David Brooks, "The Robert E. Lee Problem": What About Modern-Day Slavery in India, Pakistan, China, Saudi Arabia and Qatar?

Tweet

In his latest New York Times op-ed entitled "The Robert E. Lee Problem," David Brooks tackles the recent debate in the US concerning "the Confederate battle flag and other symbols of the Confederacy." Brooks writes:

"Lowering the Confederate flag from public properties is thus an easy call. There are plenty of ways to celebrate Southern heritage and Southern life without choosing one so enmeshed in the fight to preserve slavery."

Specifically regarding Confederate General Robert E. Lee, Brooks concludes:

"My own view is that we should preserve most Confederate memorials out of respect for the common soldiers. We should keep Lee’s name on institutions that reflect postwar service, like Washington and Lee University, where he was president. But we should remove Lee’s name from most schools, roads and other institutions, where the name could be seen as acceptance of what he did and stood for during the war.

This is not about rewriting history. It’s about shaping the culture going forward."

Okay, I agree with David concerning symbols of the Confederacy and Lee, but indeed, what "about shaping the culture going forward"? You see, slavery still exists today.

There are 14 million adults and children who live today in slavery in India, and more than 2 million Pakistanis who are enslaved. There are also 2.9 million people living in slavery in China.

There are also thousands of forced laborers in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and the list continues.

Yes, the Confederate battle flag should not be flown on South Carolina's Capitol grounds, but what about the 30 million people who still live in bondage, manufacturing our clothes, sporting goods and electronic equipment? Don't they also deserve our attention?

Paul Krugman, "This Age of Bubbles": What About US Stock Markets?

Within the recent past, did a pop-up ad ever appear on your computer screen, with a woman dressed scantily for "Carnival," offering you high returns on investments in Brazilian eucalyptus plantations? Both the woman and the rates of return seemed attractive, but as I explained to a friend, both beauty and high rates of return don't last.

In his latest New York Times op-ed entitled "This Age of Bubbles" (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/23/opinion/krugman-this-age-of-bubbles.html?_r=0), Paul Krugman considers the nature of financial bubbles. Krugman concludes:

"In short, the main lesson of this age of bubbles — a lesson that India, Brazil, and others are learning once again — is that when the financial industry is set loose to do its thing, it lurches from crisis to crisis."

As anyone who reads this blog knows, I have serious issues with the greed and manipulative practices of an unfettered financial industry. One need only examine my routine diatribes aimed at restoring the "Uptick Rule" to understand how troubled I am by financial industry excesses (see, most recently: http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.co.il/2013/08/maureen-dowd-summers-of-our-discontent.html).

But is only the financial industry to blame for these crises? Could it also be that retired persons currently have no secure place to invest their savings, given that bank deposits pay so little interest today? Low rates on bank deposits do not result - at least directly - from financial industry excesses, but rather from Federal Reserve efforts to reduce interest rates to stimulate the economy.

But as long as we're talking about "bubbles," why is there no mention by Krugman of US stock markets?

Let's face it: The US economy is still rotten. As reported by Bernice Napach in an article entitled "Income Stats Suggest American Dream Is Dead" (http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/income-stats-suggest-american-dream-dead-161855152.html):

"The Great Recession officially ended in June 2009, but the U.S. economy still has not fully recovered. While existing home sales have returned to their June 2009 level and the current unemployment rate of 7.4% is far below the June 2009 rate of 9.5%, less people are participating in the work force and incomes are decisively lower.

A new report out Thursday from Sentier Research found that the median annual household income of Americans was $52,100 in June, after adjusting for inflation. That's 4.4% below the level in December 2009.

Even more dramatic, the median income is 6.1% lower than the level in December 2007, when the recession began, and 7.2% lower than January 2000. For many Americans incomes aren’t just stagnant, they’re falling along with their purchasing power and standard of living."

So why are US stock markets so high if things are so bad? The answer is simple: There is no secure place to park your money and receive a reasonable rate of return.

Yes, current US stock market prices are also a bubble, which ultimately must burst. Regrettably, they are not a reflection of an upturn in the economy.

