3 Bomb Blasts Each: London, Delhi, Jordan

Delhi Bomb Blasts

The Al Qaeda fights a war of asymmetry. And it likes to leave its signature at the crime scene. There is talk the work in London was a few disenchanted homegrown youths, that the work in Delhi was just a few Kashmiri separatists. I for one don't buy into those explanations.

The pattern is too obviuos. Three blasts in close coordination to each other.

And they like the element of surprise. London was unexpected. Delhi was unexpected. Jordan was not exactly considered a target country.

The bad news seems to be the Al Qaeda is very much alive. That is what I read.

Saddam was a jerk and I am glad he is gone. And I am all about spreading democracy. But with $200 billion you could spread democracy into literally every country on the planet, if you do it the progressive way.

But America did not go into Iraq for democracy or for Saddam. America went in to fight the War on Terror. If so, why is the Al Qaeda still so strong?

When bird flu surfaces, you throw smallpox medicine at it, because that is all you have in the stocks. That is what Bush did. He waged his War On Terror like the Al Qaeda were a standing army. Big mistake.

The Al Qaeda is not a standing army. And it prefers to fight the war of fundamental asymmetry.
The number one emphasis should be to infiltrate the Al Qaeda. Human intelligence will do the work. Fancy satellites can not do it. Perhaps throw in a few thousand Arab-looking, Arab-speaking spies amidst their ranks. Penetrate.

Getting Osama is still key. Bush talks like it does not matter if Osama is still at large or not. The point is not only is he still at large, but that guy seems to be able to strike with eery regularity. Bush sounds too eager to congratulate himself on a victory he never achieved.

But all military counter strikes will do no good if there is no fundamental strategy to ensure a total spread of democracy in the Arab world. There is a reason why most of the 9/11 strikers were from the Saudi Arabia. Democracy is so totally absent in that country, all its oil wealth does not seem to be able to channel its people's energies to productive use.

And after the Arab world, China inevitably crops up on the map. There I think the best strategy might be to (1) engage China to the max economically and diplomatically, and (2) try and arrange a soft landing for the Chinese Communist Party such that they remain the largest party within a multi-party framework. But there is no avoiding China. If you bungle, you are looking at the threat of a possible hot war. That is a huge no-no.

America fought World War II against the fascists and the Nazis and democracy got spread in Europe and Japan. America fought the Cold War and democracy got spread in the Russia and that bloc. Now the War on Terror is about spreading democracy in the Arab world.

You can wait until you get hit. Or you can proactively spread democracy, wage a non stop war with communications technology and minimize casualties.

The Al Qaeda is very much at work. That is the bad news. The worse news is Bush and his cronies do not comprehend the virus, and are not even attempting to come up with a new antibiotic. They talk tough but deliver not.

38, 20

Bloomberg had a 38 point lead going into the polls but his victory margin is only 20. I had been suspecting something of this sort all along.

• Bloomberg had only a 14 point lead before he pulled his security stunt. I read that as a 5 point lead.
  
• He gave himself a huge security boost. (Bloomberg: No Mr. Security) Ferrer was not able to play that against him.
  
• The media felt bought. Bloomberg gave them a ton of ad money. Ferrer called it a "brick wall."
  
• There was an overt racial bias against Ferrer from the white boys among the pollsters as well as the media reporters. I saw it in action firsthand at the Bill Clinton event. The bias was to the tune of 38-20. (Bill Clinton Had Icecream For Lunch)
• Quite a few Bloomberg supporters stayed home.
  
• Ferrer should have used the online medium more. He plain refused. (100 Hours Of Video Online Will Elect Ferrer)
• Ed Koch played villain. He did his very best to neutralize Ferrer's record as Bronx Borough President. It can be argued the $100 million did not come from Ed Koch, it came from Bill Clinton. So Ed Koch gets no credit for the urban renewal in the Bronx. And if it was Koch who did it, all five boroughs should have experienced it, only Bronx did.
  
• A lot of Dems lost their passion after the primaries. Many except the national stars who just liked the idea of dropping by the city. It is one sexy city.
  
