Middle East peace - the real story

It is extremely frustrating watching the hypocrisy the western governments display in their aid to Arab citizens and their revolutions under the title of human rights and freedom when they constantly deny Palestinians their right of self-determination and dignity through their staunch support to Israel; all for the campaign money they receive. Please watch the video; it is exactly 4 min long. It will briefly explain to you what happened and what is currently going on, so no excuse for you to not know what happened.

U.S. Debt Crisis

Earlier last month many of us watched as the U.S. congress struggled to get a bill passed for their debt ceiling limit so as to not have to default on their loan. So as I was following what was happening I came across a string of information that made it easier to understand the problem and why it is crucial. I believe that the order in which I have the videos set up will help give a wholesome picture to what was going on. If you care and have the time, do listen to all of them, attentively, even if you’ve seen them before. I promise that you will get more from them this time around; I know I did.

To start off here is a video/documentary that explains what is happening with the U.S. economy. This video is only 24 min long.

Now let’s look at the two speeches that were given to the nation a week before the bill was passed.

Here you have President Obama. To me when President Obama gives a speech to the nation he really is addressing the nation, the Americans.


And here is Boehner’s response. Very bipartisan, right wing, Fox News reporting style, speech.


And finally the outcome. No tax increases, just spending cuts.

Ramadan Mubarak

Though I am busy preparing for an exam tomorrow, I thought I’d pop up to wish you all a Ramadan Mubarak!Today is the first day of Ramadan :)



Opposed to my Ramadan post two years ago, there aren’t many indications in Toronto that Ramadan is today. I did come across two so far, the first was in a Food Basics (grocery store) weekly flyer and the second was this morning in Toronto Star’s website.

And despite the countless number of times that I have come across interesting things that I’ve wanted to share with you, I just haven’t had the time to post :(  I have been having a super busy and fun summer, I like to keep it balanced :), so don’t get overwhelmed when the posts start rushing in.

Also, if you don’t know a lot about Ramadan or may have forgotten what it is, I have provided some explanation in my Ramadan Mubarak 2009 post.

365 days of makeup!

 Here is a look at what a year's worth of make up looks like, basically gross! especially for those girls who apply foundation every morning...eeks.

Using almost 230 ml (roughly half a can of pop) of makeup — two bottles of liquid blush, seven bottles of foundation, two bottles of cream eye shadow and three lip glosses — Sander Plug and Lernert Engelberts painted the face of Belgian model Hannelore Knuts in one nine-hour sitting. The result: Natural Beauty.

Lernert & Sander: Natural Beauty on Nowness.com.

Ready for summer :)

I finally got my hair cut for summer and I love it!! It is so carefree and pretty. I am so into it that I am thinking of permanently keeping it short, but still trying to figure out if that’s something I can afford until I am a full time working women!

In 500 Billion Words, a New Window on Culture-NYTimes

Did anyone hear about this before? (click on the title above to get to the article)

So basically, in a nutshell, Google has created a database of 5 million or so digitized books and the main purpose is to find cultural trends in words/terms and how often they are used within a given period of time or when their use even came about. Now I am big enthusiast for language, culture and how the two evolve within time, so this is really interesting, though it only gives you numbers, the fun part is then researching or just seeing why and when certain words' use become prominent over time and whether that changes.

Here is my first try at it and this is what I got from the corpus English. Seeing the results and relating them to history is great! Like making historic events come to life :) I only used one word on each search but you can type in up to 5. Read the article too, it has some interesting facts.

Word: Housewife

Time period: Between 1850 and 2000 with smoothing of 50

(Click on the below link to get a better look at the graph)

http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/chart?content=housewife&corpus=0&smoothing=50&year_start=1850&year_end=2000

Word: Hippie

Time Period: 1850 and 2000 with smoothing of 3

Result: Huge peak in 1960-1980’s…amazing!

http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/chart?content=hippie&corpus=0&smoothing=3&year_start=1850&year_end=2000

Word: Terrorism

Time Period: 1950 and 2005 with smoothing of 3

Results: What do you know, goes way up after the 9/11 attack and still going up…

http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/chart?content=terrorism&corpus=0&smoothing=3&year_start=1950&year_end=2005

Word: Israel

Time Period: 1800 and 2000 with smoothing of 10

Results: again, between 1940 and 1980 the use of the word is increasing as Israel occupies Palestine and decides to create a country for itself right there in 1948, along with the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/chart?content=Israel&corpus=0&smoothing=10&year_start=1800&year_end=2000

Now try it yourself

http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/

No more rain boots!