Thomas Friedman, "India vs. China vs. Egypt": King Kong vs. Godzilla vs. Mothra

Consider: The United States, with more than $16.4 trillion in debt, continues to borrow from a repressive regime in China, while funding Egypt's military to the tune of $1.3 billion each year. The US, of course, is attempting to isolate Iran as it proceeds pell-mell with its nuclear weapons development program, so it should come as no surprise that yesterday, Egyptian president Morsi ("the Jews are descendants of apes and pigs") hosted Iranian president Ahmadinejad ("Israel must be wiped off the map") in Cairo, representing the first visit by an Iranian leader to Egypt in decades. In parallel, Obama is attempting to paint the transition of Egypt from the Mubarak regime to a government headed by the extremist Muslim Brotherhood as a success: "You know, when it comes to Egypt, I think, had it not been for the leadership we showed, you might have seen a different outcome there" (http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57565734/obama-and-clinton-the-60-minutes-interview/?pageNum=5).

What does any of the above have to do with the price of tea in China?

In his latest New York Times op-ed entitled "India vs. China vs. Egypt" (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/06/opinion/friedman-india-vs-china-vs-egypt.html?_r=0), Thomas Friedman, still dilly-dallying in New Delhi, would compare the futures of India, China and Egypt. In this regard, Friedman writes:

"'India today has 560 million young people under the age of 25 and 225 million between the ages of 10 and 19,' explained Shashi Tharoor, India’s minister of state for human resource development. 'So for the next 40 years we should have a youthful working-age population' at a time when China and the broad industrialized world is aging. According to Tharoor, the average age in China today is around 38, whereas in India it’s around 28. In 20 years, that gap will be much larger. So this could be a huge demographic dividend — 'provided that we can educate our youth — offering vocational training to some and university to others to equip them to take advantage of what the 21st-century global economy offers,' said Tharoor. 'If we get it right, India becomes the workhorse of the world. If we get it wrong, there is nothing worse than unemployable, frustrated' youth."

Indeed, China is headed for an iceberg. China has sought to check population growth with its one-child per family policy; however, will China's youth ultimately be able to support a growing percentage of seniors? And then there is also the question concerning the ultimate value of the debt denominated in dollars owed to China by the US, should America's budget deficit continue to go unchecked in the decades to come.

Egypt, now with less than $15 billion in foreign reserves, poverty, illiteracy, daily rioting, discrimination against women most of whom have had their genitals mutilated, oppression of its Christian Coptic minority, and a population that is growing beyond the country's means, is headed for disaster.

"India vs. China vs. Egypt"? My bet is on India, but I am far more concerned with events in the US and the absence of a cogent economic policy.

Meanwhile, this has given me the inspiration to begin writing yet another failed screenplay: "King Kong vs. Godzilla vs. Mothra." Who do you think wins in the end? Yeah, I know, who cares? I also have more pressing problems at home.

Thomas Friedman, "The Virtual Middle Class Rises": Akin to Friedman's Virtual Chin

After telling us that persons opposed to Chuck Hagel's appointment as secretary of defense were "disgusting" (see: http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.co.il/2012/12/thomas-friedman-give-chuck-chance.html), Thomas Friedman might be expected to explain his friend's declarations before the Senate Armed Services Committee that Iran has an "elected legitimate government" and that he supports "the president's strong position on containment." (Hagel had to be reminded that Obama, of course, doesn't have a containment policy.) But instead, Friedman is now dallying in New Delhi, from whence he declares in his latest New York Times op-ed entitled "The Virtual Middle Class Rises" (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/03/opinion/sunday/friedman-the-virtual-middle-class-rises.html):

"The massive diffusion of powerful, cheap computing power via cellphones and tablets over the last decade has dramatically lowered the costs of connectivity and education — so much so that many more people in India, China and Egypt, even though they’re still just earning a few dollars a day, now have access to the kind of technologies and learning previously associated solely with the middle class.

That’s why India today has a 300-million-person middle class and another 300-million-person virtual middle class, who, though still very poor, are increasingly demanding the rights, roads, electricity, uncorrupted police and good governance normally associated with rising middle classes."

Ah, yes, the masses might be starving, diseased and clad in rags, but access to the Internet makes them "virtual" middle class. It's a bit like Friedman's virtual chin: You can still see a picture of it on the Internet in the picture accompanying his op-ed (true, his clasped hands make it a bit difficult to discern), but the reality is that age and good eating have long since obscured this feature.

But what the heck! Let's "Photoshop" all of India's poor and transform them into "virtual" maharajas in the Taj Mahal. Can you imagine - poverty cured overnight!

