Battling our U.S.olipsism

Let us not forget: there is a rest-of-the-world, including places our country has made a mess of.... meanwhile the news today and tomorrow and next week will be only a slicing and dicing our own election results. Evening news anchors had nothing to say about any other part of the world the past few days... meanwhile a young Somalian girl was stoned to death for being raped!!!!, and children live like this in Sadr City (pic above is taken from this LA Times slideshow).

My Fellow Americans --
Everything Obama said on election night about unity, about the health of the whole depending on the health of its parts, applies to our entire human race. A quick check of an image of our Earth as seen from space will verify that, yup, still no lines are actually drawn on it dividing us from any other humans except in our own convenient way of thinking about things.

Let's work to stay informed about the condition of beings on the whole planet. And let's care about it. And do something about it. And talk about it. And insist it is taught in our schools, and sees some exposure in our television programming.

Syrian Raid Ripples

While the media feeds us a one-course meal of election news, over and over and over, who's minding the "Impact of US Policies" shop around the rest of the planet? Almost nobody. So between now and perhaps a week from now when election and post-election fervor finally starts to simmer down, I'll be sharing some spicy international dishes on this blog:

Dateline Nov 2, 2008, Damascus:

(Summary from the front page of Asia Times) The United States raid into Syria has upset every key actor in Iraq. The government, beyond being embarrassed at not being consulted, has come under even more pressure from Shi'ite parties not to sign a security agreement with the United States. The Sunni Awakening Councils are reconsidering their cooperation in fighting insurgents, while powerful tribes which virtually control the border are overnight turning anti-American. As for Syria, it has the power to cause havoc in Iraq.

Read Sami Moubayed's full article.

Iran and our next Pres

World Press points to an article, "US blowback in Iran's elections" by Hossein Askari in Asia Times that analyzes the possible influence of our Presidential election outcome on Iran's next election. *

In Iranian eyes, one candidate, Democratic Senator Barack Obama, believes in dialogue and peaceful resolution of conflicts. While the other, Republican Senator John McCain, is belligerent and endorses the military option. The leaders in Tehran see Ahmadinejad better positioned to tackle a president McCain, while a total break from Ahmadinejad would afford Iran the best opportunity for rapprochement with a president Obama. It is that clear cut.

... If there is a president McCain, there will be a second term for Ahmadinejad. If there is a president Obama, the next Iranian president will be a moderate, soft-spoken and Western-appealing individual, one who is not weighed down by Ahmadinejad's baggage and who can start afresh with the US and achieve favorable results for Iran with an Obama administration. In that event, the leader would come from Qalibaf, Najafi, Aref and Nahavandian.

The Supreme Leader and leading contenders in Iran will be watching the US presidential results as never before.

* Note: While the dateline of the article is Hong Kong, Askari is "professor of international business and international affairs at George Washington University" as noted at the end of the article.