Washington DC – July 28, 2009 (Farid Ghadry Blog) – The Middle East is about to experience a political storm the size of which we have never seen before.
In the center, the US has a new president with entitlements afforded by his powerful office, who believes that taking an equidistant position from our allies and our foes IS the answer to the ills of the region. His assessments are not based on history or experience but rather on ideological tendencies the like of which any Middle Eastern with some knowledge of the region will tell you how hard it will be to adopt or adapt to them.
As an example, Assad of Syria, a bona fide terrorist, is getting the meat from the White House, Lebanon, a democracy handicapped by another terrorist organization Hezbollah, is getting the bones, and Israel, the only true US ally in the region, is getting the crumbs in the form of pressure on settlements and other issues directly affecting its security. Why would the US weaken democracies in favor of autocracies have yet to be explained.
The Iranian nuclear threat has turned the region on its head. Some old foes have become friends (Saudi Arabia and Israel, Hamas and Syria), some old foes have become enemies (Syria and Lebanon, Iran and Saudi Arabia), tensions between friends is on the rise (the US and Israel), and old friends have become friendlier (Syria and Iran). Overall, the Middle East remains the only region on earth where principles are furiously traded and everyone is always scurrying to turn its pawn into a Queen in this fast game of chess. The US, with the only power to impose her will on the terrorist nations, instead sends them kisses and hugs.
As the liberation of Iraq brought initial positive dynamics to the region, today’s actions in the Middle East are bringing only negative ones. The belief that cajoling Assad will establish a better order based on the tyranny of dictatorial Arab regimes is insanely lazy. Every one seems to forget altogether the implications this policy will have on feeding Islamic terror emanating from oppression. Or maybe they believe that a speech to us Muslims, while supporting our oppressors, will simply re-direct our positive energies towards building a better future. Instead, the Muslims we know are using oppression to advance the goal of building a Mosque on the lawn of the White House.
Some, like RPS, believe pressure and power, have not been used properly by the US to extract the concessions necessary to protect its interests in the region while leading the Middle East out of the dark cavern it hibernates in. One where freedom and human rights are neglected to the detriment of all.
In either case, this re-arrangement in favor of autocracies, just to avoid dropping few bombs on the Iranian nuclear facilities, will prove to be far more expensive sooner than later. Avoiding war at the expense of supporting freedom, democracy, and human rights is costlier, in the long run, than waging war to establish permanent peace.
Real peace cannot be attained by strengthening autocracies at the expense of democracies. A lesson we will soon learn as the storm starts gathering momentum.
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