Six years after the fall of the Taleban, Afghan women now have a say and a position under the country's constitution, but they are still suffering. I recently read an article on BBC online about six female Members of Parliament in Afghanistan who have been the targets of serious threats.
Thankfully, Afghan women are participating actively in politics. Of the 361 members of parliament today, 91 are women. These politicians have begun speaking up about issues such as forced marriages, honour killings, abortions and rape.
But with these new threats, I wonder if Afghan women will be strong enough to continue exercising their rights.
BBC journalist Soutik Biswas introduces Shukria Barakzai, an MP who has been receiving a letters for three months warning her that she may be targeted by a suicide bomber in the next six months.
The cryptic government letter contains an intelligence warning that Ms Barakzai's life is under threat and she should be careful.
BBC quotes Barakzai saying "That is all that the government does - send a letter by mail once every month saying my life is under threat. There isn't talk of even providing security.”
The article suggests that Barakzai may be targeted in response to the speeches she has delivered against Afghanistan’s warlords in the past, as well as her criticism of Pakistan and support of women’s rights.
According to the BBC report, the state cannot protect women or ensure that they can go about their work safely.
Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission documented over 1,500 cases of atrocities against women last year. Reports range from victims of domestic violence to forced marriage. The commission documented 98 women who had set themselves on fire and over 100 more who tried to commit suicide by consuming poison.
What can be done? Perhaps just bringing awareness to the dangers progressive women face in Afghanistan will create political pressure so that policies in Afghanistan change to better protect these women.
You can read the entire BBC article “Women under siege in Afghanistan” here.
You can also listen to Afghan Member of Parliament Malalai Joya talk about women's rights in the You Tube video below:
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Iraq today...
On BBC online today a developing news story caught my eye. Bilal Hussein, a Pulitzer Prize winning photographer from the Associated Press, was detained by U.S. troops under suspicion of helping Iraqi insurgents. He was originally arrested in April 2006 after sheltering strangers in his Falluja home following a nearby explosion.
The Pentagon claims that new evidence has come to life supporting the assumption that Hussein is a “terrorist media operative” who was infiltrated into AP. However, it is Iraqi judges who will decide Hussein’s fate.
Through their own investigation, lawyers with the Associated Press claim they have found no evidence suggesting that Hussein was anything other than an Iraqi journalist. What’s more, they claim they have been denied access to Hussein and the evidence against him, making it impossible to build a defense.
In the BBC article, AP's president and chief executive officer Tom Curley suggests that the US military just wants to keep Hussein in jail as long as possible. When he requests to see what the pentagon calls "convincing and irrefutable evidence that Bilal Hussein is a threat to security and stability as a link to insurgent activity," he claims to receive materials that are not convincing at all.
Though I am not very well informed on human rights in Iraq, this BBC article makes it sound like justice is not being served, and Hussein may be at a severe disadvantage in his trial.
Read more about the story here and tell me what you think.
Meanwhile, the Associated Press also covered a story today about a deadly U. S. helicopter crash Southeast of Baghdad today. Initial reports have not revealed the cause of the crash, but claim that it was not the result of hostile fire.
The story explained that while two people were killed as a result of the crash, their nationalities have not been specified.
This detail got me thinking, I understand why Americans relate better to the loss of their own than the loss of an Iraqi, but why is it that the media has disregarded most Iraqi causalities. Why don’t we car about the numbers of Iraqi civilians who have been killed since the start of the war? We focus so much on the death of U.S. soldiers but generally disregard the other deaths that have been caused by this war.
What do you think?
And because I know you’re wondering, according to the department of defense 3872 U.S. soldiers have been killed since March 2003 in Iraq.
And even though you’re probably not wondering, in February 2007 BBC estimated that 55,664 to 61,369 Iraqi civilians had been killed in the war to date.
For a full list of crashes in Iraq since the War started go here.
The Pentagon claims that new evidence has come to life supporting the assumption that Hussein is a “terrorist media operative” who was infiltrated into AP. However, it is Iraqi judges who will decide Hussein’s fate.
Through their own investigation, lawyers with the Associated Press claim they have found no evidence suggesting that Hussein was anything other than an Iraqi journalist. What’s more, they claim they have been denied access to Hussein and the evidence against him, making it impossible to build a defense.
In the BBC article, AP's president and chief executive officer Tom Curley suggests that the US military just wants to keep Hussein in jail as long as possible. When he requests to see what the pentagon calls "convincing and irrefutable evidence that Bilal Hussein is a threat to security and stability as a link to insurgent activity," he claims to receive materials that are not convincing at all.
Though I am not very well informed on human rights in Iraq, this BBC article makes it sound like justice is not being served, and Hussein may be at a severe disadvantage in his trial.
Read more about the story here and tell me what you think.
