The Middle East

The Middle East

in 1967-1995

In 1967 few would have believed that in 1995 Israeli leaders and Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasir Arafat would be charting a program for peace. Arafat, once a brutal terrorist responsible for bombings of innocent civilians, is now regarded, albeit warily, as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. The City of Jericho on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip are under Palestinian control and more should follow. Many hurdles still remain, but the Arabs and Jews are closer to a comprehensive settlement of their differences than at any time since Israel became a state in 1948.

Elsewhere in the Middle East, Islam – a way of life as well as a religion – is newly resurgent. In Iran, Iraq, and other Arab states, autocratic leaders fuse Islam with government, Women are accorded few rights. Rulers go to considerable lengths to shield their citizens from “immoral” Western influences. Vast reserves of oil fuel the region’s economies and keep the rest of the world responsive to Arab interests.

1967 – The Six-Day War: The third Arab-Israeli war since 1948. After Nasser imposes a blockade on Israeli shipping in the Straits of Tiran, Israel attacks Egypt, Syria, and Jordan simultaneously. When the war ends, Israel occupies the Sinai Peninsula, the Golan Heights, the Old City of Jerusalem, the Gaz Strip, and the West Bank, all of which had previously been under Egyptian or Jordanian control.

The UN Security Council unanimously adopts Resolution 242, denouncing the acquisition of territory by war but does not insist on any specific terms for the withdrawal of Israeli forces.

1969 – Yasir Arafat takes over the PLO: Arafat, then the leader of the al-Fatah guerrillas, is elected chairman of the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s (PLO) executive committee. Former Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser had led Arab leaders in creating the PLO five years earlier.

1970 – The PLO Is Expelled from Jordan: King Hussein defeats PLO leader Yasir Arafat’s guerrillas and expels the PLO from his territory. PLO headquarters move from Jordan to Lebanon.

A Middle-Easterner Lady. Photo by Elena.

1970 – Terror in the Sky: The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a radical Palestinian group, attempts to hijack four passenger planes over western Europe. The skyjacking of a New York-bound El Al plane fails, but a Pan Am plane is taken to Beirut and then Cairo. Three other flights are diverted to an unused airstrip in the Jordanian desert and demands are made for the release of Palestinians detained in Israel, West Germany, Britain, and Switzerland. The plane’s passengers are released eventually, but the planes are destroyed.

1972 – Murder at the Olympics: During the Munich Olympic games, Palestinian guerrillas capture Israeli athletes and call for release of Palestinians held by Israeli police. After promising the terrorists safe passage out of the country, West German police open fire at the Munich airport, leading the gunmen to kill all of the hostages. Israel responds with bombing raids in Lebanon.

1973 – the Yom Kippur War: The fourth Arab-Israeli war breaks out when Syria and Egypt attack Israeli forces in the Sinai and the Golan Heights on the Jewish Day of Atonement. Israel dries back enemy forces, but the initial successes of the Arab forces demonstrate that they have dramatically strengthened their military might in the six years since the previous war.

1973 – the Arab Oil Embargo: Arab oil-producing countries impose an oil embargo on Israel during the Yom Kippur War and agree to cut production 5 percent each month until Israel withdraws from occupied lands and restores “Palestinian rights.” They also cut exports to nations that are sympathetic to Israel, including the United States. Oil prices skyrocket and many industrialized countries restrict fuel usage.

1977 – Sadat in Jerusalem: Speaking to the Israeli Knesset in Jerusalem, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat proposes peace with Israel in exchange for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Sinai Peninsula.

1978 – The Camp David Accords: U.S. President Jimmy Carter finally hammers out a settlement between Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in which Israel recognizes the Palestinian people’s right of self-determination and agrees to withdraw its forces from the Sinai Peninsula in exchange for peace. Egypt and Israel establish formal diplomatic relations for the first time. In protest, the Arab League moves its headquarters from Cairo to Tunis.

1979 – Revolution in Iran: The pro-American regime of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi falls as a result of widespread political dissent. Soon after the shah’s departure, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, previously in exile, establishes an Islamic republic. Under the new constitution, final authority over all legislation and command of the armed forces are vested in the faqih, the primary theologian in the country – in this case, Khomeini.

1979 — 81 – America Held Hostage: Muslim extremists seize the U.S. Embassy in Tehran after the United States refuses to extradite the shah, who has received a death sentence from new Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The last 52 hostages are released on January 20, 1981, after 444 days in captivity.

