Gadhafi Unleashes War on His Own People

Col. Moammar Gadhafi has been ruling Libya for 42 years, ever since the 27-year-old army captain seized power from King Idris in a 1969 coup. Just think about it! The same person in charge of a country for over four decades! Even if he were a benign and progressive leader, it would still be an outrage because that long a reign inevitably brings about political stagnation and economic sterility. Unless there is a change in leadership every five years or less, a society loses its dynamism and national atrophy sets in. The catastrophe is magnified manifold considering that, far from being a benign and progressive leader, Gadhafi is a despot whose eccentric behavior masks a diabolical mindset.

Inspired by Tunisians and Egyptians, Libyans have now risen in revolt and, in response, Gadhafi has unleashed his army and air force on the protesters. Tripoli and Benghazi, the two major cities, are aflame. The autocrat has flown in foreign mercenaries who are killing Libyans indiscriminately. Close to 300 are already reported dead and hospitals have run out of supplies to treat the wounded.

Ali Aujali, Libya's ambassador to the U.S., broke with Col. Gadhafi on Monday and called for him to step down. The deputy head of Libya's delegation to the United Nations said he had stopped taking orders from the government and is asking the international community to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya's airspace so it couldn't bring in more mercenaries.

Other Libyan embassies are also deserting Gadhafi. Libyan diplomats around the world, including Libya’s ambassadors to Tunisia, India, Bangladesh and Indonesia, said they had resigned to protest the murderous crackdown on unarmed civilians and mourners by Gadhafi's warplanes, soldiers and mercenaries.

Also on Monday, two Libyan Air Force pilots defected, taking their Mirage jet fighters to Malta and seeking political asylum in the small Mediterranean nation. The pilots said they had escaped to Malta after refusing orders to bomb protesters in Benghazi. Meanwhile, there are reports of many soldiers and policemen throwing in their lot with the protesters.

Gadhafi's son Seif al-Islam Gadhafi declared on TV that "we will fight until the last man, the last woman, the last bullet." He didn't specify against whom, though. That would have been embarrassing because he was referring to the Libyans themselves.

Of all the dictators in the Middle East, Gadhafi appears to the most dangerous and delusional, even more so than Hosni Mubarak. "I will not leave Libya," he asserted today. That's what tyrants say when their fall is imminent. He also threatened to kill the protesters, and his goons armed with machetes and machine guns are conducting a house by house search in Tripoli to carry out his order. "I will fight on to the last drop of my blood," the dictator ranted in his second televised speech. He is, however, safely cocooned in his palace while his hired mercenaries do his bidding.

Fossilized Arab regimes that thrived in a culture of defeat and paranoia are on their way out. The Arab street is aggressively waking up to the truth that freedom is a birthright and victimhood is not destiny. The change in the Arab psyche is irreversible.

The U.S., the U.N., the EU, and other nations must exert diplomatic pressure and, if necessary, apply force, to stop the Libyan madman from slaughtering his own people. Gadhafi can still get out of town with his corrupt clan but time is running out. A trial for crimes against humanity should commence immediately against the colonel, for what is taking place in Libya now is nothing less than genocide.

An Intelligent Thriller

"Intelligent Thriller" has become an oxymoron these days. Movies that claim to be thrillers aren't intelligent, and those that are intelligent (rare) aren't thrillers.

So it was a pleasure to watch "Unknown" starring Liam Neeson, the superdad/dude of 2008's Taken, who pulls off yet another masterful performance in an intricate plot that pits ruthless agricultural-industrial-complex (Monsanto & co?) against a lone botanist's breakthrough crop.

Botanist Martin Harris (Liam Neeson) arrives in Berlin with his wife to present a paper at a biotechnology summit. It is snowing and people are scurrying for warmth. The couple arrives at their hotel in a cab, and as Mrs. Harris (January Jones) checks in, Harris realizes that he has left his briefcase containing the material for his talk at the airport. He grabs a taxi and tries to rush back to the airport to retrieve it.

These first few minutes of the movie are all the serenity you will get. The rest is a wild ride (literally, and the three car chases are alone worth the price of the movie) of amnesia, doppelganger, intrigue, mystery and murder. Along the way, you see how a former Stasi officer accepts the inevitable with a resigned fatalism and how immigrants who give their blood and sweat to keep Berlin humming are blamed for all the ills of the city.

The more the layers are peeled away, the more Harris appears unknown to himself. Who am I really? What's my past? Have I been here before? What's at stake? Who is calling the shots, and why?

One may be tempted to compare it to the "Bourne" franchise but "Unknown" is more satisfying in the stylish and suspenseful way it gathers the loose ends together and brings the story to a more plausible conclusion. There is terror in the icy coolness of the killers (Frank Langella in particular) that is balanced by the love of ordinary human beings (especially Diane Kruger) toward one another. In the few places where the story veers toward the improbable, I found the willing suspension of disbelief an easy antidote.

Liam Neeson is both tough and tender, although his perfect enunciation can sometimes dilute the effect of mayhem about to ensue. "Unknown" is a known quantity in that it delivers both intelligence and suspense in roughly equal measures. The only mystery is: Why can't we have more movies like this?

Rain, Rain, Come Again

For the last five days, we have been getting rain aplenty from a storm that swept in from Alaska to the San Francisco Bay Area. While rain and sun play hide-and-seek during the afternoons, the nights are filled the sound of continuous downpour, a tap-tap-tap that haunts and mesmerizes. The clouds parted one night just so to reveal a full moon and a tremulous Orion, and I also noticed that the bare ash trees were beginning to leaf.

