13.2.10

An empty gesture: 'Obama names US envoy to the Muslim world'

I am very very upset since I read this new item today: 'Obama names US envoy to the Muslim world'.

Obama is unnerving me by proving himself dumber than Bush when it comes to anything Muslim. Can you imagine the following title: 'Obama names US envoy to the Christian world' or 'Obama names US envoy to the Jewish world'.

First: there is o such a thing as a unified Muslim world. Obama must know this since he lived in a Muslim country. Indonesia is so different from Saudi Arabia, as an example...

Second: I see some racist underpinnings to this. Lets put all Muslims under one heading, they are all the same.

Third: Also there is a centralized hierarchy for lets say Christian Catholics, there is still no such a thing as a Christian world...While there is no centralized religious hierarchy in Islam...

Fourth: Obama announces this ridiculous news item while there is an offensive going on in Afghanistan...

Fifth: even though, as one commentator commented on this post, the envoy is to the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) which is 58 members body, and not to the 'islamic world' which is a virtual entity that exists only in the mind of Bin Laden and those who are waging a war on terror, it is still an empty gesture since the Confernce is a body of diverse and diverging interests with no real impact on Muslims and Islam, and since Obama still has to address the problems of the middle east and not of Islam and Muslims per se...And this measure from Obama is by any means a diversion meant to hide his inaction on Palestine

Last but not least: Obama is playing in Bin Laden's hands in seeing the Muslim world as one unified entity...

And like everything that has Obama's trademark, this is a nice empty gesture...

US public diplomacy still ineffectual among Arab-Muslim countries participating at the OIC. And that is what is missing from Obama's diplomacy toward Muslims...concerns for the middle east and Arabs...

The center that sponsors the dialogue between the US and the 'Muslim world' is a center that advocates Israel only interests and war on Iran and the Palestinians...

I am not seeing US-Muslim relations set on a better path soon...And by the way look who is cheering.

2 comments:

Emmanuel said...

This isn't an envoy to the amorphic "Muslim World". Obama appointed an envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference, an international intergovernmental body. He certainly knows that Muslim countries and communities are diverse, and the new envoy - himself a Muslim - certainly knows this.

A Voice from NY said...

I think you should be upset with the journalist who, in my opinion, has misrepresented the situation.

As pointed out by Emmanuel, President Obama simply appointed White House official Rashad Hussain as special envoy to the OIC. Mr. Hussain will be replacing President Bush's earlier appointee, Sada Cumber, a Texas businessman.

 
Since March 29th 2006