Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Circassian Day Of Mourning


Yeah, two posts today. It's my birthday and I'm goofing off at work. Whatchoo gonna do about it?

But seriously, tomorrow is the Circassian Day of Mourning. The Circassians don't get much press--their neighbors the Chechens and Georgians, and their assorted disputes with Russia are the news of our day.

The Circassians are the native people of the Caucasus, they are warriors, they are mountain people, they are wild and independent and very very proud. (If you've ever met one, you're bound to know it.) They have to be this way because there are few of them left, and they are spread far and wide due to the Russians systematically devastating them for about a hundred years straight during the 1700s and 1800s. Most were forced to migrate to the Middle East or Turkey.

One of my best friends, a Circassian himself, posted this link which I thought was important to share. The text is below:

May 21st is the Day of Mourning for the Circassian people. In 2009, this day will commemorate the 145th anniversary of the forced migration and dispersion of their grandfathers from their homeland and the imperilment of their existence.

The Russian-Caucasian war started in 1763 and lasted for more than 100 years. The Russian Czarist Army outnumbered the national Circassian resistance by more than 20 times!

The impact of the war on Circassians was horrendous. The Russian army aimed to terrorise the Circassians into submission. In addition to employing a lethal combination of numerical superiority and systematic reduction of resistance, a scorched earth policy resulted in wholesale destruction of villages and corps.

The Circassians suffered heavy losses in terms of human life, as much as 800,000 dead, and their country fell into ruin. Many tribes were completely wiped out and others came close to the edge of extinction.

Each stage of [Circassia’s] occupation was followed by the expulsion of the inhabitants of the area … [This resulted] in the elimination of the whole Caucasian nations and wiped out any memory of them … The war was conducted with ruthlessness. Circassian villages were torched by the hundred, crops were wasted. Those who surrendered were resettled in the plains… Pikman (1956,p79)

As early as 1818, Kabarda was at her knees. Four decades of open conflict had demoralised the people and left the land in ruins. By 1818, the number of Kabardians had fallen from 350,000 before the war to a mere 50,000 - in 1810 alone more than 200 villages were burnt in Kabarda.

The Shapsough, who numbered about 300,000 before the war, were almost completely extirpated. All the Ubykhs, numbering about 30,000, chose to immigrate rather than be resettled in the Kuban region. Some Abkhazian clans, like the Sadzians, were expelled wholesale. The Abazas, especially the Shkharawas, were also subjected to mass expulsion.

It was really the first intentional large-scale genocide of the modern times, as well as the model case of the consequent tradition of ethnic cleansing. It was also the largest single genocide of the 19th century. Anssi Kullberg, The Eurasian Politician - October 2003.

In 1864, the Ubykh made the last stand – but they were already doomed. Afterwards, Circassians were given the option of either leaving the high mountains and settle in the plains. Those who refused were given an ultimatum to leave for Ottoman lands or otherwise be considered prisoners of war. Covertly, the Russians pursued a policy of organised and systematic terror, where whole villages were pillaged and then burnt down to the ground, and thousands of people were killed in cold blood. These horrific acts, together with the collusion of the Ottomans resulted in mass exodus.

On May 21, 1864 Grand Duke Mikhail proclaimed the end of the Russian-Caucasian war.

Hundreds of thousands of hungry and disease-ridden Circassians and Abkhazians were herded to seaports wherefrom they were transported to vessels across the Black Sea to Turkish ports.

It is estimated that the number of North Caucasians who left for the Ottoman Empire between 1859 and 1881 to be at two million. Conditions were extremely bad and as many as 20% died of malnutrition and disease. Those who remained in the Caucasus, between 150 – 200 thousands, were compelled to resettle in the northern plains of the Caucasus were they were easier to control.

There are no words to describe the situation of the Mountaineers in those days. Thousands of them died in the roads, thousands of them died due to illness and hunger. The coastal regions were full with people who are dead or on the verge of dying. The babies who are searching for milk in their mother’s cold dead body, mothers who didn’t leave their kids from their laps even they are already dead from cold, and people who are dead while they got closer just to keep warm, are examples of the scenes that were normal in the coasts of the Black Sea. Y. Abramov, ”Caucasian Mountaineers”

Today over 4 million Circassians live outside Homeland in over 40 countries across of the world.

If we don't remember, and keep remembering, things like this, they are bound to happen again and again.

Jesse Ventura FTW!



I keep trying to deny it, but I think I love Jesse Ventura.

His politics, that is. The hair is an entirely different story. If anything gives me pause about Jesse, it's the hair.

