by Howard Salter | Oct 11, 2007 | Global Justice, World Citizen
Recently, my colleague Rich Stazinksi wrote two very insightful pieces about the confluence of global issues , presidential politics and sports.
Today, in a similar note, I hope you will join me in wishing Etan Thomas the best of luck as he undergoes heart surgery . Who is Etan Thomas? If you are a sports fan you will recognize him as the muscle-bound center of the Washington Wizards, an NBA basketball team. If you are more than a casual fan of hoops, you also know that Etan is “More Than An Athlete,” which is the title of a book of poetry he wrote.
His poetry pulls no punches, as he opines on an array of social justice issues ranging from the war in Iraq, to climate change and issues of racism and the death penalty.
He also is a regular contributor to The Huffington Post .
Our thoughts and prayers are with you Etan.
by Rich Stazinski | Oct 9, 2007 | Global Cooperation, World Citizen
According to The Times (of London, not New York), the recipe for a perceived chemical attack includes charred extra-hot bird’s eye chillies.
For three hours a mysterious cloud of acrid smoke hovered over some of London’s busiest streets. As shoppers ran coughing and spluttering for cover, police sealed off three roads and evacuated homes and businesses in the heart of Soho, fearing a chemical attack or a dangerous toxic leak.
As the ambulance service sent in its Hazardous Area Response Team Unit, firefighters wearing specialist breathing apparatus entered the deserted streets to seek out the source.
Soon after 7pm on Monday they emerged from the smoke carrying a huge cooking pot containing about 9lb of smouldering dried chillies.
The firefighters had smashed down the door of the Thai Cottage restaurant in D?Arblay Street and seized the extra-hot bird’s eye chillies which had been left dry-frying. They were being prepared as part of a six-month batch of nam prik pao, a super-hot Thai dip to accompany prawn crackers.
Hmm. I wonder under which of the Chemical Weapons Convention’s three classes of controlled substances do bird’s eye chillies fall?
Money quote:
It’s the hottest thing we make. We are very proud of this dish. It is home cooked and the customers love it.
?Thai Cottage owner Sue Wasboonma, after smoke from a chili-based specialty produced by the restaurant sparked fears of a chemical attack in London’s Soho district.
Money recipe:
Nam prik pao
4 tbsp oil; 3 tbsp chopped garlic; 3 tbsp chopped shallots; 3 tbsp chopped dried red chillies; 1 tbsp fermented shrimp paste; 1 tbsp fish sauce; 2 tsp palm sugar
Heat the oil, add the garlic and shallots and fry briefly. Remove from oil and set aside. Add chillies and fry until they start to change colour. Remove and set aside. In a pestle and mortar, pound the shrimp paste, add the chillies, garlic and shallots. Over a low heat return all the ingredients to the oil, and fold into a uniform paste. The resulting thick, slightly oily red/black sauce will keep almost indefinitely. If you wish you can add more fish sauce and/or sugar to get the flavour you want.
by Rich Stazinski | Sep 5, 2007 | Global Cooperation, World Citizen
For those of you lucky enough to be located outside the rightfully (in)famous”Beltway”, the Russell is of the Crowe kind. That’s right, he and Leonardo DiCaprio (who deserves more than a little bit of credit for his work on “The 11th Hour”, which “documents the grave problems facing the planet’s life systems” and explores some truly global solutions to pressing global threats) have taken over DC’s famous Eastern Market district while filming “Body of Lies.” For those of you who don’t know, Eastern Market is the proud home of Citizens for Global Solutions .
Okay, to be honest, regardless of the blog title, I don’t care a whole lot about the cell-phone-chuckin’ Aussie…except for the fact that his filming schedule impacted my morning Murky Coffee run. Of all the coffee joints in all the towns in all the world, they had to film near mine…
On top of this rude caffeination interruption, I was forced to swallow this morning’s Washington Post “Rogue Regulator” editorial. Due to, let’s call them “creative differences” since the run-up to the Iraq War, I have largely avoided the Post’s second-rate Editorials in favor of their far more informed News, Politics, Opinions (minus Editorials), and Sports sections. I can only assume that in my Russell Crowe-induced-caffeine-deprived state I decided to indulge the inner masochist and consume the “Rogue Regulator” editorial. After reading this anti-ElBaradei, anti-UN, anti-IAEA, anti-China, anti-Russia, anti-Iran, Iraq War-apologizing screed, I was overwhelmed by a sense of anger that had all the potential in the world to ruin a perfectly good September day, regardless of what pain Russell Crowe was obviously trying to inflict on me. I was so mad that I considered throwing a cell phone at a colleague, perfect stranger, or major motion picture sidewalk gawker. Instead, Matt Yglesias put everything in perspective, I “settled” for Dunkin Donuts coffee, and went about my day’s work. Tomorrow, however, I refuse to either forgo Murky or read a single, solitary, silly Washington Post editorial…and not even Gladiator Crowe or Aviator DiCaprio can make me!
by Citizens for Global Solutions | Jun 20, 2007 | Global Cooperation, World Citizen
When I wasn’t outside playing baseball or some other sport in the spring and summer of 1973, I was glued to the TV set. Just shy of 13, I was enthralled by the historical and political theatre of the Senate hearings on Watergate. (I know; serious early warning signs of a political junkie).
