Babbling Nomad

Few words here and there, on this and that by a digital nomad

Archive for the tag “Middle East”

The Syrian Soldier’s Offensive

Syria has been in the news for its humanitarian crisis with President Bashar Al- Assad  accused of killing civilians. According to the UN, the death toll has crossed 7,500, and this is not counting the soldiers, the military has also been suffering high amount of casualties. The figure vary from various Human Rights groups, as there is no official count yet.

Homs is the new battleground and under siege by the Syrian military. Avaaz - a Human Rights advocacy group claim there is no access to emergency food and medical supplies, making it extremely difficult for civilians to deal with the crisis. Read about the campaign here.

What happens actually on the field though? Do the soldiers think before they shoot, or do they function robotically under the orders of their dictator? The Egyptian revolution was a success only because the soldiers decided to side with the people. The Egyptian military had considerable respect as they did not blindly support former President Mubarak Hosseni. The military is independent in Egypt, of course it’s a different matter that it got powerful and started taking advantage of the control earlier this year.

Currently. the Syrian forces under Bashar Al Assad is involved committing widespread massacre, especially in the city of Homs. According to recent reports, there is a blockade to international aid agencies like Red Cross in the region of Baba Amr, in Homs.

With Moscow and Beijing using their veto power to prevent intervention, how will Damascus hold up? Tehran on the other hand is teaming up with Assad’s regime, under the pretext of peace. With the situation between Jerusalem and Tehran already tense, the Syrian bloodbath will only lead to bigger implications and division for the region.

Protests and demonstrations are not new to the Middle East, Tunisia – Egypt – Yemen – Libya and now Syria. The Arab Spring has been largely violent, with the exception of Tunisia. In all the revolutions, the tyrants were challenged by an isolated incident, which then spread like wild fire, instigating nation wide protests.

As I am writing this post, the death toll is mounting in Syria. The International community must act urgently, and more importantly, the Arab League must take a tougher stance on its regional member.

Will Egypt rise from the ashes of revolution?

Another violent clash, another news headlines, the Middle-East is bursting with angry demonstrations, some people may think it’s a mob. They’re not. The military rule is getting  wee bit too fond of power, causing anger among Egyptians. If you missed the news, see it here.

The interim rulers of Egypt, namely chief of Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) Field Marshall Muhammed Hussein Tanawi declared that power will be handed over to Egyptians no later than July 2012. But the actions of the Egyptian army don’t match this promise. There have been wide concerns over the toxicity of tear gas being used by SCAF and the overall treatment of the citizens.

People around world are wondering if these angry protestors are bunch of mobs, who are not able to comprehend the SCAF’s messages? Or genuinely expressing their anger? The Army intervened in January 2011 revolution, and earned accolades for its duty and responsibility, but what after?

The SCAF’s actions have earned interesting comparisons in the media. CNN’s Fareed Zakaria compares Egypt with a possible Turkey, which has embraced secularism (at least on its face) and a possible Pakistan, where the military rule took over, and resulted in the death of democracy.

Additionally, there are parallels being drawn by Amnesty International on the Human rights abuses under Egyptian army and Mubarak’s rule. The situation is tense, the army which upheld the people’s rights against a dictator is displaying greed and lust for power. Among  Tahrir square turning into a battle field, there are other pressing issues that Egypt must deal with maturity – women’s rights and secularism (read mass violence against Coptic Christians)

For now, we wait and watch if the elections in Egypt commence next week as announced. If there is a chance for the Arab Spring to prove its potential, it is now.

Syria and Saboodana Khichdi uploaded

The week has been rather dull, except that Sydney proved it has a summer season, the mercury peaked at 37.5 C! Melted.

I have been reading a bit on situation in Syria, Mr. Assad is a tough one to crack. In spite of the pressure from the Arab League, Assad continues his regime. It’s high time Mr, if you don’t step down, you’ll be thrown away. Jordan and Turkey are the latest states to condemn Syria’s rule. Of course, it not as simple as that, the revolt in Middle East comes at a high price. The transition from a dictatorship regime to democracy is desired by everybody, but hardest to achieve. My post on Tunisia election alluded to the importance of free and fair elections in order to establish the foundations of a democracy. Libya and Egypt face similar problems. Women in Egypt are hoping to advocate for voting and human rights in the build up to the elections. Such reforms are necessary, and only if they are made the spirit of the revolution will be upheld in every possible form.

