Michael Gerson on How 9/11 Changed Bush – Newsweek National News – MSNBC.com
From those events, President Bush drew a fixed conclusion: as long as the Middle East remains a bitter and backward mess, America will not be secure. Dictators in that region survive by finding scapegoats for their failures—feeding conspiracy theories about Americans and Jews—and use religious groups to destroy reformers and democrats. Oil money strengthens elites, buys rockets, funds research into weapons of mass destruction, builds radical schools across Africa and Asia and finds its way to terrorist organizations. Terrorist organizers exploit the humiliated and hopeless—channeling their search for meaning into acts of murder—and plot, as London 2006 proves, to surpass the mad ambitions of 9/11.
Category: Geopolitics
Arab Media Accuses Iran and Syria of Direct Involvement in Lebanon War
MEMRI: Latest News
The war between Israel and Hizbullah has revealed profound disagreement in the Arab world between countries that support Hizbullah and those that oppose it, headed by Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The disagreement was reflected in the Arab media, which published articles supporting Hizbullah along with harsh criticism and accusations against it.
One of the accusations leveled against Hizbullah was that the organization does not serve the interests of the Lebanese people, but acts in the service of Syria and Iran, thereby jeopardizing Arab interests. Many articles argued that Syria and Iran had manufactured the crisis in order to draw world attention away from the Iranian nuclear issue and away from the results of the investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Al-Hariri. It was also claimed that Iran was working to destroy the Arab countries from within by encouraging armed militias to rebel against the Arab regimes.
Supporters of Hizbullah in Syria and Lebanon rejected the claim that Hizbullah was serving Syrian and Iranian agendas. They countered that it is Israel that is acting in the service of the West, which aims to redraw the map of the Middle East.
The following are excerpts from articles published in the Arab media:
Netherlands ‘does most for poor’
BBC NEWS | Business | Netherlands ‘does most for poor’
While the Netherlands led the pack on generous investment aid as well as measures to curb greenhouse gases, the CGD added they could work harder.
By contrast Japan ranked in last place due to a combination of factors including its low aid and high barriers to imports and migrants from poorer nations.
Meanwhile, despite the US giving the largest amount of aid that donation was the smallest in relation to the size of its economy.
The CGD added that a lot of the money was also contingent on the purchase of US goods, and so was in fact a “backdoor subsidy for American interests”.
America was also criticised for its handling of aid in Iraq with the CGD claiming that 90 cents in every dollar was lost to violence and corruption.
However, the country fared well on the trade front, ranking second after New Zealand as barriers to exports from developing countries are not as high as those from the other nations in the Commitment to Development Index
An exclusivist Sino-American diplomacy track?
An exclusivist Sino-American diplomacy track? :
With the war between Israel and Hezbollah overlapping with planning for a “post-Castro Cuba,” it seems that America has temporarily turned its interest away from North Korea. However, the international political situation on the Korean peninsula now stands at the crossroads. Changes in Chinese policy towards the North – a policy once perceived only in between the lines of diplomacy – have grown more pronounced this summer. Continue reading “An exclusivist Sino-American diplomacy track?”
Turkey wooed by Saudis against Iran
Asharq Alawsat Newspaper (English)
King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz starts a historic three-day visit to Turkey, the first by a Saudi monarch since King Faisal visited Istanbul in 1974.
History tells us the ambitions of the Safavi dynasty, which converted Iran to Shiaa Islam, and sought to convert others, was hindered by the Ottoman Empire. It seems history will repeat itself and Iran’s political ambitions and those of its agents in the region will be thwarted, especially as the Americans appear to be, more than ever before, ready to withdraw from an ailing Iraq, with whom Iran has a long history. Will the Saudis do so? Will Turkey get closer? These questions await answers.
What is the significance of Aug. 22?
Bernard Lewis’s Editorial in the Wall Street Journal (excerpted below) started the Aug. 22nd buzz.
Update- And just in-time for Aug. 22
TEHRAN, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) — The Iranian army said on Thursday that it would launch a large-scale military exercise soon, the state television reported.
