I am looking forward to watching the programs in English (because alas my Arabic is not up to snuff). Thank you Ms Rosenberg for making me aware of this.
Brave person like Ahmed Al basher deserve all the support. Exposing filthy leaders , managing to deliver the truth to people of Iraq although he is far away from Iraq he deserve all the respect and regards.
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Your tax dollars at work, America.
Perhaps the young in Iraq are rejecting centuries of tribalism where Sunni and Shiite are pitted against each other in utter violence and death. I hope so.
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1) George Carlin is an apt idol for ANYONE.
He was FEARLESS. I use a couple of his quotes in my own writing to this very day because they're pointed, expressive - just EXCELLENT.
2) I approve of the attitude. I am reminded of the quote from the movie "Gladiator" which is attributed in it to Marcus Aurelius (and I tell you - if he DIDN'T say this - he SHOULD have) that "Death smiles on us all. All a man can do is smile back".
If you're going to die, DIE GAME, as a ghost from the past supposedly said.
The Iraqis in particular, but the Muslims wherever, and in general, MISSED the Reformation, which took several hundreds of years to bring people to first a THOUGHT revolution, and then a political revolution resulting in self governance.
It is to be sincerely hoped that Muslims EVERYWHERE can come along more quickly than the Europeans did - because there is no time, and sectarian evils abound and seek to increase, and not decrease, their hold on the people.
Hats off, therefore, to Albasheer for his efforts.
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The light to our own salvation shines bright in Iraq. Ridicule, mockery, slapstick: these are the tactics that Trump can’t endure. Many a Truth is Spoken in Jest will render POTUS im-potent.
'The government creates these these separations things to keep itself in power'. Sounds like the method of the Trump administration, Deep yelling your opposition is 'a crook' and needs to be attacked and before you know it you have a following that believes the other is the enemy while Trump picks the system clean. Divide and conquer has always been a method of the powerful to keep power. And by attacking Biden with his Ukraine scheme he has succeeded in dividing Democrats whether the scheme actually played out in all its details.
Both Iraq and the US are dealing in their own way with the dynamics of power and the opposition needs to point out that the authoritarian leader is an emperor with no clothes.
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If you think the number of medals on Mr. Albasheer's uniform is ridiculous, you obviously haven't seen the uniforms of American officers recently. For contrast, check out photos of General Dwight D. Eisenhower's uniforms. Only North Korean officers sport more medals, but our guys also look fairly ridiculous.
@Raz
You sound so cynical ... of course protests can have positive consequences ... did you read the article .. you are too quick to denounce the amazing hopefulness that is happening there .. they have organized a mini city in the midst of their protests .. they are showing the country and now the world that they can work TOGETHER ... men/women/Sunni/Shiite /// please re-read the article and try to find one thing that seems like a positive result of this ongoing (70+day) experiment in a new world .. think good thoughts ... it can and may happen .. keep it alive ...
Thank you Ms Rosenberg for such a hopeful and love filled article during the craziness that is 2019 ... I kept thinking as I read that Albasheer reminded me of Zelenskiy of Ukraine .. perhaps he will one day be the new leader of Iraq ..
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For The second time. Iraq will change the face of the world. The Iraqis will prove to the people that they can achieve justice and change dictatorial regimes without resorting to the power of arms. The blood of our martyrs has fallen on the streets, we have seen our loved ones being killed Infront of our eyes, Nevertheless we have not carried arms, because we do not want civil war, we have experience, we know How to build a new Iraq peacefully. And we will teach the world how to do this, again, Iraqis will change the face of the world, and that the blood of the martyrs is stronger than their bullets.
#iraqiRevolution
Either we win OR ..
WE WIN
I am a peaceful protester. I love my country . And I am ready to sacrifice myself to restore an Iraqi. Call for peace to my homeland. thanks Albasheer
"Mr. Albasheer’s model was Jon Stewart"
Yet the picture and costume and routine would seem to reflect more of Sacha Baron Cohen in The Dictator.
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Put the best bits of late night Trump satire on daytime and prime time CNN and MSNBC and watch ratings and democracy grow!
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Tom Friedman (and NYT) where are you?
You lecture us that "Muslim people" must rise up and seize the agenda. Only then, you tell us, will extremism be dampened.