Here is a snapshot of the last time I had my rain boots on; it finally got too warm to wear them even when it is raining outside.

And when it finally gets that warm, sunny and green, it is really difficult for me to restrain myself from basking in the sun and going for a swing, even when not appropriately dressed for either :p

Not our common Vancouverites…promise

(Click on the title)

Apart from beavers and maple syrup, hockey constitutes a major part of Canadian culture. On Wednesday, June 15th, the Vancouver Canucks lost their chance to win the Stanley Cup-think of it as the FIFA Cup, to Boston Bruins. And it was a big deal as it is to have a Canadian team make it all the way to the finals, considering that the last time a Canadian team won the Stanley Cup was in 1993-Montreal Canadiens.Vancouver is a great city, it is where my heart wanted to settle when I first came to Canada :) I will make it there soon. Nevertheless, I do not understand the logic behind these riots. They are actually costing the government money to protect them and other individuals. How do these people rationalize breaking things that aren’t theirs?

Here are some pictures…

Vancouver riots: The chaos

Vancouver riots: The damage

Vancouver riots: The clean up

Show of Protest for Syria and Bashar Al-Assad in Damascus

BBC

AND YOU HAVE TO CHECK out this *video* (In Arabic)

This is quite the thing. This goes to show that as long as the "protests" are taking place in villages and in the borders of the country what is happening isn't a real movement yet. The upper and middle classes of society, in the main cities of Aleppo and Damascus, both Christians, Muslims and minorities don't want civil strife and would lose the most should a civil war break, thus they will continue to support the stability that is known under Bashar.

Here is a perspective and insight from Joshua Landis' blog

Another factor contributing to the loyalty of the Sunnis for the regime is the wide-spread worry about “foreign conspiracy.”...The implication is that the US and Israel are behind this plan.

The Syrian opposition itself is deeply divided over the notion of foreign intervention. The leadership at the Antalya meeting took a strong and united stand against any foreign intervention. The secular activists who live in the West are, however, trying to drum up support among Western governments for greater and more punishing economic sanctions, such as a blockade on Syrian oil and gas exports.

But this lobbying is not welcomed by all opposition elements which is rather critical of the Activists in the West who have taken money from Washington and who advocate greater involvement by Western governments in bringing down the Assad regime. Even in Turkey, there is opposition to Erdogan’s government joining the West in its efforts to undermine the Syrian government. Here is what one Turk wrote me today:

“I am a Turkish, but I really don’t understand what Prime Minister Erdoğan want to do. Turkish government is coming near US imperialist policies to the Middle East. What a pity. I think all Syrians should protect national unity and values of Syria. We both -Syrian and Turkish- reject foreign interference to Syria…”

I have asked several Turkish friends if they believe their government might allow a Syrian insurgency to organize and operate from Turkey, particularly if Western government pressure it to do so and offer to pay for it. They all said, “no” and explained that anxiety about the Kurdish situation, possible Syrian support for the PKK, and the fear of getting sucked into a Syrian civil war would preclude this.

The most obvious future for Syria is that the present situation continues for much longer than we think it can. The West, exhausted by foreign wars, economic overstretch, and the enormity of taking on Syria, will refuse to commit itself to the rebel cause militarily. All the same, it may add to the economic pressure on Syria by slowly ratcheting up sanctions. Even if the Assad regime can repress the uprising, it is hard to see how it can re-integrate Syria back into the international community and attract tourism and foreign investment again with the growing list of sanctions that have been imposed on it and its top statesmen.

Frolicking on Victoria Day…

While last Victoria Day was spent on the beach beneath the starts and the fireworks, this year’s Victoria Day was spent frolicking around midtown, but sometimes the simplest things like a bike ride to midtown and a walk through parks with hidden art can be the most fun. Not to mention hearing the skies roaring with thunder, knowing you are about to get caught in a thunderstorm yet not caring at all. And after that rain hits you back to reality, you hurdle through the puddles to make it indoors for a glass of hot chocolate. Hope you had a fun a dry weekend.

ah...the City of Toronto

Have I told you before about one of my favorite things about the City of Toronto, well just in case I didn't, it would be Toronto Public Library! In fact with its 99 branches its public library system is the biggest in North America, and you can have any item that you put on hold delivered to the branch that is closest to you. I truly came to understand the value and need of a public library through this one as I’ve never used a public library before. Two weekends ago I happened to be at one of its biggest branches, Toronto Reference Library, which is located in the heart of the city.