And here is another commentary
In Islam, as in Judaism and Christianity, there are certain beliefs concerning the cosmic struggle at the end of time—Gog and Magog, anti-Christ, Armageddon, and for Shiite Muslims, the long awaited return of the Hidden Imam, ending in the final victory of the forces of good over evil, however these may be defined. Mr. Ahmadinejad and his followers clearly believe that this time is now, and that the terminal struggle has already begun and is indeed well advanced. It may even have a date, indicated by several references by the Iranian president to giving his final answer to the U.S. about nuclear development by Aug. 22. This was at first reported as “by the end of August,” but Mr. Ahmadinejad’s statement was more precise. Continue reading “What is the significance of Aug. 22?”
Benard Lewis – Visionary Historian
It sounds like an Oxymoron, but Professor Benard Lewis understands the axiom thet “Those who don’t learn history are bound to repeat it”. In February of 1998, he read in an obscure Arabic paper, which was published in London, Bin Laden’s American Jihad declaration.
In 1990, The Atlantic published his prophetic warning to the West “The Roots of Muslim Rage”. He just happened to have his book “What went Wrong” come out at the time of 9/11, which catapulted him from academic obscurity to the best seller list and controversy.
The rage of Islam was no mystery to Mr. Lewis. To no great surprise, it issued out of his respect for the Muslim logic of things. For 14 centuries, he wrote, Islam and Christendom had feuded and fought across a bloody and shifting frontier, their enmity a “series of attacks and counterattacks, jihads and crusades, conquests and reconquests.” For nearly a millennium, Islam had the upper hand. Continue reading “Benard Lewis – Visionary Historian”
Ceasefires and Peacetalks: A Satire
ComingAnarchy.com » Blog Archive » Ceasefires and Peacetalks: A Satire
Talks Between Confederacy and Union Collapse; Sherman Reissues State of Emergency
The London Times
May 22, 1889
Representatives of the Confederate States of America walked out of London peace talks yesterday after the United States negotiator refused to guarantee that Washington would recognize the legality of slavery in any new federation. The talks, the first of their kind in more than two decades, were considered by many to be the last best hope for a permanent peace solution in the continent in a standoff which is now approaching its fourth decade. Continue reading “Ceasefires and Peacetalks: A Satire”
What We Won’t Talk About in the Israel-Lebanon Conflict
What We Won’t Talk About in the Israel-Lebanon Conflict — New York Magazine
Richard Cohen wrote in his Washington Post column last week,
“Israel itself is a mistake . . . an honest mistake, a well-intentioned mistake, a mistake for which no one is culpable [but which] has produced a century of warfare and terrorism of the sort we are seeing now.”
Sixty years on, there can be no revising or reversing that mistake—and when the choice is Israel versus unaccommodating Islamist fanatics, we must be for Israel. Is there any more inconvenient truth?
So it was no surprise that as Israel waged its retaliatory war against Hezbollah and Hamas (zealots, Fascists, nihilists, pawns of Iran and Syria, all of the above), the blogospheric liberals, usually promiscuous with opinions, were averting their eyes, changing the subject, punting—like Republicans are inclined to do about global warming. Continue reading “What We Won’t Talk About in the Israel-Lebanon Conflict”
Another Man’s Honor, Or Why MidEast Peace Will be Difficult
Project Alberta :: View topic – Another Man’s Honor, Or Why MidEast Peace Will be Difficult
In the West we’ve redefined “honorable” as being virtuous, fair, truthful and sincere, but that’s not the traditional meaning. Honor meant simply the respect of the local “honor group” — the family, the extended clan, the tribe, the religious sect. It meant maintaining a reputation for courage and loyalty, not being charitable to enemy civilians. Telling the truth was secondary to saving face.
This “tyranny of the face” continually frustrates Westerners trying to understand the Middle East. When I interviewed villagers in Iraq, I discovered we usually had separate agendas: I wanted the facts, but the villager wanted to avoid embarrassing either of us. So he would tactfully search for the answer that would both please me and not dishonor his family.
When American tanks rolled into Baghdad, Western television viewers were astonished at the sight of the Iraqi information minister steadfastly denying that anything was going wrong. But it made sense from a traditional honor system. The only thing worse than being defeated is the shame of admitting defeat. Continue reading “Another Man’s Honor, Or Why MidEast Peace Will be Difficult”