PolitiSage Sunday: Iran, Saudi, Putin and Trump
China Brokers Iran-Saudi Pact, Part I
Three of the Worst Human Rights Offenders on the Planet Have a Chit-Chat. What could possibly go wrong? Russia.
Iran and Saudi Arabia. They have, by turns, been friends and enemies since the day the Prophet Muhammad died in 632 CE. Ali, the Prophet’s Persian cousin and son-in-law, was seen by many to be the Prophet’s favorite, and these favored him to lead Islam. In fact, Ali was given the honor helping the Prophet’s family plan his funeral. Behind his back, however, community leaders elected Abu Bakr the first caliph of Islam, and Ali was presented with a fait accomplis.
Never one to argue, Ali accepted the situation, but the slight against the Persians by the Arabians did not go unnoticed, and the rift caused a schism that divided Islam into its two main sects:
Shias, a term that stems from shi’atu Ali, Arabic for “partisans of Ali,” believe that Ali and his descendants are part of a divine order—and Sunnis, meaning followers of the sunna, or “way” in Arabic, of Mohammed are opposed to political succession based on Mohammed’s bloodline.
Freedom House Releases 2023 Human Rights Scores
Here's How Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, China and Russia Fare (Hint: Not Well)
In 1941, Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of Democratic President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, allied with Republican Wendell Wilkie to found Freedom House. In its early days, FH was preoccupied with the fascism and Nazism threatening the globe in World War II. In the 1950s, the NGO opposed McCarthyism and began looking deeply at the connection between human rights and the democratic process, concluding that civil liberties are critically dependent upon strong voting rights, democratic processes at all levels, and legal protections for freedom and equality.
In the early 1970s, Freedom House began to assess nations and territories on a scale of 0 to 100 along two dimensions:
Political Rights, on a scale of 0 to 40, and
Civil Liberties, on a scale of 0 to 60.
Putin Charged with War Crimes by the International Criminal Court
On March 17th, the International Criminal Court, seated at The Hague, issued a criminal arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin—the first against a leader of one of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council—citing his alleged personal responsibility for “the war crime of unlawful deportation of (children) and that of unlawful transfer of (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.”
It’s the tip of the iceberg. … US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said that members of Russia’s forces had “committed execution-style killings of Ukrainian men, women, and children; torture of civilians in detention through beatings, electrocution, and mock executions; rape; and, alongside other Russian officials, have deported hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian civilians to Russia, including children who have been forcibly separated from their families”. Read more.
Trump’s Pants on Fire … Again
Notified of his potential arrest by the courts, Trump lies ... and incites violence ... yet again.
As I write this I cannot get the earworm “I fought the law, and the law won”—written by Sonny Curtis of The Crickets—out of my mind. I keep imagining Trump humming it subconsciously whilst he rants that he can’t get his hair dyed orange, have a day out on the links to whack the living bejesus out of something, and get silk pajamas rather than muslin stripes.
Anyhow, back to the news …
On this, the 18th day of March 2023, Donald Trump, who should be given complimentary stock in Orr and Orr—a top US manufacturer of fire extinguishers—lied again. He also, in the minds of many, incited violence should he be hauled off in a paddy wagon, which is likely.
First, the former president said he had been given insider information in an “illegal leak”—which is, of course, a crime to receive as well as to proffer—that he will be arrested this coming Tuesday for paying bribes in the Stormy Daniels case.
To read more of this lurid story, click here.
The New MLB Rules, Part II: The Birth of the Pitch Clock
… While the minor leagues have been using the pitch clock since 2015, this season is the first time many major league pitchers will be subject to it, and, as we have seen in a small sample, gamesmanship is already afoot. This is not to say that the pitch clock is a bad thing. So far it has sped up games and kept the action moving as intended. Games are an average of 20 minutes faster, and there is more action. These are all good things. … The issues will begin to surface when players fully understand how to use this new weapon against each other. We are already seeing pitchers taking advantage of the clock with quick pitches or by deliberately holding the ball to force the hitter to take his only time-out, thereby giving the pitcher the ability to freeze a hitter who has no recourse. This strategy is probably just the tip of the iceberg.
To read the full article, click here.
Mind Candy: Pareidolia
Merriam-Webster defines pareidolia as the tendency to perceive a specific, often meaningful image in a random or ambiguous visual pattern. Or, everything’s a Rorschach test! We look into the night skies and see a lady reclining in a chair (Cassiopeia), a warrior with a bow and arrow (Sagittarius), or a dog (Canis Major), or a bear (Ursa Major). We see the Virgin Mary in the glass of a high rise or a clown in the grain of wood. I don’t know about you, but when I look at these, I see an elephant.
Or if you prefer the up-close selfie, here it is:
This is the Elephant Rock in Iceland, in the Vestmannaeyjar (Westman Islands), an archipelago off the southern coast of Iceland. For centuries or millennia, volcanic eruptions shaped these islands, including its largest, Heimaey, which means "Home Island." It is the only island in the archipelago with a permanent human population (4,000 people).
Now, when the brain plays with pareidolia, it may do it differently from person to person or from one culture to another. Some people look at this structure and see H. P. Lovecraft’s fictional beast Cthulhu, a sea monster with tentacles on his face like a squid or octopus.
I’m sticking with the elephant.
Thank you so much for joining us. Please pass us along to others. [s]
