'Just World News' with Helena Cobban: On the road to Damascus

'Just World News' with Helena Cobban Info, analysis, discussion-- to build a more just world
« Fallujah, Grozny, Jenin... \| JWN front page \| A little closer to Fallujah » On the road to Damascus Posted by Helena Cobban November 20, 2004 4:53 AM EST \| Link Filed in Writing and publishing In about an hour I'll be leaving Beirut to go to Damascus for a few days. Returning here Wednesday. Then next weekend (God, or mainly the Iranian visa authorities, willing) we'll be going to Iran, to a conference on Islam and Democracy in Mashhad. I'm unclear what the possibilities for posting from Damascus will be. But even if I can't post, I'll try to write some things that I can put up once I get back here Wednesday. Hey, who knows what transformational lightning might strike on the road to Damascus this time? One of the biggest things that happened to me on it in the past is that, stuck at the border awaiting permission to enter one time in the late 1970s, I read a book that ended up changing my life. No, it wasn't the Bible. Some day I might tell you that whole story.... « Fallujah, Grozny, Jenin... \| JWN front page \| A little closer to Fallujah » Comments Comment from... Dutchmarbel, at November 20, 2004 05:33 AM: Happy travelling, Marjolein Comment from... No Preference, at November 20, 2004 07:03 AM: At least tell us what the book was. Comment from... Christiane, at November 20, 2004 08:11 AM: Have a good travel Helena.. May be you'd like some reading for the travel and may be others would enjoy it as well. The ICRC has funded an interesting study concerning "The Roots of Behaviour in War". The study investigates what induce fighters to breach the Geneva Conventions and what could be done to improve their implementation. It can be ordered or downloaded in an English PDF (2.8 meg) It's not a difficult reading : http://tinyurl.com/65okf Another reading is the new Counterinsurgency Manual edited by the US military : http://tinyurl.com/4tzjw Comment from... E. Bilpe, at November 20, 2004 11:28 AM: Good luck Helena. Your journey plans ring of Frodo venturing all the way into Mordor. Do you have the program for the Islam and Democarcy conference? Would be nice to read the agenda. E. Bilpe Comment from... Robert Consoli, at November 20, 2004 08:50 PM: C'mon Helen. Your loyal readers want to know the story. Enlightenment isn't just yours, ya know. Thanks for your blog. Bob Consoli Comment from... Arjan, at November 21, 2004 09:04 AM: What book?! Have a good trip, Iran is great!!! Comment from... helena, at November 22, 2004 02:40 AM: I shan't tell you the name of the book. But as I was reading it I became enthralled with the clarity of its writing... In 1982, I got to meet the author, and two years later we got married. We still are. Comment from... Jonathan Edelstein, at November 22, 2004 02:52 PM: Was it published by the University of California Press, and does the title begin with D? Comment from... Blog Ethics, at December 6, 2004 10:13 PM: Help stop evil word of mouth marketers like BzzAgent.com by supporting the Blog Publishers Association founded by legendary blogger Jason Calacanis.	Recent Posts on JWN • Realism, war, and pacifism (3) • Palin's performance: Insulting and very scary (28) • September 11 and the war in Afghanistan (6) • US's global dominance 'Reduced': It's nearly official! (1) • JWN redesign update #1 (2) • Oliver North??? (5) • J. 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On the road to Damascus

Posted by Helena Cobban
November 20, 2004 4:53 AM EST | Link
Filed in Writing and publishing

In about an hour I'll be leaving Beirut to go to Damascus for a few days. Returning here Wednesday. Then next weekend (God, or mainly the Iranian visa authorities, willing) we'll be going to Iran, to a conference on Islam and Democracy in Mashhad.

I'm unclear what the possibilities for posting from Damascus will be. But even if I can't post, I'll try to write some things that I can put up once I get back here Wednesday.

Hey, who knows what transformational lightning might strike on the road to Damascus this time? One of the biggest things that happened to me on it in the past is that, stuck at the border awaiting permission to enter one time in the late 1970s, I read a book that ended up changing my life.

No, it wasn't the Bible. Some day I might tell you that whole story....

Comments

Comment from... Dutchmarbel, at November 20, 2004 05:33 AM:

Happy travelling,

Marjolein

Comment from... No Preference, at November 20, 2004 07:03 AM:

At least tell us what the book was.