Why stop with India? As Friedman concludes in his opinion piece:

"And, of course, the Arab Awakening was triggered, not by middle-class college students, but by an aspiring-to-be-in-the-middle-class Tunisian vegetable seller who was abused by corrupt police. Leaders beware: Your people don’t need to be in the middle class anymore, in economic terms, to have the education, tools and mind-set of the middle class — to feel entitled to a two-way conversation and to be treated like citizens with real rights and decent governance."

Indeed, I almost forgot the Arab Spring, which has become an endless winter of slaughter and intolerance. Let's take Internet access to impoverished Egyptian villages and put a virtual end to honor killings, child brides, female genital mutilation, illiteracy, hatred of Egypt's Coptic Christian minority, abhorrence of Jews, and expectations that anyone leaving Islam should be put to death. We can create a virtual Garden of Eden!

Sorry, that's probably enough cynicism. Time to take Arnold, our 150-pound Anatolian Mountain Dog, for a virtual walk. The problem, however, with a virtual walk is the nasty reality to be found on the floor come morning.

You see, even the Internet and connectivity have their limitations. However, I often wonder, given Friedman's enthusiasm for the Internet, why he doesn't conduct his overseas interviews online, thus saving his near bankrupt newspaper hundreds of thousands of dollars in travel expenses each year and sparing the environment. Go figure.

Thomas Friedman, "Who's the Decider?": Not Obama

In his latest New York Times opinion piece from India, "Who's the Decider?" (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/16/opinion/whos-the-decider.html?_r=1&hp), Thomas Friedman has lost much of his exuberance concerning the subcontinent.

In a prior op-ed, "The Last Person" (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/13/opinion/sunday/friedman-the-last-person.html?ref=opinion), Friedman enthused that a stripped-down, Internet-enabled, wireless tablet, which, with government subsidies, even the poorest Indian families could afford, might free India of its poverty and contribute to global innovation. Today, reality has settled in, and Friedman acknowledges the magnitude of India's corruption, environmental pollution, and absence of governmental direction.

Friedman also uses his latest op-ed as a platform to take a potshot at President Obama:

"Here we are in America again on the eve of a major budgetary decision by yet another bipartisan 'supercommittee,' and does anyone know what President Obama’s preferred outcome is? Exactly which taxes does he want raised, and which spending does he want cut? The president’s politics on this issue seems to be a bowl of poll-tested mush."

Friedman concludes:

"But at the end of the day — whether you are a president, senator, mayor or on the steering committee of your local Occupy Wall Street — someone needs to meld those ideas into a vision of how to move forward, sculpt them into policies that can make a difference in peoples’ lives and then build a majority to deliver on them. Those are called leaders. Leaders shape polls. They don’t just read polls. And, today, across the globe and across all political systems, leaders are in dangerously short supply."

Obama is not a leader? You don't say. In fact, America's Procrastinator-in-Chief is the antithesis of a leader, a man whose own friends say that he "leads from behind," a narcissist now consumed with reelection instead of leading the US out of its current morass.

Over the next 12 months leading up to the 2012 presidential election, expect more indecision from Obama as he takes to the airwaves, defending his dismal record, notwithstanding stubbornly high US unemployment. With each passing week, the financial viability of another EU member will be deemed suspect. Powered by slave labor, business in China will continue to boom. And undeterred in any meaningful way by Obama, Iran will soon threaten its neighbors with nuclear weapons.

At the Times, Friedman's fellow pundits will soon focus their barbs upon the absurd "anyone-but-Romney" candidacy of Newt Gingrich for the Republican nomination, given that Donald, Rick and Herman have already been milked to the limit and have grown passé.

Another day, and another "bowl of poll-tested mush"? Be careful about what you're impugning, Tom. Unlike politics and politicians, I take comfort in my oatmeal.

Thomas Friedman, "The Last Person": Facile Tripe

Thomas Friedman continues his journey across India and treats us to more marvels from the subcontinent.

In his latest New York Times op-ed entitled "The Last Person" (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/13/opinion/sunday/friedman-the-last-person.html?ref=opinion), Friedman tells us of an effort to build a stripped-down, Internet-enabled, wireless tablet, which, with government subsidies, even the poorest Indian families will be able to afford. He suggests that this is the tool that will enable India's 220 million students to escape poverty and contribute to global innovation. Yeah, right.

