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This is Tony Blair:
And there should never be any doubt that he is a warmongering bastard:
It is doubtful whether this criminal will ever be brought to justice in this world, but it is worth supporting efforts to have Blair harassed wherever he goes for the rest of his life.
And on the topic of Blair, I am not at all surprised to see Martin Bright agreeing with Mad Mel.
Profiles in friendship: Pakistani PM responds to concerns about foreign fighters in FATA:
Mr Gilani also rejected Mr Brown’s claim that three-quarters of terror plots against the UK originated in Pakistan.
”I don’t agree with this information because we are fighting this war on terrorism,” Mr Gilani said.
”Yes there have been Uzbeks, there have been Arabs, there have been Talibans from Afghanistan…. but we have been very successful and we are extremely successful.”
He added: ”Most of them, they are not in Pakistan, they might be in Afghanistan.
Ahmed Rashid writes in ‘Descent into Chaos’:
Eight years after 9/11. Mullah Omar and the original Afghan Taliban Shura still live in Balochistan province. Afghan and Pakistani Taliban leaders continue to thrive in FATA where Al Qaeda also has a safe haven along with a plethora of Central Asian, European, and Arab extremist groups who are now expanding their reach into Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East.
Nothing to see here, just move along.
A video-game blogger says the the “Mines of Moria” expansion for The Lord of the Rings Online game is based on today’s conflict in the Middle East with various factions staking claim to the same land. The Israelis are represented by the dwarves, and the Palestinians are represented by the goblins and the Morroval (half-women, half-bat like creatures). The author let’s his nasty anti-Muslim, anti-Arab sensibilities shine through when he concludes that he prefers the dwarves for their “greater moral elevation” over the other factions because of their “culture of stark bestiality.”
Khazad-dum was abandoned 7,000 years earlier when the Dwarves dug too deep in their search for Mithril and released the Balrog. That the Balrog is evil isn’t in doubt but what blame do the goblins who took up residence in the abandoned halls of Moria hold beyond doing what they needed to to survive under the brutal tyranny of the Balrog? At what point do the crimes of the past become irrelevant to the modern era? Yes, the Dwarves were kicked out of their home into a diaspora and have finally returned, but by what right do they claim land where hundreds of generations of goblins and Morroval have lived and died?
More analysis on the Al Qaeda declaration of holy war against China from Time magazine.
Uighur dissidents in exile have also repeatedly rejected any connection with terrorist activity and argue that, despite a few incidents of bombings and attacks in China, China exploits the specter of a terrorist threat to further repress Uighur rights. Al-Qaeda’s recent statement does their cause few favors. “China could use it to shine a light on the Uighurs,” says Sanderson, “and say, ‘Look what you have brought upon us.’”
But while al-Qaeda’s support may not be welcomed by many Uighurs, no other nations in the Muslim world beyond Turkey — whose people see the Uighurs as a kindred community — have offered much solidarity. As China’s economic ties to the Middle East grow stronger, few governments can risk Beijing’s ire. Its traditional image in the region as a remote and non-interfering member of the third world is shifting toward that of a more influential power, but it remains far from generating the kind of animosity and suspicion that the U.S. attracts. Instead, “China is perceived as a bulwark,” says Ben Simpfendorfer, author of The New Silk Road, published earlier this year, which details the burgeoning links between the Middle East and China. “It can be a useful ally to push back against the United States.”
This might be another sign that Qatar wants to offer an alternative to Saudi Arabia as a ‘big player’ in the region: Qatar signs a deal with Turkey.
Turkey has the same energy concerns as the EU: Russia’s virtual monopoly over gas into Europe. Of course, Turkey realises it is a geopolitical-energy hub, and alongside deals with Qatar, the EU, talk of one with Iraq, it has signed one with Russia too.
I’d expect any EU-Turkey-Iran deal on Nabucco, an anti-Russian pipeline project and an effort the US supports at the present time, to upset the anti-Iran hawks. India’s stalling on a pipeline from Iran through Pakistan suggests some pressure from the US. But India (and China, which is busy signing deals in Central Asia) would still have energy needs. Expect the conspiracy theorists to be given more grist for their mills, as the Trans-Afghanistan pipeline is resurrected (at least in the media — the engineering of such a pipeline is another story altogether).
Steve LeVine, however, says this sorts of pipeline politics is no longer valuable to the US; events, such as the Russia-Georgia War, China’s aggressive emergence in Central Asia and developments in technology, having overtaken their policy.
Trade unions repressed throughout the Middle East/North Africa.
The problems are far reaching and have affected several countries in the Middle East and North Africa.
In Morocco, fraud in the national employee-representative elections was aimed at excluding trade unions from future negotiations on wages and working conditions. Also, some trade union representatives have been fired, a manifestation of anti-union action.
In Tunisia, workers and unemployed people who took part in a demonstration in July 2008 are still in jail. Media coverage of the demonstrations was banned, and a journalist who published images of them was sentenced to six years in jail. There have also been government efforts to oust the leadership of the national journalists union, after the union issued a report criticizing lack of press freedom in the country.
In Egypt, workers demonstrated against large-scale dismissals at a factory but the protests were quashed by the police. In August, the ITUC also documented cases of violent police repression in Jordan, when workers at the Aqaba Port demanded better salaries.
And in Iran, the authorities are repressing all independent trade union activity by detaining and mistreating workers, including several who took part in demonstrations over the disputed presidential election results.
In Iraq, the government is still enforcing anti-union laws from Saddam Hussein’s era, including a law banning trade unions in the public and semi-public employment sphere.
