Global News: September 2004 Archives

And you thought Tulsa politics was rough....

Discoshaman of Le Sabot Post-Moderne is back from his blogging hiatus and is covering the election in Ukraine:

The Ukrainian people are facing an incredibly decisive election in a few weeks. Unlike in Russia, they've actually been blessed with a clear choice between an oligarch-supported thug (Yanukovych) and a genuine, if flawed, reformer with a proven record (Yuschenko.) And I really think they're going to elect the thug.

Yanukovych's people have hired criminal gangs to beat Yuschenko supporters. They have attacked pro-Yuschenko journalists and arsoned their offices. They own most of the TV stations, and issue Soviet-style temniki to tell their pet journalists exactly what to report. They've hired Nazi groups to march in support of Yuschenko. It looks now like they organized a fatal bombing in a local market in order to discredit Yuschenko. They have used the organs of government to arrest, harrass and investigate Yuschenko's major supporters. And then there are the "accidents" involving Yuschenko people and Kamaz trucks.

The Ukrainian people by and large know that there is a massive disinformation campaign going on. They know that Yanukovych's oligarch friends are stealing the election. The outrage factor? About two on a ten scale.

He goes on to put forward an explanation for this lack of outrage.

There's more about the campaign here:

We hit the big Yushchenko rally yesterday in European Square. He had been poisoned, and spent last week in a Vienna hospital recovering. His opposition is suspected in the attack. His voice was still weak and his jaw seemed tight as he spoke. It was in Ukrainian, so I didn't perfectly understand, but it was awesome when he called out to the crowd, "But they can't poison all of us!"

Let's keep Ukraine in our prayers.

UPDATE 9/25: More on Ukraine from NRO here.

I've already touched on the anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks over the last few days, but I cannot let the day pass without pointing you to the New York Times' "Portraits of Grief", a collection of brief profiles of the people who died in those attacks.

Here's a link to the profile of my friend Jayesh Shah, which highlights the close relationship between Jay and his younger brother Niloy. You have never seen two closer siblings, and no one can ever remember seeing a cross word pass between them. Close in age, they came from India to America as small boys, and made the adjustment to the new world together. They went to high school, college, and grad school together, and both ended up working for Amoco in Houston. They were separated when Jay took the opportunity of a lifetime -- an executive position with Cantor Fitzgerald in New York -- but they still spoke daily, talking over the previous night's sports news or their kids' latest antics. Was it the affection between two brothers, the love of a husband for his wife, the love of a dad for his children -- is that what the terrorists set out to extinguish?

Jay and the Shah family are of the Jain religion. At the heart of that religion is a n avoidance of violence against any living thing. Jains are vegetarian, and some Jain monastics go so far as to sweep the ground before them to avoid crushing an insect as they walk. Ironic that someone of that faith should be the victim of such an extreme and deliberate act of violence.

The Shah family went through sixteen days of hoping against hope that Jay had survived. Jay's name showed up on a survivors list on the Internet. The family got to New York as quickly as they could, and went from hospital to hospital. Through the whole process, Niloy communicated with friends and family via e-mail, sharing his hopes and fears.

All the searching was in vain. On September 27, Jay's body was recovered and they had the comfort of certainty about his fate. The family was now able to hold the traditional last rites. A memorial prayer service was held a couple of weeks later in Houston, which I was privileged to attend.

This is the story of one man and his family, and the profound loss of a brother, husband, son, father, and friend. I tell it because it is important to remember why we are fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, and may find ourselves fighting in other places that harbor and sponsor terrorists. Although we desire to live at peace with all men, governments have a divine commission to use force to oppose evil. We cannot hope to enjoy peace as long as there are those who would seek our deaths for the crime of being alive and free.

Before I close, let me point you to a couple of places to stir your memories and your resolve:

• Tom Junod's Esquire article about "The Falling Man" -- the search for the man captured on film as he fell from the World Trade Center. (Hat tip to Matthew for the link.)

• Here Is New York, an extensive online gallery of photographs of the day and its aftermath.

So right, Karol:

Headline: Madonna Dedicates 'Imagine' to Russia...

No religion, no possesions? I think Russia may have tried this already.

Hat tip to World Net Daily for the link to this story:

Cantor Fitzgerald Securities, a bond trading firm that lost two-thirds of its workers in the World Trade Center attack, has sued Saudi Arabia for allegedly supporting al-Qaida prior to the Sept. 11 attack through financing, safe houses, weapons and money laundering.

The company, in a $7 billion lawsuit filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan and made public Friday, also named dozens of other defendants, including numerous banks and Islamic charities, in a bid to hold them accountable for its losses in the terrorism attack.

Jayesh Shah, who was a Tulsa Memorial High School and University of Tulsa graduate, was Vice President of Technology for Cantor Fitzgerald's eSpeed division, working on the 103rd floor of the north tower on September 11, 2001. I knew Jayesh through, of all things, Hal O'Halloran's radio sports talk shows in the late '70s and early '80s. He was a very smart guy with a great sense of humor and very devoted to his family and he is missed by all who knew him. I'm happy to see that his employer is pursuing those parties who may bear some responsibility for the attack, but who have yet to be held accountable in any way.

If you've missed the news about the taking and murder of hostages by Islamist terrorists at a school in Beslan, North Ossetia, Russian Federation, you will want to read this timeline by Michele at the Command Post.

And many people, including Charles of Little Green Footballs, are linking to a remarkable Daily Telegraph opinion piece by the general manager of Arabic satellite TV station Al-Arabiya, which begins like this:

It is a certain fact that not all Muslims are terrorists, but it is equally certain, and exceptionally painful, that almost all terrorists are Muslims.

The hostage-takers of children in Beslan, North Ossetia, were Muslims. The other hostage-takers and subsequent murderers of the Nepalese chefs and workers in Iraq were also Muslims. Those involved in rape and murder in Darfur, Sudan, are Muslims, with other Muslims chosen to be their victims.

Those responsible for the attacks on residential towers in Riyadh and Khobar were Muslims. The two women who crashed two airliners last week were also Muslims.

Bin Laden is a Muslim. The majority of those who manned the suicide bombings against buses, vehicles, schools, houses and buildings, all over the world, were Muslim.

What a pathetic record. What an abominable "achievement". Does all this tell us anything about ourselves, our societies and our culture?

This piece was originally run in Arabic in a pan-Arabic newspaper.