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Thursday
Dec112008

Update: Pakistan and Al Qa'eda --- How Not to Cover the News

Only a couple of hours ago I blogged on the UN report warning of the extended reach of the Pakistani group Lashkar-e-Taiba and wrote, "The misleading read of this report would be that LeT is now a branch of Al Qaeda."

Step up, Daily Telegraph, which begins its story:
Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the [United States] joint chiefs of staff, said members of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and other Pakistan groups were able to operate at a much higher level.
Thursday
Dec112008

Update from Iran: Hossein Derakhshan Arrest Confirmed

Last month Enduring America reported on the detention of Hossein Derakhshan, the well-known Iranian-Canadian blogger, and the political complexities surrounding the case.

A reader points us to the Toronto Globe and Mail, which has information from Derakhshan's friend and family confirming the arrest on 1 November. Officials of Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade say that, despite their enquiries, Tehran is still not confirming the detention or arrest.
Thursday
Dec112008

Illinois Governor's Arrest: An Alternative View

John Matlin of London writes this Guest Blog for Enduring America:


"Had the media of today been around in 1934, one wonders if Harry Truman would have been allowed to get out of Union Station to take his seat in the US Senate. As is usual in America these days, Blagojevich has to go through trial by the media."



No sooner has one of Illinois’ favourite sons been elected to the White House, than another has got himself into serious hot water. Governor Rod Blagojevich has been arrested for allegedly seeking to sell Barack Obama’s seat in the U. S. Senate.


The press is now full of horror stories about corruption in Illinois. It cites the statistic that 469 Illinois politicians were found guilty of corruption between 1994 and 2004, though without either details of the illegal activities or an explanation of the relevance of those dates. “Daley” rears its ugly head again, bringing back images of the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago and the evil that a political machine can do --- obscuring that the current Mayor Daley runs an efficient and apparently corruption-free machine.


Before we all run shrieking from our exposure to alleged corruption, shouting “shock, horror”, it is worth remembering that the appointment to a vacancy in the US Senate is within the gift of the governor of the relevant state. Patronage has always been a strong element in American politics, as far back as Andrew Jackson’s days. Furthermore, the 1976 Supreme Court ruling in Elrod v Burns recognised that the practice of patronage was lawful in given circumstances, defining it as “the allocation of discretionary favours of government in exchange for political support”.


The Governor of Illinois should not be judged based solely on statements provided to the press by the FBI and the Illinois District Attorney, nor should his predecessor’s conviction for fraud be considered guilt by association. There needs to be proof before an Illinois jury that Blagojevich was seeking personal financial reward, not political gain.


Whoever is appointed to the vacant Illinois seat, he or she may now have a very difficult ride, regardless of reputation for honesty. However, this is not the first time that a Senatorial appointment has been greeted with scorn. In 1934, future President Harry Truman won a hotly disputed and undoubtedly corrupt Missouri primary for the vacant US Senate seat and then coasted to victory in the formal election, both successes courtesy of Tom Pendergast’s Kansas City machine. So powerful and disreputable was the Kansas City boss’s name nationally that, upon his arrival in Washington, Truman was greeted with scorn as “the Senator from Pendergast”. What was disregarded by the press was that Truman was Boss Tom Pendergast’s fourth choice for the seat and that, even in the crooked milieu of Kansas City politics and business, Truman had managed to keep his reputation as an honest man in public life.


Had the media of today been around in 1934, one wonders if Truman would have been allowed to get out of Union Station to take his seat. As is usual in America these days, Blagojevich has to go through trial by the media. Yet the principle of innocent until proved guilty remains the law and until a jury of Blagojevich’s peers decides his fate, I for one will keep an open mind.

Thursday
Dec112008

"Terror" Beyond Pakistan: Expanding Reach of Lashkar-e-Taiba?

McClatchy News Services has obtained a United Nations document on Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistan-based militant group linked by many to the Mumbai attacks, and the implications go far beyond Indo-Pakistani relations. The article asserts, "LeT has sent operatives to attack U.S. troops in Iraq, established a branch in Saudi Arabia and been raising funds in Europe" and "may also have received money from al Qaida".



On Wednesday, a UN Security Council committee --- pressed by India and the US --- put three of LeT's alleged leaders and a Saudi supporter on a terrorist watch list. India also sought the inclusion of Hamid Gul, the former head of Pakistan's intelligence service, but China reportedly blocked his addition to the list.

The misleading read of this report would be that LeT is now a branch of Al Qaeda. If only it were that simple: the indications are that LeT, while formally banned by Pakistan since 2002, is now a group beyond Al Qaeda with its own aims and ideas of how to achieve them.

And that in turn doubles attention back, not to Osama bin Laden, but to internal Pakistani politics. As Juan Cole notes cogently about Pakistan's arrest of one of the four on the UN list, Zaki ur Rahman Lakhvi, and Zarar Shah:

[Zarar Shah] is thought to be a liason to a network of retired officers of the [Pakistani service] Inter-Services Intelligence, who are alleged to have trained the Mumbai attackers.

This is a game of chicken. As the civilian Pakistani government gets closer to rogue cells in the ISI, it risks another coup or black ops aimed at destabilizing it.
Wednesday
Dec102008

Canada: Not a Failed State. Really.

As a tribute to Canuckistan and our Canadian colleagues as well as the collapsing Harper Government, we are proud to post this testimonial.

Yes, you're not American. Yes, you're independent. Yes, oh yes, you are.