Iraq violence peaks, with eleven bombs killing over 200 innocent Iraqis. Terror is back, big time. Nur al Maliki talks of a manacing sectarian strife. All those warm feelings for Iran are now pushing him and his staff, to the wall. The Shi'a strike back in the west, in al Anbar province, but some of those bombs may come from Al Qaida.
For the Americans, the rise and spread of Iran is horrifying, not because Iran wants war, but because it was George W. Bush's invasion that blew off the firewall separating Iraq from Iran. Now we see an aggressive expansionfrom Iran through Iraq to Syria and Lebanon, all the way to Gaza.
The Gulf Sunni emirates have indistinguished themselves by providing some $20 billion to Islamist organsizations, to win in Egypt, and now in Syria and Yemen, as well. The US remains 'tight' with the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi, but obviously all that money flooding into foreign countries, to build mosques, a Wahhabi clerisy, is not in the West's interest. Such rabid Gulf intrusions is not any kind of local consensus, still less majority decision by those involved, the citizens. They do not support armed rebellion or armed suppression or bad money and stupid people masquerading as teachers.
At issue is differing views of Islam. The Salafis, Wahhabis and Muslim Brotherhood (MB), value outer appearances: the robe, the beard, the headgear, praying in front of others. This is a mockery of the prophet's ways and message.If they were Muslims they would not seek dominance, use terror, fund rebellion and sew confusion. "The letter of the law killeth the spirit of the law." (old proverb).
I've been writing about Islamic fundamentalism since 1972-73, when I lived in Afghanistan, Iran and Eastern Turkey. Back then I saw 'Islamism' as a counter-response to British-American influences. People saw their poverty as a dastardly western conspiracy. It is true that, in the 19th C., the Qajar (Mongol) shah but did not hesitate to trade the rights to tobacco, a new railroad, and, later, petroleum development, for large blocks of cash.
I've traveled many times into the rural Middle East and Central Asia in the course of my work, and I'm struck that the dirt-poor villages, all had lucid cores, usually not the mullah. Each responded to outside influences in its own way.
The problem with colonialism is that its overthrow and withdrawl is also damaging. The indigenuous people tend to blame the colonizer for their problems. Often they are right, but rarely do colonizing forces go out and shoot the local people. Colonists prefer to rule through a legitimate compliant king or ruling class, and that's Iran political story, from the Qajar kings through the Pahlavis.
Alien Euro-American influences continue to play into Iran's war-like policies. The US never even thought about annexing or even contreolling Iran, but doctrines of 'forward deployment,' 'alliances' and economic corruption proved in some cases even more damaging. But the good things too must be factored in. All that money for oil should have filtered to the people, buit of course, that just doesa not happen in this region.
So: The Islamic Republic has renewed the Shah's claim to all Gulf islands, including Bahrain and those smaller ones, off Iraq's coast and Kuwait's. They have grown a large secret service(s) which operate as far as Argentina (where they killed 82 Jews by bombing a community center). Recently, they tried the kill the Saudi ambassador in the US.
Iran is flexing its muscle, developing a device or two, at great immense expense. A nuclear Iran will lord over its neighbors. It's surprising that Russia and China do not put pressure on Iran or Syria. Their own influence in the Middle East is at stake. A nuclear Iran and a Syria overloaded with poisonous gases, should worry the Kremlin and Beijing.
Is Iran in cahoots with Al Qaida? There may be certain, secret element in the Basij or Pasdaran or another Iranian secret service, that harbors and equip Al Qaida groups, even though these groups are Sunni fundamentalists. Iran remembers the murder in Kabul of 9 of its diplomats in 1991, and it ceretainly does not like the pressure Al Qaida is putting on Shi'a minorities in Afghanistan, Pakista, Iraq, Syria and in the Caucasus as well. One hopes they'll snap to.
Syria, o Syria! Large parts of the country have been depopulated. Most are cowering in their homes and apartments. There are some parts of the country which have seen no fighting, though war is influencing them, nonetheless. Russia has interests in Syria, not so much as a power play against the Americans (that's stupid), but in defense of their own minorities.
Syria is not entirely black and white. One hopes for a new government, but it must be a secular government, not a Sunni fundamentalist one. So the West is fighting Gulf sheikhdoms as well, even as they load up supertankers...
Yemen needs time to work out a genuinely inclusive, representational government and constitution, but there is no excuse for the population's backing of Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. Their hatred of America is a clear case of ignorance: like the Pakistanis, they blame the terror on the Americans. In other words, they're unable to accept their own contradictions and unlawful elements.
Several Arab nations have instituted new employment programs for the young: Saudi, UAE, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Djibouti, Eritrea, Sudan and Islamic Egypt and Tunisia. Algeria and Afghanistan, Singapore and Malaysia have these programs. Morocco, Mauritania, Libya, Chechnya, Daghistan, Bosnia, Kosovo, Pakistan, India, Indonesia, do not.