By the same logic, it can be argued that by providing all American youngsters with government-subsidized laptops, the US will ensure future prosperity and full employment. Unfortunately, this is a pipe dream. Regrettably, in today's brave new world, hardware is mere hardware, and the genius required to create these miracle machines or to use them productively cannot be instilled, wirelessly or otherwise, in the masses.

Sure, Friedman's notion of "hyperconnecting" the world is charming, but for the vast majority, it does not translate to food on the table. At the risk of being politically incorrect, if it was up to me, I would be seeking to provide India's farmers with subsidized, genetically improved seeds that can increase crop yields, withstand drought and other climatic changes, and reduce water consumption.

Friedman concludes by observing:

"India can’t wait for the world to solve India’s problems at India’s price points. It has to invent them. It now has tools to do so. This is about to get interesting."

This reminds me of how Friedman waxed eloquent concerning China's bullet trains and modern airports (see, for example: http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.com/2010/01/friedman-and-cohen-marvel-at-chinas.html), while ignoring the enslavement of much of its labor force. It's never so simple or benign.

Thomas Friedman, "India's Innovation Stimulus": I Envy India

I envy India.

From New Delhi, an itinerant Thomas Friedman tells us in his latest New York Times op-ed, entitled "India's Innovation Stimulus" (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/06/opinion/sunday/friedman-indias-innovation-stimulus.html?_r=1&ref=opinion), that he feels like he has met half of the world's seven billion people on the road from Agra to India's capital. Friedman is bursting with stories about innovation intended to offer low cost, hi-tech solutions for India's poverty.

Friedman tells us about a software program that runs on cellphones and is intended to advise illiterate farmers how to tend their crops. He describes “a single, portable, intelligent, noninvasive, eye prescreening device” for identifying diseases that can cause blindness. He lauds a cellphone travel search service that can pinpoint the lowest fares. And he writes of an effort to provide every Indian citizen with an identity number, which will assist the government in delivering services and subsidies.

Nowhere in Friedman's column is there supercilious, uninformed criticism of India's prime minister, Manmohan Singh. If only once Friedman could likewise visit Israel without lashing out at Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and reserve his comments for the scientific achievements being made by this tiny country of some seven million souls.

Were Tom to spend a day with me, I would take him south along the congested Haifa-Tel Aviv Highway to visit with several Israeli corporations with which I have been fortunate enough to become acquainted.

I would take Friedman to Nano Retina (http://www.nano-retina.com/), which is creating a miniaturized artificial retinal implant, expected to restore vision to persons suffering from advanced macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and retinitis pigmentosa, following a 30-minute minimally invasive procedure.

I would take Friedman to Compugen (http://www.cgen.com/), whose in silico (by computer) drug discovery efforts have given rise to a growing list of promising early stage drug candidates, including CGEN-15001, which has dramatically improved disease symptoms and abolished spontaneous relapses in an animal model of multiple sclerosis (see: http://www.cgen.com/Content.aspx?Page=press_releases&NewsId=571).

And I would escort Tom to Evogene (http://www.evogene.com/), which is using computational genomics technologies to significantly improve plant traits and to address growing demands for food, feed and fuel.

But even after witnessing these remarkable developments, my guess is that Friedman would still write another column decrying Netanyahu's purported obstruction of the peace process. After all, that's what his readership has come to expect and is waiting to hear.

[As noted in prior blog entries, I am a Compugen shareholder, this blog entry is not a recommendation to buy or sell Compugen shares, and in mid-September 2009 I began work as a part-time external consultant to Compugen. This blog entry has not been authorized or approved by Compugen.

I am a part-time external consultant to Nano Retina.

I am an Evogene shareholder, and this blog entry is not a recommendation to buy or sell Evogene shares. This blog entry has not been authorized or approved by Evogene.

The opinions expressed herein are mine and are based on publicly available information.]

Honor Killings in the Muslim World: An Untreated Epidemic

It is estimated by the UN that there are 5,000 "honor killings" of Muslim women each year, which are perpetrated by family members - grandfathers, fathers, uncles, husbands, brothers - and that go largely unpunished. This number does not take into account the related "quaint" practice of mutilating women's faces and bodies, also common throughout the Muslim world. And let there be no mistake: "Honor killings" have been exported to the U.S., Canada and Western Europe by immigrant Muslim families. Above is a picture of Amina Said, 18, and her sister Sarah Said, 17, who were brutally murdered by their father in Irving, Texas in 2008. If you have the stomach for more, learn about the 2009 decapitation of Aasiya Z. Hassan, below, by her husband, the founder of Bridges TV in Buffalo, New York, which sought to portray Muslims in a more positive light. Now hold onto your thoughts for just a moment.

