجريبي لصاروخ "شهاب 3"، وهو نسخة محدثة من صواريخ "نودونغ" التي أنتجتها كوريا الشمالية لغرض ضرب القواعد الأميركية في اليابان من شبه الجزيرة الكورية، ورغم أن مدى الصاروخ يبلغ في الأصل قرابة 600 ميل، فإنه يعتقد أن إيران طورت قدراته إلى مدى يتجاوز 2000 كم. ولكن رغم تلك الطفرة الكبيرة التي حققتها صواريخ شهاب من حيث مدى الصاروخ فإنه متأخر تقنيا وبشكل مزعج للإيرانيين على مستوى الدقة، بما يجعله غير مناسب للاستخدام في ساحة المعركة لضرب أهداف محددة وحيوية مثل المطارات والمنشآت العسكرية، بقدر ملاءمته لحالات التدمير العشوائي التي يمكن أن تسبب حالة من الذعر الشعبي واسع النطاق في أي دولة بمرماه.</div>
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ومن أجل التغلب على هذه العيوب، قامت طهران<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 0; position: relative; top: -0.5em; vertical-align: baseline;">(7)</span> لاحقا بإصدار نسخة جديدة من صواريخ "شهاب 3" تحت اسم "غدير 1"، وزودته بجيل جديد من الرؤوس الحربية عُرف باسم "عماد"، رؤوس يعتقد أنها تمنح الصواريخ المزيد من الاستقرار والقدرة على المناورة، مع دقة أكبر رغم أنها تتمتع بمدى أقل نسبيا، لكن إيران بدأت تدرك تدريجيا القيود المرتبطة بالاعتماد على الصواريخ التي تعمل بالوقود السائل، وبدأت في تطوير صواريخ الوقود الصلب الأكثر جدوى من الناحية العسكرية.</div>
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فبخلاف التفوق النوعي لصواريخ الوقود الصلب من حيث المدى والدقة فإنها تحتفظ بميزة نوعية وهي أنه يمكن تعبئتها بالوقود وتخزينها لفترة طويلة، بعكس صواريخ الوقود السائل التي تتطلب تزويدها بالوقود بشكل آني قبل الإطلاق وهو الأمر الذي يصعب من مهمة إخفائها، وكانت إحدى أولى خطوات إيران في مجال تقنيات الوقود الصلب هي إنتاج صاروخ أرض-أرض قصير المدى من طراز "مشاك"، وهو صاروخ بدائي تم تصميمه على النمط السوفيتي في الثمانينيات بمساعدة تقنية صينية، وتم إطلاقه خمس مرات خلال حرب المدن.</div>
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ورغم اختفاء صواريخ الوقود الصلب من الساحة الإيرانية لفترة طويلة، فإنها عادت بشكل مفاجئ<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 0; position: relative; top: -0.5em; vertical-align: baseline;">(8)</span> عام 2002 مع تجربة صاروخ جديد يعمل بالوقود الصلب أطلق عليه اسم "فاتح 110"، وهو صاروخ ذو مرحلة واحدة يبلغ مداه 200 كيلومتر على الأقل، وتم تصنيعه على طراز صواريخ سي إس إس 8 الصينية، والمفاجأة أن إيران ادّعت في ذلك التوقيت أنها من قامت بتصنيع الوقود الصلب للصاروخ في معهد البحوث التابع لوزارة الدفاع، وفي وقت لاحق أعلنت إيران أنها طورت نسخة بحرية من صواريخ "فاتح" التي يعتقد الأميركيون أنها قادرة على استهداف السفن التجارية والبحرية في الخليج العربي ومضيق هرمز.</div>
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وفي مايو/أيار 2009، حققت إيران قفزة كبيرة في تسيير صواريخ الوقود الصلب حين اختبرت بنجاح صاروخ "سجيل 2"، وهو صاروخ أرض أرض ذو مرحلتين اختبرته إيران بنجاح عدة مرات منذ ذلك الحين، ويزعم أن مداه يتراوح بين 2000 إلى 2500 كيلومتر، وهو قادر على حمل رأس حربي بوزن طن كامل للمسافة نفسها، ولاحقا في عام 2015 فجّرت<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 0; position: relative; top: -0.5em; vertical-align: baseline;">(9)</span> إيران مفاجأة بالكشف عن قيامها بتصنيع صاروخ جوال "كروز" بمدى يصل إلى 2500 كم، وهو تطور كبير عنى أن صواريخ إيران لم تعد قادرة على استهداف الشرق الأوسط فقط، لكن شرق وجنوب أوروبا دخلا مرمى الصواريخ الإيرانية للمرة الأولى.</div>