We needed this rain, or else a drought this summer would have been inevitable. The hills were already turning brown toward the end of January but now they are a wet green, punctuated by the yellow of mustard flowers.

Reading the local paper, though, would give you the idea that somehow the rain is interfering with the essence of the Golden State. "Oh, February, must we go through this again?" wailed the San Jose Mercury News. And what if we didn't go though this? What would a drought do to a state already hobbling financially from slashed budgets and cut services? The rain offers a glimmer of hope but sun worshippers cannot see beyond their stupid pleasures and so moan and whine.

Driving on Hwy 280, I saw the first rainbow of the season, a perfectly poised arc over downtown San Jose. Its deep colors stood out against the dark, rain-soaked clouds but what was breathtaking was the white of the gulls flying languorously in the sun-dappled sky. The palette of white, black, red and blue was a gift of the rain that motorists zooming by seemed to have no use for.

Taking the Bascom Street exit, I found the tall palm trees lining the ramp bathed in a magical golden light. It is impossible to capture with words or with photographs the ineffable beauty of this light. Next moment, clouds covered the sun and the elusive light was gone.

There is snow atop Mount Hamilton. The alpine scene will no doubt inspire many San Joseans to head for the slopes soon, perhaps to Lake Tahoe and Ski Valleys nearby.

Tender and delicate pink plum blossoms absorb the rain and light up parks and pavements. After many years I see flocks of red-winged blackbirds darting between trees and empty fields. Their trills, oka-lee, oka-lee, is the music of meadows and streams and spring. It is the music of love and longing, and I feel a restlessness for long-lost joy and sorrow that only the rain can calm.

The Revolution Spreads

Egypt-inspired protests against authoritarian regimes are spreading across the Middle East. In Iran, Bahrain, Libya and Yemen, young activists have also broken free of the shackles of fear and are challenging the legitimacy of their governments. Few have already fallen, particularly in Bahrain; more will die in the coming days. But the fight for freedom will continue, even though there will be inevitable setbacks.

In Egypt, after the heady days of Tahrir Square, the more difficult task of moving toward an open society has fractured the united front of young Egyptians. But this is the norm, not the exception. Post-revolutionary success is always followed by missteps and in-fighting. People and parties will stumble and fall but in the end, they will reach their democratic goals in the context of their culture.

Iranian leaders have vowed to crush the protesters, that is, kill them ruthlessly, to retain their stranglehold on power. It is amazing how tyrants across the world and across time remain the same. It is even more amazing the certainty with which they fall, as if they never existed.

A renaissance is coming to the Muslim world and no force can stop it. A flowering of science, astronomy, medicine and literature is long overdue from a people who led the world in these fields from the eighth through the fourteenth centuries. Much blood may flow before it happens but happen it will.

Euphoria in Egypt

In just eighteen days, young Egyptians waged a peaceful revolution and brought down the 30-year dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak and his failed police state. Inspired by Tunisians, empowered by social media and emboldened by a fierce yearning for freedom, they tore down the wall of fear and made Egypt free.

“I look at our society with a critical eye and find nothing extraordinary in the people I see,” wrote Naguib Mahfouz (1911-2006) during a bleak moment in his life. How the Egyptian Nobel Laureate (Literature, 1988) would have exulted if he could see his people making history in Tahrir Square! They were extraordinary in every way, in their courage and discipline and the way they took control of their destiny without resorting to violence, even though Mubarak’s paid goons killed more than 300 of them.

The path to full democracy is long and arduous and there are many uncertainties along the way. The power, after all, has shifted to the Egyptian military. But the armed forces played a positive role in the people’s revolution and there is hope that there will soon be a lifting of the state of emergency, the dissolution of the illegitimate People's Assembly and Shura Council, the formation of an independent legal committee to amend the constitution, and the lifting of laws restricting political freedoms so that Egyptians can vote in a free and fair election.

But these uncertainties must not keep us from celebrating the extraordinary achievement of the Egyptians. They have lived in economic and political darkness for decades but in a matter of days, the light from their revolutionary flame raced across the globe and illumined us all. It is not only other Arab and Muslim countries suffering from corrupt governance and plutocracy that can take a cue from Egypt, but also countries like Myanmar and North Korea whose people have been languishing for decades as well. In our connected world, the transition from a Saffron revolution to a Jasmine revolution can occur in an instant.

I gained valuable insight into Egypt’s revolution from someone who was there in Tahrir Square during the fateful days. Suhaib Webb (http://www.suhaibwebb.com/), an American, is a Muslim scholar who spent seven years studying at Al-Azhar University. He saw firsthand how the young heroes of Tahrir Square transformed stagnant Egypt into a land of hope and possibilities almost overnight.

When Mubarak sent his thugs to terrorize the protesters and their families, including the Cairo neighborhood where Webb lived, he saw Egyptians - secular and religious, poor and middle-class - form cordons around homes and buildings to keep attackers at bay. Seeing how united they were, the thugs withdrew in less than a day.