In response to my prior blog entry "JG Caesarea Middle East IQ Test, Question No. 4: 'What Do Maureen Dowd and Ross Douthat Have in Common?'", I received a comment, sent by "anonymous", which:

- labeled me a "typical American right wing clown";

- said that I hate Muslims;

- stated that Saudi Arabia and Iran are the "FRINGE" of the Muslim world

- stated that of Indonesia, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, "only Pakistan has serious issues with Islamists";

- stated that "Indonesia has its problems with Islamists, but most Muslims there are devout but non-violent";

- stated "the United States is in rapid decline because of people like you, Jeffrey Grossman."

Obviously this angry person didn't take the time to scroll down and discover my opposition to U.S. involvement in Afghanistan. (Does this place me to the left of Obama?) Also, if this angry person had bothered to read further, he/she would have discovered that I am pro-choice, as reflected in a previous response to Ross Douthat. Right? Left? Meaningless to me. If I could choose, I would label myself a radical moderate, i.e. an oxymoron, who much prefers the company of dogs to most, but not all, politicians (there have been several persons in government who were extremely kind to me over the course of my lifetime).

I hate Muslims? I know and have worked with many Muslims, and I don't think you will find anyone who has ever detected any hatred coming from me.

Saudi Arabia and Iran comprise the "fringe" of the Muslim world? If so, where do you place the despotic regimes of Libya, Sudan, Yemen, Syria and Egypt?

Of Indonesia, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, "only Pakistan has serious problems with Islamists"? Peculiar. Although willing to discount the Jakarta and Bali bombings in Indonesia ("The Bali bombers and their ilk are no different than Timothy McVeigh and co. in the U.S."), this angry person obviously chooses not to remember the Mumbai, India terror attack in late 2008 which resulted in the deaths of 179 people.

Indonesia has few problems with Islamists? On April 19 Indonesia’s Constitutional Court ruled that a 45-year-old law banning religious blasphemy was constitutional and that persons found guilty of "heresy" could be sentenced to up to five years in prison. No problems with Muslim extremists in Indonesia? Yeah, right.

The United States is in decline because of me? And here I always thought that America's current problems stem from Obama's inane decision to escalate U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, combined with financial abuses which have also gone unremedied by the Obama administration.

But in case you didn't notice, the angry person's comment ignored my reference to "honor killings". Is this because it has become politically correct to paper over such phenomena in the hope of ultimately bridging cultural differences, in much the same way that Obama is currently reaching out to the world's tyrannies?

As I noted above, some 5,000 Muslim women each year fall victim to "honor killings", yet 5,000 is just a number. It is easy for us to shrug off numbers, but there can be no ignoring the horror of individual incidents, so allow me to acquaint you with yet another such instance which occurred earlier this year in "moderate" Turkey:

"The father and grandfather of a teenage girl buried alive for talking to boys have been arrested and are being held for trial, authorities in Turkey say.

The two men were detained after an informant told police that the missing 16-year-old girl had been the victim of an honor killing, The Guardian newspaper in London reported Friday.

Medine Mimi's body was found in sitting position in a 6 1/2 foot deep hole under a chicken pen outside her family's home in Turkey's southeastern province of Adiyam in December.

The coroner said a post-mortem examination found a large amount of soil in her lungs and stomach, indicating that she had been buried alive and suffered a slow and agonizing death, The Times of London reports."

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/International/2010/02/05/Details-of-honor-killing-shocks-Turkey/UPI-13441265385117/

In short, I don't hate Muslims; however, I believe strongly in women's rights and abhor the practice of "honor killings", which the angry person who responded to my blog chose to ignore. Moreover, I believe that Obama must honor his promise to recognize Armenian Genocide. I also believe that Obama has an obligation, for example, to recognize Iran's horrifying persecution of its Baha'is. Nothing whatsoever comes from sweeping these problems under the rug - Turkish, Persian or otherwise. As stated many years ago by Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.”