Comment from... Christiane, at November 20, 2004 08:11 AM:

Have a good travel Helena.. May be you'd like some reading for the travel and may be others would enjoy it as well.

The ICRC has funded an interesting study concerning "The Roots of Behaviour in War". The study investigates what induce fighters to breach the Geneva Conventions and what could be done to improve their implementation. It can be ordered or downloaded in an English PDF (2.8 meg) It's not a difficult reading :
http://tinyurl.com/65okf

Another reading is the new Counterinsurgency Manual edited by the US military :

http://tinyurl.com/4tzjw

Comment from... E. Bilpe, at November 20, 2004 11:28 AM:

Good luck Helena. Your journey plans ring of Frodo venturing all the way into Mordor.

Do you have the program for the Islam and Democarcy conference? Would be nice to read the agenda.

E. Bilpe

Comment from... Robert Consoli, at November 20, 2004 08:50 PM:

C'mon Helen. Your loyal readers want to know the story. Enlightenment isn't just yours, ya know.

Thanks for your blog.

Bob Consoli

Comment from... Arjan, at November 21, 2004 09:04 AM:

What book?! Have a good trip, Iran is great!!!

Comment from... helena, at November 22, 2004 02:40 AM:

I shan't tell you the name of the book. But as I was reading it I became enthralled with the clarity of its writing... In 1982, I got to meet the author, and two years later we got married. We still are.

Comment from... Jonathan Edelstein, at November 22, 2004 02:52 PM:

Was it published by the University of California Press, and does the title begin with D?

Comment from... Blog Ethics, at December 6, 2004 10:13 PM:

Help stop evil word of mouth marketers like BzzAgent.com by supporting the Blog Publishers Association founded by legendary blogger Jason Calacanis.

Recent Posts on JWN

• Realism, war, and pacifism (3)
• Palin's performance: Insulting and very scary (28)
• September 11 and the war in Afghanistan (6)
• US's global dominance 'Reduced': It's nearly official! (1)
• JWN redesign update #1 (2)
• Oliver North??? (5)
• J. Diehl criticizing Saakashvili (3)
• Peres warns against attacking Iran (0)
• Georgia-Hizbullah: Dept. of Delicious Ironies (2)
• US probing Russian Red Lines in Georgia (0)
• Women discuss Sarah Palin (26)
• New vistas-- personal, and blog-related (12)
• The longterm status of Georgia: Challenges ahead (20)
• Text of the draft Iraq-US SOFA (10)
• HRW revising its Russian cluster bomb accusations (11)
• International tensions and the US election (9)
• Iraq: Another Quaker in the 'Red Zone' (3)
• HRW's flawed 'Research' on Georgian cluster bombs (20)
• More on China in Iraq (12)
• Post on China in US occupied zones-- at Japan Focus (0)
• Palin and the 3 a.m. phone call (39)
• China and Iraq (4)
• Egyptian delegation to break Gaza siege (2)
• Waiting for Gustav (5)
• Italy gives Libya $$ compensation for colonial rule (17)
• China buys in to Iraqi, Afghan end-games (15)
• "Resolution": Palin's goal in Iraq (8)
• China's way of 'Emerging' (6)
• A note on US politics (6)
• Conway does a Dannatt (sort of) (7)
• China gets Iraq oil deal (6)
• Rest-of-world saving US from recession? (5)
• Russia and the world (12)
• Milanovic: From Global Trade to Global War (5)
• The return of geography (3)
• Still no US-Iraq security agreement (yawn) (2)
• Iraq-US: More disagreement than 'Agreement' (23)
• NATO's supply lines in Afghanistan (27)
• My CSM piece on the big-picture implications of Georgia (21)
• Mahbubani on western hypocrisy, etc. (5)
• Condi in Baghdad: YES on a timetable (aspirational) (8)
• More on NATO, etc. (14)
• NATO's crisis (8)
• And another thing about Finland (23)
• Where in the world is... Ban Ki-Moon? (22)
• Russian military assessment: New arms race? (26)
• And now for a little audio (0)
• Yglesias nails McCain (4)
• Sarkozy's ceasefire, Georgia's future (22)
• Georgia crisis and the shifting global balance (0)