      

(Street view of the library- Wikipedia)

                                                            

This is the “TTC Rocket” at Rosedale station as I was heading back from Canadian Tire; one of the small things I enjoy is the view of a distant train approaching in an above ground level outdoor station :)

 

 

           

And as the city of Toronto has a lot to offer on a nice warm weekend, I enjoyed a long stroll on Yonge street, appreciating the city's multicultural environment which makes me feel good and brings a smile to my face. I topped of my evening with a grand lunch at a Korean restaurant and made it down to Yonge and Dundas Square where the running fountains indicate that the warm weather has arrived.                       

Dubai Struggles with Environmental Problems After Growth

NY-TIMES

Here is a look at the environmental costs that come with fast and big money. Also, the first person I remember when I come across U.A.E. and its natural resources, environment and waste production is Professor Knuteson whom I had taken an environmental science course with during my second semester at AUS. Her passion and motivation to educate and make constructive change was inspirational.

April Showers Bring May Flowers…

This “summer” has been busy, busy, busy. I’ve just been basically caught up between classes, work, studying and whatever free time I can squeeze in between, so I thought of taking a minute to finally upload the many pictures I have taken and had promised to show you. The saying goes that April showers bring May flowers…we definitely had lots of showers and cool weather before the flowers decided to show up. So here is me anxiously waiting on and watching the flowers blossom. However, I did miss on taking pictures of many more beautiful tulips and cherry blossom trees.

The weather did have me feeling down last month as it just wouldn’t get warmer but I made it through; when a sunny day was forecasted I made sure I was out for some sun.

These flowers are right outside my window at work, on campus.

Happy to be out watching the dogs at the dog park on a warm day.

My anticipation sometimes gets me ahead of myself. I was so keen on summer arriving that I planned a day of Ice cream and bikes on a “relatively” warm weekend in May.

Immigration and Integration in Europe-Germany

Here is an interesting article that provides an insight to a right wing perspective on immigrants in Germany. To me it is outstandingly surprising that until this very day and age there are people who firmly believe such facts, as "Muslims are socially, culturally and intellectually inferior to most everyone else". This is a statement that appears in this author's book (Thilo Sarrazin) which sold over a million copies in Germany.

The fact that he is generalizing everybody is troubling. It can be true to a degree when some Muslims extremely adhere to traditions or scripture that makes it difficult for them to integrate, however saying that it is the case for Muslims coming from different backgrounds is just racist.

He says that after examining three indicators — success in education and employment, and welfare dependency — he concluded that Islam is by its nature a drag on individual success.

If so, why and how is Islam a drag on individual success? Did he find out if that held true for Muslims who practice their religions in different levels?

and is this really a constructive response from an "educated" author?

WHAT he did not discuss, his critics say, was how it has been well documented in Germany that prejudice and discrimination have made it difficult — nearly impossible — for Muslims to get jobs, find housing or advance in education. A government official in Berlin said recently that many immigrants and their children were given an inferior education that did not prepare them for the work force. Mr. Sarrazin dismisses those factors as secondary, or irrelevant.

Al Jazeera's Inside Story

Here is a quick way to get an insight on the context of what is going on in Syria along with a background. For those of you who are more up to date with the developments and talks coming out of there and out of Syrians, this will be interesting.

Paper on Syria

For those of you who might be interested in getting an overview of Syria and more specifically Bashar’s reforms domestically, here is the link to my paper *Click Here*

It provides an overview of the reforms that Bashar has implemented since he came to office and an idea of his vision along with the obstacles he faces. However, there is a whole international aspect to Syria’s position that adds a deeper insight that I had to scratch out given that I was limited with space. The paper is only 10 pages and an easy read.

Joshua Landis on Syria

I came across this video by THE person who is most knowledgeable about Syria and the situation there, in this interview he talks about the international dimension I mentioned in the last post. I read a lot of his work and he explains things in a much more direct and to the point way than I do or did in my last post. I don’t write the best when my thoughts and feelings, about a topic I’m passion about, get muddled up!

Here is Joshua Landis

Syria: where do you think we are heading?

The news on the uprising in Syria has been confusing for me to follow and recently becoming frustrating for me to follow.

I feel that I should to go into a time line for those of you who have not been following, but I myself feel muddled about it at best. I read different numbers here and there, unverified videos and out of my own personal experience, feel skeptical about any genuine uprising or grassroots movement.

At first when demonstrations started on March 15, I was weary because I didn’t know if I was waiting for the uprisings to reach Syria or wanted to see if they were going to, or wanted to be assured that they weren’t going to. Also, that they started in mid March with my capstone paper on Syria due end of March complicated things for me.