So why then, unending coverage of 300 killed in Iran but virtual silence on the 500 killed in Iraq. In the case of Friedman, utter silence.
Who knew that people of every denomination, sect and sex, have been jointly demonstrating for a long time in Iraq to seize back their country from the corrupt, the violent, the power mad?
This will be yet another "Arab Spring," where brave Arabs, armed only with their minds, face death and punishment, to make united democratic voices heard. And the West? Silence, ignorance and then a maudlin shaking of the hands and heads when yet another peaceful movement in the Middle East is violently crushed.
Ah, "stability!" Kissinger would have been proud. And if Kissinger is the model we use to interfere and twist the world with, let's just get survival supplies and flee to a cave in the mountains, safe from rising seas.
Thank you Ms. Rosenberg. Too bad your opinion and news colleagues don't see what you so blindingly clearly show us is happening and thirsting for support on the streets of Iraq. And too bad they appear so clueless on its importance and deservedness for attention.
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thanks Tina Rosenberg for this excellent report on Ahmed Albasheer and this response to situation in Iraq.
President Bush busted existing social structure. P. Bremer introduced a faulty replacement based on ethnic quotas and a role for Iran in Iraq. Protests and Mr. Albasheer satire are efforts to create a new and more responsive (indigenous) social structure. Iraq democracy is a process, as we can see.
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Maybe, as in Ukraine, this comedian will be the next president.
President Zelensky of the Ukraine is a former comedian who isn't laughing very much any more.
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Re: '...You Are Killing Us? We Will Make You a Joke...." {Ahmed Albasheer}
So, sorry to inform you, Mr. Albasheer:
Bush_1, Bush_2, along with his, cockney_accented lap chihuahua, Mr. Blair, and, (of course), Admiral_Bonespurs... have already moved, beyond making American a joke, to concentrate on their next criminal endeavors!
I hear Geo H.W. Bush is positively, slaying, 'em, at Cocytus - Antenora, 'N, Cocytus - Ptolomea (comedy_clubs)!
all my respect for hour work mr. ahmed albasheer you are voice of justice in iraq
This article, and its contents, are the best writing on the American legacy in Iraq I have read.
Four Trillion Dollars. Thousands and thousands of dead Iraqi's and Americans. Hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqi's by some estimates. Formerly beautiful, ancient cities all now rubble.
For what?
For a government that suppresses the true roots of Democracy - the people themselves?
For a Democracy that looks more brutal and repressive than Saddam Hussein ever was?
This article, this one article, should be read by every American.
I feel saddened to be in the country that is so disconnected from the contents of this article, the misery of the Iraqi people, the misery of the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees living in other countries now, the destruction of such beautiful cities,
all for what? A cell phone video of the (illegal) hanging of Saddam Hussein?
Is that really all that we delivered to the world? A cellphone video of no due process?
George W Bush? Perhaps the world court should haul him in for War Crimes instead of letting him paint bad art down in Texas?
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What courage! And what a Beyond Fear way to move into a new stratosphere. Humor breaks through the barriers. Bravo!
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The powerful at every level of these societies take the air that they breath from the patronage system. They will seek out the most desperate to fulfill their selfish needs. The human emotion of happiness in the purest form does not exist for them. The parody of reality is for the normal. Those in control and their patrons, in every form, are not normal. They fulfill their human sense of greed by stealing the essence of life from the normal. Their humor lies in only what they can take for themselves. Death of the society is their end game. It is the last and only laugh.
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An uplifting article. Will Americans get up from their couches and show similar spirit? Do we know how precious our “democracy” is? Uncertain.
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Ahmad Albasheer is an inspiration to young Iraqi men and women. He broke the taboo and the fear factor among Iraqi people that they are not supposed to mock political or religious leaders. His show is one of a kind in Iraq and the Iraqi people were in need for such a incredible satire show and he is so good at it. I wish Ahmad all the success and many more wonderful accomplishments.
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So proud of you Ahmed, keep going , you’re giving us the smile and the power in the same time( my opinion).
Waiting your show every Friday.
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The protests will dwindle, then disappear, and accomplish very little.
People have an overblown perception of what can be achieved by protest movements. Did the Viet Nam war protests hasten the end of the war? Did the Occupy movement achieve ANYTHING? Did the women's march at the beginning of 2017 make any lasting impact at all?