• The blacks were not behind Ferrer. The ethnics can't see eye to eye. It is the socio-psychology of the powerless.
  
• Ferrer did great going on the offensive during the first debate. He did the same during the second debate, instead of offering an alternate vision. (First Mayoral Debate)

At the end of the day, Bloomberg won by a landslide. And he deserves to be congratulated. I just felt the need to analyze, crunch a few numbers. (Congratulations Bloomberg, Now Switch Back Parties)

Congratulations Bloomberg, Now Switch Back Parties
Obama Was In Town And I Missed It
Dean And Ferrer At City College
First Mayoral Debate
Mixer For Ferrer
Ferrer Gets Aggressive At A Ferrer Fundraiser
Mixing It For Ferrer
Bill Clinton Had Icecream For Lunch
Bill Clinton Has Left The Building
100 Hours Of Video Online Will Elect Ferrer
Jesse Jackson On Martin Luther King Boulevard
No Taxation Without Representation
Bloomberg
My Photo At ABCNews.com
The Bloomberg Machine
Ferrer Can
Bloomberg: No Mr. Security
Messages To Dean, Ferrer
Soaking In Howard Dean
Lewis Cohen Has Been Behind Ferrer Since Summer 2004
Going On The Offensive For Ferrer
Dean Was In Town Yesterday
Bloomberg Is No Democrat
Fernando Ferrer

Congratulations Bloomberg, Now Switch Back Parties

The official results are not out yet, but you had a 38 point lead in the polls going in, so I figure you will win. This is an hour past the polls have closed.

Congratulations.

You were a lifelong Democrat. Then you switched parties in 2001 to avoid the crowded, machine-oriented, cumbersome Democratic primaries to run for mayor of this great city. And you stayed a Republican for 2005. But now all that is behind you. You will not be running for mayor again.

So now it is high time you reclaimed your Democratic roots. Switch back. Make it official. Come out of the closet.

The Republicans just lost New Jersey and Virginia. They will lose the Congress in 2006. Switch now. Or people might think you will go with the party on the upswing. Now is the time. Switch and honor this great progressive city.

DFNYC TV, DFNYC Wiki

I suggested blogging, DFNYC Research and Advocacy group went for a closed wiki. I sugggested video blogging, DFNYC leadership is talking of a DFNYC TV. It will be podcast, and it will also come out like regular TV on public access.

Something is better than nothing. But I am critical of both deviations. And I will explain why.

We are not a think tank. We are a political organization. A closed wiki has the look and feel of a research group working on papers for prestige publications. And most members to date are still trying to figure out how to sign in.

We are not a TV station. We should not be trying to imitate old media. And even with video podcasting, you are raising the barrier to entry. You will only be catering to the crowd with video iPods. Someone spoke the pharase "a more professional presentation" in an apparent reference to my attempt to video blog two events. I disagree. Video blogging is not professional or unprofessional. It is what it is.

We are a political organization. Democracy is our message. Our emphasis should be on making it possible for the average individual to both create and consume media. That is why I emphasize blogging.

Blogging is for the masses. TV stations are for a few. A blog is for everyone, a closed wiki is for the few wiki-literates (I have a recent email inviting me to a wiki training session) among the few who show up for the once a month meeting.

The meeting idea itself is unnatural. What if I am not inspired to think and speak the next ground-breaking idea precisely at that holy hour? Then what? Should the house collapse?

With blogging, the conversation never stops. That is more natural. The conversation never stops, there is no barrier to entry, people can tune in and out as they please, 24/7, and there are no geographical barriers.

Our theme is democracy, remember?

DFNYC TV idea almost sounds like a way to turn Norman Siegel into a David Letterman. Even Dean is scheduled to show up. Both are great guys. But with video blogging, you have literally limitless space for both, and for many more. All DFNYC members should end up on "TV." And with my idea, they do. You don't have to be a Siegel or a Dean to get on TV. In a democracy you don't. And that is where video blogging comes in.

We should encourage as many of our members as possible to blog and then we should let them loose.

I think we should think all DFNYC events are part of a reality show with a national audience, and blog them accordingly. And that is more the truth than an assumption. There does exist an audience. Folks, we need to go national.