1981 – Sadat is Assassinated: The Egyptian president is gunned down by Muslim extremists at a military parade in Cairo.

1982 – Israel Invades Lebanon: To stop PLO guerrillas from mounting raids into Israel, Israeli forces bomb Beirut from land, sea, and air for nearly two months. The PLO finally agrees to leave. In 1985, Israeli troops withdraw from most of Lebanon.

1983 – 81 – U. S. Marines Die in Beirut: At a U. S. Military compound in Beirut, 239 U. S. Troops die when an Arab extremist drives a truck wired with explosives through the gates. Soon after, U. S. troops are withdrawn.

1986 – United States Bombs Libya: U. S. Bombers raid Tripoli and Benghazi in response to Libya’s alleged involvement in terrorist attacks in Europe. Civilian and military casualties are estimated at about 130 and include Libyan leader Mu’ammar al-Quaddafi’s adopted daughter.

1987 – The Intifada Begins: A Palestinian uprising protesting Israeli rule begins in the occupied territories. Riots continue through 1990. Attempting to contain the protests in which troops and police ar attacked by rock-throwing mobs, Israeli forces use arrests, beatings, deportations, and curfews.

1990 – 91 – Operation Desert Storm: Iraq invades and occupies Kuwait in August 1990. In January 1991, a U.S. – led Western alliance launches Operation Desert Storm to expel the Iraqi invaders from Kuwait. More than half a million U. S. Troops are involved in the action, which succeeds in expelling the Iraqis from Kuwait, but Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein remains in power.

1993 – Israel and the PLO Sign Pact: In Washington, D.C., Israel and the PLO sign the Declaration of Principles on Palestinian Self-Rule in the Occupied Territories. Both parties officially recognize each other.

1994 – The PLO Takes Over: A transfer of power from Israel to Palestinian authorities begins in the town of Jericho and much of the Gaza Strip. But violence continues, as a radical Jewish settler who opposes the peace agreement murders 29 Palestinian worshipers at a Hebron mosque with an army-issued automatic rifle. Palestinians respond with protests and random attacks against settlers.

The Middle East

    Largest Lake – Caspian Sea, Iran, Turkestan, 143,205 square miles.

    Longest River – Euphrates. Syria, Iraq, 1,750 miles.

    Largest Country – Saudi Arabia. Over 95 percent desert. 830,001 square miles.

    Largest point – Dead Sea. Israel, Jordan, 1,286 feet below sea level.

    Largest city – Istanbul, Turkey, 9 million pop.

Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia

In 1975 – 1995

From Burma to the Philippines, Southeast Asia has had more than its share of misfortune in the last quarter century, enduring some of the most brutal governments since the Nazis ruled Germany.

1975 – The Communists triumph in Vietnam: The first communists from the National Liberation Front make their way into South Vietnam in the early 1960s. By 1963, 15,000 U.S. Military advisers are stationed in the country.

At the height of the Vietnam War, the United States has more than 525,000 men in Vietnam. Some 50,000 Americans and many, many more Vietnamese lose their lives in the war. A peace treaty is signed in 1973 in Paris, ending the longest military action in U.S history (war never was formally declared). Two years later, North Vietnamese forces capture Saigon. U.S. Marine guards and U.S. Civilians and dependents are evacuated by helicopter from the rooftop of the besieged U.S. Embassy there. In 1994, the United States and Vietnam take the first steps toward resuming normal diplomatic relations.

1975 – Phnom Penh falls to the Knmer Rouge: After more than five years, the war in Cambodia ends when Pol Pot leads his communist Khmer Rouge forces into the capital, Phnom Penh, where he establishes the Kampuchean People’s Republic. Just days before, U.S. Diplomatic staff members are evacuated by helicopter. Shortly after taking power, Khmer Rouge leaders expel the capital’s entire population to the countryside. In the next two years, an estimated 2 million to 4 million Cambodians die under the brutality of the Pol Pot regime.

Southeastern denizens of Earth. Photo by Elena

1986 – Marcos Ousted: Philippines leader Ferdinand E. Marcos flees his country for exile in Hawai’i after public outcries against a fraudulent election. Political opponent Corazon C. Aquino takes over the presidency with widespread support and tries to recover an estimated $27 billion that Marcos has allegedly stolen from the national treasury.

