Howdy. Hope stuff is ok.
Not too much to report. Ate some Mexican food with Ryan and Jamie last night. Talked to my dad, who has been in touch with my mom, and it sounds like she's doing well on her mission trip over in Africa. Apparently the Kenyans remembered her from her last visit out there and greeted her very warmly, so she was sort of touched by that. Hope she stays safe and keeps up the good work.
I'm sure I've said this before, but it's nice to see people going out and doing service work to help people as part of their Christian belief system. It seems like a lot of the stuff related to religion in the media these days is pretty negative (recent examples that spring to mind range from the violent Islamic fundamentalism of Nidal Malik Hasan to
Catholic bishops who have questioned the religious faith of church members and political leaders who support pro choice positions). So, anyway, my point is that it's just nice to see some people out there who are helping other people as part of their religious beliefs (and yes, I'm sure the volunteers are pretty happy to talk to the people about their church and their religion while helping them at the clinic, but it sounds like the help offered is just meant to be good outreach- aid is in no way contingent upon participation in religious activities. On her last trip they worked with a significant number of Muslim people, for instance). Anyway, I hope the trip is a happy, successful one.
In the news, there's an
interesting story in Newsweek about potential changes in the Iranian religious/political leadership structure. Apparently there is some conjecture that Iran's current Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, may be the last Supreme Leader to rule the country. The Supreme Leader of Iran is the country's most powerful political figure and cleric, a figure presumed to be endorsed by God who serves as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, the leader of the country's intelligence network, and the figure who holds the power to declare war and peace. He also plays a key role in selecting and confirming presidential candidates (Iran's current president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is pretty much considered to be Khamenei's boy).
Apparently the violent suppression of peaceful protests after the last election has left left a large number of Iraqi clerics deeply troubled about the corrupting effect of the absolute power inherent to the role of a Supreme Leader (the office being more formally referred to as the velayat-e faqih), and there are rumors and suggestions among clerics that the office itself should be dismantled and abandoned following the passing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
It'll be interesting to see how these sort of sentiments continue to develop and take shape, and even more interesting to see what sort of new power structure might arise if the position of the Supreme Leader is removed. It seems like Iran is moving toward something that looks more like a real democracy, albeit at a pace which is far slower and more gradual than many might like. It might sound a little crazy right now, but I can actually imagine a future in which Iran might actually be something of an ally, with an interesting government that does a better job of genuinely representing the will of its people while still incorporating aspects of the Islamic religious heritage which are so deeply ingrained within the country's culture and heritage.
But maybe I'm just nuts.
And following an election which was riddled with fraud (the opponent eventually withdrew) and in the face of numerous charges of high level corruption within the top levels of his government and administration,
Afghanistanian President Hamid Karzai was sworn in today for a second term. I can't believe that in the entire country of Afghanistan a better man can't be found to fill the office of president than this clown.
Karzai's own brother has been accused of being heavily involved in drug trafficking, one of Karzai's anti-corruption task forces has already been disbanded because it turned out that it was
being led by a man who had previously been imprisoned on drug charges in the U.S., and only
yesterday Karzai's minister of mines was shown to have accepted $30 million in bribes relating to a deal with a Chinese state firm and copper mining. And these things are surely only the tip of the iceberg.
Nonetheless, the U.S. sent Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Karzai's inauguration as a show of support. Arrrrgh....
Once again the good ol' U.S.A. is aligning itself with questionable, shady people in order to consolidate our own power so we can wage a highly questionable war in someone else's country (note: I don't question the moral underpinnings of this war the same way that I've questioned Iraq, but I
do have serious doubts about whether we can really turn Afganistan into a safe, stable place, as well as questions about whether the enemy that we initially went there to fight- namely, Bin Laden's Al Qaeda network- is even still in the country). Does this alliance with Karzai bother anyone else? I just have these visions of us helping to solidify Karzai's power base, and then later having him, in turn, ally himself with some of our enemies. Other exciting possibilities include the chance that he might become despotic and ruthless toward his own people, or that he will merely continue to cynically exploit the people of his country, making himself and his personal allies wealthy and powerful while exploiting the resources of his country and leaving it in terrible shape (and given the allegations of drug smuggling, bribery, and corruption by those around Karzai, one could argue that he's probably well on his way toward fulfilling this last hypothetical already).
Anyway, there's no one else who could run for president? Afghanistan is a decent sized country. I find it hard to believe that they have no one better suited for the job than Karzai.
Well, that's it for now.
Peace!!