If anything, protests are destructive, but their message is incoherent and provides nothing in the way of solutions. The best way to change a system is from within. Use the system itself, to make the changes you desire.
Hitler understood this very well. He seized power not through violence or revolution, but by using the system that was already in place.
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@Raz, protests have led to revolutions.
Sometimes the "system" is the problem - to be a part of it is to be corrupted by it.
For example, in this country, in which political campaigns cost millions, candidates become beholden to wealthy donors. You can't fix the destructiveness of growing inequality when you're part of the system that created it and benefits from it.
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@Raz
What are you on about? The protests have ALREADY achieved much. Iraq's prime minister and his entire governmnet have resigned due to the pressure exerted by the protestors. A new, very important election law has passed in parliament, due to the pressure from the demonstrators, that will allow for much more say by people. There's an ongoing cultural and social revolution taking place where women have taking frontline position like never before. There's a NEW sense of national coherence and identity taking form, shared by all segments of society(ethnic, religious, gender-wise). Again, the protests have already achieved much.
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@Raz -
In response to your first question, the answer is definitely yes. As someone who was in military intelligence in S.E. Asia during the end of the war, there were numerous times that the US could have militarily intervened and changed the outcome, for at least a while. But, because of the protests, our policy was that we needed to keep our hands off. Many people in my unit in the early fall of ‘74 felt that South Vietnam would fall in the spring of ‘75. One of us predicted it would fall on May 1st, and the majority of us agreed. (Oops, he missed it by a day, the NVA wanted to stage a May Day parade on the 1st in Saigon, so they pushed to take it by April 30th. This was backed up by our latter intel.)
So, yeah, protests do have realpolitik results.
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It would be right and just if Dan Rather saw the future, and had Mr. Albasheer in mind, when he curiously closed one of his near-the-end-of-his-'tour' broadcasts with this:
"Courage."
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Young Americans are not very aware of how much parody and satire and politically focused comedy have played a key role in the history of this nation. And especially its role as a check on power. They think the recent spate of comedy-news shows like The Colbert Report and The Daily Show, Full Frontal are recent inventions. They are but current iterations of a history of some really awesome, truly cutting, and very truly dangerous satire and comedic artists before them.
From the colonial days thru every war, every political movement, good, bad or wholly scandalous, right up thru Trump. Sometimes it was disgusting in its portrayals of various ethnic groups, sexist for sure, but for the most part parody and satire - performed, illustrated, or written - its very often acted as a true check on power. Plus a means to rally people to step-up and demand their rights, politically and for humanity.
Here's hoping the same plays out in Iraq and other places in the region...places in much need of public displays of humor. Much like music, good, pithy political comedy can be a force for greater tolerance and unity. It helps break down the masks of convention and mythology.
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@Boregard exactly. Political satire was common and expected during our early days as a country, and it was oftentimes downright biting and shocking!
https://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/at-the-edge/2015/01/29/satire-is-as-american-as-apple-pie
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@Boregard -- Well said.
One of the nation's Best cartoonists is Tom Tomorrow, whose brilliant 'This Modern Life' deftly illustrates the banalities, hypocrisies and absurdities of those who claim to represent us, the media and an unwittingly complicit, mal-informed right-wing populace.
https://thenib.com/tom-tomorrow
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We're seeing the beginnings of a realignment of middle Eastern states, at least partly as a result of Trump's actions WRT Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Europe. We will see alliances among countries that were previously enemies (The Economist had a piece on this recently.) It may bode well for stability in the Middle East, which is badly needed - but we don't know how the US will fare as a result. That's because Trump's foreign policy is like throwing darts at a board.
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Thanks Ms. Tina Rosenberg for the great article , it cheers our hearts as Iraqis to see that we are not being forgotten and abandoned by the world media during our righteous peaceful protests against the cruel corrupted government and their militia.
All Iraqis now have one dream to live in a free country with no foreign interventions , dignity and peace . We are standing still against the terror and bullets and hope we get our rights . We already have given so many sacrifices with over 25 thousands casualties killed ,injured and kidnapped including hundreds of young kids less than 15 years old and two new born babies killed after shooting tear gas inside a hospital yet we will continue and stay strong .If we got killed before we get the chance to live our dreams , we hope our kids will have that opportunity.