Meanwhile, the Associated Press also covered a story today about a deadly U. S. helicopter crash Southeast of Baghdad today. Initial reports have not revealed the cause of the crash, but claim that it was not the result of hostile fire.
The story explained that while two people were killed as a result of the crash, their nationalities have not been specified.
This detail got me thinking, I understand why Americans relate better to the loss of their own than the loss of an Iraqi, but why is it that the media has disregarded most Iraqi causalities. Why don’t we car about the numbers of Iraqi civilians who have been killed since the start of the war? We focus so much on the death of U.S. soldiers but generally disregard the other deaths that have been caused by this war.
What do you think?
And because I know you’re wondering, according to the department of defense 3872 U.S. soldiers have been killed since March 2003 in Iraq.
And even though you’re probably not wondering, in February 2007 BBC estimated that 55,664 to 61,369 Iraqi civilians had been killed in the war to date.
For a full list of crashes in Iraq since the War started go here.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Foreign Policy in Iran
As I began to research the U.S. Foreign policy in Iran I was quickly bombarded with tons of articles and information. Considering the heated political climate in Iran right now, the United States’ current foreign policy is very complicated. However, I have broken my findings down into a few major topics that are important now: Iran’s Nuclear program, financial pressures on the country and their assumed ties to terrorists.
Preventing Iran’s acquisition of nuclear weapons has been a longstanding goal of U.S. national security policy. The United States sees Iran’s pursuit of a nuclear weapons capabilityas it’s greatest threat today. In 2003 it was suspected that Iran was not acting in compliance with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and was highly capable of producing enriched uranium. As a result several inspections and diplomatic missions took place. Those inspections revealed two decades worth of undeclared nuclear activities in Iran.
Today Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad seems to be at a standoff with the west. While Ahmadinejad has claimed that the Tehran nuclear program is for energy research, the United States has accused Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons and have demanded it stop uranium enrichment. The United States’ believes that the international community is also interested in preventing Iran from being Nuclear Weapons capable.
The U.S. has believes a proper course of action would be to put financial pressure on Iran. Many international banks have already refused to aid the country, receiving support from the U.S. While the United States seeks to block any new loans from the World Bank to Iran, other nations with a share in the World Bank’s voting decided in 2000 that economic normalization, rather than pressure, would be more influential in encouraging Iran to cease uranium enrichment.
The U.S. continues to put pressure on governments in Europe and Asia to reduce the export credits they provide to Iran. The U.S. foreign policy suggests that Governments should not take on the financial risk that private companies are facing in Iran. The United States Itself has tied all Iranian entities to their weapons of mass destruction and missile programs, effectively denying them access to the U.S. financial system.
Lastly, the United States has worked hard to block Iran’s support of terrorism. Tehran has long been considered the world’s leading financial sponsor of terrorism. The regime violated obligations with the U.N through its efforts to rearm Hizballah and by failing to impose sanctions on al-Qaida or confirm the whereabouts of senior al-Qaida members the country detained in 2003.
In response, the United States has enlisted foreign support to block Iranian individuals and entities access to the international financial system. This policy has helped the U.S., disrupt Hizballah’s financial support network.
Preventing Iran’s acquisition of nuclear weapons has been a longstanding goal of U.S. national security policy. The United States sees Iran’s pursuit of a nuclear weapons capabilityas it’s greatest threat today. In 2003 it was suspected that Iran was not acting in compliance with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and was highly capable of producing enriched uranium. As a result several inspections and diplomatic missions took place. Those inspections revealed two decades worth of undeclared nuclear activities in Iran.
Today Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad seems to be at a standoff with the west. While Ahmadinejad has claimed that the Tehran nuclear program is for energy research, the United States has accused Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons and have demanded it stop uranium enrichment. The United States’ believes that the international community is also interested in preventing Iran from being Nuclear Weapons capable.
The U.S. has believes a proper course of action would be to put financial pressure on Iran. Many international banks have already refused to aid the country, receiving support from the U.S. While the United States seeks to block any new loans from the World Bank to Iran, other nations with a share in the World Bank’s voting decided in 2000 that economic normalization, rather than pressure, would be more influential in encouraging Iran to cease uranium enrichment.
The U.S. continues to put pressure on governments in Europe and Asia to reduce the export credits they provide to Iran. The U.S. foreign policy suggests that Governments should not take on the financial risk that private companies are facing in Iran. The United States Itself has tied all Iranian entities to their weapons of mass destruction and missile programs, effectively denying them access to the U.S. financial system.
Lastly, the United States has worked hard to block Iran’s support of terrorism. Tehran has long been considered the world’s leading financial sponsor of terrorism. The regime violated obligations with the U.N through its efforts to rearm Hizballah and by failing to impose sanctions on al-Qaida or confirm the whereabouts of senior al-Qaida members the country detained in 2003.