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على مدار تاريخها، كانت إيران قوة دفاعية<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 0; position: relative; top: -0.5em; vertical-align: baseline;">(10)</span> في المقام الأول، ويرجع<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 0; position: relative; top: -0.5em; vertical-align: baseline;">(11)</span> ذلك بشكل رئيس إلى الجغرافيا، ففي حين زودت التضاريس الجبلية إيران بقدر كبير من الحصانة الدفاعية، فإنها صبغتها بالكثير من العزلة أيضا وفرضت قيودا دائمة على طموحاتها للتوسع الخارجي، وزاد التميز العرقي ولاحقا المذهبي من عزلة إيران بوجه أخص عن محيطها العربي الذي فرض عليها حصارا اجتماعيا وثقافيا من نوع فريد.</div>
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وجاءت الحرب العراقية الإيرانية لتفرض على إيران حصة أكبر من تلك العزلة ولتثبت في الوقت نفسه افتقارها الشديد إلى توازن الردع مع خصومها، فمع سقوط الصواريخ العراقية على المدن الإيرانية وفرار سكانها بالآلاف للمرة الأولى، دمرت معنويات الإيرانيين ووجدت طهران نفسها مضطرة لإنهاء الحرب، ومنذ ذلك الحين تحولت الصواريخ في الوجدان العسكري الإيراني من مجرد سلاح إلى طريقة كاملة للحرب، لتستقر <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 0; position: relative; top: -0.5em; vertical-align: baseline;">(12)</span> في نهاية المطاف كمكون رئيس لإستراتيجية الردع الإيرانية.</div>
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وبخلاف وقوعها في محيط مكتظ بالمعادين والمنافسين، فإن إيران، وعلى العكس من جيرانها ومنافسيها في المملكة العربية السعودية وإسرائيل في المقام الأول، لا تتمتع بأي وصول إلى التقنيات العسكرية الغربية المتطورة، ولا تحظى بأي ضامن أمني رفيع المستوى، ومع عدد سكانها الكبير ومواردها المحدودة نسبيا، فإنها تتمتع برفاهية أقل لتعزيز إنفاقها العسكري مقارنة بالسعودية مثلا التي تمتلك 9 أضعاف ميزانية إيران العسكرية، أو حتى بالإمارات العربية المتحدة التي لا يتجاوز عدد سكانها عشر كثافة إيران السكانية وتتمتع في المقابل بميزانية دفاع تفوق موازنة إيران الدفاعية بمقدار النصف على الأقل.</div>
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وبترجمة تلك الحقائق على الأرض، وجدت إيران نفسها تمتلك منظومة أسلحة أكثر تخلفا على المستوى التقني والتشغيلي حتى من أضعف جيرانها، لذا فإن معادلة الأمن التي طورتها قامت بشكل رئيس على امتلاك الردع الذي يقلل من فرص قيام حرب تتورط فيها إيران بشكل مباشر من الأساس. ويرتكز<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 0; position: relative; top: -0.5em; vertical-align: baseline;">(13)</span> ثالوث الردع الإيراني على ثلاثة أركان رئيسة، أولها هو قدرة إيران النظرية على تهديد الملاحة في مضيق هرمز، وثانيها قدرتها على تشغيل أعمال عنف بالوكالة في بقاع متعددة خارج حدودها، سواء من خلال وكلاء مسلحين دائمين مثل حزب الله أو عبر خلايا إجرامية كما في أوروبا وأميركا اللاتينية، وأخيرا تأتي قدرتها على توجيه ضربات مؤثرة لأعدائها عن بُعد باستخدام ترسانتها من الصواريخ قصيرة ومتوسطة المدى.</div>
