It bothers me that Jordan is playing the US game in bullying Hamas. Jordan is an authoritarian monarchy and a repressive regime, it is not the beacon of democracy that the US wants to promote in the middle east.
Recently, their banks have asked Hamas to withdraw its money from their account 'fearing', they say, a US ban. And now they are fabricating stories of arms smuggling by Hamas as they fabricate stories of Al-Qaida plots foiling daily in ordser to please the US and to give substance to the claim of the 'dispersion' of terrorrism. This is a country whose insignificant king plays on Arab political divisions and excercizes subservience to the US in order to stay in power. Just before the first free elections in Iraq, he wrote an op-ed in the Washington post insisting on the increase of the shiite threat in the middle east if shiites may come to win the elections in Iraq.
How do you want Arabs to free themselves from Islamists when their obscurantist and repressive rulers have no dignity, aligning themselves on what is perceived by the Arab street as ennemy number one (Israel and the US). This is the same kind of attitude from Saudi rulers that pushed Bin Laden to rebel against americans.
It bothers me that Jordan is turning its back on its Arab neighbor in times of need. Up to now, Hamas is no Al-Qaida style islamist militantism and has no ties with Al-Qaida, but if Arab countries play in the hands of Israel and Washington, how long Hamas will be able to stand alone. This kind of strategy may push Hamas closer to Al-Qaida and fulfill the prophecy of Israel and the US.
Arabs have rulers only preoccupied by pleasing the US and hanging on power no matter what while citizens have nowhere else to turn to, except Islamism. They have no development, no progress, no more secularist regimes (the last one being Syria), no friends, no international symapthy and no hope at all.
This is a dangerous trend.
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Since March 29th 2006
4 comments:
Arab divisions remain a serious problem and it suits the US and EU down to the ground. The US is trying to build a "sphere of influence" in the Middle East, which will help it to protect and serve its most loyal client state: Israel.
The exercise isn't however going all that well: the neocon wet dream of another nice little client state in the shape of "pre-Kuweit style Iraq but minus Saddam Hussein" is crumbling fast.
In the Iran conundrum, the Iranians hold most of the aces and the US is divided and unsure of what to do next.
Re Jordan, I always saw the King as a somewhat enlightened figure in a difficult and unenviable position. Clearly 9/11 has changed things, Amman is now siding more with Washington to save its own hide.
I hope you're wrong about a potential slide of Hamas towards al-Qaeda: that would be disastrous, as was Arafat's ill-advised siding with Iraq in the Kuweiti "adventure". It would give the Israel lobby all the ammo it needs to put a two-state solution permanently to bed. I believe Hamas realise that danger.
Interesting post by fellow blogger "This Old Brit" on Iran
Thanks Gert for the link,
I posted a comment on Richard's blog.
One point about your comment over there.
Blair in fact made it a point in case to convince the British to join the "coalition of the killing": he promised that he would talk to Bush and convince him to restart the peace process as a condition for British involvement in Iraq.
Nothing happened, of course: it appears that the US treat their British ally as a disposable commodity, as they have done for so long. See also US involvement in Harold Wilson's political demise...
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