1994 – Labor Unrest in Indonesia: After months of strikes, workers in Medan, North Sumatra stage a mass rally and demand higher wages and the right to organize. The demonstration later turns violent, with Chinese -owned shops primary targets, and hundreds are arrested. Labor union organizers receive the harshest penalties.

Human Rights Watch

Burma’s house arrest – China’s hard line – Iraq’s crackdown

Burma: Arbitrary detention and torture are common. Freedom of association, expression, and assembly are severely limited. Democratic opposition leader and Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest, and many of those speaking out for her release have been arrested. Trafficking of Burmese women into sex slavery in Thailand and other Asian countries is prevalent.

China: Human rights in China have been deteriorating progressively ever since President Clinton renewed China’s most favored nation trading status without insisting that the Chinese show progress on human rights. Torture and beatings are common in prisons, and freedom of association, expression, assembly, and religion are severely restricted.

India: Discriminatory arrests throughout the country continue unabated as security forces cite the powers granted them by the controversial Terrorists and Disruptive Activities (TADA) law. In Kashmir, Indian forces have executed detainees, killed civilians in reprisal attacks, and burned down neighborhoods and villages as punishment for suspected militants.

Iran: Tens of thousands of Christians, Jews, and Bahais have left Iran over the last 15 years, but those who have stayed have been direct targets of government abuse. Iranian Kurds face fierce persecution and members of Kurdish opposition groups are periodically assassinated by security forces. Villages in Iraq, where Iranian Kurds had taken refuge, have been destroyed by Iranian shelling.

Iraq: In response to rising crime, the government has established new cruel and extreme punishments, said to be founded on Islamic law. First-time convicts guilty of stealing cars and other property valued over 5,000 dinars ($15 U.S.) must have their right hands amputated and an X tattooed on their foreheads. Miliary deserters must have their earlobes amputated and their foreheads tattooed. Sh’a Muslims, which make up about 55 percent of the Iraqi population, are excluded from government by the ruling Baath party.

Saudi Arabia: Especially for political prisoners, arbitrary arrest, detention without trial, and torture are common. Authorities exract information from prisoners by using electric shock, falaqa (beating on the soles of the feet), and flogging with bamboo sticks. Convicted drug traffickers, almost all foreigners, are typically beheaded. Most do not get access to legal representation at trial. To rein in Islamic opposition groups who are critical of the government, a strict ban on public speaking, assembly, and association is enforced.

Former Soviet Republics: Civil war and repression of political dissent are the rule. In Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, for example, former communist leaders stifle dissent by censoring the press, prohibiting free expression and association, and keeping dissenters under constant surveillance, Armed conflict has continued in, among other areas, parts of Tajikistan and Azerbaijan.

Syria: A state of emergency, imposed in 1963, remains in effect, giving security forces wide powers of detention without charge. However, political dissidents have been released from prison, some having been held without charge or trial for more than 20 years. The government also has been lifting restrictions on freedom of movement for the small Jewish community by granting exit visas.

(Source: World report, Human Right Watch, 1995).

After Earth

After Earth

By Robert Greenberger

(The official prequel novel of the epic film After Earth)

Conner and his fellow cadets stood on either side of the shelter doors, covering the street with their pulser rifles, while a steady flow of their fellow citizens filed into the sanctuary.

“Easy,” said the Ranger in charge of their squad, a thickset woman named Eckersley. “No need to trample anybody. We're here to protect you.”

But Conner had heard the reports. The creatures couldn't be stopped with just a fusion burst. Hell, o one knew if they could be stopped at all.

Skrel, he thought.

It was hard to believe, even for the guy who had gotten the first whiff of them. But the squad of engineers dispatched by the Savant to inspect the wreckage of the alien ship confirmed it. They found the same insignia on the side of the vessel that their ancestors had seen on the Skrel ships that had descended on the colony hundreds of years earlier.

Smaller, yes. Harder to identify from a distance. But definitely the same insignia.

The Skrel were back. Except this time they weren't attacking with ships. They had gone a different route.

Conner had heard stories...

No, he thought, driving them from his head. There was no time for speculation, no time for fear. There was only the task at hand.

Beer-garden. Manhattan. Photo by Elena.

He was a Ranger, and he had a job to do.

Wilkins saw Häturi enter her command headquarters with an older man, a fellow with a thick head of gray hair pushed back from a broad forehead. He wore a white lab coat with the Savant's emblem sewn on the right breast.