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وتحظى كل ساق من سيقان ذلك الثالوث الأمني بنصيبها من المزايا والعيوب الواضحة، فمن ناحية يمكن أن تؤدي الجهود المبذولة لإغلاق المضيق إلى ضرب استقرار الأسواق المالية والعالمية وإفقاد إيران أي دعم دولي في أوروبا وآسيا، لذا فإن إيران تحتفظ به دوما كخيار أخير واستثنائي، وفي الوقت نفسه فإن قدرة طهران على إشعال الصراعات عن بُعد وتنفيذ التفجيرات خارج حدودها تتقلص بشكل ملحوظ مقارنة بحقبة التسعينيات على سبيل المثال، لتتحول الصواريخ إلى خيار إستراتيجي أول وربما وحيد بالنسبة لإيران.</div>
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وحتى لو لم تكن تلك الصواريخ قادرة على توجيه ضربات حاسمة لأهداف عسكرية أو لبنوك البنية التحتية الحيوية، فإن مجرد امتلاك القدرة على إطلاق حرائق سكانية جماعية في المراكز السكانية الكبرى هو أمر كفيل بتحقيق أهداف إيران الحالية، وإحداث تأثيرات تراكمية تتوافق بشكل مثالي مع "مذهب المقاومة الإيراني"، وهو مذهب لا يعتمد على تحقيق انتصارات حاسمة قصيرة الأجل، ولكنه يفترض أن النصر يأتي في المقام الأول عن طريق الصمود واستنزاف العدو لأطول فترة ممكنة، لذا ليس من المستغرب أن جميع وكلاء إيران والحركات المسلحة المدعومة منها تستخدم الصواريخ ضعيفة التوجيه كأسلحة أساسية.</div>
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في الواقع، كثيرا ما ناقش المسؤولون الإيرانيون قوتهم الصاروخية باستخدام مصطلحات مستعارة من نظرية الردع الكلاسيكية. فعلى سبيل المثال، وبعد إطلاق أول اختبار لإطلاق صاروخ "شهاب -3" في يوليو/تموز 1998، أوضح "علي شمخاني"، وزير الدفاع الإيراني آنذاك، باختصار رؤيته لنظرية الردع الإيرانية التي تقوم على امتصاص أي ضربة أولية بحيث تلحق الحد الأدنى من الضرر، ثم توجيه ضربة انتقامية قوية تكون كفيلة بمنع أي ضربة ثالثة من الوقوع لأطول فترة ممكنة.</div>
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وفي الحقيقة، فإن إيران جربت<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 0; position: relative; top: -0.5em; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 0; position: relative; top: -0.5em; vertical-align: baseline;">(14)</span> فاعلية منظومة الردع القائمة على الصواريخ تلك في الماضي القريب بشكل غير مباشر، حين نجحت ترسانة صواريخ "حزب الله" المستمدة من إيران عام 2006 في إلحاق أضرار اقتصادية وسياسية بالغة بإسرائيل خلال الحرب التي خاضها الطرفان في ذلك العام، رغم أن غالبية صواريخ حزب الله آنذاك كانت من الصواريخ المدفعية قصيرة المدى نسبيا، لكن ضرباتها كبّدت الاقتصاد الإسرائيلي خسائر قُدّرت بـ3.5 مليار دولار، بعد أن أجبرت الشركات الإسرائيلية على الإغلاق ودفعت السلطات لإنفاق أموال طائلة على التأمين واستدعاء قوات الاحتياط.</div>
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واليوم يمتلك "حزب الله" -فضلا عن إيران نفسها- ترسانة صاروخية أكثر قوة تقدر بـ130 ألف صاروخ تتميز بمدى أطول ودقة محسنة، بما في ذلك صواريخ فاتح وصواريخ فجر وحتى صواريخ سكود الأصلية، في الوقت الذي عززت فيه إيران من ترسانة الصواريخ الخاصة بها ونشرتها على مساحات جغرافية أوسع، خاصة في سوريا التي تستضيف اليوم صواريخ إيرانية متوسطة المدى ومصانع ميدانية لتركيب الصواريخ.</div>