Webb saw the young knights of Egypt, aimless and despondent only weeks ago and smoking marijuana on streets, transformed into fearless freedom fighters. They visited mosques to seek Allah’s help and vowed never to give up until Mubarak resigned. “We have recovered our honor and dignity,” they told him. “We have a sense of identity now. We have a purpose in life.” Web was reminded of the Quranic verse: Allah does not change the condition of a people until they change what is in their hearts. (13:11)

Among Egyptians, Webb found a middle ground between secularism and fanaticism. They were determined to sacrifice themselves before they would even consider sacrificing or hurting others. They were committed to eradicating corruption, poverty and inequality from their society rather than to any grand ideology. The compassion he witnessed between Muslims and Christians moved him. A leading Coptic priest in Cairo asked his congregants to guard mosques during Friday Juma prayers. Likewise, an Imam asked Muslims to protect churches during Sunday services. Webb’s apartment sentry, a Christian, offered to defend him at any cost were he to run into any trouble.

Webb feels that Muslims, particularly American Muslims, should be grateful to Egyptians for the good name they brought to Islam through their non-violent revolution. In March, Republican Congressman Peter King of New York, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, plans to hold hearings on the radicalization of American Muslims. He claims that American Muslims are prone to violence and cannot be trusted. “Egyptian Muslims have taken the wind out of the sails of Islamophobes like King and the stalwarts of FOX News,” said Webb.

But what Suhaib Webb came to realize most strongly during the revolution was that we all have inner Hosni Mubaraks, tyrants within us who oppress our spouses, our children, parents, relatives and subordinates. These inner pharaohs destroy the soul as surely as pharaonic rulers destroy lives. We must defeat our inner demons if we want to change ourselves, because change without can come only from change within.

Although it will take years to put the Egyptian revolution in perspective, several lessons are already clear. Here are a few:

1. If history teaches us only one thing, it is that no one is indispensable. Tragedy occurs because those who deem themselves indispensable become immune to the lessons of history.

2. A revolution must be organic to succeed. Freedom and democracy cannot be exported or imposed by military might. Eight years after the U.S. invaded Iraq to spread “freedom and democracy” in the Middle East, the country is in ruins and the cost of the war has hit the $3 trillion dollar mark! In contrast, Egyptians brought about their transformation in less than three weeks, a peoples’ revolution that was of, by and for Egyptians.

3. The United States has to rethink its foreign policy. Investing in security at the expense of peoples’ right to govern themselves inevitably leads to disaster. As a columnist put it, America must define its foreign policy by the strength of its values, not by the value of its strength.

4. The days of dictators who suppress the will of the people – Neroes playing flutes while capitals like Tunis or Cairo burn - are numbered. An unforgiving future awaits them. Enslaved people have witnessed how the impossible can become possible when fear gives way to resolve and there is no longer any tolerance for suffering in silence.

5. The Web is woven into the fabric of modern life and the power of the social media to mobilize people transcends borders and nationalities. Although many young people are web-savvy, there are many more who cannot exploit the power of social media. They can post tweets and share anecdotes with their Facebook friends, but launching a campaign or organizing a demonstration eludes them. All it takes is some practice and a keen sense of trends, keywords and justice. There are hundreds of worthy local causes. Pick one - a fundraiser, a school event, a town-hall meeting - and try to do it over the Internet. You never know when history will beckon.

Protest Against Egypt's Dictator in San Francisco

(2/5/11) Greg Lyons converted to Buddhism several years ago. He is in downtown San Francisco on a spring-like day to take part in the demonstration against Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak. “Our intentions are important,” he says. “They are the seeds of reality.” He is optimistic that people power will prevail in Egypt after decades of dictatorship. “But change must come from within. If America tries to bring about the change that Egyptians are dying for, it will be a disaster. They must do it themselves.”

One reason why grassroots revolution is sweeping the Arab world is the enormous income gap between the rich and the poor. “Do you think that kind of class struggle can happen here in the U.S.?” I ask Greg.

“What do you mean can it happen here?” he asks back. “It’s already happening! Just look around you, a few blocks from here, and you can see how many Americans have become destitute. We have become one of the most unjust societies in the world.”

We chant slogans - 1,000 Americans strong - who have gathered at the United Nations Plaza. “Down, Down, Hosni Mubarak! Yasqut, Yasqut, Hosni Mubarak!”

Jack Kornfield also feels strongly that Egyptians must take control of their own destiny. The soft-spoken person becomes agitated when he talks about how the U.S. may undermine the aspirations of Egyptians. “U.S. has got to stay out. I am confident Egypt will find its own way. People on the streets of Cairo and other cities are smarter than the people in Washington.”

Hassan, an Egyptian, is a doctoral student in a California University. He is grateful to Tunisians for showing the way but believes that since Egypt is a bigger and more “critical country,” the revolution must succeed in his homeland for other Arab countries to emulate. He wants the new government to stop selling Egyptian land to foreign investors, as Mubarak’s government has been doing. “The king and his corrupt cronies fatten their pockets while the poor become poorer!”

“No justice, no peace,” exhorts an organizer from the makeshift dais, and we respond in unison.

Farida, a young Egyptian student, narrates how she tried to get her voter card in Cairo last November to vote in the parliamentary elections but was harassed and intimidated at every step of the way. An officer at the police station asked her, “Who are you going to vote for?” Emboldened by a friend who threatened to bring a lawyer, the officer quickly changed his tune and gave her the voting card. But many of her friends got the runaround for weeks until they gave up in frustration. (The election was, as usual, completely rigged by Mubarak and his minions.) These young people have never known anyone other than Mubarak as their ruler. They felt defeated, until they saw what happened in Tunisia. Everyone cheered when Farida said January 25 would be the most important day in the history of modern Egypt.

