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Sloth
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On the situation in ME I suggest reading this article from the Economist
"IRAQ'S vice-president, Taha Yassin Ramadan, has a predictably low opinion of his fellow Arab leaders. Mr Ramadan, speaking before cameras to prove he had survived the first bombs on Baghdad, said Arab leaders come in three flavours: those who collude openly with America, those who do so secretly, and those who avoid decisions altogether, while unleashing their police to suppress popular rage.
The Arab public broadly shares Mr Ramadan's contempt. After a week glued to the gore on satellite channels, their mood is one of fury against America, pride in Iraq's defiance, and frustration with their own governments. They are shamed by their leaders' weakness in the face of America. Not only are many governments complicit with the war effort; their feeble diplomatic attempts to prevent war were less effective than those of non-Arab powers, such as France and Turkey.
Anti-war demonstrations in Arab capitals have yet to attain the scale of those seen in Europe before the war. Even so, given the range of repressive instruments in the hands of Arab states, both the turnout and tenor of protests have been eye-catching. In Sudan and Yemen, demonstrators were killed in clashes with police. Half a million Syrians braved foul weather to stomp through the centre of Damascus. Some 40,000 people stalled Cairo's main square for ten hours, dispersing only after police dragged off and beat up several hundred, including two members of parliament. The square has remained an armed camp in anticipation of even rowdier protests to come.
Two factors have emboldened Arab protesters. The first is that Iraq, battered and despised as its regime is, appears to be winning the propaganda war. This is partly due to early boasts and blunders by American and British forces. The targeting of a busload of Syrian workers heading home from Baghdad, for example, brought bereavement directly into Syrian homes. And the brief raising of an American flag over the port of Umm Qasr, a contravention of orders that happened to be captured on Arab screens, convinced some that this is indeed a war of occupation.
Arab television audiences have also been surprised to find that, in contrast to previous wars in the region, their own news channels are proving at least as reliable as western ones. Round-the-clock news stations, such as al-Jazeera, Saudi-owned al-Arabia and Abu Dhabi TV, maintain larger networks of correspondents inside Iraq and rarely flinch from airing graphic content. Iraqi officials have also been assiduous at courting the press, punching home the message that they are fighting to defend faith and fatherland.
The second factor is the failure of many Arab governments to provide adequately for their own people. Demonstrators in impoverished Syria are too afraid to criticise their own corrupt regime, whose only proven competence, in any case, seems to lie in diverting domestic criticism to foreign affairs. But other economically beleaguered governments are either less effectively repressive, or have proved less nimble at aligning themselves, rhetorically at least, with Iraq's resistance.
The shakiest right now is Egypt's. For Hosni Mubarak, the timing of this war could hardly be worse. Depressed for five years, Egypt's economy has sunk further in the past month. A 20% currency devaluation has fuelled sharp price rises, even as tourism, a big hard-currency earner, faces a wartime collapse. America has bailed out this key Arab ally in the past. It is overstretched with other commitments just now, and also miffed by Mr Mubarak's unwillingness to offer open support.
Small wonder that Cairo's demonstrators shouted curses at their own leaders as well as at George Bush, or that police turned most brutal when the crowd surged towards the headquarters of Mr Mubarak's party, apparently with the intention of attacking the giant presidential portrait that hangs there. As Syria's leader, Bashar Assad, said recently, being America's enemy these days may be dangerous, but being its friend could prove fatal."
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Sloth
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From Adrian Hamilton of the Indipendent:
"Democracy in the Middle East should not be understood to presuppose pro-Americanism. Just the opposite".
link to the article: http://argument.independent.co.uk/r...sp?story=391430
The phrase summarize, IMO, very well the real political dilemma of this war.
A comment from the pro-war camp would be welcome.
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26-03-2003 22:04
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