Re: [ga] Governance issues. what the arab world hears when Bush speaks

["Richard Henderson" <richardhenderson@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Sovereignty... the right of states, peoples, and cultural groups to determine the development of their own part of the Net

Transparency... what so often seems lacking in the way ICANN has operated

True democratic representation... this was destroyed when ICANN (against the advice of ICANN's own task force on the subject) kicked out the At Large Board Members who had been elected by ordinary internet users.

Inclusion... in contrast, ICANN creates layers upon layers of labyrinthine procedure to reserve true decision making for a small group of people often perceived as "insiders" who have no democratic mandate at all, and who represent the US government who set ICANN up in the first place and define what ICANN should be and for whom it should act... many people and many nations rightly feel 'excluded'... why is the administration of the DNS under the control and authority of one single country?

The right of self-determination... largely ICANN should be the technical body which makes sure the Internet keeps working... it is difficult to ensure that individual countries or smaller groups can determine for themselves the future development of their part of the Net when the control and governance of the DNS is administered through the American DoC by a non-elected quango called ICANN

Extending this to international political level, the US government seems to misunderstand the offence caused, when it defies the processes of the International Community, defies the UN, and aborts the processes for dealing with Iraq agreed upon by the International community. This was done on the spurious grounds that there was an imminent threat of attack by Iraqi weapons of mass destruction which turn out to have been decommissioned years before. Once this lame excuse was exposed, the grounds for the attack on Iraq were changed to the defence of human rights (which was later demonstrated at Abu Ghraib prison and elsewhere).

The prison style had been advocated from the top by Donald Rumsfeld, whose arrogant and abrasive approach to the Moslem world has been such a disaster - he agreed to the resort to non-standard methods and all necessary actions to obtain intelligence, and left his subordinates to interpret that for themselves and put it into action. It was Donald Rumsfeld, too, who along with others such as Jeb Bush signed up for a policy that embraced the prospect of military intervention in Iraq, through the statements posted at their website at www.newamericancentury.org which has consistently urged an aggressive US policy overseas.

For the reality of what the "New American Century" actually means, you are welcome to visit my own website at www.newamericancentury.info 

I believe that Khaled is correct to see a connection between the exercise of power at Net level and the exercise of power at the level of international politics. In both areas, it seems to be a case of "We CAN and therefore we SHALL". It is not an approach designed to make friends, influence people, or represent democracy. In particular, I believe there is an arrogant and condescending attitude shown towards Moslem countries, Moslem culture and Moslem society and religion.

But there is also a more general lack of RESPECT shown towards all the nations of the world, which seems to spring from an underlying spiritual malaise and a cultural ignorance and insularity in some sectors of American society and government.

For my part, though I am myself a Christian, I respect the rightful and pious lifestyle of most practising Moslems : in contrast, Western society seems in some ways spiritually decadent and amoral if not immoral in its cynical exploitation of economic power at the expense of less fortunate people.

The British people protested en masse against our association with the American invasion of Iraq - repeated polls showed over 80% of Britons wanted us to follow the UN route and due International process... but democracy was ignored by Tony Blair. Our own country has now been dragged into the chaos in Iraq - it's a complete shambles, born of arrogance and the political dogmatism of people like Rumsfeld. You can see a picture of him with the Prison's governor on my website...

No-one can look at the photographs on www.newamericancentury.info without feeling ashamed of what was carried out by an invading army in the name of the American people...

Richard Henderson

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Ibelimited1@xxxxxxx 
  To: hdierker2204@xxxxxxxxx ; jwkckid1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
  Cc: ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
  Sent: Tuesday, June 01, 2004 10:32 AM
  Subject: [ga] Governance issues. what the arab world hears when Bush speaks



  Sovereignty, transparency, true democratic representation and inclusion, the right for self determination...

  Regards,

  Khaled Fattal

  MINC chairman and CEO