Muslims, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, women, men, babies in strollers and veterans in wheelchairs, the young, the old, Imams, Rabbis and Priests filled the Plaza. Colorful signs sprouted everywhere: “Stop U.S. Military Aid to Egypt,” “Buddhist, Jews in solidarity with the Muslim and Christian People of Egypt,” “Mubarak in De-Nile, Get Out!,” “Ali Baba is Gone. What about the Forty Thieves?” “DeNile Ain’t Just a River in Egypt,” “Dying for Something is Better than Living for Nothing,” and many more.

Maryam Bin Salah, a doctoral student from Tunisia asks in wonder: “Just two months ago, could you have dared to dream that two dictators would fall? Why are we ruled by trash in Arab countries? All our thinkers and scholars and engineers are either in exile or in prison. Why? Why are we treated so badly? We must rid our countries of dictators so our inventors and our best minds can return and rebuild our nations.”

Imam Abdul Aziz of Sacramento, an Egyptian, asks us to put pressure on the White House to make the right decision. “Just think,” he said, “the revolution is raging for the 12^th straight day. There is uncertainty, sure, but what is certain is that the brave people of Tunisia and Egypt have already prevailed. All supporters of democracy have prevailed. Even after Mubarak is forced to resign, people will remain in the streets until true democracy rules. We have a chance to become a developed country rather than remain frozen as a third world country.”

The Imam chokes with emotion but recovers: “I have a cousin, a young fellow, in Tahrir Square right now. He has never had an aim in life, frittering away his time in frivolous pursuits. I just spoke to him. He told me, ‘I will die for my country until we have democracy and rule of law.’ The revolution is changing hearts. Some are already swayed by the crocodile tears of Mubarak. ‘Give him a chance,’ they say. ‘The economy will be destroyed. Old people are not getting their pension. The sick are not getting their medicine.’ All I can say to them is: Shut up! We have been in prison for 30 years. The thugs have stolen $70 billion of our money that are now in the banks in Switzerland and France and England. Egyptians will stay on the streets until their demands are met!”

Tim Paulson, a labor union representative tells the gathering that Americans must learn from Egyptians “so we know how to secure our own rights here in America. We must remain vigilant until Egyptians can live their dreams. Mubarak is only four hours from Saudi Arabia. Enough is enough. Get out!”

A new slogan reverberates around the Plaza:
Ben Ali Yesterday, Mubarak Today, Qaddafi Tomorrow!

Mo, an activist with the Jewish Voice for Peace (http://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/ - Israelis and Palestinians. Two people. One Future), told me: “It is not for presidents and kings to give people their freedom. Freedom is God’s gift to people. We must be united together.”

“Israel has expressed anxiety about democracy coming to Egypt. Why is that?” I ask. Mo sighs. “Because it is easy,” he says, “for Israel to engage in the politics of fear. Israel must act like a country in the Middle East and not as if it is a transplant of the West. It will be good for Israel if democracy comes to Arab countries.”

Mo wants the U.S. to do everything it can to let democracy bloom in the Middle East instead of promoting its candidates in the name of stability. “Jews and Muslims are not separate,” he said. “We are united by a common future.” He is sure that the last pharaoh will soon go. “Coddling dictators has been the U.S. policy. That has to change. All this talk about the Brotherhood coming to power is a tactic to create anxiety and undermine the revolution of the people.”

“O Mubarak can’t you see, Time to join Ben Ali.” The rhyming slogans are catchy and energizing and make us smile.

More people are pouring in. I realize with a shock that three hours have already passed. When stories and images of oppressed people breaking free from their oppressors grip us, time becomes inconsequential.

People sitting on the fences say that demonstrations, rallies and protest marches don’t change anything. What they don’t understand is that, at the very least, they change the participants in subtle and significant ways. Change without can come only from change within.

What Tunisians have achieved, and Egyptians are poised to achieve, is nothing short of miraculous. It’s still a long way to freedom and democracy but the first steps have been taken. The least we can do is show them, “We are with you, all the way!”

Mubarak Must Exit Now

Hosni Mubarak is living proof that absolute power corrupts absolutely. Like Saddam Hussein, this pharaoh has vowed not to go gently into the night. His fate is similarly sealed.

Professional provocateurs deployed by Mubarak attacked peaceful protesters in Cairo and Alexandria with knives, razors and guns, and the first casualties of this revolution are beginning to mount. Reports coming out of Egypt tell the same story: The goons materialized seemingly out of nowhere in an orchestrated show of strength on behalf of their patron-in-chief, bent on derailing the democratic demands of the masses.

Meanwhile, pundits in America and Europe are already issuing dire warnings about the imminent collapse of the Egyptian economy. They don't seem to realize that Egyptians fighting for their rights don't care where the economy is heading at this critical juncture in their nation's history. They want to live like normal human beings. No sacrifice is too big to attain that goal. For over thirty years, Mubarak led them down the path of stasis. They have had enough. The status quo has to change. And, by God, it will, not when Mubarak chooses to step down, but now.

Ahmed, an American-Egyptian businessman from Fremont, California, is convinced that for Egypt to move forward, it must wean itself from American aid. The common people never see any benefit from the billions Egypt receives from the U.S.. "America dictates how Egypt uses the aid, which results in great business for America's weapons manufacturers," says Ahmed. "We have to put an end to that."