It wasn’t until a few years later that I began to understand that the Watergate story evolved from the tenacious reporting of two young Washington Post reporters: Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. One of my early mentors, Janet Mendler, was my high school journalism teacher. She took our class to a movie in 1976, “All the President’s Men.” The movie, combined with my concurrent reading of the book, allowed me to dream of one day becoming a newspaper reporter, ala ‘Woodstein.’
In today’s Washington Post, David Segal profiles Bernstein. The story’s hook is Bernstein’s new book, “A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton.” However, Segal only takes a glance at Bernstein’s new book, and delves into the ups and downs of the famed journalist.
Like it or not, Bernstein is forever measured against the canny, tireless reporting and writing he did at the age of 28, after a break-in that ultimately ended a presidency. And he is forever measured against Bob Woodward, his onetime byline buddy and a modern publishing phenomenon. Stolid and utterly focused, Woodward has written more than a dozen books — six since Bernstein signed the Clinton deal in 1999, all of them bestsellers.
Woodward and Bernstein literally became a brand; the Kleenex or Windex of journalism, if you will. For me personally, they became heroes on the same pedestal as Gordie Howe, Alan Trammell and Dave Bing (Detroit hockey, baseball and basketball legends). In the mid-1980s, I even named my cat ‘Woodstein.’
Once I moved to the nation’s Capital, I made a promise to myself: If I ever met either Woodward or Bernstein in person, I would walk right up to them and tell them how their work inspired me. In 1998, while working an event that then First Lady Hillary Clinton spoke at (for full disclosure, I worked in the Clinton Administration as a Senior Public Affairs officer at the U.S. Agency for International Development), I saw Bernstein about 50 feet away. He seemed to be walking out of the event.
Without a second thought, I yelled, “Carl!” To my surprise, he stopped. I then hurriedly walked over and introduced myself and told him how much of an inspiration he was to me. I knew about his supposed tough, hard as nails persona, however he was very affable, polite and seemingly humble that a late 30-something guy would run him down to thank him.
I’m not sure I’ll read his new book. I’m not a real big fan of biographies of current presidential candidates. But when the history of journalism, and frankly the history of the 20th Century of American politics is discussed, Carl Bernstein’s name, fame and work is, and always will be, more than a footnote.
by Citizens for Global Solutions | May 17, 2007 | Human Rights, World Citizen
While perusing the Partnership for a Secure America’s Across the Aisle blog, I came across guest blogger Michael Kraig’s attention-grabbing post “Respecting Global Citizens: the Case of Haleh Esfandiari.” I applaud Mr. Kraig’s willingness to discuss the plight of Ms. Esfandiari, the Iranian-American director of the Wilson Center’s Middle East Program, and I genuinely share his and many others’ sincere hope for her safe return to family, friends and colleagues. However, I am unsure of Mr. Kraig’s central premise: Is it the expression of concern for the well-being of Ms. Esfandiari and a criticism of the Iranian regime’s interrogation practices? Or rather, something more akin to personal outrage that ‘someone like Haleh’ could be sent to prison abroad?
Mr. Kraig doesn’t accuse the Iranian authorities outright of illegal detention or employing interrogation techniques that equate to acts of torture, but he certainly skirts the line on torture by mentioning “grueling and intimidating” interrogation sessions that Ms. Esfandiari has reportedly experienced. It’s instructive to review exactly how the UN Convention on Torture defines torture.? According to the convention, torture means:
“any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him information or a confession, punishing him for an act he has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity.”
Thus, it seems that Mr. Kraig is indirectly leveling a very serious charge against Iran. And if Ms. Esfandiari has been intimidated or tortured, as defined under international law, I am indeed appalled; appalled because I believe in the rule of law and don’t believe in the torture of my fellow man — full stop — whether it’s by American interrogators at Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib, and secret CIA prisons, our proxy (outsourced) “interrogators” in Egypt, Jordan, and Uzbekistan, or other national security apparatuses. Torture is universally immoral and illegal. However, Mr. Kraig argues that it is Ms. Esfandiari’s “global citizen” status not her humanity that places her detention and interrogation “beyond the pale.” He states:
Trading and interrogating true spies is one thing; we’ve all studied the Cold War, and people who join intelligence agencies as operatives know what they’re in for when they join. But interrogating and imprisoning truly global citizens who clearly exist across multiple societies and state boundaries is beyond the pale. I am as outraged about this as I would be if (for instance) Gianni Picco were imprisoned; it just ought to be clear, by now, that a norm has developed in regard to such individuals. Most people are clearly defined and described as nationalist; they define themselves and their own actions in traditional terms. But not all, and certainly not Haleh.