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ومن المرجح أن تُمكّن تلك الصواريخ إيران ووكلاءها من ضرب خصومها المباشرين في تل أبيب والرياض حال أرادت ذلك، في الوقت الذي تفتقر فيه إسرائيل للعمق الإستراتيجي الكافي بسبب مساحتها الجغرافية الصغيرة وانكشاف مواقع البنية التحتية الأساسية مثل مرافق النفط والمياه والكهرباء وحتى مخزونات الأسلحة الكيميائية، وحتى مع امتلاك تل أبيب لنظام دفاع صاروخي متعدد الطبقات، يشمل نظام القبة الحديدية لاعتراض الصواريخ قصيرة المدى نسبيا، ومنظومة "دايفيد سلينغ" ضد الصواريخ طويلة المدى، وأخيرا نظام "أرو -سهم" للصواريخ البالستية متوسطة المدى وطويلة المدى، تبقى هذه الشبكة عرضة للتشبع حال تفوق عدد الصواريخ المطلقة على عدد القذائف الاعتراضية المتوفرة، أما في الرياض فيبقى الوضع أكثر هشاشة مع منظومات الدفاع الصاروخي باتريوت التي ثبتت<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 0; position: relative; top: -0.5em; vertical-align: baseline;">(15)</span> محدودية فاعليتها في أكثر من مناسبة، ولن تكون كافية لمواجهة وابل الصواريخ الذي يمكن أن تمطره إيران ووكلاؤها حال دخل الطرفان في حرب مباشرة.</div>
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توفر الصواريخ لإيران إذن قوة ردع غير متماثلة أمام قوى أكبر تسليحا وأفضل تجهيزا، وهي قوة تتطلب استثمارا ماديا وتقنيا قليلا نسبيا بالمقارنة مع القدرات العسكرية الأخرى، خاصة القدرات الجوية، لذا فإنها تبقى الخيار المفضل للقوى الصغيرة لاكتساب ردع نسبي ضد قوى أكبر حجما عبر امتلاك قدرة على التسبب في أضرار جسيمة لها، وفرض تكاليف دفاعية ضخمة عليها عبر دفعها لتنصيب منظومات دفاع صاروخي باهظة الثمن، ومع ذلك فإن ما أقلق العالم -والولايات المتحدة على وجه الخصوص- لفترة طويلة سابقة ليست صواريخ إيران الحالية محدودة التوجيه نسبيا القادرة على إصابة إسرائيل، بقدر طموحات إيران المزعومة لامتلاك صواريخ طويلة المدى أو عابرة للقارات قد تكون قادرة على تهديد سلطة العالم "المتحضر" في قلب معاقله.</div>
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في الوقت الراهن، هناك 5 دول<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 0; position: relative; top: -0.5em; vertical-align: baseline;">(16)</span> حول العالم تمتلك ترسانات صاروخية قادرة على إصابة أي هدف من شرق الكرة الأرضية إلى غربها، هي الولايات المتحدة وروسيا والصين وبريطانيا وفرنسا، حيث تمتلك هذه الدول صواريخ بالستية عابرة للقارات يصل مداها إلى 13 ألف كيلومتر، ناهيك بدول أخرى تمتلك صواريخ عابرة للقارات مثل باكستان والهند، وغيرها من الدول التي تمتلك برامج صواريخ عسكرية فوق متوسطة أو طويلة المدى.</div>
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وحتى خصوم طهران المباشرون في تل أبيب والرياض يمتلكون صواريخ متطورة يمكنها إصابة عمق طهران منذ فترة تزيد على عقدين في أفضل الأحوال، ولكن أيا من تلك الترسانات الصاروخية الضخمة -إقليميا وعالميا- لا تثير ذات القدر من الجدل والرعب الذي تثيره الصواريخ الإيرانية، ويرجع ذلك من ناحية إلى اقتران التناول السياسي لبرنامج إيران الصاروخي مع المخاوف المتزايدة حول طموحاتها النووية، بمعنى أن برنامج إيران الصاروخي كان يُنظر إليه دوما كرافعة لتوصيل أسلحتها النووية المنتظرة، كما أنه مرتبط من ناحية أخرى بمخاوف طويلة الأمد لدى الولايات المتحدة من امتلاك ما تصفها دوما بـ "الدول المارقة" لصواريخ قادرة على إصابة الولايات المتحدة أو حلفائها المقربين في محيطها الأوروبي.</div>