All the speculations about who will take over once Mubarak goes, and whether or not Egypt will be better or worse off then, is moot. Yes, there will be chaos, and yes, things may get worse before they get better. But that's the price Egyptians are willing to pay to overcome thirty years of wandering in the wilderness of despair. Reconstructing a nation after decades of misrule will take time. But the first order of business is to give the pharaoh the boot. Once the evil presence has left the scene, people will figure out a way to lift themselves from the darkness of despair into the sunshine of hope.

The world must unite behind Egyptians fighting for their rights, tactical and strategic considerations be damned. But it is Egyptians who must liberate themselves. Freedom will reign only if it comes from within. Long live the common people of Egypt yearning to breathe free.

Young Arabs Cross the Rubicon

“I do have an unyielding belief that all people yearn for certain things: the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed; confidence in the rule of law and the equal administration of justice; government that is transparent and doesn’t steal from the people; the freedom to live as you choose. Those are not just American ideas, they are human rights, and that is why we will support them everywhere.”

Those were the stirring words President Obama used at his Cairo speech in June of 2009. But eloquence and oratory cannot mask reality. As Egyptians rise is revolt against the kleptocracy of Hosni Mubarak, the Obama administration is desperately trying to adjust its sails against the furious wind of change sweeping Egypt. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton initially praised Egypt’s “stability” under Mubarak but now that the Arabs have crossed Rubicon, she is using words like “restraint” and “reform” and urging “transition to a democratic regime.”

Why does the United States so often finds itself on the wrong side of history, at least initially? Why does it so easily settle for Faustian bargains with autocrats like Mubarak? For the Muslim world, in particular, America’s policy has been driven by an irrational combination of oil, Israel and Islamic terror. Mubarak used the bogeyman of “Islamic Jihadists” (Muslim brotherhood in his case) to convince America that keeping him in power was the only option, and so our government obliged him with $1.3b in military aid every year. Not just the tanks and the fighter planes, even the tear gas and the rubber bullets being used against Egyptians bear the label “Made in America.” Only the water in the water cannons presumably comes from the Nile. Is it any wonder that ordinary Egyptians do not quite look upon America as a beacon of freedom and democracy?

In his second State of the Union address on January 25, President Obama equated Tunisian revolution with freedom. “We saw,” he said, “that same desire to be free in Tunisia, where the will of the people proved more powerful that the writ of a dictator. And tonight, let us be clear: the United States of America stands with the people of Tunisia, and supports the democratic aspirations of all people.”

What a golden opportunity the President missed by not including Egypt in his address! Extolling the virtues of democracy, the President said, “… as contentious and frustrating and messy as our democracy can sometime be, I know there isn’t a person here who would trade places with any other nation on earth. We may have differences in policy, but we all believe in the rights enshrined in our Constitution. We may have different opinions but we believe in the same promise that says this is a place where you can make it if you try. We may have different backgrounds, but we believe in the same dream that says this is a country where anything’s possible, no matter who you are, no matter where you come from.”

As my Egyptian friend Mustafa asked: “Does this mean that the United States reserves the right to experiment with democracy to enjoy its fruits, while Muslim puppets deny democracy to their people to cater to misguided American interests? This is nothing but arrogance and hypocrisy.”

American-Muslims, meanwhile, have thrown their full support behind Egyptians fighting unarmed for their freedom. During the Friday Khutbah in the largest mosque in California’s Silicon Valley, for instance, the Imam urged us to pray for their success in throwing out the pharaoh and preventing dynastic decadence. In solidarity with the Egyptian anger revolution, American Muslims have already demonstrated in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Boston. More protest marches are planned.

During the Tunisian revolution, President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his sycophants cut off Internet access, particularly access to Facebook. As reported by Alexis Madrigal of The Atlantic, the Facebook security team at its headquarters in Silicon Valley discovered that Ammar, the nickname Tunisians have given to the authorities that censor the Internet, was trying to steal an entire country's worth of passwords. With the stolen passwords, Ammar was deleting Tunisians’ Facebook accounts!

After more than ten days of intensive investigation, Facebook's security team realized that Tunisia’s Internet service providers (ISP) were running a malicious piece of code that was recording users' login information when they went to sites like Facebook.

The security team coded a two-step response. First, all Tunisian requests for Facebook were routed to an https server. The https protocol encrypts the information sent across it (the “s” in “https” stands for “secure” or “secure sockets layer” (SSL), so it is not vulnerable to the keylogging strategy used by the Tunisian ISPs. The second technical solution was a "roadblock" for anyone who had logged out and then back in during the time when the Tunisian malicious code was running.

Facebook rolled out the new solutions to all of Tunisia five days after the company discovered what was happening, and access to the site was restored.

Hosni Mubarak also followed the path of his now-deposed fellow-dictator: He ordered the state-controlled ISPs to completely cut off Egypt’s Internet access. But Egyptians were not deterred. The air was charged with electricity and possibilities. The revolution had taken on a momentum of its own, and while Facebook and Twitter initially helped, Egyptians had already transcended the Internet.

