July 28th, 2006
Secretary of State Condi Rice’s prediction of a “New Middle East” may have been dead on, but I don’t think what’s happening over there now is what the White House and Israel had in mind. As a result of the US’s refusal to publically support any call for any sort of cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah and in fact, the US’s apparently brazen and seemingly hypocritical encouragement of Israel to bomb the hell out of a weaker country on the very verge of the kind of democracy the US supposedly promotes, the U.S. and Israel may have finally done what no one has been able to accomplish in the Middle East in ages — Unite the Middle East.
Well, unite most of the Middle East against Israel and the U.S. anyway. It seems like organizations and countries and religious groups who would normally never consider cooperating are rushing to Lebanon’s aid and Hezbollah’s defense.
(emphasis mine)
At the onset of the Lebanese crisis, Arab governments, starting with Saudi Arabia, slammed Hezbollah for recklessly provoking a war, providing what the United States and Israel took as a wink and a nod to continue the fight.
Now, with hundreds of Lebanese dead and Hezbollah holding out against the vaunted Israeli military for more than two weeks, the tide of public opinion across the Arab world is surging behind the organization, transforming the Shiite group’s leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, into a folk hero and forcing a change in official statements.
The Saudi royal family and King Abdullah II of Jordan, who were initially more worried about the rising power of Shiite Iran, Hezbollah’s main sponsor, are scrambling to distance themselves from Washington.
An outpouring of newspaper columns, cartoons, blogs and public poetry readings have showered praise on Hezbollah while attacking the United States and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for trumpeting American plans for a “new Middle East” that they say has led only to violence and repression.
Even Al Qaeda, run by violent Sunni Muslim extremists normally hostile to all Shiites, has gotten into the act, with its deputy leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, releasing a taped message saying that through its fighting in Iraq, his organization was also trying to liberate Palestine.
Mouin Rabbani, a senior Middle East analyst in Amman, Jordan, with the International Crisis Group, said, “The Arab-Israeli conflict remains the most potent issue in this part of the world.”
Distinctive changes in tone are audible throughout the Sunni world. This week, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt emphasized his attempts to arrange a cease-fire to protect all sects in Lebanon, while the Jordanian king announced that his country was dispatching medical teams “for the victims of Israeli aggression.” Both countries have peace treaties with Israel.
The Saudi royal court has issued a dire warning that its 2002 peace plan — offering Israel full recognition by all Arab states in exchange for returning to the borders that predated the 1967 Arab-Israeli war — could well perish.
“If the peace option is rejected due to the Israeli arrogance,” it said, “then only the war option remains, and no one knows the repercussions befalling the region, including wars and conflict that will spare no one, including those whose military power is now tempting them to play with fire.”
The Saudis were putting the West on notice that they would not exert pressure on anyone in the Arab world until Washington did something to halt the destruction of Lebanon, Saudi commentators said.
American officials say that while the Arab leaders need to take a harder line publicly for domestic political reasons, what matters more is what they tell the United States in private, which the Americans still see as a wink and a nod.
There are evident concerns among Arab governments that a victory for Hezbollah — and it has already achieved something of a victory by holding out this long — would further nourish the Islamist tide engulfing the region and challenge their authority. Hence their first priority is to cool simmering public opinion.
But perhaps not since President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt made his emotional outpourings about Arab unity in the 1960’s, before the Arab defeat in the 1967 war, has the public been so electrified by a confrontation with Israel, played out repeatedly on satellite television stations with horrific images from Lebanon of wounded children and distraught women fleeing their homes. [“Tide of Arab Opinion Turns to Support for Hezzbolla”(The New York Times)]
Hat Tip: Brilliant at Breakfast
Tags: Israel, Lebanon, Hezbollah, Egypt, Arab governments, Middle East, Saudi Arabia, Sunnis, President Hosni Mubarak, Iran, al-Qaeda, al-Zawahiri, Palestine, Condi Rice, Shiiti, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, King Abdullah II of Jordan
August 7th, 2005
According to the Middle East Times:
Saudi women to vote in chamber poll
UPI
July 29, 2005
RIYADH — Some 600 Saudi women are expected to participate in the elections of the chamber of trade and industry in eastern Saudi Arabia for the first time.