In response, the United States has enlisted foreign support to block Iranian individuals and entities access to the international financial system. This policy has helped the U.S., disrupt Hizballah’s financial support network.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Iraq through other eyes
For today's post I decided to try something a little different. Instead of reading about news in the Middle East through my common resources, (Seattle P-I, New York Times, etc) I looked at current events in Iraq through international news Web sites, aka non-American.
I started at www.alJazeera.com. The site had one section dedicated entirely to news from the Middle East and another just covering Iraq. One of the top three stories was a brief about guards in Kirkuk from a private security company who had fired at a taxi cab that approached their convoy. Three civilians were wounded, including a journalist, according to police.
The site also reported that spokesman for the Iraqi government, Ali al-Dabbagh, had made a rare appeared at the White House. During the visit al-Dabbagh urged Turkey not to carry out a possible military strike at Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq.
Another news brief commented added that during his visit al-Dabbagh also announced that Saddam Hussein's notorious accomplice "Chemical Ali" will be executed "in the coming days."
While I was glad to see that the Middle East was a focus of the Al Jazeera home page, I was disappointed that most of the stories were briefs from Agence France Presse (AFP).
Curious to see if, and how, these stories would be covered on other news websites I visited the Web site for Lebanon's The Daily Star. However, at The Daily Star I found very different stories regarding Iraq on the home page. The first one was a longer piece, though also from the Agence France Presse. It was about Iraqis flocking to a zoo in Baghdad to celebrate Eid. As the article described children playing with balloons and women dressed in fine attire it allowed the reader to see them as human, instead of strange foreigners. However, it also mentioned that this was a relief from the violence that affects their everyday lives.
The article also mentions that much of the zoo was damaged during the U.S. lead invasion in 2003, so that only some birds and a few dozen other animals remain. I appreciated that this story, unlike those in Al Jazeera, gave the reader insight into the lives of Iraqis.
The final Web site I looked at today was the Middle East Times. I liked how this site was broken down to focus on region, business, culture, women, sci-tech, commentary and your world. On the homepage I found two stories about Iran. The first I had not seen on either of the other websites. The article reported that Iraq's Kurdish administration had called for direct negotiations with Ankara. It described thousands of fearful Iraqi Kurds protesting in the streets against this military threat.
The second story on the Middle East Times homepage also covered the delay of "Chemical Ali's" execution. However, it gave much more background information, explaining that the hanging of Ali Hassan Al Majid (finally we get his real name!) was delayed last month due to the Muslim holiday of Eid Al Fitr. I appreciated much the further details and correct use of Al Majid's name.
Going through all of these articles has made me wonder, what causes the discrepancy in news coverage, culture, journalistic styles, proximity?
Visit the sites, post comments and let me know what you think!
I started at www.alJazeera.com. The site had one section dedicated entirely to news from the Middle East and another just covering Iraq. One of the top three stories was a brief about guards in Kirkuk from a private security company who had fired at a taxi cab that approached their convoy. Three civilians were wounded, including a journalist, according to police.
The site also reported that spokesman for the Iraqi government, Ali al-Dabbagh, had made a rare appeared at the White House. During the visit al-Dabbagh urged Turkey not to carry out a possible military strike at Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq.
Another news brief commented added that during his visit al-Dabbagh also announced that Saddam Hussein's notorious accomplice "Chemical Ali" will be executed "in the coming days."
While I was glad to see that the Middle East was a focus of the Al Jazeera home page, I was disappointed that most of the stories were briefs from Agence France Presse (AFP).
Curious to see if, and how, these stories would be covered on other news websites I visited the Web site for Lebanon's The Daily Star. However, at The Daily Star I found very different stories regarding Iraq on the home page. The first one was a longer piece, though also from the Agence France Presse. It was about Iraqis flocking to a zoo in Baghdad to celebrate Eid. As the article described children playing with balloons and women dressed in fine attire it allowed the reader to see them as human, instead of strange foreigners. However, it also mentioned that this was a relief from the violence that affects their everyday lives.
The article also mentions that much of the zoo was damaged during the U.S. lead invasion in 2003, so that only some birds and a few dozen other animals remain. I appreciated that this story, unlike those in Al Jazeera, gave the reader insight into the lives of Iraqis.
The final Web site I looked at today was the Middle East Times. I liked how this site was broken down to focus on region, business, culture, women, sci-tech, commentary and your world. On the homepage I found two stories about Iran. The first I had not seen on either of the other websites. The article reported that Iraq's Kurdish administration had called for direct negotiations with Ankara. It described thousands of fearful Iraqi Kurds protesting in the streets against this military threat.