Mitchell ends Middle East peace bid.
George Mitchell, the US envoy to the Middle East, has returned to Washington after failing to secure a compromise deal for renewed peace talks bewteen Israel and the Palestinians.
Who said Muslims were immune to capitalism and consumerism?
Absurd:
So what will Bush be? Stupid cop to Tony Blair’s lying cop?
This week in Time…
Can Sufism Defuse Terrorism?
By Ishaan Tharoor Wednesday, Jul. 22, 2009
In recent years, the dominant image of Islam in the minds of many Westerners has been one loaded with violence and shrouded with fear. The figures commanding global attention — be they al-Qaeda’s leadership or certain mullahs in Tehran — preach an apocalyptic creed to an uncompromising faithful. This may be the Islam of a radical fringe, but in an era of flag burnings and suicide bombings, it is the Islam of the moment.
And that is why some lament the decline of another, older Islam, an Islam of openness and tolerance and, most important, peace. For centuries, many of the world’s Muslims were, in one way or another, practitioners of Sufism, a spiritualism that centers on the mystical connection between the individual and the divine. Sufism’s ethos was egalitarian, charitable and friendly, often propagated by wandering seers and storytellers. It blended with local cultures and cemented Islam’s place from the deserts of North Africa to the bazaars of the Indian subcontinent.
Arab States Aligned With U.S. Savor Turmoil in Iran :
But the cultural and social differences between Iran and Arab states are so great, there was no sense that leaders feared their citizens would be inspired to rise up. Iran is an important and influential nation in the Middle East, but it is also distant from the Sunni Arab street as a majority Persian country with a majority Shiite population.
“A lot of young people in the Arab world would love to see something like that, but the kind of civil society they have makes it much more natural for this to happen in Iran than in a place like Egypt or Saudi Arabia,” said Ahmed al-Omran, a college student in Saudi Arabia and author of the popular blog saudijeans.org.
what does iran being persian and shia have to do with civil society? do sunni tajik-persians of central asia lack civil society? shia arabs in iraq lack civil?
from what little i know iran does seem to have a more robust civil society than the arab nations. but iran being persian & shia is substantively irrelevant to that in a deep sense.
This is bad news no matter how you look at it – Christian populations are declining in the middle east.
Masud Khan links to a new essay by Timothy Winter: “America as a Jihad State: Middle Eastern perceptions of modern American theopolitics”.
David Gardner has a good article on the West’s damaging involvement in the Middle East, although I disagree with his description of ‘bin Ladenists’ as ‘fascists’* largely due to the lack of an ethnic and economic component in the ‘vision’ (if we can call it that) of such people.
Of course, one may choose are other words to accurately describe these groups: authoritarian, imperialist, dictatorial, tyrannical, violent nihilists, totalitarian, etc.
*Kemalism is the only ideology I can think of that is close to Muslim-based fascism (though it clearly it isn’t ‘Islamofascism’).
Egypt versus Hizbullah (or the US versus Iran).
There is a long history in the 20th century of cartoons being used for propaganda purposes, and now in that tradition there is a new anime series that some are referring to as “Blackwater Bunnies”: The bunny characters (“Don’t go easy on them just ’cause they’re cute!”) are mercenaries on a mission in some Middle Eastern locale where they are shooting and blowing up camel people. There are also some gratuitous scenes of camels beating and executing bunnies with their hands tied behind their backs.
Tim McGirk reviews The Spiders of Allah.
Travel operators in the Middle East are being encouraged to boost ‘religious tourism’.
The Gallup opinion poll published a new opinion briefing yesterday on the US image in the Middle East/North Africa. What follows are the top rated actions that the US could take that would improve the US’s image.
I was surprised at first that the Iranians polled so low on closing Guantanamo (16%) and removing the military bases from Saudi Arabia (13%).
The disinterest in closing Guantanamo makes sense though since Al Qaeda seems to be as dedicated to violence against Shiites as it is to the US, so it’s not unreasonable that they really woudn’t mind seeing such people shut away indefinitely.
I don’t understand The 13% figure for Saudi military bases, since the primary mission of those bases right now is to threaten Iran.
Sometimes it’s the thing unmentioned that is most significant, ie, where’s the question on the US’s relation with Israel?
There is a little note at the bottom of the writeup: “Gallup did ask respondents to rate an action concerning Israel, but those data are unavailable at this time.” Right.
The transcript for Barack Obama’s interview on Al-Arabiya is now available.
Scott MacLeod is optimistic about the future in his commentary on Obama’s interview.
Arabic Media Shack questions the use of Obama appearing on a channel that is seen as ‘pro-American’ in the region.
Synonyms for the Arab League:
A good choice for Obama’s Middle East envoy: George Mitchell
Conflatomatic! An oped in the NYT claims the Middle East and South Asia can no longer be seen as distinct regions. Now there is only “one long continuum stretching from the Mediterranean to the jungles of Burma.”
What d’you think?
A long article at Spiegel about “Islamic democracy” that is really about democracy in Arabic-speaking countries (with Turkey thrown in).
A more revisionist look at Mustafa Kemal does not back up the contention of the article’s writers that “he was seeking to remake Turkey into a country that would bear a resemblance to France or Great Britain.”
They also do not expand on the hydrocarbon-rich Gulf countries which are beginning to be run more like corporations than nation-states.
Foreign Office note on “British policy towards Israel, the Arab states and the US”.
waging peace: why the US must lead. This editorial in the Daily Star (Beirut) makes a strong case for active US involvement in resolving middle east conflicts.
(via POMED)