Still, it is reasonable to expect that companies like Facebook will give special consideration to activists trying to overthrow repressive regimes. If the company wants to remain central to people's political aspirations, it has to come up with a powerful, long-term solution that can be activated at a moment’s notice when access to the site is denied by any country. From a hardware point of view, if dictators block Internet data pipes into their countries, perhaps multiple satellite connections as backups can be in place so that communication can continue uninterrupted in spite of latency issues.

However the technology evolves, the days of dictators who equate dissent with treason and oppress and torture their people are coming to an end. Muslim nations are beset by modern-day pharaohs. For the creativity of millions of Muslims to flower in freedom, the pharaohs will be overthrown, if not today, then certainly tomorrow. That is the lesson of Tunisia and Egypt.

In Solidarity with the Egyptian Anger Revolution

American-Egyptians in the San Francisco Bay Area, supported by all the local Islamic organizations, have planned a protest march in San Francisco on Saturday, 29^th January, at the corner of Market and Montgomery, at 12 noon.

“We are all united behind Egyptians defying curfews and protesting the oppressive and illegitimate regime of Hosni Mubarak,” said a Silicon Valley engineer who migrated to the U.S from Alexandria a decade ago. “The Pharaoh must go.”

“I am so proud to see my countrymen finally throwing away their fear and taking on this brutal police state. For 30 years, Mubarak has kept us hostage. The poor have no food. The middle class is not doing any better. There is no peace for anyone. This must end,” said an Egyptian businessman from San Jose, who wishes he were in Tahir Square, Cairo, right now.

Anwar, who has been in the U.S. for 25 years, is delirious with joy at what is taking place in Egypt. But he isn’t sure the military will desert Mubarak anytime soon, since he is one of them. “We haven’t reached the tipping point yet,” he said, “but this revolution will not fizzle. Egyptians have suffered for too long. Freedom will come soon, God willing.”

Egypt has taken a cue from Tunisia. Just as the Tunisian president Ben Ali was forced to flee Tunisia after Tunisian youth rose in revolt, they want the same fate for Mubarak.

Egyptians are calling on all freedom-loving people, including Americans from all walks of life, to join them in protesting the tyrannical government of Hosni Mubarak on Saturday in San Francisco. The Arabic words in the poster they are circulating for the Saturday March read, from the top, Ash Shabu (The People), Yuridu (Want), Isqatan Nizam (The Fall of the Government).

State of the Union Address and Community Colleges

A significant part of President Obama’s Second State of the Union (SOTU) address dealt with education. Already flagged as the “education president,” Mr. Obama asserted that his “Race to the Top” program was superior to George Bush’s “No Child Left Behind,” because it is “more flexible and focused on what's best for our kids.” What do states have to do to qualify for the $4.3 billion fund in “Race to the Top”? They have to come up with "the most innovative plans to improve teacher quality and student achievement.” If they can do that, “we'll show you the money," the President said.

Teacher quality and student achievements will define the future of education in America. But how are these being implemented, particularly in community colleges? Oratory and eloquence cannot mask reality. The recession has forced many colleges to cut classes and programs across the board and layoff teachers or force pay cuts. A grim and uncertain air hangs over these institutions.

“Because people need to be able to train for new jobs and careers in today's fast-changing economy, we are also revitalizing America's community colleges,” the President said. He gave some examples of successes but overall, educators agree that the revitalization of community colleges exists only in theory and not in practice.

All the educational reforms of the past several decades share one thing in common: meager results. A report issued by the Institute for Higher Education Leadership and Policy at Cal State Sacramento, for example, documents abysmally low student transfer and completion rates at California’s community colleges. Of the students who started out with the intention of transferring to a University of California or Cal State school, just 23% had made the jump six years later. Transfer rates for Latino and black students were even worse. Only 14% of Latino students and 20% of African American students successfully made the move to a four-year college.

Clearly, community colleges are in dire need of revitalization. Giving pink slips to good teachers because they are younger and do not have tenure is the wrong way to go about it, however. Imposing outdated curricula on students that have no relevance to 21st-century skills is a prescription for failure. Community colleges routinely turn away qualified teachers because they do not hold this or that certificate, this or that equivalency, even though they have acquired a vast amount of useful knowledge in their fields through work and research. This is short-sighted and self-defeating.

While the government must do its share, community colleges themselves must also step up to the plate. They must get rid of arcane rules and regulations so that their classrooms can be filled with gifted teachers. When students interact with engaging and knowledgeable teachers, learning flourishes and doing big things becomes possible.

Of Chinese and American Mothers

American media is abuzz with news of China these days. As President Barack Obama plays host to Chinese President Hu Jintao and both leaders agree to cooperate on various fronts, there is an undeniable undercurrent of unease and anxiety in America over China’s seemingly unstoppable ascendancy.

China’s economy is the envy of the world. In technology, particularly green technology, China’s progress has been astonishing. By testing a new generation of stealth fighters, China has informed the world that its military is keeping pace with its soaring geopolitical ambition.

But two recent “events” have compelled the attention of the average American even more than China’s material and military progress, increasing the anxiety level.

One was the result of an international study, released in December 2010, (http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/54/12/46643496.pdf) that looked at how students from 65 countries performed in reading, science and math. Traditional powerhouses have been Singapore, South Korea, Finland, Canada and Japan. But the clear winner in all three categories by a wide margin this time was Shanghai, China!

The United States? It came in 17^th in reading, 23^rd in science and 31^st in math.

