Hi all.
I struggled with how to frame this post for General Discussion vs Politics. What I'd like to discuss is not the dissection of a particular issue, because that would be a Politics thread, but rather (after reflection on many issues) the overall state of...what to call it? Word Opinion? Current Affairs Temperature? Minutes to Nuclear Midnight? I'm not sure what to call it.
I read the news stories, and I can't help but feel that this isn't a good time for world peace, not to mention just the general "health" of the global community.
Granted, I know we're living in a culture of fear (yea, I used that catchphrase) where nightly news struggles its best to make us terrified of each other. Regardless of the side you take on political actions, I don't think we can say (certainly not clearly) that the world is a safer or calmer place than it was 10 years ago. Or can we?
That's really my question up for discussion. I'm 27, not 37 or even 57. I haven't really been around (and paying attention) long enough to say if this time period (roughly the last 8-12) years is good, bad, or indifferent.
I hear the Cold War, including such fun events as the Cuban missle crisis, was a lot of tense years. I understand that the active years of the black civil rights struggle was pretty tense. I've read some history of our country's experiance through Vietnam. I know there's always been "bad things" going on in the world; that it's not new.
Even knowing that, I can't help but feel like we're all sliding towards somthing particularly bad. The last thing I take from world news or current events is a sense that people are working together for a better future. I read articles like I posted below (btw, you have to read both parts; the report on badges *may* be totally false), and I feel like we're just revving up for another world war. Frankly, I'd rather not go through one.
What would you tell me:
Has the world always seemed like such a powder keg, or is it just me becoming aware that it seems so.
Article Spelling Out that ID Badges for Jews/Christians May Be False
Quote:
Iran report of Holocaust-style badges questioned
2006-05-19 12:01:29
The National Post is sending shockwaves across the country this morning with a report that Iran's Parliament has passed a law requiring mandatory Holocaust style badges to identify Jews and Christians.
But independent reporter Meir Javedanfar, an Israeli Middle East expert who was born and raised in Tehran, says the report is false.
"It's absolutely factually incorrect," he told The New 940 Montreal.
"Nowhere in the law is there any talk of Jews and Christians having to wear different colours. I've checked it with sources both inside Iran and outside."
"The Iranian people would never stand for it. The Iranian government wouldn't be stupid enough to do it."
Political commentator and 940 Montreal host Beryl Waysman says the report is true, that the law was passed two years ago.
"Jews should wear yellow strips, Christians red strips, because according to the Iranian mullahs, if a Mulsim shakes hands with a non-Muslim he becomes unclean."
The National Post cites Iranian expatriots living in Canada as its primary source on the story.
The Post story can be read here: http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/n...b1240f&k=32073
(You may have to highlight the link and copy and paste it into your browser.)
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Original Article Asserting Iran Forcing ID Badges for Jews and Christians
Quote:
Iran eyes badges for Jews
Law would require non-Muslim insignia
Chris Wattie, National Post
Published: Friday, May 19, 2006
Human rights groups are raising alarms over a new law passed by the Iranian parliament that would require the country's Jews and Christians to wear coloured badges to identify them and other religious minorities as non-Muslims.
"This is reminiscent of the Holocaust," said Rabbi Marvin Hier, the dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. "Iran is moving closer and closer to the ideology of the Nazis."
Iranian expatriates living in Canada yesterday confirmed reports that the Iranian parliament, called the Islamic Majlis, passed a law this week setting a dress code for all Iranians, requiring them to wear almost identical "standard Islamic garments."
The law, which must still be approved by Iran's "Supreme Guide" Ali Khamenehi before being put into effect, also establishes special insignia to be worn by non-Muslims.
Iran's roughly 25,000 Jews would have to sew a yellow strip of cloth on the front of their clothes, while Christians would wear red badges and Zoroastrians would be forced to wear blue cloth.
"There's no reason to believe they won't pass this," said Rabbi Hier. "It will certainly pass unless there's some sort of international outcry over this."
Bernie Farber, the chief executive of the Canadian Jewish Congress, said he was "stunned" by the measure. "We thought this had gone the way of the dodo bird, but clearly in Iran everything old and bad is new again," he said. "It's state-sponsored religious discrimination."
Ali Behroozian, an Iranian exile living in Toronto, said the law could come into force as early as next year.
It would make religious minorities immediately identifiable and allow Muslims to avoid contact with non-Muslims.
Mr. Behroozian said it will make life even more difficult for Iran's small pockets of Jewish, Christian and other religious minorities -- the country is overwhelmingly Shi'ite Muslim. "They have all been persecuted for a while, but these new dress rules are going to make things worse for them," he said.
The new law was drafted two years ago, but was stuck in the Iranian parliament until recently when it was revived at the behest of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
A spokesman for the Iranian Embassy in Ottawa refused to comment on the measures. "This is nothing to do with anything here," said a press secretary who identified himself as Mr. Gharmani.
"We are not here to answer such questions."
The Simon Wiesenthal Centre has written to Kofi Annan, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, protesting the Iranian law and calling on the international community to bring pressure on Iran to drop the measure.
"The world should not ignore this," said Rabbi Hier. "The world ignored Hitler for many years -- he was dismissed as a demagogue, they said he'd never come to power -- and we were all wrong."
Mr. Farber said Canada and other nations should take action to isolate Mr. Ahmadinejad in light of the new law, which he called "chilling," and his previous string of anti-Semitic statements.
"There are some very frightening parallels here," he said. "It's time to start considering how we're going to deal with this person."
Mr. Ahmadinejad has repeatedly described the Holocaust as a myth and earlier this year announced Iran would host a conference to re-examine the history of the Nazis' "Final Solution."
He has caused international outrage by publicly calling for Israel to be "wiped off the map."
Iran does not yet have nuclear weapons, but Tehran believed by Western nations to be developing its own nuclear military capability, in defiance of international protocols and peace treaties.
The United States, France and Israel accuse Iran of using a civilian nuclear program to secretly build a weapon. Iran denies this, saying its program is confined to generating electricity.
cwattie@nationalpost.com
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