“Commander Wilkins,” Häturi said, “this is Jean-Pierre Rambaldi, on loan from the Savant. He's zoologist.”

“At your service, Commander,” Rambaldi said in a cultured voice.

Wilkins couldn't help glancing at the holographic screens around her, all of them showing her Rangers in action. Some were chasing the beasts; some were tending to the wounded. Some were covering the dead with fabric. The death count was rising way too quickly. She needed to know more about the enemy, and from what the Savant had told her, Rambaldi was their best bet in that regard. “So,” Wilkins said, “what do you know about the beasts so far?”

“Keep in mind,” said Rambaldi, “that I've only seen as much as you have, Prime Commander. I've not had the chance to examine one of the creatures first-hand. I would need a corpse to obtain more definitive answers.”

“I get that,” Wilkins said. “Tell me what you know.”

Rambaldi nodded. “First of all, they're sightless.”

Wilkins was surprised. They had done what they'd done without eyes? “How do you know?”

“We've yet to identify sight organs, you see, would have to be in plain sight in order to be useful. And none are.”

It made sense. “So how do they track us?”

“They seem to be driven primarily by sense of smell. Certainly not the first species we've encountered that depends heavily on the olfactory sense. But don't assume that their sense of smell, or any other sense, works the way ours does. These are alien creatures. Even that which seems familiar about them may be wildly unfamiliar.”

Why Are Technicians Still Hired?

Why Are Technicians Still Hired?

It seems very clear that under scientific scrutiny chart-reading must share a pedestal with alchemy. There has been a remarkable uniformity in the conclusions of all studies done on all forms of technical analysis. Not one has consistently outperformed the placebo of a buy-and hold strategy. Technical methods cannot be used to make useful investment strategies. This is the fundamental conclusion of the random-walk theory.

A former colleague of mine who believed that the capitalist system would be sure to weed out all useless growths such as the flourishing technicians, was convinced that the technical cult was just a passing fad. “The days of these modern-day soothsayers on Wall Street are numbered,” he would say. “Brokers will soon learn they can easily do without the technicians’ services.”

The chartist’s durability, and the fact that over the years he has been hired in increasing numbers, suggests that the capitalist system may garden like most of the rest of us. We like to see our best plants grow, but as summer wears on somehow the weeds often manage to get the best of us. And as I often tell my wife when she remarks about the abundance of weeds in our lawn, “At least they’re green.”

The point is, the technicians often play an important role in the greening of the brokers. Chartists recommend trades – almost every technical system involves some degree of in-and-out trading. Trading generates commissions, and commissions are the lifeblood of the brokerage business. The technicians do not help produce yachts for the customers, but they do help generate the trading that provides yachts for the brokers. Until the public catches on to this bit of trickery, technicians will continue to flourish.

Burton G. Malkiel. A Random Walk Down Wall Street, including a life-cycle guide to personal investing. First edition, 1973, by W.W. Norton and company, Inc.

High Park’s well drained acid sand supports prairie and savanah vegetation, characteristic of 4,000 years ago, when the area was warmer and drier. Photo by Elena.

Asia Emerges: The Dawn of the Pacific Century

Asia Emerges: The Dawn of the Pacific Century

1970 – 1995: Despite wars and turmoil, Asia emerges as an economic power

Home to more than half the world’s population, Asia is a force to be reckoned with – both economically and politically. Pacific rim nations manufacture a great deal of the world’s consumer goods, and developing powerhouses like China and India are increasingly asserting their political will.

Yet, the legacy of backwardness remains. Chinese peasants still use oxen to sow the fields. The slums of Calcutta are still among the worst in the world. Primitive cultures are just a plane hop away from gleaming skyscrapers in some of Southeast Asia’s most modern cites. But dynamic changes are sweeping through the region.

If the 20th century was the American Century, it looks more and more likely that the next 100 years will be dominated by the nations of the Pacific rim. Here are some of the historical highlights marking 1970 – 95.

North, Central and East Asia

Cultural revolution, economic miracles, assassinations, and wars continue to rock this vast region.

1970 – the aftermath of the cultural revolution: Mao Zedong formed the Red guard in 1966 to campaign against “old ideas, old culture, old habits, and old customs.” More often than not, however, the Red Guard units, dominated by youths and students, amount to uncontrolled mobs. “Class enemies,” opponents of Mao’s social order, are brutalized. Mass trials and executions are reported throughout the country. College admittance is based on ideology and labor experience, not academic merit.