As if to explain the phenomenon, the other “event” appeared in the form of an essay in The Wall Street Journal on January 8. Written by Amy Chua, a professor at Yale Law school and titled, “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior,” it was excerpted from her book, “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.”

Chua’s thesis is as stark as it is uncompromising: Chinese mothers are superior to their Western counterparts because they demand the best of their children and drive them relentlessly until they are at the top. They know that “nothing is fun until you are good at it,” and that one becomes good at something only through hard work and discipline. Since “children on their own never want to work, it is crucial to override their preferences.” Chinese mothers override their children’s preferences routinely and ruthlessly until they have reached, and exceeded, their goals.

In Chua’s case, nothing less than an “A” in every subject (except gym and drama which she considered unimportant) was acceptable from her two daughters, Sophia and Louisa, starting when they were 6. “For example,” says Chua, “if a child comes home with an A-minus on a test, a Western parent will most likely praise the child. The Chinese mother will gasp in horror and ask what went wrong … Chinese parents can order their kids to get straight As. Western parents can only ask their kids to try their best.”

Chua never let her daughters watch TV or play video games. There were no sleepovers or extra-curricular activities or computers. Once, Sophia came in second to a Korean kid in a math competition, so Chua made her do 2,000 math problems a night until she regained the top spot.

7-year-old Louisa was having difficulty once mastering a particularly difficult piano piece. Chua made her practice almost to the breaking point, night and day. There were tears, screams, insults, threats to burn all the toys. “I wouldn't let Lulu get up, not for water, not even to go to the bathroom. The house became a war zone, and I lost my voice yelling.”

In the end, Louisa was able to give the perfect recital before an audience. Chua finds American parenting weak, aimless and half-hearted. American parents are too concerned about a child’s self-esteem. The child may be lazy and manipulative but hurt his tender feelings? Heavens, no! American parents are consumed by the present - what’s going on with their children’s education here and now - whereas Chinese parents groom their kids for the future, with all the attendant sacrifices, be it to become a math whiz or a musical prodigy.

The furor erupted immediately. Parents and pundits of America pounced on Chua’s claims with outrage, scorn, even mockery. A representative response came from Ayelet Waldman, a writer based in Berkeley, California.

Comparing her style with Chua’s point by point, Waldman pointed out that she resisted any attempt to impose the violin or the piano on her children. She encouraged sleepovers, watching TV, playing video games, the use of computers and the Internet. She is grateful if her children are satisfied with their efforts in tests, the score notwithstanding. She wants her kids to have fun while learning and acquire good social skills that come only from human interaction and never from books. She wants her kids to be happy, even though she knows that there is enough trauma in any home to make this as daunting as a perfect SAT score.

Waldman’s point is that most children eventually find their way, through failure as much as through success. Parents just have to trust them, guiding them with a firmness tempered by love. If a child is passionate about reading and loves books, even if she is dyslexic (as Waldman’s daughter was), she can overcome her handicap and come out of the experience surer of herself, “a more powerful and tenacious person.”

The danger here is to generalize and claim that this or that method of parenting is superior. There is no perfect parenting code because every parent has to learn on the fly, even if there is much in the tradition to fall back on. The right parenting skills lie somewhere between flexibility and firmness, between tough love and unquestioning love, between nature and nurture, between reining in and letting go, between, one may say, prose and poetry.

Every child, like every snowflake, is unique, and one size will never fit all. As Waldman puts it, “roaring like a tiger turns some children into pianists who debut at Carnegie Hall but only crushes others. Coddling gives some the excuse to fail and others the chance to succeed. Amy Chua and I both understand that our job as mothers is to be the type of tigress that each of our different cubs needs.”

Amy Chua’s views on parenting style almost unleashed a clash of cultures, especially when a commentator pointed out that Asian-American girls aged 15 to 24 have above average rates of suicide. However, things have settled down somewhat and the consensus is that each culture brings something unique to the table when it comes to parenting. Those with open minds can pick up pointers from other cultures to add to their parenting skills.

Rudyard Kipling thought that “East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,” but in this Age of the Internet, East and West meet everyday in the marketplace of ideas – including ideas about parenting - and both are enriched in the process.

Tunisia Shows the Way

When the history of the downfall of Arab dictators is written – ten years, twenty years, even 50 years from now – one name will find an honored place in it: Mohammed Bouazizi of Tunisia.

The 26-year-old with a degree in computer science couldn’t find employment, a fate he shared with 200,000 fellow Tunisian graduates in a population of 10 million. Driven to despair, he tried to sell fruits and vegetables to make a living. The corrupt, repressive police arrested him for lack of a “license” to operate as a street vendor and repeatedly harassed and tortured him. Unable to cope with the indignity, he set himself on fire on Dec. 17, and died on Jan. 3.

The flame that consumed Bouazizi ignited a mass movement throughout the country as Tunisians gave vent to their pent-up feelings against the dictatorial regime of Zein el-Abidine Ben Ali.

For 23 years, Ben Ali and his family and cronies looted the treasury, building beachfront villas and taking a cut from every business while the young population (half of Tunisians are under 25) lived lives of deprivation. A ruthless network of enforcers and informers, drawn mostly from the ranks of the army and the police, kept the populace at bay.

But the self-immolation of Bouazizi changed the equation. Social networking sites, particularly Twitter, helped spread the word and the Jasmine revolution was underway.

The unthinkable happened, a first for the Arab world: Ben Ali and his entourage fled the country.

