Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Brazil

One of the most openly Christian countries in Latin America is Brazil. It is also the only Portuguese speaking country in Latin America. The reasons Brazil is different from its Latin neighbors is that not only was it a Portuguese colony, unlike the rest of Latin America that was Spanish, but the entire Portuguese royal family fled Portugal in 1807 and moved to Brazil.

The flight of the Portuguese royal family, the Braganas, took place at a critical time in western European history, when the Peninsular war was heating up. Eclipsed by Britain and France, Portugal was in decline. Napoleon’s army was advancing from the north. The deposed kings of France and Holland had both gone into exile in England; the British fleet was blockading the Tagus in an attempt to counter the French advance. As the French army drew closer to Lisbon, the Portuguese prince regent, Dom Joao, under pressure from the British envoy, took a decision that would be fateful not just for the Portuguese crown, but also for Brazil, the new world colony that was the mother-country’s major source of revenue.

On November 29, 1807, a day before the French army entered the city, Dom Joao and his Spanish Borbon queen, Dona Carlota, fled by the only route available to them: the sea. The scene was reminiscent of the fall of Saigon. A convoy of three-dozen frigates, brigantines, sloops, corvettes and ships-of-the-line, with the entire Portugese court on board 10,000-strong, set sail for Brazil with a British escort.

The Portuguese court stayed in Brazil for 13 years. They returned to Europe after the British defeated Napoleon and wanted to restore royal authority in Europe. However, Dom Pedro, the son of Dom Joao and Dona Carlotta, whose paternity was disputed, decided to stay in Brazil and declared himself Emperor Pedro I of Brazil – establishing the first European Catholic monarchy of the new world.

Friday, January 20, 2006

Talk Turkey Not Crusades

Looming over the whole EU process is the question of what to do about Turkey. Turkey is in many ways a schizophrenic country. The Turkish republic was founded in 1923 in reaction to the Ottoman Empire and defined itself in stark contrast to it. The early republicans associated the empire with everything that was archaic, religious and backward. They modeled the republic on modern, secular and progressive lines, similar to those they saw in Europe. It became the first secular Islamic state.

A secular Muslim democracy which powerful military generals monitor closely to ensure that Muslim fundamentalism is reigned in. Turkey has been trying to get into the European trade bloc for decades, and has achieved a comprehensive association agreement with it.

Many European governments have never, for complex historical, geographical and religious reasons, considered Turkey to be part of Europe. Why not? They have fought and died side by side American and European soldiers in the Korean conflict and have been prepared to do so again if called upon. They offered to send 10,000 troops for peace keeping in Iraq to serve along side the Coalition troops but were turned down when the Iraqi Kurds objected. They let the US use their air bases for NATO and UN approved military campaigns. In Afghanistan it took over the command of the international peace keeping force.

They are the only Muslims who do separate Church and State and have made a concerted effort to be part of the peaceful transition into the New World Order. They have amended their constitution to comply with EU requirements and have given the 12 million Kurds living in Turkey the freedoms mandated by the EU. By pushing Turkey away from Europe and ignoring Interlocalism, Turkey has no choice but to Interlocalize with all the other Turkic states in Central Asia that used to be part of the Ottoman Empire before they became part of the Soviet Union, the Turkish speaking people of Western China, or the nearby Muslim states, including Iran and Syria. In fact, as always, it is the bridge between Christian Europe and Muslim Near and Far East. This geographic and geopolitical fact is brought home to me every time I visit Istanbul and take the ferry from the European side of the city to the Asian side.

Turkey is the only Muslim free-market democracy in the world. A modern country with 70 million people and the world’s 19th-largest economy, Turkey can encourage and more easily communicate with its fellow Muslims in Central Asia, Indonesia and Malaysia. Indonesia and Malaysia, imperfect in their ways are, officially democratic and secular. Turkey can show these two more progressive Muslim states and others the way to become secular democratic states.

When the street outside one of the two synagogues that were suicide-bombed in Istanbul on November 15th was reopened, the Chief Rabbi appeared at the ceremony hand in hand with the top Muslim cleric of the city and the local mayor. The Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, also paid a visit to the chief rabbi. Turkish politicians are not intimidated by religious fundamentalists because they have the legitimacy that comes from being democratically elected. They are setting the example for all other Muslim countries.

Monday, January 09, 2006

China Rising

Oil from Sudan comprises five percent of China’s total oil imports and almost 60 percent of Sudan’s exports. China today is a net importer of oil. It is the number two petroleum user after the U.S. With 1.3 billion people and an economy growing at 8 to 10 percent per year, its appetite for oil will only increase. By 2030, China is expected to have more cars than the U.S. and import as much oil as the U.S. does today.

With 60 percent of its oil imports coming from the Middle East, China has no choice but to become more active in the region. The world oil market can accommodate the needs of both China and the U.S. China’s thirst is an opportunity for the U.S. to create a closer working partnership in the Middle East that can bring about stability in the region.

China’s extensive interests in Africa also represent a potential opportunity for the U.S. to prevent failed states from spiraling into the abyss of despair by jointly promoting social, political and economic development in Africa. It is to the U.S.’s advantage to work with China – using their leverage to build stability and security – not only in the Middle East and Africa -- but globally.

China has sent out 10 teams of peacekeepers to take part in UN operations in Africa and Haiti. China is also the perfect partner to work with the U.S. to bring about peace in the Middle East because it has good relations with Israel and its Arab neighbors. China is not perceived by the Arab nations as being pro-Israel as is the case with America.

The continued improvement of Sino-U.S. relations are not only mutually beneficial – but globally, especially in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, where North Korea is an issue America cannot resolve alone. The fact John Bolton, the U.S. envoy at the UN, was once a paid consultant to the Taiwanese government favors Taiwan’s independence and its full UN membership -- dangerous self-defeating position in light of the cross-straits tensions and America’s efforts to obtain Chinese pressure on North Korea.

Monday, January 02, 2006

Sudan

The UN’s inability and failure to do anything about the Darfur genocide is a replay of the 1994 genocide of Rwanda and another example of how dysfunctional and irrelevant the UN is in the 21st century. “Call it a civil war. Call it ethnic cleansing. Call it genocide. Call it ‘non of the above.’” Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said. “The reality is the same: There are people in Darfur who desperately need the help of the international community….We concluded – I concluded – that genocide has been committed in Darfur and that the government of Sudan and the Janjaweed bear responsibility, and that genocide may still be occurring.” Nearly two million black non-Arab Africans have been displaced with estimates ranging from 250,000 to 400,000 killed by the Arab militiamen known as the Janjaweed, a name that means “devils on horseback”, since February 2003. Over 50 percent of the displaced people lack access to adequate food. The UN estimates up to four million people were at risk of famine.

Where are the African-American Muslims who equate “Zionism to Racism” when their black brothers in Sudan need them? Why are they more loyal to the religion of the slave traders who kidnapped their forefathers than their black brothers?

Massacres continue in the presence of lightly armed UN soldiers who are instructed not to use force. All the UN can do is merely say it is the worst humanitarian disaster in the world today – despite the fact that the 1948 UN Genocide Convention, signed by the U.S. and 134 other countries obligates signatories to “prevent and punish” genocide where it is occurring. The UN investigation into the human rights abuses in Darfur concluded the violence there was not genocide. The opposition to punish has come from Arab countries that are sympathetic to Khartoum and from Security Council members, such as Pakistan and China that are heavily invested in Sudan’s emerging oil industry. Sudan produces 250,000 barrels of oil a day and the government announced in 2003 that significant discoveries had been made in Darfur.

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