An Indian Lady. Photo by Elena.

Beginning in 1967, efforts are made to restore control. Schools, which had been closed to free students for agitation, are reopened. But the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution was not so easily tamed. Only by about 1970 are Chinese authorities able to begin rebuilding the Communist party – and the country.

1971 – India wins a war against Pakistan and Bangladesh is born: For 25 years after gaining independence from Britain, Pakistan consists of two separate regions – East Pakistan and West Pakistan. They are united by a religion (Islam) but separated by culture and over 1,000 miles of Indian territory. The civil war changes that.

The fighting begins after the 1970 in which an East Pakistani party seeking autonomy won a majority. After riots and strikes i the East, West Pakistani troops move in. In the turmoil, an estimated 1 million Bengalis (East Pakistanis) are killed. Another 10 million or more flee to India. In part to stop the flow of refugees, India intervenes, siding with the Easterners and supporting the newly proclaimed state of Bangladesh. Before a cease-fire is declared in December, a full-scale war has broken out with fighting on both Eastern and Western fronts.

Early ’70s – Beginning of the Japanese Economic Miracle. By the end of the decade, Japanese exports (notably cars and electronic equipment) to the United States and other nations increase dramatically and Japan emerges as an economic superpower.

1972 – Nixon goes to China: After a secret visit to Beijing laying the groundwork by Secretary of State Henri Kissinger; President Richard Nixon meets with Chairman Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, the Chinese premier, to discuss the resumption of normal diplomatic relations between the two superpowers. Zhoe dies in early 1976 and Mao nine months later. Inn January 1979, the two countries ratify a treaty that obligates the United States to cease arms sales to Taiwan.

1974 – India’s First Nuclear Explosion: India’s first successful nuclear explosion is condemned by the international community but popular at home. Government officials claim that the experiment is research for peaceful uses of nuclear explosives such as mining and earth moving, and assure critics that India has no plans for building nuclear weapons. In 1995, only five nations are recognized as possessing nuclear weapons – the United States, Russia, Britain, France, and China. Three others – India, Pakistan, and Israel – are assumed to have nuclear weapons or the capacity to build them but have not publicly said so.

1980 – China’s Gang of Four Goes on Trial: Chinese authorities hold trials of the Gang of Four, who were arrested following Mao’s death in 1976. Charges against them include persecuting officials, plotting to murder Mao, and trying to overthrow the government. The most famous of the group, Mao’s widow receives a suspended death sentence in 1983.

1984 – A Chemical Leak Kills Thousands in Bhopal, India: As many as 2,500 people die in Bhopal, an industrial city in central India, after a lethal gas used in pesticide production escapes from a manufacturing plant tank owned by a subsidiary of Union Carbide, an American company. The gas drifts over surrounding areas, killing people in their sleep. Many others suffer eye irritation and respiratory problems. Children, who are especially vulnerable to the chemical, make up a disproportionate number of those killed.

The same year, India’s prime minister, Indira Gandhi, is assassinated in New Delhi.

1989 – China Crushes the Democracy Movement: Chinese communist party leaders order a military crackdown on a student-led democracy movement that has been growing for two years. After 1 million or more students defy a ban on demonstration in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, authorities massacre hundreds of unarmed protesters. World opinion criticizes the move, which comes just as East European communist governments are giving way to democratic forces. The event makes a new wave of political repression in China.

Asia is a continent of extremes. It includes the world’s most populous nation (China) and some of the wealthiest countries in the world (Japan and the oil rich Arab Gulf states). In Cambodia, however, per capita GDP is a mere $800 and life expectancy less than 50 years.

Many Asian countries are flirting with democracy, but heavy-handed governments are the norm.. Many countries of Asia, the Middle East, and the former Soviet Union lack political and social stability. The most-spoken single language is Chines, with more than a billion and a half speakers of its many dialects. Asia and the Middle East have given birth to all of the world’s major religions, including Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, and Judaism.

Northern and Central Asia

    Largest Lake – Aral Sea, 66,500 square miles.

    Longest River – Chiang Jiang (Yangtze), China, 3,965 miles.

    Highest Point – Mount Everest, Nepal, Tibet, 29,108 feet.

    Lowest Point – Turpan Ha’a, China, 505 feet below sea level.

    Largest City – Tokyo, Japan, 9 million pop