The Saudi daily Al-Yawm said on Wednesday that the chamber of commerce and industry in the eastern province decided to allow businesswomen to take part in the elections of its board for the first time in the kingdom’s history.
The paper said that the elections would take place before the end of the year and ballot boxes for women would be placed under the supervision of a female committee representing the ministry of trade and industry, which oversees the elections of trade chambers in the kingdom.
Saudi women were banned from participating in the kingdom’s first municipal elections earlier this year.
Women in the Muslim-conservative kingdom are deprived of many social and political rights, including the right to travel alone and drive cars.
Every little step forward is a good step. I find it fascinating that the Bush administration keeps pushing democracy and women’s rights in the Middle East but our “allies” the Saudis have been exempt to that kind of pressure…not that our peer pressure has done that much good.
Anyway, I really do hope this proves to be a victory for Saudi women.
Tags: Saudi Arabia, Women's Rights, vote
October 12th, 2004
- The other day, President Bush bragged that under his administration, we have the highest number of homeowners. What he failed to point out is that under his administration we also have had the highest number of filed bancruptcies and the highest unemployment rate. The unemployment rate is skewed as it only counts people actually on unemployment benefits, but Americans are remaining unemployed far longer than those six months of benefits. The average amount of time for unemployment is nine months. I suspect that the high unemployment rate coupled with the high number of people buying homes has led to the high bancruptcy rate.
- Women will not be allowed to vote or run for office in Saudi Arabia’s first nationwide elections. Aren’t these our allies? Shouldn’t we hold them to the same standards we insisted for Afghanistan? Of 10.5 million voters in Afghanistan, I’m proud to say that 41% were women. I don’t know the exact statistic, but I bet that the percentage of American women who actually vote is lower.
- Rallies showing only loyal supporters for Bush all remind me of those old films of German masses saluting Hilter. I’m not at all saying that Bush is as evil as Hitler. I don’t even thik Bush is actually in charge at this point. However, such events smack of images of dictators allowing the masses to adore them and heralds a rather bleak possible future for Americans. After all, the fact that Bush and his administration are so secretive and seem so underhanded and claim that either we’re with him or against him is downright frightening. Sometimes I worry that my Kerry window clings and button will earn me a visit from the secret service. After all, wasn’t there another rather secretive president who misused the resources of office? Hmmmmm… And I’m deeply concerned about this administration’s stand that the end justifies the means and that our make-believe safety from potential terrorists can only come at the sacrifice of the freedoms that made us Americans. In that sense, the terrorists are winning.
Tags: discombobulated, George W. Bush, Women's Rights, Saudi Arabia, vote, politics, party loyalty
July 31st, 2004
I really wanted to sit down and write out my feelings yesterday, because Thursday night I went to see Farenheit 9/11 and then came home and listened to John Kerry’s acceptance speech. I was impressed and touched by both in different ways. However, neither relieved that strange feeling of unease that I’d been feeling on Thursday during the day. If anything, that feeling was more intense as I lay in my bed that night thinking of everything from the Bin Laden’s doing business with the Bushes to the promise of a better tomorrow to the seemingly inevitable draft.
The truth is that there is so much I want to say about all of those things, but when I think of them, when I want to articulate my thoughts, my feelings are so passionate that I’m not certain how clear they would be hear and I’d rather be clear than end up hypocritically sounding as silly as those foolish people basing their all-important presidential vote on the candidate’s appearance, choice of spouse, or religious background. Ironically, the last has actually become an issue thanks to a president who cannot separate his religious beliefs from his state responsibilities.