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لطالما حملت واشنطن مخاوف طويلة الأمد من امتلاك تلك الدول بتصنيفاتها لمنظومات صواريخ متطورة منذ أزمة الصواريخ الكوبية الشهيرة مطلع الستينيات، حين اتفق الاتحاد السوفيتي مع كوبا على بناء قواعد سرية لإطلاق الصواريخ متوسطة المدى يمكنها أن تصيب كامل الأراضي الأميركية، كرد فعل على قيام واشنطن بنشر صواريخ ثور في بريطانيا وصواريخ جوبيتر في إيطاليا وتركيا واضعة موسكو في مرمى أكثر من مئة صاروخ أميركي قادرة على حمل رؤوس نووية.</div>
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مثّلت أزمة الصواريخ الكوبية أبرز فصول الحرب الباردة، وكادت أن تضع العالم على شفير حرب نووية حقيقية، لكن أحد تأثيراتها طويلة الأمد<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 0; position: relative; top: -0.5em; vertical-align: baseline;">(17)</span> كان المخاوف العميقة التي ولدت في واشنطن من الأضرار التي يمكن أن تلحقها أسلحة رخيصة مثل الصواريخ مع قنبلة نووية بدائية في مواجهة القوة الأميركية، ناهيك بتسليط الضوء على حجم الخطر الذي يمكن أن تسببه قوة صغيرة غير ملتزمة بالقواعد التقليدية للتفاعلات السياسية والعسكرية داخل النظام الدولي.</div>
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لاحقا، أسهم الفشل الأميركي في احتواء كوريا الشمالية التي امتلكت برنامجين متطورين للردع النووي والصاروخي في تعزيز هذه المخاوف، خاصة بعد أن أثبتت بيونغ يانغ بما لا يدع مجالا للشك قدرتها<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 0; position: relative; top: -0.5em; vertical-align: baseline;">(18)</span> على توصيل أسلحتها النووية إلى الشاطئ الأميركي في سياتل وسان فرانسيسكو، وهو ما زاد من مخاوف الولايات المتحدة ليس بشأن كوريا فقط، ولكن بشكل أكبر بشأن إيران الواقعة بدورها في محيط من القواعد والتكتلات العسكرية الأميركية، وأسهم في تعظيم هذه المخاوف بشكل خاص التاريخ الطويل من التعاون الصاروخي بين الدولتين على قاعدة التضامن ضد أميركا، والعزلة المتبادلة في محيط من الحلفاء الأميركيين وحتى الطموحات النووية، حيث تعتقد الولايات المتحدة بقوة أن بيونغ يانع هي الداعم الرئيس لبرنامج إيران الصاروخي، وأن إسهامها فيه يفوق كثيرا إسهام حلفاء طهران التقليديين في موسكو وبكين.</div>
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والحقيقة أن هذا الاعتقاد الأميركي يصيب قدرا كبيرا من الحقيقة، حيث يشرف <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 0; position: relative; top: -0.5em; vertical-align: baseline;">(19) </span>مهندسون من كوريا الشمالية إلى اليوم على خطط تطوير وتحسين الصواريخ الإيرانية، وتستخدم الجمهورية الإسلامية مخططات كورية الشمالية لبناء المواقع السرية التي توفر الحماية للصواريخ تحت الأرض، ويسافر الخبراء بانتظام بين البلدين لمساعدة جهود الحرس الثوري الإيراني لتطوير الرؤوس الحربية النووية وأنظمة التوجيه، كما تواصل كوريا الشمالية تزويد إيران ببعض صواريخها المتطورة وعلى رأسها صواريخ موسودان متوسطة المدى التي يعتقد البنتاغون أن إيران حصلت عليها عام 2005 وطورتها لفترة طويلة، قبل أن تطلقها عام 2007 تحت اسم خرمشهر<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 0; position: relative; top: -0.5em; vertical-align: baseline;">(20)</span>، ويصل مداها إلى 2000 كم.</div>