If you don't have an email account, get one. If you don't have a Blogger account, get one. And you can also have community blogs, a group all blogging at one address.

Try it. It is addictive. And there are scientific studies that show blogging is good for your brain. Because it works your analysis brain muscles.

DFNYC Research And Advocacy Group

Obama Was In Town And I Missed It

How could I forgive myself?

I opened up the DFNYC mail on time. But the format was unusual. I just skimmed through it a second time a little while ago, and there was Obama with Ferrer. All the work that I have put into the Ferrer campaign would have been worth it just to be able to spend a little time with Obama. I am sure he got mobbed. And I might only have been able to steal a glance. But, uh. I feel so stupid.

This is not fair. Somebody do something about it.

If I had met Obama today, I only needed to meet Hillary and Amitabh Bachchan, and I would have been content.

What just happened? I am dumbfounded.

It is going to be a long time before an opportunity like this one surfaces again.

Ugh!

This is not good. How could I have? This was the one time when I did not skim through all the topics of the newsletter. The DFNYC newsletter, you are not supposed to read everything. The topics are listed at the top. You skim though the topics, and you click on those of interest.

Ugh. This did not just happen.

Opportunity knocked. And I did not listen.

This was the sweetest thing to have come my way through the DFNYC newsletter and I missed it. I can't freaking believe it.

I own the guy's autobiography.

Obama symbolizes hope itself.

Suddenly everything I did today feels like was a total waste of time. Or rather yesterday. This is past midnight.

Looks like both Amitabh Bachchan and Barack Obama are going to be tough nuts to crack.

What do you say during moments like this? Do you call yourself names? I am at a loss of words.

This is not good. Whatever happened to my email reading skills?

(I hear Bono's voice in the background. Usually that is a consolation, but this is not one of those times.)

*(3) Campaign for Freddy with Sen. Barack Obama, this afternoon at 8th Ave & 19th St*

Join U.S. Senator Barack Obama, Democratic Mayoral Candidate Fernando
Ferrer and supporters today in Chelsea

When: Today (Monday, November 7th) 2:15-3:15pm

Where:  S.E. corner of 8th Ave. and 19th Street in Manhattan

The group will be walking up 8th Ave to 23rd Street.

Contact: Dorcas Castro (646) 839-4947

Dean-Hillary-Obama Ticket
DFNYC Research And Advocacy Group

French Society: No Easy Solutions

Sick Sarkozy
Riots In France

Opinion: Europe's Lost Future Deutsche Welle, Germany ..... The previous socialist cabinet set up neighborhood police departments focused on dialogue, but was unable to take back lawless enclaves. ........ Current Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy tried the law-and-order approach, but after 11 nights of police crackdown more and more cars are burning in more and more regions of the republic. ........ Sarkozy said these things even though he has realized that "liberty, equality, fraternity" has lost its luster. He's been fighting for affirmative action against the president's resistance. He wants to give Muslim immigrants preferential treatment in the hiring process for the civil service and do away with the principle of equality.

Dialogue alone will not do. A single-minded emphasis on law enforcement alone will not do. A few social and economic programs thrown like bird feed alone will not do.

These young people are destroying the very infrastructure that is their limited ladder to upward mobility. Most of the cars they are burning are cars of their neighbors. Muslim clerics are not in any position to mediate. Muslim groups with reputations of being extremist are actually busy calming things down, with little success. There is no Al Qaeda grand design. This is alienation, disaffection, poverty, racism saying enough is enough.

Citizenship papers alone don't solve problems. Ultimately it is about societal attitudes. The socio-psychological reality itself has to change and become more accepting of people of "other" backgrounds. The social space has to expand or there is implosion.

Ultimately it is an issue of addressing multiculturalism. Institutional racism can feel like a glasshouse of mirrors.

"We are not looking for minorities. We are looking for the best officers."

Does that explain why the French police are not ethnically diverse?

That reflects a society in denial. That is a police department that is ethnocentric in its basic orientation, and that can not continue on.

France as a society has failed these young people. France has to reimagine itself as a society and a country.

