[Dhaka Tribune] The Awami League government made a lot of mistakes. De-listing Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... is not one.
In fact, the AL government didn’t even make the decision to de-list Jamaat as a political party.
A group of Bangladeshi citizens filed the petition against Jamaat in 2013. Their petition was heard by a high court, which decided in favour of the petitioners against Jamaat. Jamaat’s legal team appealed to the supreme court, which upheld the high court’s decision to de-list Jamaat.
We all know what Jamaat did when they didn’t get their way. Look it up if you can’t remember.
Now that the armed forces decided to brief Jamaat on the transition-in-power, and reports of reprisals and communal violence emerged within hours of the loathesome Sheikh Hasina ...Bangla dynastic politician and now exiled former Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She was President of the Bangla Awami League since the Lower Paleolithic. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangla. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide. She and the head of the BNP, Khaleda Zia showed such blind animosity toward each other that they are known as the Battling Begums. That is probably because Khaleda's late husband was the Pak tool who had Mujib assassinated... ’s departure, it makes sense to review the original case against Jamaat and consider whether it remains relevant today.
Supreme court advocate Tania Amir represented the petitioners in 2013. Her father is M Amir-ul Islam, who drafted the declaration of independence, and helped draft the constitution. Although her family supported the AL, the government did not request her to take up the case. She took it up independently.
Full disclosure: I’ve met Amir. We’ve talked about it. She is not an AL apologist. She is a patriot though, and I can’t imagine her ever apologizing for that. Take my word for what it’s worth.
Amir summarized the case against Jamaat in three points.
One, Jamaat’s party registration was unconstitutional. The constitution obliges citizens to refrain from communal politics and uphold the country’s independence and illusory sovereignty.
Two, Jamaat violated the Representation of the People Order, 2008. That order, enacted by the then interim government, said all political parties needed women among their leadership.
Three, Jamaat’s aims ran counter to the Charter of Medina, signed by the Prophet Muhammad. Many interpret the charter as providing a framework for secular and democratic governance.
Now that the transition in power appears to have given Jamaat a new lease on life, we have a responsibility to reconsider the merits of the original case against Jamaat as a party.
Personally, I think Amir’s arguments are compelling. Whether you believe in the constitution, the non-partisanship of an interim government, or the Charter of Medina, there is something for you.
But ask yourself. Should parties refrain from communal politics? Should women be excluded from leadership roles? Should non-secular and non-democratic parties participate in a secular democracy?
Your answers to these questions needn’t account for the AL government’s past. Reinstating Jamaat as a political party cannot make up for the AL government’s past deeds. We can’t answer for the AL.
But we can think about the kind of future we want — even foreigners like me (Bangladesh is home to me too!) -- and consider how Jamaat fits into that picture.
I’ll go first. I’m told we live in a free country.
Jamaat had a decade to put itself on the right side of the law. Jamaat had a judgement they could have used as a self-help guide: Disavow communal politics; place women in leadership positions; commit to a secular, democratic system of government. They chose not to.
Perhaps they were unable. One aspect of Jamaat that remains poorly understood is its overseas network. We don’t know where all their money comes from. We don’t really know how their associations work. A real can of worms.
Still, it feels ironic that -- after a student movement rejected a political environment in which the leading parties accused each other of serving foreign interests -- a group that actually has foreign branches should re-emerge as a credible actor. I’d have hoped we’d be done with all that.
It’s strange that Jamaat -- who seem to have more lobbyists in Washington DC, London, and Brussels than Dhaka -- should be briefed by the armed forces instead of student leaders who precipitated the transition in power. Maybe they know something we don’t.
And you know, it’s sad that Jamaat -- who hasn’t renounced the 1971 war crimes and genocide, let alone the past decade of violence against students, free thinkers, and minorities -- should influence the interim government that comes, and the democratic government we hope will emerge.
Ultimately, Jamaat just scares people. People who lived through Bangladesh’s first 50 years.
In my mind, Jamaat has shown why Germany banned the Nazis after World War II. Why the US did not allow confederates to hold office after the American Civil War. If you want to be fascist ...anybody you disagree with, damn them... in Germany, or a racist secessionist in the US, you don’t get to hold public office in the name of those who lost the war.
It’s a fair ask in the best of times. And these are not those times.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/16/2024 00:00 ||
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[ColonelCassad] "The fact is that in August 2008, Saakashvili's adventurous actions were not the result of his mental instability, but the result of instructions from outside and a well-planned betrayal" (c) "Georgian Dream"
After 16 years, Georgia officially said what Russia had been saying since August 2008. Now Russia and Georgia have agreed on the question of who was the main culprit of the war that was unleashed. This recognition opens up interesting possibilities for normalizing relations. The recognition is obviously connected with the pressure that the US is currently exerting on Georgia (threats, sanctions, attempts to overthrow the Kobakhidze regime) and the threat of a coup d'etat, in which the US is counting on using Saakashvili, who is sitting in prison.
Now Georgia has officially recognized that the war was started by Saakashvili, who was pushed to do so by the Americans, namely the "Cheney Gang".