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واستجابة لتلك المخاوف طويلة الأمد من قدرة الصواريخ الإيرانية، وضعت الإدارات الأميركية المتعاقبة خططا متوالية للدفاع عن أوروبا ضد التأثير المحتمل لتلك الصواريخ، جاء أبرزها<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 0; position: relative; top: -0.5em; vertical-align: baseline;">(21)</span> في عهد الرئيس جورج بوش الابن عام 2007 حين أعلن خطة لإقامة هيكل دفاع صاروخي في أوروبا ينشر عشر منظومات صواريخ في بولندا ونظام رادار في الجمهورية التشيكية، خطة تم إطلاقها كرد فعل على إطلاق طهران لصاروخ سجيل الذي يبلغ مداه 2600 كم ما يعطيه القدرة على ضرب بولندا وعدة دول أخرى في الاتحاد الأوروبي، مع مخاوف من قدرة قريبة على تطوير صواريخ بالستية عابرة للقارات يفوق مداها 4000 كم.</div>
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تعززت هذه المخاوف بشكل خاص مع افتتاح إيران لمركز الفضاء الخاص بها في مقاطعة سمنان عام 2008، ونجاحها مطلع العام التالي في إطلاق صاروخ سفير الفضائي ذي المرحلتين بنجاح لوضع القمر الصناعي أوميد في مداره، لتتوالى لاحقا عمليات إطلاق لأقمار صناعية إيرانية باستخدام صاروخ سفير القادر من الناحية النظرية على حمل رأس نووي، قبل أن تكشف إيران لاحقا عن إصدار أكثر تطورا من سفير تحت اسم "سيمورغ" مع قدرة على حمل مركبة تزن 500 كجم.</div>
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ومع توسع البنية التحتية الخاصة بعمليات الفضاء الإيرانية ازداد القلق<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 0; position: relative; top: -0.5em; vertical-align: baseline;"> (22)</span> الغربي من تحول عمليات إطلاق الأقمار الصناعية إلى معامل تجريبية لإطلاق صواريخ عابرة للقارات، لكن واشنطن خلصت في النهاية إلى كون هذا التحول غير محتمل نظرا لوجود فوارق تقنية (23) كبيرة بين منصات إطلاق الصواريخ الفضائية، التي تعمل بواسطة محركات منخفضة الدفع طويلة مع مدة تشغيل طويلة لازمة لتسيير الأقمار الصناعية إلى مداراتها، وبين الصواريخ العابرة للقارات التي تتطلب محركات مختلفة لدفعها إلى ارتفاعات أعلى.</div>
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ونتيجة لذلك، فإن إدارة أوباما شرعت في عملية تقييم إستراتيجي لخطر الصواريخ الإيرانية، حيث خلصت إلى أن طهران لن يكون بمقدورها صناعة صواريخ بالستية عابرة للقارات في أي وقت قريب، وأن التهديد الأكبر القادم من إيران يكمن في برنامجها النووي وصواريخها متوسطة المدى القادرة على الوصول إلى أوروبا، لذا انخرطت الإدارة في محادثات مطولة مع طهران لتحجيم طموحاتها النووية، في الوقت الذي دشنت فيه مبادرة بديلة لخطة بوش للدفاع عن أوروبا تضمن نشر صواريخ "إس إم-3" الاعتراضية من أجل التصدي للتهديد المحتمل للصواريخ متوسطة المدى القادمة من إيران.</div>
