Arabic Bloggers, a Follow-Up, and In Praise of Rumsfeld

This is good news. In today’s WaPo:

"Several years ago, Arabic blogs in the Middle East could be counted on one hand," said Haitham Sabbah, Middle East editor of Global Voices Online, a media project sponsored by the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School. "Today, they are in the thousands and are becoming a new source for news and information."

Though only about 10 percent of people in the Arab world have Internet access, the rate continues to rise dramatically, having multiplied fivefold since 2000, according to Internet World Stats, a Web site that tracks Internet usage and related information.

The number of bloggers in Saudi Arabia has tripled since the beginning of the year, reaching an estimated 2,000.

I read more than a few English-language blogs written by Lebanese during the Israel-Hezbollah conflict this past summer and was most impressed, generally speaking, with what those folks had to say. I can only imagine what Arabic bloggers are saying, but from what I gather by reading the article linked above, the rise of Arabic bloggers is a good thing. And the authoritarian, totalitarian governments in the Middle East realize this, too. The all-too-predictable government crackdowns appear to be on the way and are already happening in some cases. Here’s hoping the new wave of Arabic bloggers have the courage to persevere. It takes real courage to dissent in an environment where the consequences of opposing or criticizing the government can be a true life or death situation. Unlike here at home, where the tinfoil hat brigade constantly worries about their phones being tapped and/or being shuttled off to Gitmo when the black helicopters come…

An editorial follow-up to yesterday’s post on Michigan’s Proposal Two (the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative), in today’s WSJ:

Ward Connerly has done it again: A striking 58% of Michigan voters gave the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative a thumbs up; only three counties voted against it.

The language of the MCRI closely tracks California's 1996 Proposition 209, also led by Mr. Connerly. It amends the Michigan Constitution to "ban public institutions from using affirmative-action programs that give preferential treatment to groups or individuals based on their race, gender, color, ethnicity or national origin for public employment, education or contracting purposes." The political and business establishments, pressure groups like the AARP, labor-union leaders, religious spokesmen, the professoriat, the major Detroit newspapers--all were opposed to MCRI. But a substantial majority of ordinary voters were thinking for themselves.

[…]

Buried in a lengthy speech to University of Michigan students on Wednesday, Ms. Coleman did say, "of course the University of Michigan will comply with the laws of the state." It was far from her first thought, however, and she has asked the school's attorneys "for their full and undivided support in defending diversity." They'll waste their time. As George Mason University law professor David Bernstein notes, "the chances that the university would ultimately win such litigation approach zero."

Ms. Coleman's other problem is that the much-vaunted "diversity" of the university is something of a sham, as an editorial writer for the very liberal Daily Michigan newspaper has suggested. The campus "is starkly segregated. ... We live in different student neighborhoods. We go to different bars on different nights. We join in different student groups. There are even separate Greek systems." While Ms. Coleman has made the usual noises about building a "community" and "creating a diverse, welcoming campus"--whom was she kidding? Apparently no one.

The author of the editorial, Abigail Thernstrom, is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and vice chairman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Read the whole thing.

A paean to Rummy in today’s WaPo by Douglas J. Feith, a man who knows him well. Excerpts:

I know that Don Rumsfeld is not an ideologue. He did not refuse to have his views challenged. He did not ignore the advice of his military advisers. And he did not push single-mindedly for war in Iraq. He was motivated to serve the national interest by transforming the military, though it irritated people throughout the Pentagon. Rumsfeld's drive to modernize created a revealing contrast between his Pentagon and the State Department, where Colin Powell was highly popular among the staff. After four years of Powell's tenure at State, the organization chart there would hardly tip anyone off that 9/11 had occurred -- or even that the Cold War was over.

Rumsfeld is a bundle of paradoxes, like a fascinating character in a work of epic literature. And as my high school teachers drummed into my head, the best literature reveals that humans are complex. They are not the all-good or all-bad, all-brilliant or all-dumb figures that inhabit trashy novels and news stories. Fine literature teaches us the difference between appearance and reality.

[…]

Rumsfeld had to resign, I suppose, because the bitter political debate of recent years has turned him into a symbol. His effectiveness was damaged. For many in Congress and the public, the Rumsfeld caricature dominated their view of the Iraq war and the administration's ability to prosecute it successfully. Even if nominee Robert Gates pursues essentially the same strategy, he may command more public confidence.

What Rumsfeld believed, said and did differs from the caricature. The public picture of him today is drawn from news accounts reflecting the views of people who disapproved of his policies or disliked him. Rumsfeld, after all, can be brutally demanding and tough. But I believe history will be more appreciative of him than the first draft has been. What will last is serious history, which, like serious literature, can distinguish appearance from reality.

Once again, read the whole thing. In case you hadn’t noticed, I was, and remain, a big fan of Mr. Rumsfeld. Mr. Rumsfeld delivered some of the best, most profound, and seriously funny moments in this long war during his DoD press conferences. His smack-downs of clue-free reporters, who, in most cases were begging for a smack-down, were Churchillian in their delivery and content, not to mention wit. I agree with Mr. Feith: history will judge Rummy well.

Today’s Pic: Seven years ago this week I was hanging out on the shores of beautiful Lake Livingston, about an hour and a half north of Houston. My, how times have changed. November, 1999.