The truth is that during Farenheit 9/11, I travelled the gambit of emotions from shock to amusement to dispair and sadness to anger to dismay. I left the theater feeling a bit depressed and without hope for a country that could foolishly re-elect a president who has done so many questionable things in and out of office, particularly in office.
I would like to state for the record that I did not agree with everything that Michael Moore dragged through the mud. For example, I wish everyone would stop whining about the 2000 election and the whole Florida issue. The fact is that it happened. Bush became president as a result. We can’t take back the last few years. I’m tired of the whining. I’m tired of everyone bringing it up, usually as a snide remark. I am not a republican but I do wish people would just let go. (That said, I do find all the little nitpicky things that Michael Moore pointed out about it — Bush’s cousin working for Fox, the first network to announce Bush the winner of Florida despite the other news media’s declarations that Gore won, and making that call for the anchor people, just sets my conspiracy-theorist senses all a-tingle.)
Also, I was offended for Bush at Michael Moore’s criticism of Bush’s intial reaction (the first 7-10 minutes) to the second plane crashing into the WTC. He even criticized Bush’s reaction to the first plane crash — but at the first plane crash no one knew what was going on; no one knew it was terrorists. For all he knew, it was an accident, not something a President need get involved in right away. The second plane crashed while he was in an elementary school class room being read to a story by little children when someone came and whispered in his ear. For the next 7-10 minutes, he sat and continued to listen to the children. However, even I could seen the stunned shock on his face as he obviously struggled to accept that this impossible event had occurred. I remember very vividly how I felt on 9/11. I remember how stunned and numb and disbelieving I was. I remember feeling shock and feeling sick to my stomach. I kept thinking that it was all impossible. While, yes, it would have been nice to know that our President had immediately jumped up and started giving orders, I at least accept and recognize that he maybe needed a few minutes to pull himself together as a human being. Imagine the pressure.
However, during the movie I think my sense of loyalty to President Bush and his administration was stretched even thinner than it has been over the last few years. It’s no secret that I don’t care for the way he’s been running this country. I felt he did a good job dealing with 9/11 but that after that we all went to hell in a handbasket. So much of the things he’s done has been an attempt to take away civil liberties that I as an American have a right to, that many people died in the past to give me.
I am deeply disturbed by the financial connections of the Saudis, particularly the Saudi Bin Ladens, and the Bush family. It bothers me that they were investors in all of President Bush Jr.’s businesses and that after his Presidency, Bush Sr. was on the board of their over-seas business. It disturbs me that the Patriot Act was passed without anyone in Congress reading the details. It disturbs me that when F-9/11 was made only one Congressman had a child serving in Iraq. It disturbs me that an ambassador of the Taliban was a vistor to D.C. and given a tour and met with US officials just months before the attacks. It disturbs me that rather than hold Bin Laden’s family that were in the states at the time of the attacks for questioning (which would be a normal mode of operandi in any investigation), the US flew around picking them up in various cities as well as important Saudi “visitors” and flew them home ourselves. I’m angry that from 9/11 Bush was telling his “intelligence” people to prove Iraq was involved. I am in awe that prior to 9/11, Bush spent 42% of his first 8 months in office on vacation. If I did that, I’d be fired. No wonder he didn’t have a clue that 9/11 was going to happen. I somehow doubt he read the reports with the warnings at all. There’s just so many little things…including statements early in his term by high level officials on his staff that Iraq did not have WMD and couldn’t possibly have them, only to turn around a year later and insist we go to war to stop Sadaam from using this massive supply of WMD — which we have never found.