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خففت إستراتيجية إدارة أوباما المتمحورة بشكل رئيس حول البرنامج النووي والفصل بين مقاربتها للملفين النووي والصاروخي من الضغوط على برنامج إيران الصاروخي، ما منح إيران فرصة التوسع في تجاربها الصاروخية، وتشير<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 0; position: relative; top: -0.5em; vertical-align: baseline;">(24)</span>التقديرات إلى أن إيران أطلقت 23 صاروخا بالستيا على الأقل منذ توقيع الاتفاق النووي عام 2015 حتى مطلع العام الحالي 2018، منها 10 عمليات على الأقل لإطلاق صواريخ بالستية متوسطة المدى قادرة على حمل رؤوس نووية من الناحية النظرية.</div>
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تزامنا مع ذلك، جاءت إدارة ترمب إلى البيت الأبيض مطلع عام 2017 محملة بأجندة واضحة لتدمير اتفاق إيران النووي، وحُمل التهديد الباليستي إلى واجهة النزاع من جديد، ضمن خطة أوسع نطاقا لتقويض النظام الإيراني بالكلية، أو إعادة التفاوض على صفقة جديدة تشمل قيودا أوسع ليس فقط على طموحات إيران النووية، ولكن أيضا على برنامجها الصاروخي وأنشطتها العسكرية خارج الحدود في كل من سوريا واليمن ولبنان.</div>
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غير أن تلك الرغبة الأميركية تُغفل بشكل واضح الفوارق النظرية بين الطموحات النووية العسكرية لطهران، وبين برنامجها الصاروخي وموقع كل منهما في استراتيجية الردع الإيرانية، ففي حين كان برنامج إيران النووي رادعا سلبيا، بمعنى أنه مصمم بالأساس كورقة للمساومة مع الغرب والقوى الدولية في مواجهة العقوبات المتتالية، واستراتيجية لحماية برامج إيران العسكري الأكثر الأهمية، تبقى الصواريخ هي خطة الردع الإيجابية<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 0; position: relative; top: -0.5em; vertical-align: baseline;">(25)</span> الرئيسة للنظام الإيراني التي تمكنه من الانخراط بفاعلية في المسارح المختلفة، ومباشرة مصالحه دون خوف مباشر من الانتقام داخل إيران نفسها، وهو درس آخر تعلمته إيران من حربها مع العراق حول حدود قدرتها العسكرية التقليدية، ما دفعها للاستثمار لعقود في الميليشيات والوكلاء المحليين من أجل تعويض المزايا العسكرية لخصومها.</div>
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بالنسبة لإيران، تُعدّ الميليشيات والصواريخ وجهين لعملة واحدة هي "الردع منخفض التكلفة" نسبيا، فتكاليف تمويل الميليشيات مهما بلغت لا تتناسب مع تكاليف تطوير القدرات العسكرية التقليدية التي تتطلب استثمارات لا يتحملها اقتصاد إيران المتهالك، بفرض أن العالم سوف يسمح لها ذلك، وبالقدر نفسه تُعدّ الصواريخ المثال الأبرز للردع العسكري منخفض الكلفة، فمع كل دولار تنفقه طهران على الصواريخ سهلة الإنتاج، فإنها تفرض على خصومها استثمار مئات الملايين من الدولارات في منظومات الدفاع الصاروخي باهظة التكلفة، ومع كل كيلومتر زائد في النطاق الذي تقطعه صواريخها فإن طهران توسع دائرة الرعب، وتبقى تلك معادلة مرضية لتوازن الردع حتى لو لم يتم إطلاق صاروخ واحد بشكل فعلي، ولكن شأنها شأن سائر استراتيجيات إيران الدفاعية فإنها تبقى فاعلة فقط حتى اللحظة التي تلجأ فيها إيران إلى إطلاق تلك الصواريخ بكثافة من أراضيها فوق رؤوس أعدائها بالفعل، وهي تلك اللحظة التي سيظن فيها هؤلاء الخصوم أن حربا باهظة التكلفة على الجميع ضد إيران سوف تكون أكثر كلفة من خطة طويلة الأمد لاحتوائها.</div>
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