Libya Look-alikes

In any revolution, it's important to know with whom you are dealing. For Libya right now, this is all the more necessary as the identified involved parties increase and become more convoluted.

For rebels and protesters in Libya, figuring out who shape-shifter-dictator-name-changer Muammar Gaddafi is a real challenge. The Huffington Post and the Daily Show, however, lend some expertise that might help to decipher this Colonel (although why a crazy, fugly, oil-rich dictator chose to be a colonel over a higher rank is beyond me).The Daily Show also sheds light on Muammar and the Libyan situation in their series "Mess-of-the-whole-Potamia."

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Mess O' The Whole Potamia Region - Libya Uprising
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

On the other hand, figuring out who the protesters and rebels are isn't easy for Muammar. In the past week, he has made several different guesses and statements, each more interesting than the one prior.

Here, we have "stray dog reporters:"

Now, we have kids on hallucinogenic pills, which are put into their coffee and milk. Oh, and these criminal kids get their directions from Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda.

The United Nations Security Council passed sanctions unanimously on Gaddafi today. I wonder who he thinks really did that. Perhaps a bunch of cat-dog-pill-taking diplomats who are finally doing something about a brutal dictator. Keep watching Al-Jazeera for more updates on Libya and ridiculous statements by the Crazy Colonel.

GTA Goes Back in Time

In light of the demonstrations that are taking place across Iran, understanding victims and oppressors is crucial in determining how to address and make sense of such complex issues. Navid Khonsari, creator of the Grand Theft Auto video games, is developing a new game for the market that he believes will help its players to understand all of the complexities of an issue. “I came to realize that there’s a number of different sides to a story,” Khonsari said, “and this aspect, if introduced in a game, could kind of revolutionize how we play games.” For Khonsari, situations are always more complex than the traditional good guy vs. bad guy dichotomy. “It’s not a matter of bad guys going after good guys or good guys going after bad guys…these are all different stories and to be able to actually convey that and let people interact as those players I thought would just open up this entire genre of gaming.”

Khonsari’s game does not just create any scenario in which players can interact. His game is “1979 – The Game.” Aside from the obvious fact that this is a controversial move to say the least, Khosari hopes that players can interact with and understand a multifaceted issue. While there are a wide range of characters and storylines to play, Khonsari is also taking huge risks in the creation of such a game.

Although his description of helping players learn to understand the greater complexities behind the “victim/oppressor” dichotomy are noble, he runs the risk that this message is lost. One can only theorize as to the effectiveness of his message, as no game-play videos or other visual and audio information exist for the game. If “1979 – The Game” is anything like Rockstar’s GTA franchise, then the game’s narrative will be grounded in violence and the storyline would advance based upon the player committing criminally violent acts. If Khonsari’s project really does follow this same model even with its multiple storylines and characters from which to select, he runs the risk of his message of exposing players to different perspectives to yet another caricature of angry, anti-American terrorists, etc. Such a stereotype is something with which Khonsari, as an Iranian-American himself, is surely intimately familiar.

I still question the wisdom of using such an event as the story and setting for a video game (intended for players over 18), but I hope that his intended message of exposing players to and helping them understand perspectives different from their own is well conveyed and received. However, until the game is actually released, I remain extremely skeptical of the effectiveness of Khonsari’s concept in doing anything other than reinforcing destructive stereotypes.

Egyptian Uprising

January 2011 passed by this year with the protests in Tunisia, which resulted in the removal of former Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Jordanian King Abdullah II dismissed Prime Minister Samir Rifai and his cabinet, replacing Rifai with ex-general and former premier Marouf al-Bakhit. There have also been protests in Yemen and several other Arab countries.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Mess O'Slightly-to-the-Left O'Potamia - Pro-Mubarak Demonstrators
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

Egypt has been engulfed with popular, peaceful protests. After police initially cracked down, the army refused to fire on the crowds. As seen in this article by The Atlantic, the activists are organized and have very clear objectives. Today, after millions gathered in Tahrir (Independence) Square in Cairo, Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak announced that he will not be seeking re-election in September and wants a transition government. The Obama administration has stated that Egypt should begin its process of transitioning peacefully to a new government. However, Mubarak’s vow to not flee from Egypt and his failure to resign immediately are not sitting well with the Egyptian protesters. While his “transition” government has tried to make compromises and half-hearted attempts at dialogue with the Muslim Brotherhood, they have still failed to meet the protesters’ demand of Mubarak’s resignation. The events have turned violent, with pro-Mubarak agitators assaulting the protesters. However, with the sheer number of demonstrators (estimates place the crowds around 2 million people), this is not an issue that will go away quickly or quietly.

For decades, Egypt under Mubarak has been an ally of the United States and a critical component of its Middle East foreign policy. The United States is now forced to re-evaluate its standing in the region, and in light of these developments, there are several questions as to what the Egyptian movement means for the future of Egypt and the Middle East. In understanding popular uprisings that ousted a dictator, several news media outlets and government officials are looking towards Iran as an example. Former United States Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton was especially provocative in drawing connections between the Egyptian uprisings, Iran, and U.S. interests. Being the Yosemite Sam of International Relations, Bolton stated in an interview with Sean Hannity of FOX News that “ouster of embattled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak would speed the timetable for an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.” Bolton has always been an “Iran hawk,” but these comments reveal a particularly interesting discussion regarding the Egyptian protests and their connection to 1979 and 2009 Iran.

