9/11 24 years later

Update: on the eve of the 25th anniversary, see here “the doctrine of velayat‑e faqih (“guardianship of the jurist”) that structures Iran’s political system, then compares it with two other religion‑state models—Saudi Arabia’s Islamic monarchy and the Vatican’s papal theocracy—and with Jewish tradition, which develops a rich legal‑religious system (halakha) but does not instantiate a modern, centralized theocratic state. The aim is to clarify how different traditions conceive the relationship between religious authority and political sovereignty, especially as Iran faces a succession crisis around its new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei”.

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Is it not incredible that a generation after, news items are still emerging about that beautiful yet fateful fall morning in NYC? I post it here because it is events in this geography that caused this chaos, like "the flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas" (Edward Lorenz talk in 1972 to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, more here). I refer to my visit in Bahrain here for example or a later serendipitous reminder here.

In "24 years after 9/11, previously unseen images are still emerging. This group finds and publishes them" here, CNN highlights the 9/11 Media Preservation Group. I have a soft spot for them, as I'm still part of Extinction Rebellion Media Tell The Truth small WhatsApp group bird-dogging media around another topic of note, the Climate Emergency: I have since withdrawn from socials and from activism, focusing instead on a few small online groups of direct relevance; but my companion Andrew Zolnai Blog, "Web maps & AI for the public good" here, focussed among other things on uncovering "the story behind the story" ... and zoomed past 50K hits per month, I must be addressing something of worth!

Semitic people

Update: in Andrew Zolnai Private Blog, two mid-2026 posts on Middle-Eastern religious regimes compared here, and Climate Change and the Old Testament here.

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Following on this post on Jewish Holocaust numbers here, let's distinguish Israeli & Palestinian people, shall we?

Copilot description here to: "Are Israeli & Palestinian people both semitic ?", summarized as:

Both Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs are Semitic peoples.

- They speak Semitic languages: Hebrew and Arabic.

- Their ancient ancestors (like the Hebrews, Canaanites, and Arab tribes) were part of the Semitic cultural-linguistic group.

- “Semitic” refers to language families and historical lineage—not a specific race or nationality.

So while they're often viewed through a political lens today, linguistically and historically, they share Semitic roots. Want a quick timeline of how those roots developed over the centuries?

A brief example of East-West perception

Update 1: see a follow-on post here.

Update 2: in Andrew Zolnai Private Blog, two mid-2026 posts on Middle-Eastern religious regimes compared here, and Climate Change and the Old Testament here.

To continue the tenor of this blog, let me relate a last example of contrasting cultures. This follows my second-from-previous post here. 

1975

My dad worked for a national oil co. that offered as a birthday present to employees' 18-year-olds a 10 day cruise. My year went from Genoa via Naples/Pompeii & Palermo Sicily past the Greek Islands to Istanbul, and then straight back. 

At the famous Istanbul Market, by best friend went with his girlfriend to that market. She looked at Afghan-print long dresses popular in that hippie era. She went to a dressing room, but something felt wrong for me. So while her beau was oblivious, I stepped in just in time to see three burly Turks exit quickly! She was pale & shaking: she realized she had almost been carted off to white slavery... She even overheard that she was worth two camels! So yes white slavery is alive and kicking. 

See Cambridge Core, Jan. 2025 here as well as UN brief, Dec. 2024 here for current updates.

State of the dis-Union

Third & last in a series inspired by our Pope: following cultural crossings here, this is a broad view of how I see society governed as a whole.

Pope Leo’s Doctoral Dissertation: Thoughts on Power and Authority (New York Times):

“There is no room in Augustine’s concept of authority for one who is self-seeking and in search of power over others,” the future pope wrote in one passage. “The exercise of authority in any Christian community requires the setting aside of all self-interest and a total dedication to the good of the community.”

"Cultural crossings"

Update: see last in a series inspired by our Pope here. The end is also quoted in my last post here.

This is what happened during the Papal succession mentioned in my previous post here: I noticed that my sponsor in NYC read BBC,  and I the New York Times. That reminded me that in Kuwait, my driver listened to BBC Arabic and I to Al Jazeera English.