Skip to main content

Respect is the new paradigm in relation to the Middle East

Let it not be said that the world isn't changing.....and fast to boot!     The West, notably America propped up dictators by pouring millions of dollars into their coffers, yet stood aside as any democratic rights and principles for the leader's country-folk were trashed.   Now, the wheel has turned in the Middle East with the Arab Spring having seen an awakening of people-power.    Time for the West to re-calibrate, as Paul McGeough writes in "West must learn to respect wishes of new Arab leaders" in The Sydney Morning Herald.  

"Something truly remarkable unfolded in New York this week - the leaders of Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen and Libya came to the green-marbled dais at the United Nations as genuine representatives of their people.

For too long, autocratic predecessors in the first three had come to town as puppets of the West. Utterly unembarrassed, they would collect cheques, in return for paying lip-service to the rights and dignity of their people, before adjourning to backrooms to do deals more in the service of foreign capitals. The fourth, Libya, was long a pariah - until Colonel Gaddafi saw commercial gain in coming in from the cold.

The context for this week's speeches was remarkable too.

Instead of arriving only for another round of hand-wringing on the conflict in Syria and Israel's demands for a pre-emptive strike against Iran, these new Arab leaders strode to the lectern with heartfelt expressions of their peoples' hurt and frustration over a crude blasphemy of the Prophet Muhammad, in the form of a video devised and produced in distant California - but served up in villages and cities across the Islamic world by the marvels-without-borders that are the instant news and social media of our time.

Western leaders and commentators were quick to frame management of the protests as a test of the leadership skills of the new headmen in the Middle East. They were right - but only up to a point.

The greater test is for the West. After decades of happily making the rights and aspirations of ordinary Arabs subservient to global demands for energy and ''stability'', which the likes of Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, clung to until minutes before last year's collapse of the Mubarak regime, the West now needs to be more respectful of the demands of the Arab masses as expressed by their newly accountable leaders."


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Reading the Chilcot Inquiry Report more closely

Most commentary on the Chilcot Inquiry Report of and associated with the Iraq War, has been "lifted" from the Executive Summary.   The Intercept has actually gone and dug into the Report, with these revelations : "THE CHILCOT REPORT, the U.K.’s official inquiry into its participation in the Iraq War, has finally been released after seven years of investigation. Its executive summary certainly makes former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who led the British push for war, look terrible. According to the report, Blair made statements about Iraq’s nonexistent chemical, biological, and nuclear programs based on “what Mr. Blair believed” rather than the intelligence he had been given. The U.K. went to war despite the fact that “diplomatic options had not been exhausted.” Blair was warned by British intelligence that terrorism would “increase in the event of war, reflecting intensified anti-US/anti-Western sentiment in the Muslim world, including among Muslim communities in the
Post a Comment
Read more

Robert Fisk's predictions for the Middle East in 2013

There is no gain-saying that Robert Fisk, fiercely independent and feisty to boot, is the veteran journalist and author covering the Middle East. Who doesn't he know or hasn't he met over the years in reporting from Beirut - where he lives?  In his latest op-ed piece for The Independent he lays out his predictions for the Middle East for 2013. Read the piece in full, here - well worthwhile - but an extract... "Never make predictions in the Middle East. My crystal ball broke long ago. But predicting the region has an honourable pedigree. “An Arab movement, newly-risen, is looming in the distance,” a French traveller to the Gulf and Baghdad wrote in 1883, “and a race hitherto downtrodden will presently claim its due place in the destinies of Islam.” A year earlier, a British diplomat in Jeddah confided that “it is within my knowledge... that the idea of freedom does at present agitate some minds even in Mecca...” So let’s say this for 2013: the “Arab Awakening” (the t
Post a Comment
Read more

An unpalatable truth!

Quinoa has for the last years been the "new" food on the block for foodies. Known for its health properties, foodies the world over have taken to it. Many restaurants have added it to their menu. But, as this piece " Can vegans stomach the unpalatable truth about quinoa? " from The Guardian so clearly details, the cost to Bolivians and Peruvians - from where quinoa hails - has been substantial. "Not long ago, quinoa was just an obscure Peruvian grain you could only buy in wholefood shops. We struggled to pronounce it (it's keen-wa, not qui-no-a), yet it was feted by food lovers as a novel addition to the familiar ranks of couscous and rice. Dieticians clucked over quinoa approvingly because it ticked the low-fat box and fitted in with government healthy eating advice to "base your meals on starchy foods". Adventurous eaters liked its slightly bitter taste and the little white curls that formed around the grains. Vegans embraced quinoa as
Post a Comment
Read more