My political side of the brain caused some stir in my professional life, and this is how Saboodana comes into the picture:

The title of the post may sound unfamiliar or familiar depending on if you have ever eaten ‘Saboodana Khichdi’ in your life. Let me introduce the Indian snack to you. It’s  eaten for breakfast and since I cannot find any way to describe it, I’ll just add a photo:

Yah, that’s how it usually looks, hard to describe eh? Anyway, the reason I talk about this snack is something I may have done while sending out CVs to recruitment firms.

My hunt for work is on for a few months, and initially I was given rejections online, now it’s nice to be rejected in person after an interview, really. I mean it.

I was applying to multiple openings using a popular job portal, and accidentally sent the doc file with Saboodana Khichdi recipe instead of erm –  my CV. Now the question is what was the SK recipe doing in the same folder as my CV? Ah well, I save the updated versions of my CV and the recipe on the desktop. And since S follows R in the English language, the recruitment firm got the better of me with Saboodana Khichdi in their database!

Noam Chomsky meets Bill O’Reilly in Sydney

Kim Kardashian and Noam Chomsky were in town the same day. Guess where I went.

Manufacturing Consent was my ever first media theory. Yes, there it was, explaining the agenda of the corporate media power to journalism students. How the masses are exploited, and kicked like a football among the elites. Impressive, I thought. Finally a man who has the courage to speak up, stand up and fight for it.

Ah, at that time, I was an undergraduate student, getting influenced was a piece of cake. We were bombarded with many other theories, principles and fundamentals. But in retrospect, Chomsky did have a profound effect on me. His filters on advertising explained the tactics used by media conglomerates to influence the masses. It was radical, but true. Everyone uses them, whether you are in corporate communications, project management, advertising, marketing, PR and of course in politics!

Moving on –  I saw the man live few days ago! It was a full house at the Opera Theatre in Sydney. The opening act was simply fabulous. A spoof of the famous  journalist and presenter – Bill O’Reilly. Mr.Bill rapped  brimming with disappointment about Chomsky winning the Sydney Peace Prize, and numerous mocks towards Murdoch and Fox news! Hillarious start to an insightful talk. Chomsky articulated in simple and understandable language, I was concerned if he was going to be too academic for my taste, but those doubts were soon put to rest.

What followed intense Q & A with Mary Kostakidis. Prof. Noam Chomsky spoke on the Occupy movements, Wikileaks, Israel-Palestine, agenda setting of news, Guantanamo Bay, resource exploitation of developing countries…phew!

He was asked his views on Julia Gilard’s use of the term  ’anarchic’ for Julian Assange. Mr.Chomsky boldly said that if anarchic implies to question authority and demanding the truth then everyone should be anarchic. Well, that set the mood for the rest of the talk, the Opera Theatre burst into loud applause for a few seconds!

Occupy movements are gaining momentum around the world. He stresses on the emergence of a parallel public opinion which did not occupy space in the mainstream media before. Chomsky put forward the discrimination practiced by the elites in nations like USA. The rich have abundance of surplus money which they can use to create jobs in struggling economies, but its instead used for personal benefits, or degrading work standards leading to exploitation.

He went on to address the main concerns on the miserable failure of Obama’s Middle East peace solution and expressed support for the Palestinian statehood bid at the UN among other things.

He also spoke about the problems existing with contemporary language in context to his theories in linguistics.

Oh well, very Chomsky stuff. He’s considered a left wing political thinker. Left or Right, Chomsky has produced few of the most influential theories of this century, and hoping he will continue his great work in media theory. His theories can be too conspiracy centric, unreal and make you feel uneasy, but it makes you think.

The talk was brilliant, although was a bit disappointed the host took a vote of the audience and decided not to proceed with a Q & A round.

It was an honour to see the 2011 Sydney Peace Prize Winner in person.

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