Fookpop: 2006/12

2006/12/20

Blair Makes Iran Threats

British P.M. Tony Blair Calls For Allies to "Pin" Iran Back
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061220/wl_nm/britain_blair_dc_2

Palestinian President Abbas Calls For Early Elections, Violence Erupts
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/16/AR2006121600436.html

W Wants a Bigger Military for the U.S.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6195467.stm

Japan Toughens Itself Up
http://us.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/12/15/japan.pacifist.rollback.ap/index.html

U.S. Releases 'Anti-Insurgency' Guide
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6186987.stm

United Arab Emirates Begins Undemocratic Elections
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6185199.stm

And Time Magazine Cops Out and Says 'You' Are the Person of the Year
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1569514,00.html

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2006/12/13

Double Platinum Jubilee (150th Post)

Israeli PM Accidentally Reveals Country's Nuclear Arsenal
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=293214&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__international_news/
Saudis to 'Back Sunnis' If U.S. Pulls Out of Iraq
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/12/13/saudi.sunnis/index.html

Jimmy Carter Responds to Attacks on His Character and Book
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-carter8dec08,0,7544738.story?coll=la-opinion-center

Supposed Ringleader of Plot to Blow Up Airliners Has Charges Dropped in Court
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/13/world/asia/14stancnd.html?hp&ex=1166072400&amp;en=00061ec4d09035cc&ei=5094&partner=homepage

And Iraq Is Well...Iraq
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/13/AR2006121300628.html

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2006/12/09

Editorial: Middle East Instability

Greetings readers,

I know I haven't done this for a while but I hope to make these editorials more frequent. Enjoy.

***MIDDLE EAST INSTABILITY PART OF A GREATER CONFLICT

Over the past few weeks, three developing events have emerged as a testament to the year that was in the Middle East and a foreshadowing of the year ahead. The first and most volatile issue, the Iraqi occupation/”civil war” grows in danger daily with body counts rising as American politicians squabble over a country that frankly, they don’t want anything to do with anymore. The Lebanese political crisis marches into its second week now, as Hizbullah-backed protestors call for the resignation of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. And to Lebanon’s south, the Palestinians experience their own political crisis, as ruling party Hamas contests with the “old guard” Fatah party. The Iraq war, the Lebanase crisis and the Palestinian crisis; each is the latest chapter in events that have been steadily heating up for years now. Each has the potential to spill over and push a troubled Middle East closer to the brink of chaos.

Despite their apparent differences, the unifying feature of these three current crises involve a broader conflict that has gripped the entire region and indirectly, the West as well. This conflict at its potential worst, can be witnessed in Iraq where an extremist Sunni insurgency battles extremist Shia militas with civilians caught in the middle. Violence and senseless killing have reduced the impoverished country to a worse state than when Saddam was still in power. Despite all the complaints from the U.S. about troop casualties, it is by far the Iraqis who are feeling the brunt of their country’s descent into anarchy.

In Lebanon and Palestine, there have been only sporadic bouts of violence but far more prominent have been the conflict of ideas. Two opposing views of where each country wishes to take itself have emerged. On one side are the Islamic parties of Hizbullah and Hamas. To Western governments, including Canada, they are terrorist organizations. To a surprising number of Muslims and non-Muslims, especially those in direct contact with them in Lebanon and Palestine, they are heroic symbols of defiance and goodwill. Defiance of the ideas that other Lebanese and Palestinians promulgate; that is, Westernization. This other side of the conflict that has ensnared the Middle East campaigns for moderation, acceptance of Israel and liberation from strict, Islamic notions of society. It is pushed by the Christian and Druze Lebanese, the Fatah party of Palestine and the battered central government in Iraq. More notably, it is also the side of the conflict that is supported by the West. And this is the side that is losing.

What Canada and the U.S. fail to grasp is that the more they openly press for the side they feel ought to be the prevailing vision in the Middle East, that of so-called moderation, the more the Islamic elements there gain support for their arguments and win favour, and elections. As of late, in both Lebanon and Palestine, and to a certain degree in Iraq, religious parties have come out on top in parliamentary elections. Western-backed political forces have been unable to avoid the allegations of corruption and puppetry. Larger and larger numbers of moderates have learned to be wary of these forces after seeing their alternative (that of U.S.-backed Saddam and Fatah). Despite assurances of peace, Middle Easterners have had to contend with American-led invasions and the ever-constant presence of Israel in their backyard. And in countries such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia, where elections are not a luxury to be had, they still live with this darker side of Western-backed governments.

The conflict of Western moderation and modernization, that of Pakistan’s Musharraf and Iraq’s parliament, and Islamic conservatism is fast coming to a boiling point. Situations such as in Iran and Pakistan face much the same threat of violent resolution than the three mentioned at the beginning of this column. History has shown that it is not up to outside forces to decide the outcome of this regional dispute, but the people of the Middle East themselves. May they choose wisely, and may we learn to accept their choice.

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