US President George W. Bush made a surprise first visit to Afghanistan today, on his way to India for talks on a major nuclear energy deal. CNN Breaking News carried live just now the Press Conference between Bush and Afghan leader, Hamid Karzai.
In his remarks the US President praised the progress of Afghanistan in building a free and democratic state, saying, "We love to hear stories about young Afghan girls going to school for the first time so they can achieve their full potential."
Bush said "America and the world are watching your Democracy," and repeated America's support for continued progress towards a stable and peaceful Afghanistan. He also sounded a familiar theme -- that as freedom increases in the country, so do the chances for peace.
Bush also praised the presence of a FREE PRESS in Afghanistan. One question from Radio/TV Afghanistan asked him several tough questions about the hunt for Osama bin Laden, which has turned up empty-handed after five years on the hunt. Also questions about the Irananian nuclear program, which Bush said the US, Europe and Russia were working on diplomatically, with the Russians offering to enrich uranium for the Iranians.
Meanwhile, in the Philippine Archipelago, a daily newspaper has been shutdown and the entire Media placed under surveillance and "monitoring" for rebellious and seditious statements; the Police have surrounded the Congress building trying to arrest five congressmen deemed to "destabilizers," and State of Emergency Proclamation 1017 has renewed the impression that the Philippines has moved back in time to the fascist dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos.
Soon even Afghanistan may be freer than the Philippines, which is truly suffering from vain, conceited and ignoble leader bent only on personal survival, and heedless of the Republic's prostate condition under irresponsible leadership. I have no doubt that Freedom House International will be downgrading the Philippines to the ranks of the UNFREE, if Gloria Macapagal Arroyo continues to rule. Somalia, Uganda, North Korea, Sudan, here we come the Philippines to the cellar with you.
8 comments:
This is not a comment about the State of Emergency, which I too have doubts about, to put it diplomatically, but about your use of the swaztika. The swaztika is the symbol of great evil. It is the symbol of the Nazis and the Holocaust and the systematic, industrial slaughter of 6 million Jews and 5 million others. The horror of the Holocaust and the evil that the Nazis committed is almost indescrible, all done under the swaztika. We should not belittle that horror -- we should not weaken the revulsion that we all should feel in our very guts -- by trivalizing the swaztika and thereby the Nazis by using it in such a way. The swaztika is not a symbol for all of us just to play with when we want to make a political point. It is a symbol of deep, true evil. And it should be reserved for such.
For all the problems and flaws with the State of Emergency it is not the Holocaust. Not even close. Not even in the same solar system or galaxy. The swaztika should never be used in such a trivia manner.
A Warm Welcome, Yankee in Iloilo. I've put your entire comment out on the main page of the post previous to this one, just to acknowledge the value of it, and my assent.
DJB,
Funny, when I saw that swaztika, I kind of thought - "Gosh, he's lucky he''s in P.I." coz in Austria, and the other Germanic states, he'd be arrested... hehe!
Remember Irving?
And lately, the mayor of London who is facing a 3-yr jail sentence for quipping that a Jewish journalist was like a Nazi guard in a Nazi concentration camp.
But not to worry - I think the logo you used is very powerful, enough to rouse people's curiosity. Besides, I think in the Philippines, you need an image with a huge blast effect to get a message across, otherwise, people don't react. Pinoys need image stimuli to get them cracking - totally different mindset - maybe coz of lots of TV and not enough books.
DJB,
Afghanistan deserves to be congratulated.
I had an Afghan woman as guest in Brussels a couple of weeks ago - she's the president of a trade cooperative and a top exec of the Afghan Chamber of Commerce (yes! they got one now).
She was speaking in a forum hosted by the Afghan president for the visit of the SHAPE Commanding General to Kabul and who was accompanied by top execs of US-European allied industries working with NATO last October. My husband gave her my card and that's how we met - been helping her in EU since.
I know how angry I feel about freedom in the Philippines, but AII pricks a different sense in me, one that seems to be stronger than anger, because it is restrained by awe at how bad things really were for the Jewish people, of whom I have many friends. In fact, one of my best friends in Manila is an 85 year old Jewish man whose lived here since around 1950 and married to a Pinay. He broke his arm recently and I promised to bring him bagels. Maybe I'll bring a copy of the post and get his opinion too. I guess it's not too likely tho that I'll use the swaztika again unless of course really bad things happen going forward.
Yeah, me too.
My former editor in chief with Le Figaro Economie (the business section of France's oldest and widest circulated daily) is Jewish.
He's one of my closest friends too.
My closest American girl friend is Jewish (she held her engagement party in my home in Paris) and she is one of the most courageous women I know - she's a Federal Prosecutor and head of an Anti-Organized Crime Task force in the West Coast.
DJB,
Just got this e-mail from a US-based Pinoy friend.
"At the end of the American Civil War in 1865 it was often difficult for
returning Confederate soldiers to find employment in some devastated parts
of the South.
One farmer near Appomattox in Virginia offered to supply work to any of
Robert E. Lee's veterans. To save the embarrassment of the officers, who
were unused to manual labor, the kindhearted farmer divided his workers into
squads according to their military rank. A passing neighbour enquired of
him one day, 'Who are those men working over there?'
"Them is privates, sir, of Robert E. Lee's army. Very fine men, sir, first-rate workers.'
'And who are those in that second group?'
'Them is lieutenants and captains. They work quite well, but not so well as
the private soldiers.'
'I see you have a third squad. Who are they?'
'Them is the colonels.'
'And how do the colonels work?'
'Well, neighbour, you won't be hearing me saying anything ag'in a man who
fought under Bobby Lee. But I tell you one thing: I ain't gonna hire me no
generals.'
Reminiscences of the Civil War, by General John B. Gordon, 1903.
anna,
how many ex-generals are working for the government after their retirement?
does it explain why the philippine government is so messed up right now?
the virginia farmer knew better.
bob
HB,
Generals....
I know you followed my dad's articles in the Manila Times circa 2001 or 2002...
He had many articles there lamenting that the Philippines has too many generals..
PS
Hope you did DJb's instructions for your blog...
and so that your name would be colored blue na..
so as to access your blog as I read your comments...
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