Consent of the Governed

This is great!  I can hardly believe it.  In this day & age there are revolutions happening now!  Incredible.  To think that all these years of the U.S. trying to foment, encourage, cajoul various organizations to overthrow their countries' oppressive governments & autocrats and establish a more democratic government.  And all of that was money seems to have been wasted.  We paid people to revolt and all they did was collect the money.  Did we paid people in Tunisia?  I doubt it.  They wanted freedom from their oppressive and greedy government.  Egypt saw it.  Bahrain. Yemen.  Libya.   I am heartened by this.  My Christian Lebanese friend always tells me that everything that goes on in the Middle East is all about religion.  Religion that I don't understand: Islam and Judaism.  But, these revolutions give me hope that there is more to it, that there are reasonable people there that are willing to stand up, fight back and, hopefully, take charge.

As the U.S. Declaration of Independence states...

Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed

Fatwa on Suicide Bombings & Terrorism

I have never understood anything that happens in the Middle East. For as long as I can remember there has been problems with Israel, Egypt, Syria, "Palestine", Lebanon. I could never grok why. For that matter, Ireland. A friend of mine tells be that it is all about religion and, in the case of the Middle East, the turmoil dates back to the to the assassination of Ali (in 661 AD!) and the Crusades. Incredible. I think that since I do not live history or religion this probably explains much of my ignorance. Car bombs and IEDs are driving me nuts.  It seems like the terrorists' justification for killing innocent people on purpose is that we kill innocent people by accident.

As someone who has lived on both sides of the current "Islamist" vs. the West turmoil, Maajid Nawaz believes that those that believe as the terrorists are, in fact, misinformed. Misinformed regarding our history, our motives and our character. We in the West are demonized by them and logic and commonsense need not be applied. Mr. Nawaz, however, believes that many of these people are reasonable and can be convinced. Very noble and a I refer the dear reader to the Quilliam Foundation.

There are others, as well:

Sheikh Dr. Tahir ul-Qadri, a widely recognized and respected authority on Islamic jurisprudence, will issue a comprehensive fatwa prohibiting terrorism and suicide bombing at a press conference in Westminster, central London. - March 2, 2010, Jerusalem Post

Commendable. It gives me some hope. Please, check out the information on the fatwa here and here.

This, however, will bring you down: Suicide bombings in Iraq since 2003 and this is only Iraq.
At Amazon.com: Introduction to Fatwa on Suicide Bombings and Terrorism

killing schoolgirls

According to CNN International, girls are poisoned in Afghanistan because they go to school.

Kabul, Afghanistan -- About 60 schoolgirls in Afghanistan's Balkh province appear to have been poisoned and required hospitalization, the Ministry of Health said Sunday.

I will never understand this sort of thing.  I can understand, perhaps, being offended for religious reasons, by the education of women, but I cannot understand how that same religion can condone murder as retribution for the offense.  Or using deadly violence against innocent people as a form of political statement.

Gaza blockade violence premeditated? Turkey complicit?

Seems like a cynical attempt to stir up some sympathy for the Palestinians in Gaza.  According to the Jerusalem Post (jpost.com):

'Marmara' captain: I opposed violence

By JPOST.COM STAFF AND YAAKOV LAPPIN 11/06/2010

Report:Crew tried to stop IHH activists' violence before raid.

The captain of the Mavi Marmara  tried to convince dozens of IHH activists not to engage in violent clashes with the IDF two hours prior to the commando's boarding of the ship, reported Army Radio on Friday. The Gaza flotilla ship's captain, Mehmet Tubal, said while being investigated in Israel that he and other members of the Mavi Marmara's staff did all they could to prevent the activists from confronting soldiers, even throwing some of the IHH member's metal pipes and chains overboard. Another senior member of the ship's staff said that 40 IHH activists took control of the Mavi Marmara and dictated the rest of the passengers' movements. The occurrence of violence aboard the Mavi Marmara may have been predetermined by the IHH 's purchase of the ship along with possible tacit approval from the Turkish government. "[The] IHH acquired the Mavi Marmara ship from the AKP-run municipality of Istanbul. It is not conceivable that the IHH’s Gaza operation could have been carried out absent high-level government sanction," wrote Svante Cornell, a Swedish security expert who specializes in Eurasia, in an article published on Monday. A journalist on-board the Mavi Marmara, described as having good links with the heads of the Turkish government and Bulent Yildirim, head of the IHH, had stated, "The flotilla was organized with the support of the Turkish government and Prime Minister Erdogan gave the instructions for it to set sail. That was despite the fact that everyone knew it would never reach its destination," according to the report.

The IHH  calls itself a "relief organization".  (--> wikipedia)  But that doesn't mean they are peaceful, it seems:

Representatives of Freedom Flotilla organizers stated that they will continue with their actions until Israel frees embargo-stricken people of Palestine.

Do I trust the Jersulem Post?

More on this here.

dire or not, who knows?

I suppose the Turks (and Hamas) need to try to justify trying to break through the Israeli blockade.

Critics of the blockade claim the humanitarian situation in Gaza is dire. But Ambassador Oren said Israel is allowing 100 to 120 trucks to cross the border daily into Gaza and he said there is no shortage of food or medicine.

from CNN International Edition

Are naval blockades legal?

Israel has had a long standing naval blockade along the coast of Gaza to ensure the Hamas there do not import arms that they would use against Israel.  Is this legit?  There seems to be popular uproar, especially when Israel enforced the blockade on May 31st with a senseless raid.

Was our blockade of Cuba in 1962 legit?

I might as well simply quote the wikipedia article:

According to the San Remo Manual on International Law Applicable to Armed Conflicts at Sea, 12 June 1994, a blockade is a legal method of warfare at sea, but is governed by rules. The blockading nation must publish a list of contraband. The manual describes what can never be contraband. Outside this list, the blockading nation is free to select anything as contraband. The blockading nation typically establish a blockaded area of water, but any ship can be inspected as soon as it is established that it is attempting to break the blockade. This inspection can occur inside the blockaded area or in international waters, but never inside the territorial waters of a neutral nation. A neutral ship must obey a request to stop for inspection from the blockading nation. If the situation so demands, the blockading nation can request that the ship divert to a known place or harbour for inspection. If the ship does not stop, then the ship is subject to capture. If people aboard the ship are resisting capture, they can be attacked. It is still not allowed to sink the ship, unless provision is made for rescueing the crew. Leaving the crew in liferafts / lifeboats does not constitue rescue. If a neutral ship is captured, any member of the crew, resisting capture can be treated as prisoners-of-war, while the remainder of the crew should be released. A neutral nation may choose to send a convoy accompanied by warships. The warship can provide guarantees that the convoy does not contain contraband. in which case, the blockading nation does not have any right of inspection.

Seems like they are legit, at least as far as International Law is concerned.

BTW, did you see the video?  Who is beating whom?