Sick Sarkozy

Sarkozy Is Sick, He Needs To Resign, Never Run For President

Riots In France

I wish the riots in France would calm down, but they sure have helped me learn things about the French society I did not know. Peaceful channels for protests and empowerment have to be created. So violence is not the effective option. And obviously the French police are not ethnically diverse.

Europe needed immigrants for cheap labor, said another contributor to the BBC forum, Housam of Swindon, who was offended by French interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy's description of the rioters as "rabble."

This Interior Minister guy Sarkozy who is one of the two people who might become president of France in two short years is a nutcase. If the social alienation of these young Muslims, born and bred in France, was the gasoline, Sarkozy has been the spark to the riots. This is an irresponsible person. He is sick in his mind. He is racist. He is a panderer.

Mr. Ajir, a 29-year-old social worker, lives in La Courneuve, a suburb north of Paris where an 11-year-old boy was killed by a stray bullet earlier this year. During a visit to the projects where the boy was shot, Mr. Sarkozy vowed to clean them with "a Karcher," the brand of a German-made high-powered hose. Some observers say that comment, which got widespread coverage in the French media, planted the seeds of the current violence.

I just did a search on him on Google Images Search, and the guy also looks predictably dumb. He might give Dan Quayle a scare. How did this person end up in the cabinet in the first place? This does not reflect well on the French.

"The indigenous Europeans always want it all: they want the immigrants to do the menial jobs they hate but they are not ready to deal with them on equal grounds as human beings. Indigenous Europeans still live with the colonial mentality of superiority. When the French revolution started against inequality, rioters were also accused of being "scum".

Chirac has talked of restoring law and order, and that is acceptable and desirable language but incomplete, as it does not give a sign that he intends to tackle the riots from many different angles. In a private meeting with the Latvian prime minister Chirac did discuss the alienation theme, but he should be doing it on national television, if only to counter the incendiary, racist remarks by Sarko.

The deaths proved a flashpoint for the frustration and fury of second- and third-generation north and black African immigrants, and spread nationwide, fuelled by the hardline interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, calling the rioters "yobs" and "scum".

To the politicians, the political solution should be the weapon of first choice, but so far that has not been the case.

"Put this in your notebook ... ," said a third, rattling off a string of obscenities about France's tough-talking interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy...... The target of their rage is Sarkozy, who angered many in the suburbs by calling neighborhood toughs "scum." ..... "If they fire Sarkozy, we'll head straight to the police station and pop champagne with them," said Bidou, 22, his baseball cap cocked to the side.

• Chirac-Sarkozy – Good Cop Bad Cop? Israel Hasbara Committee (subscription), NY
• Sarkozy under fire as violence spreads The Age (subscription)
• French youths say they're marginalized Seattle Post Intelligencer
• · Suburbs promised funds and housing improvement Guardian Unlimited
• French Minister Sarkozy Performs Miracle On National TV. Big Fib (satire)
• Rivalry between ministers clouded early rioting MSNBC
• Curfew ordered in riot-hit French town Times of Oman
• Angry youths vent anger at France, insisting riots will turn to ' ... Hindustan Times
• For police on front line, a tough, and scary, task International Herald Tribune, France
• French rioters shoot police as unrest intensifies Euronews.net
• The sickness in France's heart International Herald Tribune, France
• French bloggers at odds over riots BBC News
• Opinion: Europe's Lost Future Deutsche Welle, Germany
• Colour-blind policy has fed Muslim radicalism Times Online
• The Fall of France Canada Free Press, Canada
• Paris: The Hand That Lights the Fire PEJ News
• The fires of disintegration Los Angeles Times, CA
• French Youths Say They‘re Marginalized Herald News Daily, ND
• French integration model fails Leading The Charge, Australia
• FRANCE: Discrimination fuels riots Green Left Weekly
• Sarkozy urges university reform Financial Times, UK
• Policemen shot as French riots rage on Scotsman, United Kingdom
• Arson attacks reach central Paris CCTV, China
  
• Sarkozy's tough talk misses mark BBC News, UK
• Rioting in France worsens, no end in sight North Korea Times