Those curious about these issues, should read the Middle East Speculum. The blog is an excellent archive which you can read either forward or backwards. Over 60 postings.
by M. Abdul Qasim
For the Americans, the rise and spread of Iran is horrifying, not because Iran wants war, but because it was George W. Bush's invasion that blew off the firewall separating Iraq from Iran. Now we see an aggressive expansionfrom Iran through Iraq to Syria and Lebanon, all the way to Gaza.
The Gulf Sunni emirates have indistinguished themselves by providing some $20 billion to Islamist organsizations, to win in Egypt, and now in Syria and Yemen, as well. The US remains 'tight' with the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi, but obviously all that money flooding into foreign countries, to build mosques, a Wahhabi clerisy, is not in the West's interest. Such rabid Gulf intrusions is not any kind of local consensus, still less majority decision by those involved, the citizens. They do not support armed rebellion or armed suppression or bad money and stupid people masquerading as teachers.
At issue is differing views of Islam. The Salafis, Wahhabis and Muslim Brotherhood (MB), value outer appearances: the robe, the beard, the headgear, praying in front of others. This is a mockery of the prophet's ways and message.If they were Muslims they would not seek dominance, use terror, fund rebellion and sew confusion. "The letter of the law killeth the spirit of the law." (old proverb).
I've been writing about Islamic fundamentalism since 1972-73, when I lived in Afghanistan, Iran and Eastern Turkey. Back then I saw 'Islamism' as a counter-response to British-American influences. People saw their poverty as a dastardly western conspiracy. It is true that, in the 19th C., the Qajar (Mongol) shah but did not hesitate to trade the rights to tobacco, a new railroad, and, later, petroleum development, for large blocks of cash.
I've traveled many times into the rural Middle East and Central Asia in the course of my work, and I'm struck that the dirt-poor villages, all had lucid cores, usually not the mullah. Each responded to outside influences in its own way.
The problem with colonialism is that its overthrow and withdrawl is also damaging. The indigenuous people tend to blame the colonizer for their problems. Often they are right, but rarely do colonizing forces go out and shoot the local people. Colonists prefer to rule through a legitimate compliant king or ruling class, and that's Iran political story, from the Qajar kings through the Pahlavis.
Alien Euro-American influences continue to play into Iran's war-like policies. The US never even thought about annexing or even contreolling Iran, but doctrines of 'forward deployment,' 'alliances' and economic corruption proved in some cases even more damaging. But the good things too must be factored in. All that money for oil should have filtered to the people, buit of course, that just doesa not happen in this region.
So: The Islamic Republic has renewed the Shah's claim to all Gulf islands, including Bahrain and those smaller ones, off Iraq's coast and Kuwait's. They have grown a large secret service(s) which operate as far as Argentina (where they killed 82 Jews by bombing a community center). Recently, they tried the kill the Saudi ambassador in the US.
Iran is flexing its muscle, developing a device or two, at great immense expense. A nuclear Iran will lord over its neighbors. It's surprising that Russia and China do not put pressure on Iran or Syria. Their own influence in the Middle East is at stake. A nuclear Iran and a Syria overloaded with poisonous gases, should worry the Kremlin and Beijing.
Is Iran in cahoots with Al Qaida? There may be certain, secret element in the Basij or Pasdaran or another Iranian secret service, that harbors and equip Al Qaida groups, even though these groups are Sunni fundamentalists. Iran remembers the murder in Kabul of 9 of its diplomats in 1991, and it ceretainly does not like the pressure Al Qaida is putting on Shi'a minorities in Afghanistan, Pakista, Iraq, Syria and in the Caucasus as well. One hopes they'll snap to.
Syria, o Syria! Large parts of the country have been depopulated. Most are cowering in their homes and apartments. There are some parts of the country which have seen no fighting, though war is influencing them, nonetheless. Russia has interests in Syria, not so much as a power play against the Americans (that's stupid), but in defense of their own minorities.
Syria is not entirely black and white. One hopes for a new government, but it must be a secular government, not a Sunni fundamentalist one. So the West is fighting Gulf sheikhdoms as well, even as they load up supertankers...
Yemen needs time to work out a genuinely inclusive, representational government and constitution, but there is no excuse for the population's backing of Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. Their hatred of America is a clear case of ignorance: like the Pakistanis, they blame the terror on the Americans. In other words, they're unable to accept their own contradictions and unlawful elements.
Several Arab nations have instituted new employment programs for the young: Saudi, UAE, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Djibouti, Eritrea, Sudan and Islamic Egypt and Tunisia. Algeria and Afghanistan, Singapore and Malaysia have these programs. Morocco, Mauritania, Libya, Chechnya, Daghistan, Bosnia, Kosovo, Pakistan, India, Indonesia, do not.
Those curious about these issues, should read the Middle East Speculum. The blog is an excellent archive which you can read either forward or backwards. Over 60 postings.
by M. Abdul Qasim
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