I must question the “They-know-what-they’re-in-for” logic. Moral relativism of this nature is frankly shocking. Does this line of thinking extend to relief workers on the ground in Darfur? I suspect these well-meaning and indispensable individuals knew what they were in for when they joined. How about U.S. Foreign Service officers stationed around the globe? They certainly should know the potential risk associated with their jobs. Is it okay to trade and interrogate them? I, as well as many in the international community, don’t think so.
I believe the international community must draw a broad, deep line in the sand on interrogation and torture not just for global elites like Haleh Esfandiari and Gianni Picco but for every man, woman and child that inhabits our increasingly interconnected world regardless of national origin/citizenship, educational attainment or professional background. If we don’t, individual states will be well within their perceived rights to interrogate any individuals they deem to be security threats or “true spies” (Ms. Esfandiari has been accused of espionage) just as the Bush administration has interrogated and tortured ‘enemy combatants’ (or simply outsourced these dirty deeds to allies and enemies alike).
I wonder if Mr. Kraig will travel to Saudi Arabia or Syria the next time a scheduled trip coincides with the detention, imprisonment or interrogation of a dual-passport carrying global citizen. For instance, would he travel to Saudi Arabia now while the country plans to execute two Saudi-born Palestinians with Canadian citizenship who confessed to murdering a young Syrian during a schoolyard fight in Jeddah? (It’s reported that the confession was forced and that the boys have experienced both physical and mental torture during their detention.) Or what about the case of Maher Arar, the Syrian-born, Canadian software engineer who made the mistake of touching down on U.S. soil only to be “transferred” by the U.S. to a prison in Syria via Jordan where he spent two years being tortured in the name of national security? Does the plight of these global citizens meet the threshold for boycotting international travel and engagement?
Surely the issue here is either one of the chilling effect that detentions and interrogations have on international relations, cultural exchanges and other relationship cultivating programs between countries, or about the basic rights that every person — regardless of the number of passports and airline mileage points — is entitled to. Surely it cannot be the infringement of Ms. Esfandiari’s “elite status” as characterized by Mr. Kraig (and not by anyone speaking on Ms. Esfandiari’s behalf).
Terms such as “citizen” and “national” are quickly becoming obsolete in our increasingly interrelated world. To say that people who are clearly defined as nationalist can expect to be interrogated or tortured, while those enjoying the status/passport/association of “global citizen” are protected from such treatment by virtue of that status is to essentially say what the Bush administration (and numerous presidential candidates) has been saying for six years: sometimes it’s acceptable to torture (or employ “enhanced interrogation techniques”) against “enemy combatants.” Mr. Kraig simply calls them “nationalist.”
Finally, I must question the wisdom of Mr. Kraig’s refusal to attend an event that is hosted by a respected Iranian institution with a “pro-engagement, positive-sum vision.” In the rhetorically-heated, politically-charged atmosphere surrounding current U.S.-Iran relations, it is the belief of this pro-engagement, global citizen (although I only possess a U.S. passport) that we need more channels of communication — not less — if we are to avoid what many neoconservatives and neoliberals want us to believe is an unavoidable confrontation with Iran. Let’s keep our fingers crossed and hope that Haleh Esfandiari is soon cleared of any forthcoming charges and released unharmed so Mr. Kraig won’t be forced to make this difficult decision and will instead be allowed to work “respectfully across differences to create fair, just, and lasting solutions” to the world’s most pressing challenges.
by Citizens for Global Solutions | May 14, 2007 | Climate Justice, World Citizen
Digging around in the blogosphere, I think I may just have found the solution we’ve all been looking for…
STOP THE USE OF LAWNMOWERS, WEEDWHACKERS, ETC AND DEMAND EVERYONE TO HAVE THE RIGHTS TO PLANT TREES AND BUSHES AND NOT HAVE TO HAVE LAWNS. FOR THOSE WHO DEMAND TO HAVE LAWNS THEY WILL USE A SHEEP OR GOAT RENTAL SERVICE TO KEEP THEIR PROPERTIES MAINTAINED.
This is an excerpt from a comment posted to a very cool video that poses a challenge to the Presidential Candidates to tackle global warming by re-engaging with the rest of the world.? I can’t decide whether to go with that or the goats.
But whichever one I decide to go with, I have to agree with my colleague Rich (sorry Howard — but when he’s right, he’s right!) that the LiveAid crew should put concrete solutions on the concert menu. We’re way past the “climate change? what climate change?” point in this conversation… Just do me a favor… don’t let Spinal Tap pick the solutions.
Now please excuse me, I have to go see a man about a goat…
