Shaha Ali Riza is NOT a feminist

[donsu]

(Wolfowitz's girlfriend)

no feminist would be Wolfie's girlfriend

no feminist would work for the neo cons/snake cheney's daughter

and just why does all the media always call her a feminist? why?

[Daedelus76]

1. I disagree

Who knows, maybe she is a feminist by Middle-Eastern standards. I also think Wolfowitz is pretty liberal on many things, as are many Neo-Conservatives (often they are socially liberal, they just like starting wars). But he's also deluded on a great many other important issues.

[spanone]

2. Wolfowitz is pretty liberal?.....as are many neocons?....emergency room services are open 24/7

[teach1st]

9. I don't think he's conservative socially

Wolfowitz appears to be "liberal" socially, especially if one ignores his preferred method of spreading democracy.

An interesting profile from the 4/9 New Yorker:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/04/09/070409fa_fact_cassidy?printable=true

Wolfowitz has an abiding interest in the Islamic world. His father, Jacob, an eminent mathematician who taught at Columbia and Cornell, was a fervent Zionist, and Wolfowitz’s elder sister, Laura, lives in Israel. Wolfowitz’s critics sometimes portray him as an unquestioning defender of the Israeli government, and yet he has publicly expressed sympathy for the plight of the Palestinians, and some Arab reformers regard him as a friend. Since separating from his wife of more than thirty years, Clare Selgin Wolfowitz, in 2001, he has dated a secular Muslim woman in her fifties, Shaha Ali Riza. A British national from a Libyan family who grew up in Saudi Arabia, Riza is a longtime advocate of democracy in Arab countries.

[spanone]

10. Yes, and bush* is a liberal if you ignore his conservative leanings.

[teach1st]

11. I can think of a few Liberals who leaned toward imperialism...

...I guess it depends on what your definition of Liberal is.

[Hamlette]

13. the neocons came from the left, they are new conservatives not because they are MORE conservative

Wolfowitz worked for Democratic Senator Scoop Jackson (along with Perle and Feith). Their issue is spreading democracy and protecting Israel. (Some earlier neconservatives were Trotskyites and socialists.)

They went along with the theocratic reign of Bush et al because they truly believe what they are doing (exporting democracy at the point of a gun if necessary) is worth paying any price but they are NOT social conservatives or theocrats.

Some neocons did not come from the left. I don't think Cheney was ever a dem, let alone a socialist like Kirkpatrick. But neither do I think he was ever a social conservative. Cheney is just a war monger and the neocons gave him cover for stealing Iraqi oil: we are not doing it to steal from them, we are doing it to HELP them by bringing them our own particular brand of democracy (which means the corporations really run things.)

I don't think Bush is anything. I think he bends whichever way the wind blows. Karl wanted power for powers sake, Cheney wanted power to get more oil and wealth, Rummy wanted to remake the army and show the world how well his plan worked. They picked Bush because he had the name that was closest to Reagan they could find: Reagan's VP: Bush.

[Daedelus76]

20. Dick is a libertarian

That's pretty much closest to his political philosophy, at least socially. He's a "conservative" of sorts. But if he really were a die-hard conservative, he wouldn't be so cozy with his daughter. He voted NO on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but again, that has more to do with his libertarianism than his racial views. For economic policy I'm pretty sure Dick is a true conservative of the Reagan variety- fuck the poor, trickle up to the rich. Foreign policy he's definite a hawk, in line with the Neo-cons. But He's not a real Neo-Con, because Neo-Cons usually are not libertarians and even tend to favor liberal economic policies (as long as it is in the name of looking better than the Reds). It's just militarism, anti-communism and Israel is their litmus test for everything. So I think you can find Neo-Cons on both sides of the aisle- Lieberman definitely is a closet-Neo-Con.

[donsu]

4. you jest

nt

[donsu]

7. feminism doesn't have a country by country description

feminism IS

[bobthedrummer]

3. She's an operative in overlapping networks-this is beyond gender

"Elizabeth CHENEY was also a 'colleague' of Wolfowitz's partner Shaha Ali Riza"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x548152#651509

[donsu]

5. come on media, show us Shaha's feminist creds.

media should stop calling her a feminist until they show us her feminist creds.

[Bucky]

16. Now you know how the Germans feel

Imagine how a German feels every time someone says "Hitler was a German". I'm assuming from your posts that you're a feminist, by the way. Now someone who shares your label who is doing horrible things. It's appalling. But sadly, her advocacy of better treatment for women and improved democratic rights in the Middle East is well documented and in fact seems to be her life's work. She just seems to go about her life's work in an apparently selfish, evil, and destructive manner.

[donsu]

17. do you have any links showing her feminist work?

nt

[Eugene]

6. She's a feminist in a neocon sort of way.

Her passion is spreading freedom and democracy in the Middle East.
Women would theoretically be liberated and empowered in a new
pro-western order (at least those who aren't killed).

Some say that Operation Iraqi Liberation was really her idea.

[donsu]

8. neo cons and feminism are like those opposing magnets

you learned about in school. no way they will come together.

[muriel_volestrangler]

12. Transcript of her from 2002, on the McLaughlin Group

It seems the men like talking over her:

http://www.mclaughlin.com/library/transcript.asp?id=306

Relatively feminist, I'd say.

[donsu]

18. that transcript was interesting - the men sure didn't let her get in

many words.

she didn't instigate the subject of women. as a guest she just answered questions from the men. has she ever instigated?

[muriel_volestrangler]

19. I don't know - that was all I could find that was 'her' (n/t)

[Eugene]

14. Neocons have little use for human rights-based feminism, but,...

like "freedom" and "democracy," it can be a useful pretext
for of a realpolitik-based agenda. Free the women from
the veil, while you steal their country out from under them.

Shaha Riza is a feminist by necessity, coming from the ultra-
conservative Middle East, if only for her own self empowerment.

[nealmhughes]

15. Paulie, in theory, is a "liberal," a Scoop Jackson, LBJ, HHH liberal.

On domestic issues he is very different from his stand on discredited international ones.

A most complicated animal that Combsucker Paul be.