So, I left the theater depressed. As scenes from Iraq had appeared on the giant screen, I was horrified, being the pacifist that I am. I also came to a sudden realization. A co-worker had mentioned that he had read that Bush’s administration were planning on pushing through the “bill” for a new draft the day after “he’s re-elected”. This new draft will include men and women aged 18-34. As I watched the bloody, gory war scenes, I realized that I fit into that category. While I know in my heart of hearts that medically I would never pass any physical and probably wouldn’t ever be forced to go, I was suddenly aware of a renewed respect for those people who can go to war and come home not completely destroyed inside. I have tremendous respect for those people who serve in the military and remain human. I know if it were me, I would completely be destroyed…and somewhere in the back of my head, I understood my late cousin a little more, perhaps a better understanding of why he killed himself after Desert Storm. But the thought that I could be drafted, that my friends could be drafted, just eats at me. It’s bad enough that D has told me that he’s being sent to Iraq in September. My mom thinks he’s just going in a JAG capacity, but I have a suspicion that the military is spread so thin, that he’s going in a different capacity.
And, while I felt very good about the promises John Kerry made in his acceptance speech, he mentioned increasing the numbers in the military so that we could close the backdoor draft of National Guard and retired/reservists. I can’t see the recruitment numbers being that high now in a time when you are guaranteed to go to war and possibly die — not when the local news is always talking about this or that young man who would have graduated this past May who was killed, leaving wife and kids and girlfriends and all manner of a promising life. The only thing I can think is that a draft is the only way and it scares me. I hope I’m wrong.
I thought that John Kerry’s speech was good. I thought it was inspiring and I thought it was definitely aimed at the undecided and the unhappy Republicans just as much as it was an explanation to the dedicated Democrats and the Independents determined to avoid another four years of Bush’s bullshit and warmongering and destruction of civil liberties and freedoms. If he can accomplish half of the things he wants to do, I’d call his presidency a success.
What amazes me are the Republicans criticizing him the next day who didn’t bother to listen to or read the speech. They were just repeating rhetoric and mis-information perpetuated by angry right-wing media reporters and talk show hosts. The one that gets me is their claim that he will raise taxes and how they don’t want their taxes raised. I’m am just dying to know how many of them are making more than $200K a year since those are the only people who are getting their tax break rolled back.
It also killed me that President Bush didn’t bother to hear or read John Kerry’s speech either and admitted it to the press. He then proceeded to make a snide remark “attacking” John Kerry’s wife, implying that Laura Bush is a better First Lady and that’s what you get when you vote for him. I’ve been curious how long it was going to take people to start attacking Teressa Heinz Kerry because she wasn’t born an American and while not “black,” is technically an African-American. I think that Teressa is a strong, intelligent woman who is a contributer to social and community services. I know that Laura Bush is involved in the education cause (which is interesting since Bush refused to fund the “No Child Left Behind” Act after pushing it through) but you rarely hear anything about her and what she’s doing. I think we need a strong first lady like Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush, or Hilary Clinton in the White House. I think it’s great that Teressa comes with John, but really who should be making their decision on who to vote for based on their wife?
I have to thank President Bush though. For 29 years, I had barely a passing interest in politics but thanks to him, his administration, his policies, and his mixing his religious convictions with my civil liberties, I have taken quite the interest in politics and the world in general. After Kerry’s speech, I ordered a book to help me become more informed on the government and politics. I plan to start really working on becoming even more informed. I never want to be caught off-guard on any of this. I want to be sure of my convictions because I understand it all, not because I’ve been told to by my parents, the media, or friends. I don’t want to ever be surprised again that something like the Patriot Act has passed and been signed and because I was uniformed, I couldn’t have done everything in my power to protest it and it’s abuse of power and lack of respect for my freedoms as a loyal American citizen.
I’m not sure how clear all of that was. I feel better now that I’ve let it out. I still feel uneasy and I don’t know exactly why. Maybe I’ll feel better on November 3rd…then again, maybe I’ll feel hopeless. Right now, I feel like Kerry and Edwards are speaking to me when they say “Hope is on the way!”
Tags: politics, Farenheit 9/11, John Kerry, Democrats, George W. Bush, Conspiracy Theories, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, hopeless, DNC, Osama bin Laden
