Thursday, December 28, 2006

 

Cold and Sunny in the Gulag

where we count our blessings that at the moment it is not snowing! Maybe we'll have enough sun to melt some of the water on the streets. That would really be nice. I should say the precipitation is a good thing, especially in the form of snow because a year with lots of snow at all the right times never turns into a drought year.

Bosnian Muslims take mesures toward unity

http://www.kuna.net.kw/Home/Story.aspx?Language=en&DSNO=938125

Actually what is going on here is something the Rant Wing radio people claim isn't happening. Muslims are taking measures to prevent extremist doctrine from taking over in the Balkans and other European communities of Muslims. It's very important to understand that oppressive regimes contribute to extremism in any religious community. Especially the sort of repressive regime that makes people wonder if the Day of Judgement is at hand.

Article about the film 'Grbavica'

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/12/28/opinion/fmlede29.php


Sex Slavery Still a Problem

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=reutersEdge&storyID=2006-12-28T164915Z_01_ZWE860535_RTRUKOC_0_EU-CANDIDATES-TRAFFICKING.xml&WTmodLoc=NewsLanding-C12-Editorschoice-2


Albanian Americans Appeal for Jewish Support for Kosovars

http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3?artid=13459

This is important because the Rant Wing radio people have been really hammering on the whole Kosovo question. Some of the appeal the Rant Wing radio people have been using is religious in nature, intended to appeal to extreme views in the Christian community. 'The Serbs are our Christian brothers' is one thing but Milosevic wasn't really much of a Christian! I don't call massacre and rape Christian values. Massacre and rape are not Jewish values either. Some of the propaganda of denial which has taken place just lately around the issue of Kosovo on shows such as the 'Savage Nation' Rush Limbaugh's show, and the Sean Hannity show, lately featuring guest hosts as the regular hosts take vacations has been worse than ever. I think an element of plausible deniability is built in because guest hosts have been doing most of the ranting.

Two Calendars=2 New Year's Eves

http://lifestyle.monstersandcritics.com/life/news/article_1237308.php/New_Years_Eve_comes_twice_in_Serbia

Party On Wayne!


# posted by Katja R. @ 9:33 AM
Comments:
Ah, thanks for the updates from Hannity and co.

Really, although I'm a Christian, I never understood the "fellow Christian thing."
Milosevic, and co. are about as represenative of Christianity as Bin Ladin is of Islam.


Furthermore, it seems pretty hypocritical that these radio hosts constantly hammer the American Muslim community for (in their opinion) not denouncing the terrorist behavior of some of people who claim to pracitice Islam; while at the same time, these hosts do not denouce the terrorist behavior of some people who claim to practice Christianity!

Furthermore, the entire thing just reminds me too much of some primative sort of tribalism. "Our guys" (be it religious, ethnic, political, racial) are good, and "their guys" are bad. Therefore, no matter what "our guys" do-we will defend them.

How much do you bet Mike Savage can't even find Kosovo/a on a freakin' map?!

Thanks for the updates from their radio station though. I honestly think I'll go nuts if I myself had to listen to such ranting and crap.
# posted by Blogger Shaina : 5:52 PM
 
I bet Mike Savage would just call it 'South Serbia' along with Macedonia.I'm sure he actually knows where the place is. That isn't the point. I bet he didn't know before there was a war. I knew before there was a war.

A lot of conservative commentators on radio are totally in the pocket of the worst elements of the Serbian lobby.

A lot of them hypocritically and shamelessly pander to the worst elements in the Christian fundamentalist community. They do so to gain cheap political points.

It's actually really COUNTERPRODUCTIVE to their stated goal of winning in Iraq, or Afghanistan to play to that whole End Times mentality.

They don't get another important point, and that is that the Western presence in Iraq has endangered Christian communities which have existed since the earliest times of Christianity. I am starting to have ugly thoughts about hidden agendas in regard to the ancient Christian communities in Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Iran.
# posted by Blogger Katja R. : 6:33 PM
 
I was being a bit facetious regarding the map.
Although, I do honestly doubt that he cares about any inhabitant of the region, including the Serbs who live in Kosova.

Re: The Christian communities in the Middle East. I'm not really sure about hidden agendas, I think the problem is that no one has taken them into consideration, or tried to even consider the effect the war would have on their communities.
I stand to be corrected, but I don't think there was a conscious decision on behalf of the powers that be to endanger the indegenious Christian societies of the Middle East. But that no one cared enough about them to seriously look into the effect such a war would have on those communities.
And as articles & reports have been suggesting, the war has had a tremendously (negative) effect-and I don't think anyone can deny that.
# posted by Blogger Shaina : 10:12 PM
 
The only major figure that has consistantly shown any concern has been the Pope, the current Pope has actually shown some guts on this issue, and Pope John Paul II was really excellent on these matters. I don't know for a fact that there's some hidden agenda towards Middle Eastern Christian communities, but the actions of certain people in the West have definately been most unhelpful and there is a lot of ignorance about these communities. I know about them mostly by good fortune. I met many Christians from the Middle East at a time when I could learn something from them. I met Chaldeans and Assyrians and Maronites, and Palestinian Christians and one Palestinian Jew yeaars ago. I don't know these folks now, we all went our separate ways, but I learned a lot. I consider myself fortunate to have known these people when I did, because there was a lot going on in the 1960s and 1970s that wasn't healthy and they did a lot to keep me out of trouble.
# posted by Blogger Katja R. : 8:02 AM
 
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