Friday, May 15, 2009

14th Thought Because I Left Out the Most Important One

14. Are people (passengers on the Black Rock, the 815ers, Dharma, the 316ers) merely test subjects for Jacob and Jacob's enemy?

The initial conversation between the two of them was the most interesting part of the finale. One seems to believe people are bad. One wants to give us a chance to be good. I read one review that likened them to Loki and Bartley from Dogma. I can really see that, actually. Two supernatural, maybe god-like beings debating humanity. Experimenting with humanity.

And per Jacob it only ends once, and all the rest is progress. It sounds like we're talking about redeeming ourselves, humanity, before some end of the world event? Maybe one time we'll get it right?

Totally reminded me of Battlestar Gallactica. Humans and Cylons keep going through the same cycle of creation and destruction. Cycle upon cycle, time after time, the same events occurred. Can humanity change, if given the chance? Is Jacob trying to give us that chance?

13 Thoughts On the Lost Finale

1. If this new Possessed Locke is the one that had Richard inform the time-traveling Locke to leave the island, get everyone back, and die, then all of this was clearly part of Jacob's enemy's plan.

2. Is Possessed Locke Smokey? Is Jacob's enemy Smokey? Smokey seems to be able to manifest itself as persons that have died on the Island (Christian, Yemi, Boone), is that why Jacob's enemy needed Locke to die and come back to the Island? If so, was Eloise in on it (she's the one who told Jack they had to bring Locke back)?

3. Speaking of Eloise, she was the leader of the Others circa 1977, not Widmore. Richard said there can only be one leader, and he specifically noted he needed to protect his Leader when he knocked Eloise out in the tunnels.

4. Was the ash ring around the cabin designed to keep something in, or to keep something out? Was that Jacob's enemy appearing as Christian to the lostaways?

5. Rose's "Oh heelllll no." and Bernard's "Son of a bitch!" were absolutely priceless.

6. Charlie's Drive Shaft ring.

7. Hurley is the only one Jacob really had a conversation with. Interesting.

8. Jack, jesus christ with the Kate thing!

9. Juliet, jesus christ with the Kate thing!

10. Why didn't Sun insist on seeing Jacob? She was all gung ho and then when they arrived she sat by meekly while Ben, John, and Richard headed in. Does she know more than she's letting on?

11. Sawyer's reaction to losing Juliet at the Swan=Sun's reaction to losing Jin at the Freighter last year. Both sent shivers down my spine. Does this bode well for Juliet?

12. Jacob gave items to Jack, Sawyer, Hurley, and Kate. He seemed to have saved John's life, and he definitely saved Sayid's. Did he give them all something?

13. Jacob was living in the foot of the statute back in the 1800s. Jacob was living in the foot of the statue in 2007. Why did everyone think he was living in a cabin? Was that his enemy in there, fooling them all?

Friday, May 8, 2009

I like it. I love it. I want some more of it.


I waded into the wilds of Westwood (how good is that alliteration?) last night for the premiere of Star Trek. Even an hour before the show the line was literally halfway around the block. As Westwood is the home of UCLA, it was an interesting mix of straight-up Trekkers, college nerds, and people desperate to prove that they aren't really into Star Trek, even though they were waiting in line with dorks like me. Homeless men even mocked us with Vulcan hand gestures while we waited. Fun for all.

It was worth the annoyance. What an awesome movie.

The movie had alot of ground to cover since it's introducing many people to its universe for the first time. Uhura had a pretty big role in the movie, partially I'm sure because she is literally the only female that gets more than 2 minutes on screen, and she does a good job with it. She doesn't get to do any ass-kicking, though. Maybe in the sequel they could let her go on an away mission, for God's sake.

The cast was pretty perfect. The dude playing Bones hit it almost too perfectly--his facial expressions were cracking up the whole theater. Chekov's accent is distracting its so over-the-top, but again, it served as comic relief. Surprisingly, there was really quite a bit of comedy to this movie, I laughed out loud many more times than I expected. And it was also kind of sad. But I don't want to spoil anybody.

Of course, and I don't think this is a secret, the movie is a whole new timeline for Kirk 'n' gang, so from here they can really go anywhere. I am sad to tell my Iowan friend that per new timeline, Kirk is no longer born in Riverside, Iowa, although he still does grow up there.

Overall I take my hat off to J.J. Abrams, not just for giving me TV to watch again (thank GOD for LOST and Fringe), but for making a fantastic Star Trek movie. I guarantee I'm going to see it again. In the theater.

Friday, May 1, 2009

I Just Had to....


Lord have mercy did this make me laugh. So cute.

I had a hard time not stealing my friend's title for this picture: Swine Flu-Patient Zero.