With the anniversary of the 1979 revolution coming on February 11^th, the Islamic Regime has not wasted any time in attempting to spin the protests as a new, “Islamic” revolutions inspired by the 1979 Iranian revolution. Mir Hossein Mousavi and members of the Green Movement have instead countered such claims with their own that their 2009 protests are the inspiration for the Egyptian movement today. However, the Iranian regime’s severe crackdown on the Green Movement clearly reveals its own hypocrisy, reflected in the regime’s loss of soft power among Arab populations in the region.

With everyone in the United States scrambling to figure out which of the Iranian case studies is the best indicator for Egypt’s future, people forget that the Iranian and Egyptian case studies are completely different. Iran in 1979 had a series of very strong, well-known revolutionary leaders that were able to mobilize people over several years into what exploded in 1979 and forced Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi out of power for good. Of these revolutionary figures, Ayatollah Rouhollah Khomeini emerged as the strongest and seized power, creating Iran’s theocratic republic of today. Unlike the Iranian example, there are no clear leaders in the Egyptian protests. While the Muslim Brotherhood is being incorporated at some level in talks with Mubarak’s regime, the Egyptian demonstrations were never about the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Arabian Fights
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

In 2009, while Mousavi, despite being prime minister throughout the 1980s under Khomeini and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, emerged as the leader of the Green Movement, the regime’s brutal crackdown and retention of military, Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, police, and Basiji militia support left the movement fractured and weakened. This is not to say that the regime does not feel threatened – the human rights situation in Iran has drastically declined since 2009 and in one month’s time (December 19, 2010, and January 19, 2011), Iran executed 97 prisoners alone. It also executes more people per capita than any other country in the world. Clearly, the regime does feel threatened, but until the Green Movement can garner support of the country’s different armed forces, it will not see results like Egypt’s. The Green Movement also had several different leaders, each with their own ideas. The result is a lack of unity and unclear goals. The Egyptian movement on the other hand is unified behind one strong resolution – Mubarak’s immediate resignation.

Egyptians have a new opportunity before them. With the continued pressure of protesters, the military, and the Obama administration that Mubarak faces calling for his immediate resignation, the Egyptians have the chance to peacefully and single-handedly remove a cruel dictator from power and replace his government with one that better reflects their own aspirations and visions for their country. While Iran and Egypt are very different, both the Iranian stories of 1979 and 2009 offer lessons for Egypt. In 1979, Iranians were successful in overthrowing a dictator. However, the complete destruction of the previous government’s institutions and allowing the movement to be dominated by clerical elements created a situation today where Iranians of all backgrounds lack significant social and political freedoms. In 2009, Iranians attempted to rise up to challenge the direction in which the hardliners were taking the country. However, the lack of unity in and failure to clearly articulate demands resulted in the movement succumbing to brutal crackdown after brutal crackdown and the protesters were unsuccessful. Egypt has the chance to avoid a takeover by radicals of any persuasion. They have the chance to be successful where the Iranians were to date unable. The Egyptians’ success to date is already an inspiration to the world. If the Egyptian movement is able to successfully gain the ouster of Mubarak and transition to a system of government that better reflects the wishes of the Egyptian people, it could be powerful enough to lead to a re-invigoration of pro-democracy movements throughout the Middle East.

Crafty Commies

The Cold War had it right – those Communists sure are sneaky and not to be trusted, least of all with being original. While doing some completely unrelated research, I stumbled across some acts of true evil that must be revealed.

First published in the Wall Street Journal, Gordon Fairclough reveals that North Korea has been flooding the U.S. market with counterfeit cigarettes. While this is a relatively old story (the original article being published in 2006), Center for a New American Security (CNAS)’s newest report highlights the Korean counterfeit cigarettes case study as an instance in which sanctions were an effective means of coercive diplomacy. As CNAS’s January 2011 report described, “private industry estimates that North Korea’s gross revenue from counterfeit cigarettes alone amounts to between 550 – 700 million dollars per year, making the DPRK the number two counterfeit cigarette producer in the world (after China)” (Asher et. al. 34). North Korea produced several different brands of counterfeit cigarettes, including Marlboros, to such a high quality that products seized in Miami “even included forged pamphlets urging smokers to visit a Web site to find information about the health dangers of cigarettes and the admonition, ‘Don't Litter’ on the side of the box. Some also have copies of state tax stamps.”North Korea isn’t the only Red country to be ripping off original American products and trying to pass them off to the rest of the world. On January 23, 2011, China released a video of an air force drill that was remarkably similar to a scene in Top Gun. That film is awful enough, the world doesn’t need someone else trying to bring it back. The final scene of the film was spliced into the drill footage and aired on state television, CCTV. Although the film was taken down shortly afterwards, the Wall Street Journal ran the footage from Top Gun and the Chinese air force drill side by side. Note to China: If you’re going to try to make your military look all cool and powerful, don’t use a movie made 25 years ago to try to make your point and hope no one will notice. If you are going to steal film footage and splice it into military videos, at least choose a good movie.