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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: frankw1900 who wrote (20121)	2/26/2002 10:41:59 PM
From: Nadine Carroll	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Thanks for the column; it was funny. Here's a piece I from memri.org that I found psychologically revealing: Posted: Tuesday, February 26, 2002 Special Dispatch No. 349: Palestinian Authority - Saudi Columnist: PA Declarations No Longer Credible Ahmad Al-Rab'i, a columnist for the London-based Saudi daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, recently apologized to his readers for reporting the Palestinian Authority's (PA) version of the Karine A weapons ship affair. Al-Rab'i called on his readers not to believe the PA's declarations any longer.(1) Following are excerpts: "When Israel announced that it had seized the [Karine A] weapons ship, I doubted the Israeli account and espoused the PA's claim - that the whole thing was a fabrication. I did this out of a sense of obligation to support our Palestinian brothers, and out of trust in the veracity of their account. But it seems that the [Palestinian] leadership deceived us with its account, and we, in turn, unintentionally deceived our readers." "I remember when my colleague Abd al Rahman Al-Rashed, editor [of Al-Sharq Al-Awsat] criticized the Palestinian version [of the incident]. All the conspiracy theory 'bulldozers' rose up against him; they charged him with 'serving' the enemy..." "Now, not only is Arafat confessing to the [Israeli] account, but he goes further still, and has sent [a letter] to the American secretary of state [from] which it can be interpreted that he takes responsibility for this incident." "Therefore, I take responsibility before my readers; I and my readers were victims of our obligation to and trust in the Palestinian leadership. I assure the readers that since Arafat has confessed his responsibility to Colin Powell, I will no longer take the Palestinian leadership's declarations seriously." "A journalist in our Arab world is confused, [caught] between his respect for himself and his readers and the Arab attitude towards the news. Fearing that he will be denied, the journalist misses the opportunity to analyze important news. If he writes about it [anyway], he... is stricken with anxiety, lest his commentary be published in the same issue that carries the denial of what he reports." "The [guiding] principle [in the Arab world] is not to treat the public with candor and transparency, but to conceal information [from it], such that if [the news] is picked up by the foreign press, we can deny it. Sometimes we are forced to confirm an item after we have denied it, because it has turned out to be a proven fact." "When we defended the [Palestinian] National Authority in the weapons ship incident, we faced two problems: "First, some commentators and Palestinian leaders denied the story, claiming that it was a fabrication, a show, and an attempt to divert public opinion from the peace issue." "Second, smuggling weapons in this way is [in itself] a naive act attesting to ignorance - primarily because these weapons will not shift the military balance in favor of the Palestinians. Likewise, smuggling weapons on a route controlled by the Israeli navy is an escapade no reasonable person would attempt." "[However,] what matters here is that the PA 'bestowed' upon us lies, and we, on our part, pressed our readers to support the PA. We, and our readers, were victims of our commitment [to the Palestinians] and of the trust we placed in it - which is now lost." Endnote: (1) Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (London), February 16, 2002.

To: frankw1900 who wrote (20121)	2/27/2002 8:51:51 AM
From: Ilaine	Respond to of 281500

Circling the wagons over the "Axis of Evil" speech, are we? On the outside - Eurotrash. The type of people who played footsie with Hitler. On the inside - 100% Americans, their supporters, and everyone else on the right side of history. It's not a gaffe, in retrospect something better left unsaid. Nope, it's a "pretty sophisticated concept." For clarification, watch the remake of Oceans Eleven with George Cluney, Brad Pitt and Don Cheadle, and it will become clear just how sophisticated of a concept it is. Well, Frank, having no intention of watching the remake of Oceans Eleven, this obese, non-soft-drink-drinker (trying to lose weight, but I would drink Coke, not Pepsi), card-carrying registered Republican, says the column is purveying cold, fizzy, sugary junk rather than intelligent ideas. Bad for the teeth, bad for the waistline. Whoever wrote "Axis of Evil" must have been smoking dope, listening to Jimi Hendrix's "Axis of Love" and figured it would be a cool idea, kind of like Reagan's "Evil Empire," only even better. In the cold daylight of sober morning, it was D-U-M-B. So what? Everyone says dumb stuff now and then. Dubya is trying too hard. He's like the quarterback that wants to be like the valedictorian, using words he doesn't understand. They used to say "let Reagan be Reagan." Well, "let Dubya be Dubya." In the meantime - chastising people for questioning Der Fuhrer isn't something we do in America.

To: frankw1900 who wrote (20121)	2/27/2002 9:08:32 AM
From: Hawkmoon	Respond to of 281500

Unlike Chris Pétain, I take these guys at their word. The EU supposedly fears massive ‘destabilisation’ of the Muslim world. I say, bring it on, baby. If we don’t destabilise them now, they’re going to be destablilising us the day after tomorrow. Althought rather colloquial in it's delivery, the logic is compelling... Especially since 40% of the Muslim world is under 18 (that's about 300 million, give or take a few hundred million.. :0) And as we all know, you have to be young, dum, and full of *** in order to be beguiled by the "glory of war" (or Jihad, in their eyes)... 18 year old boys have generally two goals... the first is sexual, the second is to establish a personal "resume" of masculinity that they can use to impress and dominate others, as well as irrefutably establishing their credentials as "men".. And unfortunately, war is one of those things that young men all believe will achieve this (if they survive the ordeal). They will have endless stories to tell about their bravery and how many enemies they killed. And they will make the women swoon as they assert their claim as the local "alpha male".. Yes... demographics are truly important to this equation in the middle east. If these young men don't find something else to do with their lives with which to establish their masculinity, they will do it through violence (and just never mention all the atrocities and brutality they commit along the way). And if we don't "nip it in the bud" now and assert ourselves as the "global alpha male", they may just generate enough moxy and organization to take us all on and cost far more lives (ours and theirs) down the line. Hawk