Now, some of you might want to call me a conspiracy theorist, but yes when I knew that the protests started in Dar’aa I was skeptical, but nevertheless I said I will wait and see, and if I am mistaken and Syrians do not want Bashar then it is only a matter of time before the demonstrations will pick up pace and Syrians in major cities will follow suite, like what happened in Egypt. That didn’t happen; we only started seeing pro-Assad demonstrations by the thousands in Damascus and Aleppo. I am also skeptical because of the much reading that I have done about Syria’s past and present and about Bashar himself and the things he has done. With what I have read and my own personal experience, I am convinced and truly believe that even though Bashar is technically from the same “ruling party” he is not a Bonapartist dictator of his father’s time and he truly wants genuine change for Syria, in fact I found out that the changes I have been noticing in Syria through my visits started happening when Bashar came to office in 2000 but I was much younger then to understand politics. He has been implementing reforms and he has been opening the country, not that more cannot be done. But Bashar is aware of the need of change domestically, of unemployment levels rising and economy declining.

I think it is important to take every situation/country within its own context and look at it with its own dynamics. It is important to keep in mind that Syria is a muti ethnic country and stability is of crucial importance to Syrians. Bashar has been trying hard to improve Syria’s economy and Syrians’ standard of living. Sure people in Syria want political reforms and would like to have more political freedoms and dignity and to this I think every Syrian would attest, but the right to vote etc. is not the pressing issue now, but it is to have a decent living standard, education and work. I feel that I am not expressing myself enough here, partly because I feel I have said all that I have to say in my paper, which I had to go over and over before submitting and so I feel that I have exhausted the topic for myself. For those of you who might be interested in getting an overview of Syria and more specifically Bashar’s reforms domestically and what I am talking about, I am more than happy to share my paper. It provides an overview of the reforms that Bashar has implemented since he came to office and an idea for his vision along with the obstacles he faces. However, there is a whole international aspect to Syria’s position that adds a deeper insight that I had to scratch out given that I was limited with space. The paper is only 10 pages and an easy read.

Though I am saying this, I am in no way advocating that it is ok to kill people, yes people had demands and they have been met. I sincerely believe that the protests were needed to give Bashar that push to finally implement the political reforms that he has been talking about but has been hesitant to implement either because he is too soft, as some people call him, or because of the old guard.

Nevertheless, currently my stance on the situation is that yes there must be infiltrators who have started these protests and provocations in Dar’aa. The fact that they are STILL contained in Dar’aa says a lot; a town in southern Syria, bordering Jordan and mainly inhabited by villages and uneducated people of different religious sects. Why aren’t people in other major provinces saying anything? It is because Syria needs to looked at as a specific case as a country and as Bashar its president. The protests haven’t spread because Syrians don’t want it and they do not want chaos. Now, I might find out that I am completely wrong and protests might spread and I will not be upset, but currently I do not think that Bashar is stupid enough to ask the security officers to kill and spill blood. He knows it won’t help. Recently we have been hearing that his brother might be heading what is happening and what the security officers are doing.

I think it is mostly appalling to me when the U.S. yet again manages to be very contradictory with its position as an advocate for democracy. It condemns Syria and wants to implement sanctions yet saying nothing about Bahrain who has detained protesters to death. And I tell you I was sincerely surprised when I read this. Especially that I had heard that the same thing has been happening in South America. Here is a look from Al-Jazeera

Backed by neo-conservative hawks who have long sought regime change in Damascus, they have urged the administration to follow the same path it trod in isolating Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, beginning with a UN resolution referring Assad to the International Criminal Court and the appointing of a special rapporteur to investigate alleged abuses by his security forces.

Basing its story on recently released Wikileaks cables, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday that the US state department had provided about six million dollars to opposition groups since 2006, when US-Syrian relations were at their lowest ebb under former president George Bush.

Much of the money has reportedly been spent on Barada TV, a satellite network run by Syrian expatriates allegedly linked to the Movement for Justice and Development (MJD), described in one cable as a "moderate Islamist organisation that eschews any ideological agenda aside from ending the Asad regime through democratic reform".

Despite Obama’s official policy of engaging Damascus, Barada TV began broadcasting in April 2009 and recently ramped up its operations and now broadcasts 24 hours a day, although various sources said it was virtually unknown within Syria.

In his remarks Tuesday, Toner insisted that US support for Barada and civil-society groups in Syria was "no different" from similar "democracy-promotion" programmes it supports in other countries around the world.