If it were not for his attack on South Ossetia, it would still be an unrecognized state and Russian troops would not be stationed there.
In fact, thanks to Saakashvili, South Ossetia and Abkhazia finally separated from Georgia and from the point of view of Georgian nationalists, this is a betrayal of Georgian interests.
[FoxNews] Jia Bei Zhu, a citizen of China, faces additional charges of conspiracy, wire fraud in illegal biolab.
Federal authorities announced new charges against the operators of an illegal underground biolab found in a Central California community last fall.
Jia Bei Zhu, 62, a citizen of China, was previously indicted for distributing bogus and misbranded COVID-19 test kits in violation of the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. He was also charged with making false statements to authorities about his identity and involvement with the biolabs.
Additional charges have now been filed against Zhaoyan Wang, 38, also a citizen of China, who officials described as a "romantic and business partner."
According to court documents, from August 2020 through March 2023, Zhu and Wang conspired to defraud buyers of UMI and PBI’s COVID-19 test kits. They imported hundreds of thousands of COVID-19 test kits from Ai De Ltd., which was a company in China that they controlled, and falsely represented to the buyers that the test kits were made in the United States.
Authorities said they illegally imported the COVID-19 test kits, which they were not approved to import, by falsely declaring them as pregnancy test kits, which they were approved to import.
Joe Prado, assistant director for the Fresno County of Public Health, previously told FOX 26 that the lab was using mice "to see whether or not the COVID test kits were actually testing for COVID."
Officials said Zhu and Wang also falsely represented to the buyers that UMI and PBI could make up to 100,000 COVID-19 test kits per week in the United States and that the test kits were made in connection with other labs that were certified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Lastly, officials said they falsely represented to the buyers that the test kits were approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Zhu and Wang made over $1.7 million through their fraud.
When buyers requested to inspect the facilities in Fresno and Reedley, Zhu and Wang allegedly denied them access and made up reasons for the denial, including that the facilities were undergoing construction and renovation.
Upon inspection, health inspectors found nearly 1,000 lab mice, 200 of which were dead, inside the lab, according to FOX 26. Inspectors also found thousands of vials, some of which contained human blood and other substances.
[WaPo] How...Soviet.
... most likely template for Harris's proposal is a recent bill from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). (Harris co-sponsored similar legislation with Warren in 2020, when Harris was a senator.) Warren's bill would ban any "grossly excessive price" during any "atypical disruption" of a market. Alas, no definition was provided for these terms, either; rather, the bill would empower the Federal Trade Commission to enforce bans using any metric it deems appropriate.
It's hard to exaggerate how bad this policy is. It is, in all but name, a sweeping set of government-enforced price controls across every industry, not only food. Supply and demand would no longer determine prices or profit levels. Far-off Washington bureaucrats would. The FTC would be able to tell, say, a Kroger in Ohio the acceptable price it can charge for milk.
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bonus: Harris and Biden appeared together yesterday at an 'official govt' event that was really a campaign event in PG county MD (about a +40% Blue county).
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
08/16/2024 00:00 ||
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[11130 views]
Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life,
#1
“Democracy often works beautifully at first. But once a state extends the franchise to every warm body, be he producer or parasite, that day marks the beginning of the end of the state. For when the plebs discover that they can vote themselves bread and circuses without limit and that the productive members of the body politic cannot stop them, they will do so, until the state bleeds to death, or in its weakened condition the state succumbs to an invader—the barbarians enter Rome.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, To Sail Beyond the Sunset
[FoxNews] While Kamala Harris' campaign works to rebrand the VP as the Democratic presidential candidate, critics are voicing concern over her record on the border, as well as her career as a prosecutor. On "America's Newsroom" on Thursday, former Democratic Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard labeled Harris an "empty suit," arguing her campaign "handlers" are worried about what will happen if she has to explain her policy positions.
TULSI GABBARD: I think she revealed in that [July 2019] debate the same thing that I think her campaign handlers are worried about right now... Kamala Harris is an empty suit. They are trying to create this new version of Kamala Harris to match what their pollsters are telling them, so she can say whatever she needs to say to try to win over voters, which is the most offensive thing, I think, because they think we're so stupid as to forget what her record actually is. In 2019, very simply, I confronted her with her hypocrisy of how what she said was very different than what she actually did, and she had no answer for it. She had no explanation. She didn't even try to own or justify what her actions were. And that's going to be the key thing here for voters as we head into this election is Kamala Harris will say whatever she thinks she needs to say. We have to pay attention to her actions, because on every single major issue, you will see that same kind of hypocrisy that I pointed out in 2019 where she'll say one thing, but her record tells a very, very different story.
#3
with the information industry dominated by operatives of the Democratic party, the empty suit strategy might win
in any event, as I recall, Harris did reasonably well debating Pence back in 2000; of course she didn't have to defend the Biden admin's record back then
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
08/16/2024 15:30 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Some thought Obama was an 'empty suit', but he got elected twice three times.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/16/2024 17:38 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...anybody you disagree with, damn them...