Hopefully soon enough we will see them in courts and get punished for each drop of blood shed by these criminals
Thanks Ahmed Al Basheer for all what you have done enlightening people and exposing the murderrers of Iraqis to us first andto the rest of the world . Keep it up and God bless you all.
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@TheAmeer
Wish you all the best and hope you are right. Iraq has suffered enough.
Democrats take note - if there was ever a person susceptible to parody and humor it's Trump. The great thing about it are the ineffectiveness of retorts. If you put into words what a pithy political cartoon shows the " Letter to the Editor" would be jammed. Humor has a Kevlar vest quality of protection to it - but the message gets through.
Albasheer shows what an effective proselytizer humor is.
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Mr. Albasheer,
Thank you. Thank you for standing up to power. It is incredibly brave. You are a beacon to everyone...to stand up for gender, racial and social justice.
May you live a long life...we need you.
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@Fish Tate, well said. So well said that I could not limit my response to a simple “recommend.” Dear Mr. Albasheer: I am an atheist, but if there were a god, I am sure that you would be blessed. To fight violence with humor requires a kind of courage that very few possess.
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Albasheer is really icon ❤
7
Ahmed made us proud to have young people with good minds and modern thinking.
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Democratic presidential candidates might do well using this strategy when debating Trump. He is admired for his brutishness by those who wish they had the power to be brutes. Complaining about it only gives him more power and delights his fans. But make him a joke, ridicule him, belittle him, and few will want to identify with him.
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@Beverlyj Don't kid yourself, there will be no debates. Trump doesn't need them, and would certainly be trounced by anyone with an elementary grasp of the language. He may not know it, but his people sure do.
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@Beverlyj as Iraqi American has I’m telling you and other democrats to leave the Iraqi people and Iraq alone. The current oppression by the corrupt & criminal Iraqi government that is directed and managed by Iran’s IRGC Qasim Sulimani. Was as a result of Obama, Hillary, and Kerry pro Iran policies.
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@Bill H, Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Kerry certainly did NOT have "pro-Iran policies" - that's a lie. Since Trump has pulled the US out of the Iran nuclear deal, Iran has continually escalated its nuclear program - a threat to the entire region and to the world.
And just remember, it wasn't Democrats who decided to invade Iraq - it was Republicans - who did so based on the lie about WMDs.
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Good for Mr. Albasheer! I sure hope he wears bullet proof clothing and head gear though, just in case the Iraqi or Iranian leadership have bad motives regarding his show.
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I love it. This is classic nonviolent activism. I sincerely wish Albasheer and the Iraqi protesters the best of luck.
We need to do more of this in our own country. The divide, the lies and corruption, are just frightening. It seems as if our government is not working in the people's interest at all.
Are they aware of the cynicism it's causing? I saw a program on the heroic border patrol working to make the border safer for U.S. and Mexico, and my knee-jerk reaction was "yeah, right." I find it difficult to believe in anything right now.
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God knows, after all that they have suffered, the Iraqis deserve to have their humanity and rights to happiness respected by a government elected.
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He published all the real and write things for the government mistakes.
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Albasheer show rocks the corrupted Iraqi government and the Islamic political parties that are following the Iranian agenda against Iraq as well. I believe the change should come at the end and the history will record all the efforts of Iraqis
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I do believe Albasheer is going to be the next president. And this article will make his dream comes through.
Best Regards
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Iraq - another legacy of failure left to you by the Republicans.
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@PJH Don't forget that Obama had eight long years to solidify Republican failures. American politics is more of a dysfunctional team effort than we care to admit.
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@RN
Yes, President Obama did an excellent job backing-up President George W. Bush's achievements in the arena being discussed here.
5
@RN
It was the Republicans that designed the dysfunctional, factional government, seeing people only as pawns in power games. just as Republicans do here with Voter Suppression, protection of Citizens United, and appointment of corporations-are-people, money-is-speech judges (under the cover of pretending to care about abortion to give their clerics an alibi) and refusing to allow a vote on HR-1
4
While Trump and Company are scary it’s good to step back and appreciate the freedoms we take for granted.
Kudos to Ahmed Albasheer for speaking out and hopefully enough of our citizens will assert their right to vote in 2020 and bring about the changes we need.
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