The second story on the Middle East Times homepage also covered the delay of "Chemical Ali's" execution. However, it gave much more background information, explaining that the hanging of Ali Hassan Al Majid (finally we get his real name!) was delayed last month due to the Muslim holiday of Eid Al Fitr. I appreciated much the further details and correct use of Al Majid's name.
Going through all of these articles has made me wonder, what causes the discrepancy in news coverage, culture, journalistic styles, proximity?
Visit the sites, post comments and let me know what you think!
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Attack on Polish envoy and halt in production of "The Kite Runner"
Two recent bits of news from Iraq and Afghanistan.
First, A.P. reported that at 10 a.m. Wednesday morning a Polish envoy was attacked in Baghdad. While Polish ambassador Gen. Edward Pietrzyk survived with minor burns, three other people were killed.
The attack took place in one Baghdad’s most secure neighborhoods, the Shi’ite controlled Karradah district. The bombs exploded near the convoy, after which attackers shot at the ambassador’s security. Pietrzyk was pinned down in the burning vehicle until members of the security firm Backwater USA pulled him to safety and airlifted the group in a rescue mission administered by the U.S. Embassy. It is reporters that at least ten were wounded.
Some suspect that the attack is in response to Poland’s contributions to war in Iraq. Poland, an ally of the U.S., began contributing combats troops to the war in 2003. Currently, AP reported that Poland has 900 troops in Northwest Iraq training Iraqi personnel. No formal decision has been made regarding whether Polish troops will remain in Iraq in 2008.
Reading the news today, it is easy to turn a deaf ear to the frequent acts of violence in the Middle East. Still, I think it is important to stay aware, even if the news we hear can be overwhelming and discouraging.
Read the Seattle Times full story here
My second piece of news relates to the production of “The Kite Runner,” a film based on Khaled Hosseini’s best selling novel. Until recently the upcoming movie was being filmed in Kabul, Afghanistan, where much of Hosseini’s novel takes place. However, the film’s child stars were recently removed from Kabul to protect them against attack.
Afghan and American officials both showed concern for the child stars regarding a controversial rape scene which could outrage Afghans. It is also feared that the filming could incite violence between two ethnic groups featured in the film: Pushtuns and Hazaras.
According to the New York Times, the child stars and their families have accused filmmakers of “The Kite Runner” of poor treatment, although I could not find any more specific details.
As someone who read and loved Hosseini’s novel, I am somewhat discouraged that the film’s production has been halted. However, the rape scene in the story would be very difficult to recreate without causing harm, especially in a hostile climate. With the book readily available to share this story, I am not sure that finishing the film in Kabul, at the risk of inciting violence, is a good idea.
Read the New York Times full story here
And you catch watch a trailor for "The Kite Runner" below:
First, A.P. reported that at 10 a.m. Wednesday morning a Polish envoy was attacked in Baghdad. While Polish ambassador Gen. Edward Pietrzyk survived with minor burns, three other people were killed.
The attack took place in one Baghdad’s most secure neighborhoods, the Shi’ite controlled Karradah district. The bombs exploded near the convoy, after which attackers shot at the ambassador’s security. Pietrzyk was pinned down in the burning vehicle until members of the security firm Backwater USA pulled him to safety and airlifted the group in a rescue mission administered by the U.S. Embassy. It is reporters that at least ten were wounded.
Some suspect that the attack is in response to Poland’s contributions to war in Iraq. Poland, an ally of the U.S., began contributing combats troops to the war in 2003. Currently, AP reported that Poland has 900 troops in Northwest Iraq training Iraqi personnel. No formal decision has been made regarding whether Polish troops will remain in Iraq in 2008.
Reading the news today, it is easy to turn a deaf ear to the frequent acts of violence in the Middle East. Still, I think it is important to stay aware, even if the news we hear can be overwhelming and discouraging.
Read the Seattle Times full story here
My second piece of news relates to the production of “The Kite Runner,” a film based on Khaled Hosseini’s best selling novel. Until recently the upcoming movie was being filmed in Kabul, Afghanistan, where much of Hosseini’s novel takes place. However, the film’s child stars were recently removed from Kabul to protect them against attack.
Afghan and American officials both showed concern for the child stars regarding a controversial rape scene which could outrage Afghans. It is also feared that the filming could incite violence between two ethnic groups featured in the film: Pushtuns and Hazaras.
According to the New York Times, the child stars and their families have accused filmmakers of “The Kite Runner” of poor treatment, although I could not find any more specific details.
As someone who read and loved Hosseini’s novel, I am somewhat discouraged that the film’s production has been halted. However, the rape scene in the story would be very difficult to recreate without causing harm, especially in a hostile climate. With the book readily available to share this story, I am not sure that finishing the film in Kabul, at the risk of inciting violence, is a good idea.
Read the New York Times full story here
And you catch watch a trailor for "The Kite Runner" below:
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