Tunisia has rarely been in the news in America. Occasionally we heard stories of how Ben Ali was our ally in the fight against terrorism and how Tunisia was a model of democracy. France was even more aggressive in propagating this lie because of its historical ties with the country.

The recent Wikileaks, however, revealed to the world what every Tunisian had known for years, that the regime of Ben Ali was corrupt and authoritarian beyond imagination.

But why did the U.S. go along with the status quo? For the same reasons that our country has gone along with gross human-rights violations in Arab countries: preference for sugarcoated stability to trumped-up threats of radical Islam.

All a dictator like Ben Ali had to do was dangle the specter of Muslim extremists taking over, and the United States turned to jelly. Consider how long some of the Arab dictators have been in power - Libya’s Moammar Gaddafi, 42 years, Yemen's Ali Abdullah Saleh, 33 years, Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak, 30 years – and ask yourself, “Is it that these countries have no worthier candidates than these aging autocrats who are already grooming their sons (never daughters!) to continue their dynastic decadence?”

The answer, of course, is no. But by running police states while keeping the United States happy with manufactured anti-terrorism crackdowns, the dictators continue to rule unchallenged. Thus, there are no new ideas in these countries, no innovations in education, science and technology, and no programs to meet people’s aspirations.

But the game is up. It may take years but business as usual in the Arab world has run its course. Could anyone predict only a few months back that an Arab dictator could be toppled by street riots and demonstrations? As Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote:

“My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:

Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,

The lone and level sands stretch far away."

The U.S. is showing signs that it is finally beginning to read the handwriting on the wall. In a visit to Qatar this month, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned Middle Eastern leaders that "in too many places, in too many ways, the region's foundations are sinking into the sand … Those who cling to the status quo may be able to hold back the full impact of their countries' problems for a little while, but not forever. If leaders don't offer a positive vision and give young people meaningful ways to contribute, others will fill the vacuum. Extremist elements, terrorist groups and others who would prey on desperation and poverty are already out there, appealing for allegiance and competing for influence. So this is a critical moment, and this is a test of leadership for all of us."

Lip service is easy. What is needed is action. Unless it aligns its foreign policy with its values instead of with political expediency, and starts recognizing the legitimate aspirations of the Arab populace, particularly the educated young, U.S. influence will dramatically shrink in the region.

There is no turning back. Tunisians have shown that they can write their own scripts. The Egyptians, Moroccans, Syrians, Jordanians and others have taken note. Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech now has an Arab resonance and the “fierce urgency of now” has already begun to animate the Arab youth. Change is indeed afoot.

Healing a Disturbed Nation

To turn a tragedy into a triumph of the human spirit takes intelligence, grace and eloquence. President Obama showed all these qualities in his moving tribute to the fallen and their families in Arizona, on Wednesday, January 12.

In giving us a summary of the lives of the six who died, he made the memorial service both personal and universal. In telling us the inspiring but also heartbreaking story of nine-year-old Christina Taylor Green, Obama transformed her brief life into a beacon for the nation.

In paying tributes to those who prevented more deaths by stopping the gunman, and the doctors and nurses who acted with urgency to tend to the wounded, the president said, "These men and women remind us that heroism is found not only on the fields of battle. They remind us that heroism does not require special training or physical strength. Heroism is here, all around us, in the hearts of so many of our fellow citizens, just waiting to be summoned - as it was on Saturday morning."

The President helped lift us from a paralyzing darkness into light. It was all from the heart. There was nothing political about it. He alerted us not to fall for partisan finger-pointing. "... at a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized - at a time when we are far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who think differently than we do - it's important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds."

America needs to hear these words now. Poisonous rhetoric has seeped into every corner of the land and Americans are perilously close to becoming citizens of two distinct and divided Americas. We have to recognize our inevitable differences of opinion without demonizing those with whom we disagree.

"But what we can't do," the President said, "is use this tragedy as one more occasion to turn on one another. As we discuss these issues, let each of us do so with a good dose of humility. Rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame, let us use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instincts for empathy, and remind ourselves of all the ways our hopes and dreams are bound together."

Expanding the moral imagination and sharpening the instincts for empathy are, of course, easier said than done. Yet this is what we must do, and Obama was right to invoke these challenges on this somber occasion.

The President held up Taylor Green's short life as an example for us, her innocence, her aspirations, her love for America. "And in Christina...in Christina we see all of our children. So curious, so trusting, so energetic and full of magic. So deserving of our love. And so deserving of our good example. If this tragedy prompts reflection and debate, as it should, let's make sure it's worthy of those we have lost. Let's make sure it's not on the usual plane of politics and point scoring and pettiness that drifts away with the next news cycle."

President Obama gave a stirring speech in Arizona. There will always be evil in the world, but so will there be good as well. The good can, and will, triumph over evil, despite occasional setbacks. "The loss of these wonderful people should make every one of us strive to be better in our private lives - to be better friends and neighbors, co-workers and parents. And if, as has been discussed in recent days, their deaths help usher in more civility in our public discourse, let's remember that it is not because a simple lack of civility caused this tragedy, but rather because only a more civil and honest public discourse can help us face up to our challenges as a nation, in a way that would make them proud."

The President has regained the footing he seemed to have lost in recent times. He did this by transcending politics and pointing us toward a nobler vision of America. Let's hope he can build on it, matching words with action while inspiring us to reach for our better selves.